Maddy Acorn can squeeze a nickel until Thomas Jefferson taps out.
She can juggle 18 flaming swords with one hand and drive a minivan with the other. She can tell you what day of the week Feb. 27, 2026, falls on without looking it up (it’s a Friday). She can find the best group hotel rates in about six seconds flat.
In other words, she’s a hockey mom. She’s got superpowers that would put a radioactive spider to shame.
On Sunday at Magness Arena, this hockey mom, who routinely leaps tall buildings with a single bound, tipped a grateful helmet to the Avalanche and DU Pioneers.
“Living in Colorado, we’re so far removed just location-wise from everything that when you play outside of (certain) leagues, you have to travel, no matter what level you’re playing,” Acorn, co-founder of the Young Kings Colorado youth hockey program, told me during the first-ever Avs-DU alumni hockey game.
“And so that’s definitely the biggest cost for families and kind of a deterrent, I would say, is the amount we spend in travel costs.”
Some drives are worth it, mind you. Maddy and husband, Rick, happily made the trek up from Parker to watch Peter Forsberg, Andrew Cogliano, Darren Helm and Dan Hinote fire pucks at Matty Davis for two hours.
The old Avs rallied to tie the DU alums in regulation, 7-7, with the Pios prevailing with an overtime shootout victory. But the real winners at Magness Sunday were the hockey moms in the crowd. And the awestruck kids who tagged along.
The Acorns brought 31 up to the alumni game. Young Kings sold more than 150 tickets, of which the Avs and Pios will kick back 10% from those sales back to the youth club itself. More than 13 local youth hockey clubs in the metro got the same deal.
“Which is huge for a small program like us,” Acorn said.
Because of the Avs and Pios, the Young Kings should be able to afford extra ice for this upcoming season. The Kings currently field two teams for kids from 6-10 years old. They had some skin in Sunday’s game, of course. One of their coaches is Kyle Ostrow, the Pios’ captain in 2010-11.
Ryker Wellman, 8, was waving a picture of Ostrow’s head on a stick at the start of the game. Ryker’s a defenseman with the Young Kings. You’ll never guess his favorite player.
“Cale Makar,” Wellman gushed. “Because he plays my position. And how he moves the puck.”
“Is it like you move it?” I asked.
“It’s close,” he said.
Maddy nodded.
“I think he has a little Cale in him,” Maddy said. “He’s a little bit more of a stay-at-home defenseman, but he has spurts of skating with the puck. He’s a great kid, a great little D-man. But you know how it is: Every kid loves Cale Makar. Everybody loves Cale Makar. I love Cale Makar.”
Someday, at one of these alumni games, he might love Maddy right back.
“This is amazing!” Ryker said with a grin. “It’s amazing.”
Young Kings players Ryker Wellman (left) and Mikey Jend cheer for their coach Kyle Ostrow (19) of the DU Pioneers during the second period of an exhibition game against the Colorado Avalanche at Magness Arena on Sunday, Aug., 24, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
It’s amazing Mark Rycroft didn’t need more oxygen after two periods.
But what a hoot. In the tunnel before the game, current Avs grinder and DU alum Logan O’Connor, in street clothes, wasn’t sure which team he wanted to play for. Avs captain Gabe Landeskog and defenseman Devon Toews even turned up to wish the old guard well.
“(Gabe) looks great right from the end of the year, the way he played (in the) playoffs. I think everybody was surprised how well he did, even himself,” Avs president of hockey operations Joe Sakic said before the game. “Instead of worrying about rehabbing this summer, for him to come and just train the way he’s trained all his life to get ready for a season. It’s going to be great to have him back. His leadership and what he does on the ice is really important. You can tell we missed him.”
Meanwhile, Rycroft and John-Michael Liles made like Laurel and Hardy on the Avs bench, even getting caught canoodling when the “Coldplay Cam” swung their way early in the second period.
Liles scored on Davis, now with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, halfway through the second stanza to bring the Avs alums to within 4-2. He found the back of the net again in the third period to tie things up at 7-7.
“It’s great because this is what you miss,” Sakic said. “You don’t really get that until you all get back together. Everybody’s got their own lives now. When you have an opportunity, just for a weekend, to have everybody get back together, you have a lot of fun, you have a lot of good laughs, a lot of memories. Really, it’s like you’ve never left the team.”
Their hamstrings said otherwise. But anything for a good cause, right? Over the last three years, the Avs’ Alumni Association has raised about $900,000 for youth hockey locally and contributed to more than $55,000 in scholarships.
Ryker said it best, didn’t he? Amazing.
“To see that part of (hockey) growing everywhere, especially in Colorado,” Avs alum Pierre Turgeon mused, “is a beautiful thing.”
Even more beautiful? They’re planning on doing this again next year.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Acorn said, “to see two big organizations and very successful organizations within the hockey world giving back to the youth, because it’s so important. That’s the only way we can grow the game here.”
Max Lacroix (33) of the Colorado Avalanche gives up a goal on a shot by Drew Shore (15) of the DU Pioneers during the first period of an exhibition game at Magness Arena on Sunday, Aug., 24, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Originally Published: August 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM MDT