So, um, do we give Ismo Lehkonen … an assist? No?
Lordy, you should’ve seen the cringes and awkward glances traded around the Grading The Week offices after we saw what Lehkonen, father of Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen, told the Yle media outlet in Finland about Mikko Rantanen, his son’s very large and very good teammate, this past Monday.
With the Avs having dropped five of six, the elder Lehknonen, an analyst in Finland, his homeland as well as Rantanen’s, said the Colorado forward “didn’t have a very good summer” and had basically hit a wall in December, and that “frustration and pain have started to show in Rantanen’s game.”
Given how the Moose responded, any chance Papa Lehkonen would like to chuck a few more Avs under the bussi — that’s “bus” or “shuttle” in Finnish — now that he’s talking roskat (“trash”)?
Mikko Rantanen — A-
After a stretch of nine straight goalless games, of which the Avs won only four, hearing those comments from across the pond seemed to light a fire under Rantanen. And a bunch of scorched ice never looked more beautiful.
Over two games earlier this week, the fast Finn collected six points and scored twice, helping power the Burgundy & Blue to a 6-5 win over Calgary and a 5-1 rout of Buffalo.
“(Ismo) was making things up,” Rantanen told reporters after Monday’s victory. “That was for him. … If you talk (expletive), it’s going to come back at you.”
And as any resident of Nederland can tell you, if you poke a moose, that moose tends to poke back even harder.
Denver natives rocking the Pac-12 — A
The gang of idiots upstairs at GTW HQ don’t need to tell you that Denver’s prep girls basketball scene is one of the best in the country. But in case you needed another reminder, take a gander at the NCAA’s national leaderboards as of Friday afternoon.
No. 1 in field-goal percentage? Lauren Betts at UCLA, a state champ at Grandview.
No. 3 in rebounds per game? Raegan Beers at Oregon State, formerly of Valor Christian.
The latter went into the weekend ranked third nationally in the stat Sports-Reference.com calls “Player Efficiency Rating (PER),” which boils down to relative per-minute rating of a player’s positive impact when on the court. Betts ranked fifth in that particular stat going into Friday night. What’s the big deal in seeing both Rocky Mountain stars shining on that front? For context, Iowa star Caitlin Clark ranked seventh in PER before the weekend. Pretty good company. The best, now that you mention it.
McKenna Hofschild, CSU guard — A
Speaking of the best, did you happen to catch Rams senior guard McKenna Hofschild’s stat line last weekend at Montana? The totals: 39 minutes, 36 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, six 3-pointers, 13 field-goal makes and a block.
Hofschild, who’s listed at 5-foot-2, headed into the weekend ranked 10th in nationally in points per game (22.6) and first in assists per tilt (8.8) while ranking second in the country, again per Sports-Reference.com, in Points Produced Per Game, at 25.5. No. 1? Iowa’s Clark.