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Category: Colorado-Avalanche

Wilson Hit On Moreau - Clean Or Dirty?

by Paul on 11/19/09 at 08:35 AM ET
Comments (11)

from David Staples of the Cult of Hockey,

The latest highlight reel illegal hit was handed out by Colorado defenceman Ryan Wilson, 22, a tough rookie defenceman trying to make his mark in the NHL. In Wednesday night’s game in Edmonton, Oiler forward Ethan Moreau charged for the puck, which sat near centre ice. Moreau kept his eyes on the puck, his head down, as he stretched to tip it forward into Colorado’s end.

He wasn’t watching as Wilson came in for a hit.

Now such a hit would have been borderline legal if Wilson hadn’t put up his elbow. It would have been nasty, no doubt, but Moreau also had a responsibility to keep his head up. This is the NHL, after all, a tough league, a violent world.

But if Wilson hadn’t put up his elbow, he also would have missed Moreau. His timing was a bit off, Moreau was a bit past him, so Wilson stuck up that elbow and caught the unsuspecting, fast-moving Moreau right in the jaw with a hard elbow. Moreau, an extremely tough player, left the game and did not return.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Ethan+Moreau, Ryan+Wilson,

Duchene Off To A Slow Start

by Paul on 11/17/09 at 06:51 AM ET
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from Terry Frei of the Denver Post,

Twenty games into his rookie season, the highly touted Duchene is struggling, with two goals and seven assists. But that comes with a huge asterisk: his age. With a handful of exceptions, including one on his own roster, even the most gifted of Duchene’s hockey-playing contemporaries still are in major junior or NCAA hockey — dreaming of an NHL chance that might never come.

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 Tags: Matt+Duchene,

Stastny Not Earning His Money?

by Paul on 11/16/09 at 08:20 AM ET
Comments (3)

from Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

The numbers really aren’t bad at all. 20 games for Paul Stastny this season, 18 points, and his team is in first place. Nearly a point a game in the modern NHL is good, no matter how you slice it.

But we all know it hasn’t quite been what we expected from No. 26. The heightened expectations that come with a guy getting the big dollars create these kinds of criticisms here. Yeah, 18 points in 20 games is fine and all, but for a guy making $6.6 million this year and the following four?

continued

updated 2:55pm, As a KK member noted, story not there. 

Dater has done this in the past and he should really explain why the story has been pulled, but he doesn’t.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Paul+Stastny,

Avs Introduce 3rd Sweater

by Paul on 11/12/09 at 05:38 PM ET
Comments (5)

DENVER – Colorado Avalanche defenseman Kyle Quincey and center Paul Stastny today unveiled the team’s new third jersey, which will debut this Saturday, Nov. 14, against the Vancouver Canucks at Pepsi Center (8:00 p.m.).  The Avalanche will wear the third sweater on 12 occasions throughout the 2009-10 season.

The third jersey design is a collaboration of ideas from the Colorado Avalanche (including Kroenke Sports Enterprises Creative Imaging), the National Hockey League and Reebok.  The third jersey has a predominately blue color scheme with a diagonal COLORADO type, laces at the neckline and stripes on the sleeves.  Two rounds of sweater prototypes were tested and ran on ice before the final version was made.

More pictures available at the Colorado Avalanche website.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Morning Line

by Paul on 11/12/09 at 08:30 AM ET
Comments (11)

“It’s individuals in charge of a team game. If you want to be individuals, go play tennis or golf. We live with it. It’s the rules, we play by them, but my view is you’re putting individuals in charge of a team game.”

-Colorado goaltender Craig Anderson on the shootout.  More on the Avalanche/Blackhawks game last night from Adrian Dater of All Thins Avs.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Craig+Anderson,

Who Wins This Battle?

by Paul on 11/09/09 at 07:03 AM ET
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from David Staples of The Cult Of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal,

On Twitter, Denver Post hockey writer Adrian Dater wrote in the wake of Colorado’s 5-3 loss to Edmonton: “Can’t win ‘em all at home. A shame the Avs had to finally lose to a dog team like Edmonton at home, though.”

To this comment, I would say . . ..

* Hey, Adrian, no jeering in the press box! You’ve got to leave that kind of stuff to us fan bloggers, eh.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Too Much Blabbing

by Paul on 11/09/09 at 06:54 AM ET
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Adrian Dater of the Denver Post answers some emails,

Why doesn’t Mike Haynes call the game when the puck is in play? He is almost always blabbing with Peter McNab when the puck is in play. We TV watchers do not have the privilege of seeing the entire ice like the attendees. It’s maddening.

It’s always tough for me to critique any of the TV people. First off, I’ve known Haynes for 15 years now, going back to the days of the Denver Grizzlies, and he’s a good friend. Second, I really don’t get to actually see many of the games on TV. I’m usually at the game itself. Yeah, I’ll Tivo a lot of them, but usually don’t sit through the whole tape. So, I can’t really sit and pretend to be both a good critic, or even an objective one. I know Mike knows hockey inside and out, as does Peter McNab, and I know they work extremely hard at what they do.

more emails…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Talking Avalanche Attendance

by Paul on 11/06/09 at 10:12 AM ET
Comments (4)

from Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

Money, of course, was a top reason listed as to why people aren’t showing up as much right now, and I can certainly understand that.

But it’s obviously more than just money why people aren’t showing up right now to see what is a first-place team. Lots of people are tired at the lack of feeling that they are being heardby the Avalanche – be it by the team management or the ticket offices or the game-night entertainment staff or wherever.

A lot of you think the Avs just don’t care all that much about what you have to say. I think this can be more broadly accused, though, to the parts of the organization not having to do with the actual hockey operations. And I don’t want to just sit here and take cheapshots at them. There are a lot of good people who work with the Avs and they’ve been a pretty darn successful organ-i-zation over the years, and they’ve given back a lot to the community.

But I still hear complaints all the time about the lack of coherance about ticket prices/policies, etc. when they call the ticket offices. I hear a lot of complaints about the awful music that is blared into their ears at the Pepsi Center. I hear a lot of complaints about how nobody seemed to care when they, as a longtime season ticket holder, complained that lower bowl seats were sold to new customers at cheaper prices than they’ve paid for years – even in the upper bowl.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Where Is Everyone?

by Paul on 11/05/09 at 08:03 AM ET
Comments (8)

from Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

What gives? Seriously, what’s up? I want to know what the reasons are why more of you wouldn’t show up tonight to see a team that had the most points in the Western Conference coming into tonight’s game with Phoenix (and added on to them when it was over)?

If the reason why attendance was down last year was the perfectly justifiable reason that the team was awful, what is the excuse for tonight?

There was not a single person in sections 330 and 334 a few minutes into the game tonight. Not one. I think a couple souls showed up a while later and sat there, but that was…it.

You definitely did not dissuade critics who say Denver is just a bandwagon hockey town tonight, folks. The announced attendance was definitely not the actual number in the building either. I’d say the real number was about 8,500, maybe a bit less actually.

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Meet Joe Sacco

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 07:10 AM ET
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from Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

While Sacco’s predecessor, Tony Granato, was well-liked by his players, privately there was some sentiment within the organization that he treated players differently and he wasn’t demanding enough of everybody. One thing Avalanche players say about Sacco is that he has the same standard for everybody.

“He holds guys accountable,” Avs captain Adam Foote said. “There aren’t any gray areas about what he wants from us and expects. But at the same time, he isn’t just screaming at us or maybe being unfair. I’d say what I’ve noticed so far is he’s tough, but fair.”

Sacco, 40, has always demanded a full day’s work, most of all from himself. Sacco, along with brother David, played together at Boston University. Of the two brothers who grew up under the Medford, Mass., roof of Joe Sr. and Maria Sacco, older brother Joe was the “serious” one.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Joe+Sacco,

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