Archive for December, 2009

Once again, the Colorado Avalanche are up against their historic rivals, the Detroit Red Wings. Though they’ve faced each other many times in their storied history together, this might be the first time in their recent past where the Avs might actually be better on paper than their nemesis. The Avs enter tonight’s game as the 3rd seed in the Western Conference, while the Red Wings are uncharacteristically looking at the playoff picture from the outside in. They can blame injuries, ’cause they’ve been pounded. But as Avs fans heard so often the last few years, that’s no excuse for [...]

There are few back-up goaltenders in the NHL better than Peter Budaj, and he proved it once again in a 39-save effort against the Dallas Stars Saturday night. He made save after impressive save using the strengths he has always had: athleticism and positioning. It’s incredible that in one season, the Colorado Avalanche have gone from having the worst goaltending tandem in the league to one of the best. Budaj it seems is one of those special goaltenders who can be sharp, even if he is only used sparingly. Conversely, he actually seems to wear down if he is played [...]

There has been a lot of talk about the Olympics this year in Vancouver. For the Avs, it’s been one of the more intriguing story lines thus far.  Earlier this year, the Canadian team’s GM, Steve Yzerman, stated publicly that there would be a spot for Joe Sakic on the roster should he choose to continue playing. As we all know, Joe Sakic, who was the 2002 Olympic MVP, decided to hang up the skates last summer. Even still, the Olympic questions didn’t end there. With goaltender Craig Anderson being crowned the NHL Player of the Month for October, there [...]

If this game was any indication of where we stand as legitimate playoff contenders, we’ve got a loooong way to go. In one of the most dominant performances I’ve seen this season, the Washington Capitals rolled past the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday night as if Alex Ovechkin had just invented the wheel. Though we were able to keep Ovie’s shots out of the net, that’s about all we could do in a brutal 6-1 beatdown. Really not much to say about this game. The Capitals are #1 in the NHL right now for a reason. It’s certainly the most aggressive team [...]

The Colorado Avalanche are facing the high-flying Washington Capitals tonight in a matchup of a top Western Conference team against a top Eastern Conference team. The Avs will be wearing the 3rd jerseys for this home contest. Also, I’ve had some requests for it, so here’s the video of D-Bag Ballard’s hit against his own goaltender: Unintentional? Perhaps. So maybe he’s not the dirtiest player. But he’s certainly one of the dumbest.

For the third time this season, the Calgary Flames could find no answer to the youthful Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are now 3-0 against the Flames this season, all ending with the identical 3-2 score. Interesting that the Avs have the Flames’ number this season, since it seems everyone else in the division has ours. The Colorado Avalanche have reclaimed their #1 spot in the Northwest Division. The Calgary Flames still have 3 games in hand, but the Avs also play them 3 more times, so that should just cancel out, right? Kidding, but I wish we could always play [...]

After starting off slow, the Colorado Avalanche dominated the play in this game more so than I have seen them do in a long time. The only thing that kept this game from getting ridiculously out of hand was the spectacular play of Tampa Bay goaltender Antero Niitymaki. Despite consistently forcing the Lightning to play the game in their own zone and developing several scoring chances, the only thing the Avs could get past Niitymaki was a fluky shot that bounced off Wojtek Wolski in the 3rd period. Wolski, who has points in 12 of his last 14 games, also [...]

Good news for Avs fans, as Craig Anderson is making his first start in four games since he was John Lynch’d into his net by former teammate Keith Ballard. Last time we played Tampa Bay, Anderson had a shutout and Duchene had 2 goals. In other news, non-factor this season Ruslan Salei will be undergoing surgery for his lingering back injury. I’ve liked Salei since we traded Karlis “The Caveman” Skrastins for him in the “other trade” of 2008. He makes some dumb mistakes, but he’s been a physical defenseman on what had been a largely soft defense. Hopefully he [...]