While it’s the offseason for the Colorado Avalanche, the players are participating in entertaining content for social media.
As always, the Colorado Avalanche social media team continues to find ways to provide content even in the depth of the offseason.
As I noted in a previous post, two of the Avalanche’s youngsters participated in a two-day PR tour mostly aimed at promoting the outdoor game set to take place in mid-February. Cale Makar and Tyson Jost did radio interviews, Instagram stories, social work, and toured Falcon Stadium down in Colorado Springs.
To be honest, it looked like a very full day for the two youngsters. Their radio interviews on Day 1 started before 8 am, and they concluded that day with a meet-and-greet for season ticket holders in the evening. The next day, they were right back at it with the social work:
It’s 92 degrees in Denver today.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 27, 2019
“I am absolutely leaking.”
“Can you tell through my shirt?”
👀 #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/neXt4uk2vZ
And a day with the Colorado Rockies:
Thanks for having us out today, @Rockies!#VoteRox #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/2AKSG9lghN
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 28, 2019
That’s a lot. Good thing Makar and Jost are 20 and 21 respectively. Lots of stamina.
Indeed, sometime after the day at Coors Field with the Rockies, Makar and Jost returned to the Pepsi Center to record some little videos that the team social media team would then present as a series of tweets.
The name of the series is Sweet Then Sour. The premise is that Makar, the angel, would say something nice about certain teammates, and Jost, the devil, would chirp them. Ok, I’m adding the angel and devil thing. However, Makar is new, and can’t be expected to chirp his teammates. Jost, however, is infamous for his chirping.
Well, as the tweet below states, the videos didn’t go as planned:
So we had this idea: have Cale say something nice about his teammate and then Tyson say something... else.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 6, 2019
We're calling it Sweet Then Sour.
And it didn't always go as planned.#GoAvsGo https://t.co/JfxiGxbAbd
As planned, Makar easily said nice things about his new teammates. While he may be capable of hitting Vic Lombardi with a wiffleball bat, he doesn’t appear capable of saying mean things.
As it turns out, neither is Jost. When it comes to Sam Girard, Jost just laughs and says, “Sam’s my boy — I can’t chirp Sam.” The best he can come up with is, “He Facetimes me too much.”
Interesting. But not really a chirp.
Let’s see if they can do any better with Phillip Grubauer:
Sweet Then Sour: Philipp Grubauer#GoAvsGo https://t.co/D7t2REvpmA
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 6, 2019
Nope. The first words out of Jost’s mouth are, “He’s a really good goalie,” which Makar echoes. Cale also adds, “He stops a hockey puck really well.” (Cale’s compliments are almost funnier than Tyson’s chirps — Sam has a lot of friends, Grubauer stops a hockey puck really well…)
Ok, how about the man everyone on the Colorado Avalanche names as the biggest prankster, Erik Johnson. Surely they can come up with some good ones for him:
Sweet Then Sour: Erik Johnson
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 6, 2019
(Not gonna lie, we were a little nervous here...)#GoAvsGo https://t.co/2OQD1kerug
Makar made a good effort, pointing out that Johnson always makes him laugh, which he would as a jokester.
And Jost made a good foray into the chirping world, observing Johnson “has the personality of a 12-year-old.” Oh, snap, that would be a good burn if Tyson didn’t qualify it with, “But I kind of like it.”
Now, in the second week, the duo got a little better at the compliments and chirps. First up was Ryan Graves:
It's #TysonTuesday so we're back with more Sweet Then Sour videos!
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 13, 2019
First up: Ryan Graves#GoAvsGo https://t.co/pP2mTsUBqd
You know, that was actually a good one. Cale Makar observed that Graves has “good flow” and reminds him of Clark Kent. When they Colorado Avalanche released their Charity Brunch pictures and we saw Clark, er, Ryan in glasses, a lot of us had the same reaction.
Jost, for his part, finally came up with a pretty good chirp: “I kind of think he looks like a vampire.” Now, it’s true Graves has alabaster skin and dark hair, but… well, ok, we’ll give Tyson that one.
Next up, another defenseman — Ian Cole:
Sweet Then Sour: Ian Cole
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 13, 2019
(You know, @icole28 actually might have something to say about this...😳 )#GoAvsGo https://t.co/5FiRmyvRcP
Woo-hoo! They both commented on his beard. Now, Makar was appreciative of it. Jost could have gone in the exact opposite direction, but instead he remarked on how Cole thinks the beard makes him look — “like every Game of Thrones character.” Especially Tormund. Tyson doesn’t see the resemblance, claiming Landeskog looks more like Tormund.
Graves might want to lend Jost his glasses. The man himself, Ian Cole, suspects another reason:
It’s tough to say precisely why Josty doesn’t see the resemblance between my uncle Tormund and I, but I think the fact that he’s legitimately color blind might have something to do with it
— Ian Cole (@ICole28) August 13, 2019
Oh, snap, looks like Jost is more on the receiving end of chirps.
Well, we all know how much the players love their captain, Gabriel Landeskog. So, surely they’d be in agreement about complimenting Gabe:
What else is there to say about The Cap?
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 13, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: Gabe Landeskog#GoAvsGo https://t.co/Qo1moNkbzw
Oops, Cale forgot his role and started by chirping Landeskog’s hair, while Jost chirped Mikko Rantanen instead. However, they got to the sweet then sour proper — and, surprisingly, Tyson came up with a good chirp: “He’s a pretty boy.”
Ouch, Josty. He didn’t even qualify the chirp, just gave a little smug nod.
Ok, well it looks like Tyson Jost finally got on a role with chirping, and Cale Makar was in his groove, too. Let’s see what Week 3 brought.
First up is Matt Nieto. I mean, he’s from Long Beach — surely they could come up with something:
You know what #TysonTuesday means...
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 20, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: Matt Nieto#GoAvsGo https://t.co/PyCEchmbUN
Wow, nope. No California comments, no facial hair or anything. Both agree he’s just nice and laid back.
Ok, how about another Matt, Matt Calvert. He did “rock” a mullet a while back. Surely Jost will mention that:
Yes, we've accepted that Josty is bad at chirping his teammates on camera, but here we are.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 20, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: Matt Calvert#GoAvsGo https://t.co/ZbizmG1S5O
Well, Jost did call Calvert a “meat stick.” However, as both young men admit, Matt will probably like that description. (I’m going to guess “meat stick” is Canadian for “beefsteak”?)
Anyway, we’ve got one last player, Colin Wilson. Now Wilson, he’s a great guy. Really open-minded, a little on the spiritual side, but a heart-and-soul kind of player. I’m sure the boys will be in agreement on this one, too:
So it's probably a good thing that Willy doesn't have a Twitter...?
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 20, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: Colin Wilson
🤣🤣 #GoAvsGo https://t.co/88GqrqfX8k
😳Well, then. Jost finally came up with another chirp: “Colin Wilson is the biggest space cadet I’ve ever met in my life.” Yowza, that’s even worse than the Johnson and Landeskog comments.
But, of course, Tyson qualified with, “But it’s awesome.”
***UPDATED
I wasn’t sure if the Colorado Avalanche would come up with another week’s worth of Sweet Then Sour videos. Of course, they saves some of the best content for last.
First we see the duo talk about our superstar, Nathan MacKinnon:
It's the last #TysonTuesday in August, so that means our last set of these videos...
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 27, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: Nathan MacKinnon#GoAvsGo https://t.co/MdBcBsV0Wk
“Really good at hockey” is actually a chirp for MacKinnon. “The best hockey player I’ve ever played with” is just truth. Ok, “His acting career needs some work”… Maybe. Maybe not.
Next up, we have everyone’s favorite menace, Nikita Zadorov:
Well, they're not wrong...
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 27, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: Nikita Zadorov
cc: @zadorov61 👀 #GoAvsGo https://t.co/KTbRoJMnYY
He does rock a suit. And, according to numerous sources, he never stops talking.
Finally, the end the series, we have Jost’s roommate and favorite chirping partner, JT Compher:
Who do you believe!?
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 27, 2019
Sweet Then Sour: JT Compher#GoAvsGo https://t.co/rPOWn5egWz
No comment on whether Compher has a personality or not.
The Avalanche social media crew came up with some great content here. No, it didn’t go quite as planned. However, I follow a lot of other team on Twitter, and none of the others are doing anything quite this creative. Especially not in the true offseason of August.