Mile High Sticking
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A Live Look at the Colorado Avalanche

By Jeremy Lambert

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Living in North Carolina, I only get to see the Colorado Avalanche live once a year. And every year since 2008, they’ve lost in Raleigh. This year was no different.

Sitting against the glass on the side where the Avs shoot twice, I saw what I’ve seen all season on television: a mediocre hockey team.

The Carolina Hurricanes worked the Avs for 60 minutes. Calvin Pickard was the only reason the game was 2-2 after regulation. He constantly bailed out blown coverages and terrible turnovers with great saves. Even the usually reliable Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie had poor games, constantly trying to do too much with the puck in their own zone and eventually coughing it up. The Avs found themselves down 2-0 after the second period, but managed to tie the game in the third thanks to goals by John Mitchell and Matt Duchene.

Even the goals didn’t really seem to ignite the team as the Hurricanes were the better team in the third despite blowing the two-goal lead.

Brad Stuart in particular was terrible. It seemed like he was falling down on the ice every time the puck was near him. In fact, he could be seen lying on the ice on the Canes first goal as Jordan Staal just muscled around him before scoring.

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The Avalanche simply got out-worked by the second worst team in the league entering the night. It was quite pathetic and I really felt embarrassed to be wearing my Avalanche jersey in front of a weak Hurricanes crowd that was laughing at the effort of the Avs. The sad thing is, I couldn’t say anything because they weren’t wrong.

We all know that the Avs defense gives up far too many shots, but to give up nearly 50 shots to the Hurricanes is just inexcusable. I don’t care that they played the night before. They lost the night before trying to play a 20-minute game. They should’ve been hungry to play 60-minutes against an inferior team following their effort against the Washington Capitals.

This is not a playoff team. Fans were given a little bit of hope following a 7-3-2 stretch, but all that did was put them a couple games over .500. This game proved that the playoffs are a long shot as they have the same problems that they’ve had since the season started. The puck isn’t going in, and the defense can’t stop anyone. The goalies have done a good job all year keeping the team in games, but they can only do so much.

A trade isn’t going to help this team. Ryan O’Reilly hasn’t played well for most of the year, but trading him for defensive help isn’t going to magically solve all their problems. I wrote earlier this year that I think Patrick Roy’s man-to-man defense is the biggest part of the problem, and his constant line switching certainly isn’t helping things either.

I actually liked the line combinations that Roy ended the game with, finally stacking his top two lines with his six best players instead of splitting them up among three lines. Maybe these lines will stay together for more than two periods.

I’m a sports pessimist by nature. I never believe things will go right until they do. And then I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. If you’re an optimistic Avalanche fan right now, God bless you. I wish I had your faith. All I see right now is an average hockey team who will win some games and maybe get hot, but then lose games that they shouldn’t and go cold. It’s no longer early in a long season. We have 44 games of evidence that the Avs are average. It’s not “bad luck” that the Avs always seem to hit the post. It’s just how this season is. When you don’t work hard, the puck doesn’t reward you. Maybe the goalies should shoot the puck because as hard as they’ve had to work in games, the puck will probably find its way into the back of the opposing net.

One day the Avs will win in Raleigh, and they’ll give me something to celebrate in person. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait at least another year for that.

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