1/23/2007 -- Well you just had to know that after an eight game run where may I say, Jose Theodore
was starting to look like Patrick Roy, the air had to come out of the balloon at some point! That time
came last night in the third period where the Predators scored three times to beat the Avs 4-0 at the CAN.
Once again the Avs had nothing going on up front. The Avs went 0-4 on the power play and are 0-9 in the past three games. Theodore kept it close for the first two periods but the flood gates opened in the third period.
Until the Avs either get healthy, make a trade, or Hejduk finds his scoring touch these are the types of games we can expect to see. Jose can only do so much. To this point he has done even more but that just will not last as we saw last night.
The other news of the night was the Avs did make a trade last night. Not one that will help the scoring punch but it will give Lake Erie some more bodies. The Avs traded Mark Rycroft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for minor leaguer's Darcy Campbell, a forward, and defenseman Phillipe Dupuis. Nothing earth shattering here. Rycroft who played in 66 games for the Avs last season had yet to crack this years line up. Hard to believe with all the call ups this year!
Speaking of which what happened to or where the hell is Chris Stewart? He was picked by many to make this team out of camp and he has not been spotted in Denver since rookie camp? Is he that bad in the minors that he can't help out at this point? They have called up everyone else this year, why not him??
1/21/2007 -- The Blue Jackets came into the CAN last night where it was brutally cold outside. However,
it could not be any hotter inside the CAN, more specifically, between the pipes for the Colorado Avalanche. Jose Theodore
making his eight straight start continued his hot streak leading the Avalanche to a 3-1 lead over Columbus.
Theodore has led the Avalanche to a 5-2-1 record over those past eight games he has been in the net. It has been no secret that if it where not for the play of Theodore the Avs would not be a top of the Northwest Division. He has simply been great. He easily made his best save as a member of the Avalanche last night when he stoned Rick Nash late in the second period with an unreal glove save. It was very Roy like.
The win took the Avs from fourth place in the division to first. It also shot them from eight in the Western Conference to third! Next up are the Predators on Tuesday at the CAN. The Avs will need Theodore to continue his hot streak. Last night the Avs helped him out by actually scoring some goals. Lets hope both these trends continue.
1/18/2007 -- Yesterday the Colorado Avalanche announced that Paul Stastny
was rushed to the hospital to have his appendix removed. He will be out of
the line up for two to three weeks. Can things get any worse when it comes
to injuries?
The Avs already have Ryan Smyth and Joe Sakic on the shelf for an extended period of time. Now Paul will keep them company.
The Avs are in the playoff hunt both within the conference and are only two points out of the division lead heading into Friday nights action. Things just got a lot harder. Someone needs to step up. So far its been Jose Theodore. He just needs someone up front now to do the same!
1/16/2007 -- Lightning strikes again! Well not the Tampa Bay Lightning! That would be the lightning in
the bottle that Jose Theodore has found some where in his equipment bag. For the sixth time in a row
Theodore found himself in between the pipes for the Avalanche and once again he had his 'A' game.
The Avs beat the Lightning 3-0 as Jose Theodore picked up his first shutout as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. It concludes a five game road trip which when the Avs took off for looked like it could be an very ugly stretch. Instead with the help of Jose the Avs close out the trip winning three straight!
Now its back to the CAN where the Avs will take on the Blackhawks on Friday. There is no reason to believe that it will be no one other then Jose Theodore in between the pipes. For the moment anyway this is Jose best run as an Avs. Also its the best run of any Avs goalie this year. With all the injures the Avs continue to pile up they need this kind of effort from their net minders!
12/28/2007 -- It's the Avs and Wings! Wait is it really? Neither of these line ups look anything like they
did back in the day. These are a new group of Avs and Wings. Same intensity and anymore the same result Avs lose 4-2 in
front of sold out crowd in Detroit. Uh wait a minute this is the Pepsi Center right? Hard to tell with all the red clowns
taking over the CAN more and more every year!
The big news though happened before the teams took to the ice. The news not good. Joe Sakic is out 2-3 months. He is headed to the operating table today to have hernia surgery. The Avs are 8-4-1 without super Joe this year but hard to think they can keep up those kind of numbers without him for that long. I also wonder on the 2-3 month time table. This is very much a best case thing. Claude Lemieux had this a few years back and missed more time then that. By the time he could be back we could be looking at the playoffs or the golf course. Not sure he will be ready for either.
As for the game the Wings came into this game with their own list of top stars watching from the press box. That however did not slow them down any. Peter Budaj was making his 7th straight start and this one might of been his worst. A little shaky going to start things. But he kept the Avs in it but in the end it was not enough.
For the Avs it was Cody McLeod scoring his first NHL goal of his career. Marek Svatos then tied things up with his 13th goal of the year. Other then that the Dominator held the Avs off the board. The Avs went 0-6 on the power play. That sounds pretty bad but trust me it looked even worse!
Up next that ass hole Marc Crawford and the Kings come to town on Saturday. Please, please, please shower him with boo's every chance you can get if you are headed to the game!
12/12/07 -- Thanks to that great NHL scheduling system the Colorado Avalanche find themselves visiting the lovely town
of Columbus, Ohio for the second time in seven days. As was the case last week the Avs will leave Ohio losers yet again by
the final score of 4-1. Both of these loses being the first regulation loses to the Jackets since they joined the league!
The road is just not becoming a good friend of your Colorado Avalanche.
Unlike past road games though the Avs actually did show up on the defensive side of the ice for a change. Colorado limited the Jackets to just 14 shots on goal for the game and only one shot in the second period. However, that lone shot in the second proved to be the camel that broke the Avs back!
Very much like all the games this year the goaltending was no where to be found. Jose Theodore was in nets for his third straight appearance. I would bet good money he will not be in between the pipes tomorrow when the Avs take on the Preds in Nashville. Theo let's in three real goals in 13 shots. The last goal was an empty netter. The last two that got by Theo were pretty bad. Again when are the goalies going to show up. The Avs played great in front of Theo tonight and he took the evening off! When will they call up Weiman? It has to only be a matter of time!
As good as the defense was the offense was just as bad. They only collected 16 shots all game and it was the scoring machine Ben Guite getting the lone Avs goal.
Joe Sakic missed his seventh straight game. He did not make the trip with the team either but we are told he will resume skating shortly. That pretty much means he is at least two weeks away form returning. Ian Laperriere also missed the game but was with the team on the road. See ya in Nashville!
12/7/07 -- Well news broke this week that Marc Crawford basically ordered the hit on Steve Moore that took
place over three years ago. Interesting as this may be, it's not a shock to me at all. I have pretty
much said this from day one. There was no question in my mind that this was put in motion by Crawford
and that dumb shit goon Bertuzzi just did the heavy lifting.
The only part of this story that I find interesting is that it was Bertuzzi that put the blame on Crawford. With all the ways you can describe Bertuzzi I never thought rat would fit? Bertuzzi while under oath stated that during the second intermission of the game, "An enraged Crawford, inside the Canuck dressing room, pointed to Steve Moore's name and number on a board containing the Avalanche roster and demanded that `he (Moore) must pay the price,".
Keep in mind when Crawford made these comments. In the first period of this game Moore had already scored a goal and stepped up to the plate and took on the challenge of a fight started by a Canuck and held his own! Oh and the Avs were up by four goals! So by the time the second intermission rolled around the word "enraged" might just be a slight understatement.
Crawford has long had a problem with the Colorado Avalanche. Even before he was fired there was clear friction between him and Mr. Lacroix. It goes as far back as the Avs first season here during the Stanley Cup finals. These two had differing opinions on who (aka Chris Simon) should be dressed to play when the Avs took to the ice for Game 4 of that series.
Crawford left here a bitter man. I have talked about this many time before on this site, the Moore hit was not the first time we saw questionable hits laid out on Avs players during Avs/Canucks games. Adam Deadmarsh, Chris Drury and Peter Forsberg all missed playing time at the hands of the Canucks while Crawford was the man behind the bench for Vancouver. I said it at the time, these games were straight up dirtier then any Avs/Wings games ever were.
The sick part of all of this is that after three plus years Steve Moore has not been able to step back on an NHL sheet of ice and continue his career. Meanwhile, these assholes, Crawford and Bertuzzi, go on with their careers like nothing has happened and continue to pull in millions. At this point we can only hope that Moore get's his day in court and Crawford and Bertuzzi are finally held accountable for the crime they committed.
11/8/07 -- This week was going to be the week that the hockey world would get see #21 back on the ice
and see how well his surgically repaired feet would hold up in some real hockey action in hopes of
signing the most prized free agent at the moment. Well once again those plans have changed and this time
it could be for good.
Forsberg was scheduled to play for a Swedish national team this week in an European tournament. It would be his first real ice time since the Predators were bounced from the first round of the playoffs last year. However, when Peter the great took to the ice once again the pain in his ankle flared up. And this time Peter thinks it may just finally be to much. Forsberg was quoted as saying after leaving the team that he has never been this close to retirement.
This would be a huge loss for the hockey world. When healthy there really is no one better on the ice then Forsberg. The Avs were one of many teams keeping a close eye on this tournament in hopes of signing him. The Avs still have over $5 million dollars in free space under the salary cap.
Now I for one would love to see Forsberg play again. But I do not think he would be a fit for the Avs. At this point if you sign him you must hope he can contribute on more then a every other month basis. With the state of his feet at the moment I just don't see this being likely. The best you could hope for is that he would be 100% come playoff time. But to insert him in at that point could he really contribute and be the player he once was? I just don't see that happening. It's a shame but it's time for the Avalanche and Forsberg to move on!
9/12/07
-- Today the Colorado Avalanche revealed their new Rbk EDGE Design Uniforms.
Take a look and make your own decision. These in my opinion simply suck! They
could not of missed more with these new jersey's.
The NHL is requiring all 30 teams to use the new form fitting Rbk EDGE Design Uniforms starting this year. Most teams have already revealed the new look and besides the Canucks ours it the worst yet! Teams have for the most part stayed pretty true to their old look and logo's. Vancouver has changed the most and like I said that change was not good either. Other's like the Penguins and Canadiens have stayed true to the old look in the new jersey.
The Avs road jersey I may get used to and start to like over time. The home version however simply sucks. I can find better looking things on the reduced price rack at Walmart! I was really looking forward to these new jersey's but after seeing them I am just sick over them.
People have said this is just an opportunity for teams to make some money with introduction of the new jersey's. If the Avs can make money on these clown suits then I give them credit. I was ready to purchase the new jersey but that plan has changed now and I think I am now headed to Walmart!!
