Colorado Avalanche Hold Another Successful Fan Fest

The Colorado Avalanche held their second annual Fan Fest, and it seemed to be an even bigger success than last year’s.

The Colorado Avalanche heeded the cries that Avs fans had been wailing for years, “We want a fan fest!” Last year, they held the first annual Fan Fest, and it was a great success.

Here’s a rundown of how last year’s Fan Fest went:

The team held some of the same kinds of activities, like a preceding 5K walk and street hockey clinic. The Colorado Eagles hosted a goalie shoot outside, and there was face-painting inside. Additionally, you could take pictures with John-Michael Liles, John Mitchell, and Pierre Turgeon:

The crowd to get into the Pepsi Center was huge this year, which makes me think this year’s Fan Fest was even better-attended than last year’s.

As with last year, the main event was mostly a practice. However, before the event the team hosted a shooting game to win season tickets:

The Avs fan in the video, Grant Beery, won a five-game pack. And, in spite of his name, he let the world know you can get a whole bottle of wine at the concessions in a single glass, so thanks, Grant, for that information!

A funny moment when the players took the ice. Marc Moser and Peter McNab were still interviewing Jared Bednar. He was talking about how, despite the fact that he doesn’t show excitement, he still has passion for the game. As soon as he said that, the crowd erupted, and I thought that was some extreme approval for his remark.

Rather, this was happening:

As always, the social media crew had some fun. You’ve got a few players you can watch through the lens of your camera, and eventually they’re going to give you content gold. Tyson Jost is one of them:

Nikita Zadorov and our captain Gabriel Landeskog are two others:

Speaking of content gold from the likes of Tyson Jost:

Side note: Is it just me, or does Lauren Jbara look like Monica from Friends in this clip?

Colin Wilson is another one who at least will give you his sky-eyed stare:

So, this year a couple things were different. First of all, you got free pop, free popcorn, and a free hot dog — and the ticket was free to get in as was the parking. That’s a lot of excellence for free.

Second, the team ran drills a little differently. First, they did some close work on three-on-three drills that happened to be on our end of the ice. Next, they did some more scrimmage work on the far end of the ice. Finally, they did some full ice drills.

Then, as happened last year, the Colorado Avalanche finished with a shootout:

Here are some of the shootout highlights:

By the way, I think this Jayson Megna kid is making opening night:

This year, the players who made a goal in the shootout kept going until one of them won, Team Burgundy or Team White. The two repeat competitors at the end were a little surprising — Jost and Cale Makar. Jost just had the sauce tonight.

However, Makar was the ultimate winner:

And that’s just fine. You might remember, he was a little embarrassed after fumbling the puck in his preseason shootout attempt against the Wild at home. Well tonight, he scored four shootout goals! And I can tell you, there was a look of relief after that first one.

Anyway, the Fan Fest ended with the players giving lucky fans the sticks they’d just been using in practice. The fans were chosen at random from having signed up either online or with a Q code in the arena.

And, some final words from our captain:

He really is the best, isn’t he?

Anyway, after tonight’s Fan Fest, we have just one more preseason activity — the final preseason game, this one in Dallas. It’s expected the team will roll out with pert near its NHL roster.

The Colorado Avalanche Fan Fest seems to be evolving, and I love it. I also love that it was free to the public. In reality, it’s like a sense of community service.