College players typically make their biggest improvements from their freshmen to sophomore seasons. Taking that into account, as well as the fact defensemen typically take a bit longer to round out their games, and this bodes particularly well for Denver when it comes to talented sophomore blue liner Michael Davies. Davies’ 17 points last season were second only to Hobey Baker Will Butcher among Pioneers defensemen, and his instincts and ability to play in all situations proved valuable for the national champions. Davies and his teammates are back in action this weekend, opening the 2017-18 regular season with No. 1 Denver at No. 4 Notre Dame in a rematch of their Frozen Four semifinal win.

Davies proved as skilled at fielding questions from Magness Mayhem as he is at defending, starting the DU breakout and running a power play. A special thanks to our friends at Kostoff and Co., whose enthusiastic support of DU hockey helps make Magness Mayhem and features like this possible.

How did you spend your summer?

I spent a lot of it here, actually, training with Shawsy (strength and conditioning coach Matt Shaw). Then I was back in St. Louis for a little bit, but mostly just training and hanging out with the guys who stayed here.

St. Louis has turned into a big hockey hotbed, why is that? Your cohort from there is pretty impressive.

I think it’s mostly because of the coaches that came back. There’s a lot of ex-NHLers like Keith Tkachuk and (Al) MacInnes and Jeff Brown. A lot of those guys came back after they were done with their pro careers and settled down. Having great coaching like that obviously is going to create a lot of good players.

What’s the breakfast of champions?

I like an omelet – I got pretty good at making omelets over the summer – and oatmeal and blueberry smoothie.

Is there one person who has the DJ skills or at least controls the music in the room?

Yeah, now we’ve got Devin Cooley, our new goalie, he’s our DJ.

What does the music trend toward with him?

He’s a big EDM guy (that’s electronic dance music for those of us born before 1980). I’ve never been big into it, but he’s changed some hearts.

Did you have a favorite player growing up?

I did, Keith Tkachuk. He was my coach growing up but I always looked up to him. He’s a forward, but I looked up to him and loved how he played.

When you’re at practice is there anyone on the team that you have to defend whose skill makes you think, “Wow.”?

Yeah, (Henrik) Borgstrom’s incredible. You guys all saw it on the ice but every day at practice he does something that’s like wow.

Is there a Pioneer that would make a good President?

That’s a tough one. Maybe Troy Terry. Captain America. He’s real patriotic. Maybe he could take over that role pretty well.

Do you have a favorite road trip in the NCHC?

North Dakota. It’s an incredible place. It sucks in a way because their fans are so crazy but it’s cool. It’s like playing in an NHL rink almost.

What do you like to do to relax?

Play a little NHL 18 with the boys or some Xbox in general.

Were you sad the Rams left St. Louis?

No, I didn’t care. I was never really a fan.

What’s the best Halloween costume you’ve ever seen?

I don’t know. That’s tough. I think (Liam) Finlay was Jarid Lukosevicious; that was a pretty good one.

If Monty was a superhero, who would he be?

That’s a tough one. I’m not really good with my superheroes. I think he would be Batman. You can never see Batman’s hair.

Not the array of gadgets Batman has?

No.