Caught In the Avalanche

Two big questions have just been answered as the Avs have reportedly re-signed defenseman John-Michael Liles to a reported 4 year $16 million deal and defenseman Adam Foote to a two year deal (this is according to TSN). Several more players are set to become free agents (both restricted and unrestricted see: http://www.nhlnumbers.com/overview.php?team=COL&season=0809 for more info). Avs fans should hope to see a few more signings tomorrow before free agency begins and we’ll have to wait and see what happens with free agency.

One player that the Avs should not let go is Andrew Brunette. In his time with the Avalanche, Brunette has proven himself to be a valuable forward who’s not afraid to get in front of the opponents’ crease. Losing Brunette to free agency would hurt, so hopefully he will agree to a deal with the Avs.

Young forwards Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski will become restricted free agents if they don’t sign contracts. Svatos has definitely shown flashes of brilliance and is an invaluable player, but has thus far proven to be a bit injury-prone. Wolski definitely has a scoring touch, but needs to work on the physical part of his game. He needs to use his size to his advantage and if he continues to improve his game, he could be a valuable part of the future of this team.

Another big player that will become a free agent is Jose Theodore. He has already decided that he wants to test the market before making a decision. At the end of this last season, Theodore really stepped up his game and played exceptionally well. Despite his inconsistencies with the Avs earlier in his tenure, I wouldn’t have minded seeing him re-signed to a smaller contract. If Theodore decides to move on, the big problem will be who is going to step in to replace his position. Peter Budaj has been a strong goalie for the Avs, but has not played consistently strong enough to take the number one job just yet. Although with a strong defensive core in front of him, Budaj could probably become a really good goaltender.

Both of the Cody Mcs will become restricted free agents if a deal is not made before free agency begins. Cody McLeod had a pretty good rookie year with the Avs this past season, stepping in to help out when the Avs were depleted by injuries and played strong enough to keep a spot on the roster. Fans will probably not forget his octopus antics during the Detroit series when he picked up one of the slimy creatures thrown by a Wings fan and shook it before tossing it over the glass. Cody McCormick has been back and forth between the Avs and their minor team for the last few years and if re-signed would probably continue in that sort of role for the team.

Another big name set to become a free agent is Peter Forsberg. It remains to be seen whether he will even be healthy enough to lace up his skates for the 08-09 season. Forsberg is one of those players I’m torn on. When he is healthy, he still plays better than a lot of other guys in the league. However, it seems pretty unlikely that he will be healthy enough to play a lot of games and he could end up being a drain on the team. He would be taking up cap space and hurting the team if he wasn’t able to play. Ultimately it’s up to Forsberg and his doctors to decide if he should return to the league or call it quits. I would respect the choice if Forsberg chose to retire, but I also understand he has a great desire to continue playing the game he loves.

Basically in the next couple of days the picture of the 2008-2009 Avalanche team should clear up a little bit more. Right now it’s very fuzzy and only a few players are for sure staying on board. Regardless of who stays (please Joe, don’t go, not yet!) and who goes, I will be here to cheer on the Avs as they gear up for another NHL season. GO AVS!

Spoiled for Life!

Monday April 07, 2008

Joel Quenneville: Coach of the Year?!

3/12/08

I’ve recently heard a lot of talk about Q possibly being considered for the coach of the year. Um…what? I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it! I think what most people see when they suggest that is the Avs record given their extreme injury trouble this season. You don’t think our problems with injuries have been bad? What planet are you living on?! I know all teams have injuries every year, but it feels like we’ve had injuries to every key player….at the same time. Heck, at one point this season, Jose Theodore was out for a handful of games. The Avs recalled Tyler Weiman to backup Peter Budaj and Weiman was injured, causing them to call a backup to backup the backup’s backup. If that’s not ridiculous, I don’t know what is.

I am not denying that the Avs currently being in position to vie for the division lead given all the injuries they’ve had is impressive. It’s no small feat to still be in playoff contention even though at different points we’ve been missing: Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth, Paul Stastny, Brett Clark, Ian Laperriere, Marek Svatos, and Jose Theodore. Basically you’d think a team with injuries to all of those key players (which many were out at approximately the same time) would be somewhere near the bottom of the conference. That’s actually quite impressive and I guess I could see where that would make a few people think Q deserves to be coach of the year, but there needs to be a lot more taken into consideration. I think there are a lot of ways that Quenneville seriously lacks as a head coach.

For instance, just take a look at the Avalanche power play record. It has been abysmal, near the bottom of the league if not dead last. A team with stars like Sakic, Smyth, Stastny, Hejduk and Brunette should not have a last place power play. Even though not all of them were healthy all season long, the power play should still not be as bad as it is. A poor power play record cannot be blamed entirely on the coach of course, but a good portion of it can be attributed to a poor coaching job. Quenneville has the tools for an excellent power play, but he doesn’t know how to use them. The special teams last year were not fantastic either, so coaching can certainly be pointed to for a big part of the problem.

Look at the Avs lines…on any given night any player can play on any line. I’m not even really exaggerating with that statement either. Even within a game, Quenneville likes to randomly mix up his lines. The players who start a game together very rarely finish up on the same line. Even when a line is having great success together, Q feels the need to shift things around to ‘shake things up’. Apparently he’s never heard of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. At times it feels like Q is drawing names randomly out of a hate and making his lines in that way. It’s difficult for players to develop chemistry when they’re not even keeping the same lines throughout 60 minutes of play.

Then of course we have Q’s infamous mind games. The best example of how he likes to play mind games with his players is the refusal to name a number one goaltender. Even though he had been playing Jose Theodore in virtually every game for a while, he continued to tell everyone that the team had no number one goaltender. He was juggling between Budaj and Theodore all season long until Jose happened to get hot…it was the opposite story last season. Peter Budaj got hot late last season and carried the team nearly to the playoffs. He’s also played mind games with other players. For the last two seasons, Kurt Sauer spent about half of both seasons out with little or no explanation as to why he wasn’t playing. The only reason he got to play last year was because we had some injuries on defense. Sauer has played consistently and worked hard regardless of why he was benched 50% of the time and Quenneville refused to reward his hard work until he was forced to. Q has played a lot of strange mind games with players and that is certainly not a sign of a good coach.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that the team almost played worse in the early going when everyone was healthy The team was inconsistent at best and now that things are going tough, Quenneville magically knows how to coach. It’s like he is incapable of coaching the good star players when the roster is healthy and only knows how to work with young, inexperienced players called up from the AHL. It doesn’t make any sense for a coach to be unable to work with his best players, but when they’re out of the picture due to injury, he can work wonders with the young guys. It’s good for a coach to be able to work with those players and get them to help your team win when they’re really being counted on, but you also have to be able to work with your veterans.

I don’t if Quenneville is going to actually be considered for coach of the year, but there’s been a few mentions of this possibility lately. I just can’t honestly see him being considered one of the best coaches in the NHL. Everyone seems to only take notice of his team’s record given the names on the IR, when all I can see is his many inconsistencies and flaws as a coach. So does this one big positive outweigh all of the negatives? Does Quenneville honestly deserve to be mentioned as a potential coach of the year?

Sure hockey talent runs in Paul’s family, but he could have still been a victim of the sophomore slump. Granted, we are only three games into the Avs’ season, but Paul has shown no signs of slowing down his scoring production. During the Avs opening game, Stastny netted a natural hat trick on the way to his team’s 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. In the second game, Stastny and the rest of his team were held pointless in a 4-0 loss to the Nashville Predators. The Avs’ third game of the season they faced the San Jose Sharks and Stastny led his team with a goal and four assists in a 6-2 victory.

The young forward not only leads his team in goals and points, but he leads the entire National Hockey League at this point. Although he is in a 5-way tie with Mike Comrie, Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Cammalleri and Daymond Langkow with 4 goals to lead the league, he stands alone in the points category with his 8 points in three games.

So going to last night’s game, I thought it would be sad and depressing and that the crowd would not really be into the game. At first, it seemed like that was going to be true. There were a lot of empty seats in the Pepsi Center and the crowd was fairly quiet. Even though the Flames had scratched most of their stars, the Avs were struggling a bit at first.

But as the game wore on, the fans got into the game more. The teams pretty much traded goal for goal until the third period when the Avs finally took over. When Dion Phaneuf totally smashed Tyler Arnason (causing his helmet to fly off!) the crowd erupted as Ian Laperriere would not stand for that. The Pepsi Center was so alive and loud as Lappy actually beat up Phaneuf pretty good. The cheers went on for a good 3 minutes straight; no one was in their seat for a while after the fight.

I know I cheered my heart out as the time wound down on the clock. Even though they were eliminated, the Avs did not quit. I was sad because the season was over, but I was proud of how well they played the last month and a half. When the clock finally wound down the Avs all poured onto the ice to congratulate Theodore and one another on the victory. Then as they started to skate off towards the bench, at the same time, they all turned out to the crowd and raised their sticks and pointed and said thanks. Ossi Vaananen even skated to the glass and gave his stick to a fan. I was so surprised and touched by the team turning and thanking us fans that it actually brought tears to my eyes.

Now instead of being horribly depressed that the season is over, I am grateful. I am lucky to be a fan of a team that is so appreciative and good to their fans. I have met most of the players in person and I can tell you that most of them are the nicest people. It is certainly disappointing that this is the first time in Avs history that they didn’t make the playoffs. I’m just not as upset as I thought I might be.

After the game, our friends wanted to wait and see if they could get any autographs, so we waited with them. A few of the players stopped to sign and I got a chance to talk to Peter Budaj. I congratulated him on a fantastic season and he said that the whole team was great and then, I’ll never forget this, he looks me in the eye and says, “Thank you so much for supporting us.” I guess I find it funny that here I was trying to thank him and compliment him and he ended up thanking me.

It will be hard to watch the playoffs and I haven’t yet decided if I am going to “adopt” a team to root for. This will be the longest off-season Avs fans and players have ever had, but before we know it September will roll around and we’ll be at it again. I appreciate the thank you the players gave us fans and I would like to thank them with all my heart for a wonderful season and a bunch of great memories.

Also, I would to thank all of my new hockey friends, all the people who visit my site and I hope to see you all around next year!

1/30/07

The NHL’s new advertising campaign post lockout is this “My NHL” thing that I’m sure as hockey fans we’ve all seen commercials for. The idea is nice, that they want to focus on the fans and make us feel like it’s “our” league. Too bad they’re not following through. They created a Fan Face-Off Panel and monthly poll fans around the league on various topics concerning the NHL to get a general idea of what we want. It’s a nice idea, but clearly they don’t take our words to heart.

The resounding result from their poll about the schedule was that fans wanted it to be changed. We’re all sick of seeing the same four damn teams all the time. Granted, they fixed it up a little more this year, but just last week they announced next year’s schedule will be the same type of schedule as this year. The board of governors voted 19-11 to change the scheduling, but because it was not 2/3 majority, the minority rule.

The problem here is the east coast. Those teams are all very close together, especially up in the northeastern portion of the United States. Because lazy teams like New York (Rangers and Islanders), Buffalo, Washington, Philadelphia and the others up in that region had the gall to whine about traveling and voted no, the schedule will not be any better. These poor souls in the northeastern US are used to riding buses to games and sleeping in their own beds almost every night, so the idea of traveling to California and staying in a *gasp* hotel is just awful to them. They claim the extra travel would make them tired. Oh, poor rich athletes in the prime of their life, sitting on a plane is just ever so hard.

Meanwhile, teams in the west just suffer through. Because the western states are actually big and teams are spread out, the teams out here HAVE to travel by plane (except maybe when Anaheim and LA play one another). Yet these players in the western conference do not bitch about how hard it is to fly on airplanes and sleep in hotels frequently. Of course it’s harder to be away from your family and sleep in strange beds, but at the amount of money these athletes are paid, they can deal. And the teams out west do!

To the 19 teams who voted to change the schedule: thanks. You are aware that it sucks to play the same guys ALL the damn time and a little extra travel is worth it to see some different cities. You are aware that we fans get sick of seeing the same teams too. We get to see these players that the NHL is so big on pushing their greatness in the east once every 3 years.

Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are supposed to be drawing in more fans because of their talents, but do we out here in the west get to see them? Nope, except once every three years. And the east’s take on that? Oh well, too damn bad for us. Yet if you look back in the days when Wayne Gretzky was in the league out here in the west, he played in every NHL city twice a season. Had he not played in the east, you bet those people out east would have bitched and moaned, but now that the tables are turned and they have these stars, it’s our fault we’re too far away.

Dallas is one of the teams that suffers the most from the extensive in-division play. They are somehow stuck in the pacific division (though anyone looking at a map can tell, Texas is NOT near the pacific coast) with Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles and Phoenix. As a team in the central time zone, they play teams who are in the pacific time zone, a two hour difference. Because Dallas is the odd team out, they must play games at times that are late to them, but more convenient to the teams from the pacific time zone. They have to travel pretty far just to play in division games, and I’m sure they feel like they’re getting the short end of the deal here. It would make more sense if Dallas and Vancouver switched divisions as Vancouver is also way out there in the pacific, but that’s another story entirely.

Perhaps the two years of extensive play without a lot of travel has made the east a bunch of lazy ingrates (and I’m sure this does not apply to them all, I’m just generalizing, I know, it’s for the sake of argument). They got so used to sleeping at home every night that the thought of having to sleep in hotels and fly on planes seems barbaric to them. Meanwhile, they neglect to notice (or care as the case may be) that the western conference teams are forced to do this. They don’t have the option of hopping on a bus to head out to their opponent and then come home to sleep in their own beds at night. Must be nice for those states in the northeast that are really close together, that’s an unfair advantage that the western states just don’t have.

Canada will suffer from this idiotic schedule too. Next season, the Northwest (home of Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver) will not meet the Northeast (home of Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal) once! Well, there goes hockey day in Canada. Canada only has 6 NHL teams to the United States’ 24. It’s a big deal there when their six teams meet. Now this upcoming season they won’t get to see all their teams compete. Granted, the northwest teams will play each other and the northeast teams will play each other, but the two divisions will not meet. I’m sorry, but that is ridiculous.

So the NHL claims to want to make all these changes and be more fan friendly, but they’re doing just the opposite. They are ignoring what the fans and even the teams want in favor of the minority. That’s not a great system. I think while they want to be pulling us closer and boosting themselves up on that list of most watched sports, they’re actually shooting themselves in the foot. Don’t they realize the marketing mistake they are making by pushing Crosby and Ovechkin and then keeping them exclusively in the east?

My new take on “My NHL” is that that if they don’t really care what I want, why should I care about their sport? I still love hockey of course, I love the Avs especially, but frankly, I can get hockey elsewhere that is actually geared towards what the fans want. I’m starting to be turned off by the NHL and if enough of us get to the point where we don’t like their product anymore, they’ll implode. Loyal NHL fans will only take so much crap before we realize that maybe our time and money could be spent elsewhere.

Disclaimer: To anyone from the east coast, no offense to you is intended. I’m just very frustrated with the way the scheduling is right now and when I was listening to XM radio talk about this, the problem was clearly the teams in the east that don’t want to travel. Also as a lot of the information in this is based on a satellite  radio show, I can't give  you a text source. Also this is mostly my opinion and sarcasm, so  you are free to take it however you want.

Well let me be the first to say, gee I hope not! Now wait, before you are up in arms, please hear me out. When Peter Forsberg played for the Colorado Avalanche, I really liked him as a player. He is undoubtedly a talented hockey player and when he’s healthy he is a leader and an asset to any team.

There’s the big kicker. When he’s healthy. Unfortunately he is not healthy often enough. In his 12 year NHL career, he has had one full 82 game season. That was way back in 1995-1996 when the Avs first came to Colorado. That was also his highest scoring season ever. When he does play, he does bring a whole different scoring danger to the ice. Even when he’s not 100%, opposing goalies must be on the watch.

Forsberg is still plagued by the ankle/foot problems that he had when last he skated in an Avalanche jersey. I think in his heart he still wants to play the game he is passionate about, but I fear he will have to retire for health reasons sooner than he’d like. Taking on Forsberg’s contract would be a major liability. Putting aside other considerations for a moment, it would be ridiculous to pay a lot of money to a player who won’t be able to play a full season.

Now there’s the whole money issue. With Forsberg’s current contract, the Avs would have to do some serious spring cleaning on their roster to be able to afford him. I think the Avs would regret bringing Forsberg back at the expense of the future. To get him back, they might have to give up some of their young players, which would be a terrible idea. The Avs need not worry about the present and hope to bring Forsberg in for a Cup run this year. They need to worry more about the future. Even if Forsberg comes in now, he would have a limited number of years left before retirement assuming injuries don’t force him out now.

So if reacquiring Forsberg comes at the expense of players like Liles, Svatos, Stastny, Wolski and some of our promising prospects, I would say no thank you. Of course, the Avs trades are not up to me, but I hope they think of the future while considering Forsberg.

Another major monetary obstacle to Forsberg is Jose Theodore. I’m sorry, but no one would be dumb enough to take Jose’s ridiculously high salary for the way he’s been playing for the Avs. In the day and age of caps, no team can afford to overpay a mediocre player. If there was a way to get rid of Jose and perhaps Patrice Brisebois who is frankly making more money than he’s worth and then acquire Forsberg without losing a bunch of younger guys, then I’d say welcome back. But if Forsberg returns to Colorado at the expense of our future, I think I will just end up resenting him.

Of course right now it is only a rumor and we don’t know if the Avs would be interested in him. There’s no telling for sure that he would be a good fit under our salary cap. We’ll have to wait and see as the trade deadline approaches in February. For now, I’m going to hope that no one makes any rash decisions under nostalgic feelings. Forsberg is not a young, healthy hockey player any more. He’s a 30+ year old guy who seems to get injured if you look at him wrong. 

Note: This rumor has been flat out denied by Flyers officials, but I still feel that if he DID want to come back, these are the reasons we should say no thanks.

I went to yet another Avalanche game where I was disappointed by my fellow hockey fans. Once again the crowd had a pretty pathetic showing (with quite a few blocks of empty seats all throughout the arena). Those that were physically present didn’t really “show up” for the game. They sat back and stayed quiet throughout the majority of the game. At times it felt more like the crowd was silently watching a golf game rather than an NHL divisional rivalry game. Granted, the Avs were down by 4 goals and didn’t play the greatest game, but even when they were still in the game, the fans didn’t seem to care.

The fans are also still boo-happy. It seems as if they discovered the miraculous notion of booing when Todd Bertuzzi first played at Pepsi Center after the infamous incident and haven’t been able to stop using it since. There were not many boos during the pre-game intro of Jose and Patrice, perhaps because the fans knew neither was playing. They usually seem to get booed when they are announced (like last week when Jose was a starter, he was booed).

However, when Peter Budaj allowed the fifth goal and got pulled, fans booed Jose Theodore onto the ice. It really bothers me when fans boo their own players, especially when Jose hadn’t done anything to warrant the boos. I know fans love Budaj, but he wasn’t having the best game and it was a decision Joel Quenneville made. It’s not like Theodore personally kicked Peter out of the game.

In another classless move, a few fans decided it would be a good idea to hurl some things towards the ice when Jose was put into the game. Fortunately for them, their aim was off. One fan threw his cup full of pop towards the ice, but it fell short and splattered the poor souls seated just behind the penalty box and sprayed the glass. Another idiot threw the rolled up t-shirt that they had caught during the game and nailed a couple of the players on the Calgary bench.

The on-ice officials didn’t notice the objects that were being thrown as none made it to the ice and fortunately got the game going again. Once play resumed the fans didn’t get out of control and no one else threw anything towards the ice. I enjoy going to Avs games because they’re my favorite team, but I don’t know if I want to go to games anymore with the way my fellow “Avs fans” act. Some of the things they’re doing are pretty classless. I know there are still good, true Avs fans out there and I wish that those individuals with poor taste would not ruin it for the rest of us.

12-28-06

Last night’s Avalanche game is the first game I have attended since having gone to several Colorado Eagles games. I never thought I’d find myself saying so, but I think Avs games are pretty boring, at least as far as the crowd is concerned. In comparison to the atmosphere at an Eagles game that is. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the Avs and enjoy attending games, but it just can’t compare. The crowd is nowhere near as into the games as Eagles fans are. At times, the Pepsi Center is dead silent for several minutes during games. If not for the players making noise, you would literally be able to hear crickets. Another major problem that I had was that the Avs no longer use Rock and Roll Part II after each goal. It just didn't seem to score and not throw your first up in the air with the "hey"s in that song.

The crowd was a bit disappointing at a few different moments too. When Patrice Brisebois was announced as one of the starters, Avs fans all throughout the crowd booed. I understand that a lot of fans do not like Breezy, but come on, that’s not cool to boo your own player. They also booed Jose Theodore after he allowed goals. I was very frustrated with his play, but again it’s not right to be booing your own player.

I'll admit, I was completely relieved when they pulled Theo because he was just off all night. He was out of position a lot of times and he let in some soft goals. When Peter Budaj jumped off the bench, the fans were cheering like I have not heard in that building in quite a while. This is pretty sad that it takes a goaltender being pulled for the fans to be that happy.

Theodore skates to the bench as Budaj prepares to go in

Budaj came in and gave a great performance, not allowing any goals for the remainder of the game, although he only faced about 5 shots. It was interesting to watch him though because he remains totally focused during the game, even when there are TV breaks. Perhaps it was because he was playing in relief and hadn’t had time to warm up, but he continued to get down on the ice and stretch out after plays.

Wojtek Wolski had a great game once again. The young forward continues to impress. He had a nice goal tonight, knocking in his own rebound after working hard to get up the ice with the puck. He also set up a nice play where he ultimately assisted Joe Sakic’s goal. Wolski is such a well-disciplined player that his third period tripping penalty was his first penalty of the season!

The birthday boy had a nice game as well. Paul Stastny came away with one assist on his 21^st birthday and had a pretty strong game. The way he goes into the corner and physically works for the puck is impressive. He doesn’t give up and let opponents get away easily. He works hard to get the puck free and carry it up the ice.

Despite the loss, it was not a bad game. The Avs kept at it, even after they were down, putting lots of shots on Marty Turco. It was disappointing for them to lose, but perhaps it was partly due to having so much time off the last week. The guys were away from the game for a long time due to the snow and then Christmas break. Perhaps they were just out of their groove. The bad news is, we’re supposed to be hit by another blizzard, so they could end up with even more time off potentially. St. Louis is supposed to play here Friday and we’re supposed to play there Saturday and at this point it’s hard to say whether either game will happen.

 
Video: I was taking videos while the Avs were on the power play and managed to catch John-Michael Liles’ power play goal. I know it’s not the highest quality, thanks to YouTube. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVafM37pdjw

Colorado is under a state of emergency and travel is being discouraged if not necessary. The highways in Colorado were closed from Cheyenne, Wyoming all the way down through Denver and into New Mexico. Highways are also shut down east and west of Denver. Only late Thursday afternoon did much of the highway system reopen. There is so much snow out there that even the United States Postal Service is not delivering mail today despite their famous motto of the weather not stopping them. As a result, they are potentially going to be open on Sunday, Christmas Eve to help catch up delivering mail.

There is no way that the Calgary Flames would have been able to make it to Denver had they not landed before the storm started. There’s at least 2 feet of snow on the ground in most parts of the Denver metro area and because of the wind, there’s drifts up to 4 and 5 feet deep in a lot of places. So even though the Avalanche players are probably all at their own homes in the Denver area right now, they’re probably not getting out of their neighborhoods either. In my neighborhood, the plows went down the center of the street once, pretty much blocking in all the driveways with a mountain of hard packed snow. 

In March of 2003, a blizzard that dumped nearly 4 feet of snow on Denver and the surrounding metropolitan areas caused the postponement of an Avalanche game. The storm was not as bad in the southern part of the state that year and the San Jose Sharks landed in Colorado Springs and made the long bus journey up to Denver the day after the originally scheduled date of the game. As a result, the San Jose Sharks had volunteered to play 3 games in 3 days to make up the blizzard-delayed game.

As the NHL and Colorado Avalanche have made the official statement that the game for tonight will not be happening, all that remains is rescheduling the game. The decision to cancel it was obviously not a tough one to make it as it would be unsafe for the players, fans and employees of the Pepsi Center to try and travel tonight. The major interstates have mostly reopened, but travel is still discouraged unless it is necessary. After a day of digging out, Denver should be returning more to normal. The roads should be cleared although perhaps a bit icy.

There’s no telling whether or not the game will be rescheduled within the next few days. The Avs have one more game on Saturday before their Christmas break. After the game on Saturday the Avs have no games until Wednesday. It’s up to the NHL to decide whether the game will happen tomorrow or be completely rescheduled to another date in 2007. At this point, we just have to wait and see. And for those of in Denver…we will be waiting because this snow looks like it could be staying for the long haul.

By: Grathicka26
11-25-06

Wolski

The Avalanche coaching staff worked extra with Wojtek Wolski on and off the ice last Tuesday. The young forward was skated hard during the on ice practice and worked on receiving passes going into the offensive zone. Later, the coaches sat Wolski down and showed him tapes of areas where he needed to work on his play. Then to really hit home for the young guy, he was a healthy scratch during the Avs shootout victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

After a hot start to the season, Wolski had not been performing offensively in the last six games. So to really send their message to Wolski and show him that he just needs to refocus on the game, he was reduced to only watching the Avs defeat Anaheim. Wolski received the message quite clearly from the coaches and took the uneasy feeling sitting out gave him and put his all into tonight’s victory over the Canucks.

Wolski put in a great performance all over the ice tonight. He assisted on three goals and scored the other one himself. He showed great patience on waiting to make the perfectly timed pass to Mark Rycroft to start out the scoring. Then he had another great pass to Paul Stastny to help put the Avs up 2-0 in the first period. Then on a power play in the third period, Patrice Brisebois took a hard shot from the point and Wolski tipped it in past Roberto Luongo. Then with about 35 seconds remaining in the game and a 3-1 lead, Wolski set up a nice pass from behind the net and Clark drilled it home to give the Avs their 4-1 victory.

Of course, it didn’t end there for the young forward; he was a physical presence on the ice tonight as well. He was not afraid to throw his weight around and he actually stole the puck by checking the Canucks players off it a few times. As if that was not enough, his good play was contagious as fellow line mate and rookie Paul Stastny also had a great night with a goal and two assists. Stastny also showed his presence all over the ice, proving his own strength in being able to take a check and stay on his feet. Patrice Brisebois, who Avs fans constantly complain about and ridicule, was also playing pretty well tonight. He got the assist for the goal Wolski tipped in and was a +2 for the night.

Stastny

Jose Theodore also put in one hell of a performance. It started with the game in Anaheim, aside from a brief moment of weakness from the team; they stayed strong and kept with the Ducks. Theodore was really on his game tonight, moving quickly from side to side and always managing to be in good position. The one shot that beat him may or may not have been tipped, but just seemed to surprise him. However, Theo and the rest of the team remained strong even after allowing the score to be 2-1. The media picked Wolski, Stastny and Theodore as the three stars of the game and they all deserved it. There was a great team effort tonight, but the line of Wolski, Stastny and Rycroft really got it done. And of course Jose Theodore continued his streak of wins against the Canucks this season; so far he is 3-0 against the Avs’ division rivals.

Theo

After a period of overall struggle by the Avs, things seem to be on the rebound. If the last two games are any indicator of the future, things are looking up for this fairly young team. The key now is for them to maintain their efforts and continue to play entire games. The main thing that plagued them before was falling asleep for a period or so. That’s what was causing them to lose games, aside from the offensive and defensive breakdowns. Now things are coming together and hopefully they will stay together. At any rate, it would seem that not only Wolski received the message that things needed to pick up as Stastny also stepped up his play.

Sidenote: After attending two practices this last week, I came to the conclusion that Jordan Leopold had to be close to returning because he was skating hard and doing drills with the team. Now, to confirm my suspicions, the media has confirmed that Leopold is set to make his Avalanche debut either this upcoming Thursday or Saturday. Also, Pierre Turgeon has been skating with the team and looks to be coming closer to a return although there is no official word on that yet.

By: Grathicka26
11-25-06

These days, I’d be willing to bet that a lot of people are not completely satisfied with their jobs. In fact, there are probably quite a few people out there who downright hate their careers. I know of one group of people, who despite having struggles, seem to truly enjoy their jobs. It’s possible that I misjudged the situation too, but by all appearances, this group of people is having a good time at work.

I’m talking about the Colorado Avalanche players. I went to two separate practices this week, one on Tuesday after the Avs had lost to Dallas and one yesterday, Friday, after the Avs beat Anaheim in a shootout. The two practices had completely different atmospheres. One was pretty loose and fun and the other was a bit more serious with more focus on skating and drills. You might be surprised to find that the more fun and loose practice was on Tuesday after the team had lost their last game.

The Tuesday practice had a light-hearted feel to it and the players genuinely looked like they were having fun. They ran some real drills, but mostly it was the guys just kind of messing around and doing whatever they wanted to individual. For example, at one point Karlis Skrastins decided he was going to shoot pucks at the ceiling…for no apparent reason. Then he and Ossi Vaananen passed the puck back and forth a bit until John-Michael Liles decided to jump in the middle. Then, since Liles is much shorter than Ossi, he purposely shot the puck way up in the air over Liles’ head and teased him about being so short.

Most of the practice Joe Sakic and Andrew Brunette followed each other around laughing at all sorts of things.  At one point they were standing in the corner during a drill with Liles, Skrastins, Lappy and some other players. A puck from the drill they were watching hit the crossbar and flew straight at this group of players and hit the glass a few inches above their heads. Most of them ducked a little, but Karlis Skrastins really flinched and ducked and stayed down longer than the rest and they all had a good laugh over that.

Yesterday’s practice after the Avs had a day off for Thanksgiving was more organized and structured. They did a lot more skating conditioning and structured drills. The players still had time to laugh and joke around a little, but there was definitely a more serious practice. At any rate, it became apparent when at the end of practice, several of the players’ kids came out onto the ice to play that these guys really loved their jobs.

Where else could you joke around and play with your kids all while at work? Not a lot of places. So while some people are not too thrilled with their jobs, there are some people out there who love their jobs and go out there every day to have fun. Not that they don’t like to win here and there. It’s just sort of funny that they had more fun after a game they lost than after a game they won, beating the top team in the west, no less.