Colorado Avalanche Complete Back-to-Back with a Visit to Minnesota

The Colorado Avalanche will finish the second game of their back-to-back by traveling to Minnesota to face the Wild.

After the Ottawa Senators game at home, which saw the polarizing return of Matt Duchene, the Colorado Avalanche headed out to play the Minnesota Wild in the second game of a back-to-back.

The Avalanche are coming off an exhilarating win that saw them start out sleepy but go on to run the Senators into the ground. Their four unanswered goals sealed a 6-3 victory.

The Wild are coming off a 4-1 victory over the LA Kings, which is annoying. It’s further annoying that they haven’t played since Thursday while the Avalanche played last night. And the Wild were in Minnesota while the Avalanche had to travel from Colorado after last night’s Senator’s game.

No excuses, though. Back-to-back games are common in the NHL, including ones with travel.

Anyway, the two teams have met once already this year, on the Avalanche’s opening night. That game was not annoying as the Avalanche skated to a 4-1 victory.

The last time the Avs were at the Xcel Energy Center, they beat the Wild 5-1. Also not annoying.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: October 27, 6:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Alt, FS-N (Wild feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (FM 92.5)

Ryan Suter’s Longevity

Ryan Suter is annoying — he’s been around a long time. Tonight marks his 1,000th game, and of course the Minnesota Wild are going to raise a banner in honor of this momentous occasion. Ok, they might not raise a banner, but they are planning “a special pregame ceremony.” Yeah, they’re so raising a banner.

Suter and 1,000 games. It would take him around 12 years of playing all the games and the scant few playoff games the Wild manage to get to game 2,000. That doesn’t take him to the end of his contract.

You know who else skated in his 1,000th game while wearing the Wild’s Christmas tree reject jerseys? Matt Cooke. Yeah. 😒 Discovering annoying facts like this one is why I really should stay off the Minny website even when I need to conduct research for these posts.

On the flip side, thanks to my visit, I got a good, belly-aching laugh:

I haven’t laughed so hard since Tyson Jost snuggled with Colin Wilson then leapt onto Mikko Rantanen because he couldn’t handle Sam Girard’s aria:

Keeping up the Road Identity

Ok, let’s get back to a bit of serious hockey before finishing up the post with a couple jokes. Back-to-back game aside, tonight is also a road game for the Colorado Avalanche.

Last season, the Avs struggled to find their road identity. Their dominance at home masked this lack, but it was a definite deficit in their play.

This season, we worried that the same might happened. They played sloppy hockey in Columbus and fell to the Blue Jackets 5-2. They bounced back with a decisive 6-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

The real telltale moments came in their longer road trip, the one that took them to the East Coast. They took seven of the eight points available. Their only loss came in the shootout against the New York Rangers.

Sure, we saw some mismanagement of the game both from the coaching and the players. However, there was a resiliency that may be the defining characteristic of Colorado’s road identity.

Ok, seriousness aside. On to the jokes — feel free to tell them to any Minny fan you see.

Fun Sports Jokes against the Wild

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Joke 1:

An Avalanche fan, Blues fan and Wild fan are climbing a 14er here in Colorado. As they’re climbing, the three are arguing about who is the biggest fan.

As they near the top, the Blues fan declares “I’m the biggest fan! This is for the Blues!” And he jumps off the mountain.

The Avs and Wild fans look at each other. The Avs fan clears his throat and declares, “I’m the biggest fan! This is for the Avs!” And he pushes the Wild fan off the mountain.

😬

Joke 2:

From Jokes 4 Us

An Avalanche fan liked to amuse himself by scaring every Wild fan he saw strutting down the street in the obnoxious Christmas jersey. He would swerve his van as if to hit them, then swerve back, just missing them.

One day while driving along, he saw a priest. He pulled over and asked the priest, “Where are you going, Father?”

“I’m going to give Mass at Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception” replied the priest.

Thinking priest probably shouldn’t be walking along Colfax alone, the Avs fan invited, “Climb in, Father. I’ll give you a lift!”

The priest climbed into the passenger seat, and they continued down the road. Suddenly, the driver saw a Wild fan walking down the road, and he instinctively swerved as if to hit him. But, as usual, he swerved back onto the road just in time.

Even though he was certain that he had missed the guy, he still heard a loud thud. Not knowing where the noise came from, he glanced in his mirrors but still didn’t see anything. He then remembered the priest, and he turned to the priest and said, “Sorry Father, I almost hit that Wild fan.”

That’s OK,” replied the priest “I got him with the door.”

And just so you don’t think I’m TOO murderous…

Joke 3:

Question: What is a Minnesota Wild fan’s favorite whine?

Answer: “We can’t beat Colorado.”

That’s right, the Colorado Avalanche, living in the Wild’s heads rent-free.

After tonight, the Avalanche and Wild will meet two more times, on January 23 in Colorado and March 19 back in Minnesota.