Why the Avs?

It's the slow news time of the NHL season, and since I just recently joined the BBeR family, I figured I'd post a little (Ok, more than a little) something about myself and my trek to becoming a hockey, NHL, and especially, Colorado Avalanche fan.

So how did it happen?

I don't know really. I wasn't exposed to hockey all that much during my formative years, but I definately remember one of the first hockey cards I ever saw being Joe Sakic in the blue Nords jersey. I remember wondering what those weird symbols were, you know the ones that looked like the ones on the Saints helmets. So I looked them up (in an antiquated tome of knowledge known as 'Encyclopedia Britanica) and learned a little about french-speaking parts of Canada, a little about hockey, and a little about the NHL.

Years passed, and growing up in Wyoming, the only pro team that was considered local was the Denver Broncos. They had a stud quarterback in Elway, were always decent, but always losing in the end. Still, there were some great seasons in there. I naively pledged to support all Colorado teams at this point in my life. In the interum, I still followed hockey, and the NHL and kinda kept my eyes on every team, but I still remember liking the uniqueness of the Nordiques. The name was different than anything else in pro sports. My first name is French, so that probably didn't hurt. I had unwittingly started down a long, winding road to an obsession that continues today.

Not long after my family relocated to south Mississippi, pro sports became really big in Denver. The Rockies and Avs were instant hits, and I dilagently followed their first few seasons. It was (and still is) easier to follow the Avs rather than the Rockies, due to them winning a lot out of the gate, plus that fact that I had a least a passing familiarity with the team and its players.
Anyway, by the time I was in high school, having never played the game, and only seen it on TV, I started trying to convince my younger brothers and friends what a great game it was. Roller-blading lead to pick-up up games of inline hockey in my drive-way.

Jump to college, and I'm able to follow the game more due to the freedoms that come with college life. I take a vested interest in the newest Avalanche players, notably Chris Drury and Milan Hejduk. Drury stood out to me with his lifelong tendancy to be a winner. My vested interest soon turned into full-blown fandom when the Avs continued to carve a swath through the NHL every year, coming close, but just a little short of the promised land. Then the Bourque trade and the pieces started to come together. So close.

The next year saw Blake join the team at the deadline and push the Avs into another gear. Victory! I even remember my mom calling me up during the SC Finals and asking me what Roy was doing skating out of the crease, turning over the puck, and putting the Avs in a hole. I didn't even know she knew what hockey was. I asked why she was watching, and she said because she knew it was important to me, since it's all I talked about the last month! She then stated that every time she tuned into the game, something bad happened. I remember screaming in a somewhat high-pitched voice "THEN STOP WATCHING!" Even when she was visiting my younger brothers and I during the weekend of Game 7, she sat on a couch in the back of the room so she couldn't see the game, and consequently jinx the outcome. Well, it worked. Yes, Avsnation, you have me to thank for that Cup in 2001. Me and my mom.

A couple of years later, I teamed up with some 'Yankees' and 'Canucks' that were going to the same college and we started an inline hockey league in 2003 that is still going today. I picked goalie because the league was in desperate need of netminders. Obsession number two kicked in to full gear. After getting married (and subsequently brainwashing my wife into being a hockey fan, but not an Avs fan), graduating with my Masters (finally), and relocating to Oklahoma, I finally got the chance to play ice hockey. It was a long strange trip, but I loved every second of it, even the Theo Fleury experiment. I started following Avstalk shortly after the lockout, then Jibbles, then DLS, and finally Draft Dodger. I figured if I was going to post a comment on each blog every day, I should just start writing one myself. That's how I hooked up with BBeR as the Avs "correspondent". Recently, a couple of those guys have teamed up with Mile High Hockey. I hope other Avs fans will give it a look. Heck, any hockey fans should drop by, even Red Wings fans!

So far, I've had a blast writing my few additions to the site, and I'm looking forward to the season. I hope to contribute regularly, and I'll do my best to bring more great quality to this little corner of the hockey world.

Ducks buring Minnesota alive...

Man, the Ducks are kicking ass!

No offense to Ducks fans, but the team looked a little weaker throughout the second half of the season, in the first half, they were unstoppable...now, they look like that first half team.

After a 2-1 victory in Minnesota yesterday, the Ducks hold nearly an insurmountable lead over the Wild, with a margin of 3 games to none.

Again, it was one of those low-scoring nail-bitting games, Niklas Backstrom did his best to keep Minnesota in it, but it was reason that prevailed in the end.

Backstrom has been phenomenal from the start, his 2.37 GAA and .910 SPCT are the kind of numbers that should propel any team to victory.
But sadly enough, for my hockey pool and for Wild fans, not this time.

I fail to understand why Jacques Lemaire doesn't enforce a more offensive style, just a LITTLE more offensive, especially if he expects his team to go far.
And, I fail to understand why guys like Brian Rolston, Todd White, Kim Johnsson and Mark Parrish haven't amassed a single point.

How do you expect to win if your secondary scoring, and one of your primary (Rolston) don't put up anything.

There is SO much talent on this team, SO much...I would like to see what Minnesota would look like as a team if they played a more offensive-minded style, rather than defensive minded...

The Ducks are the better team, and I failed to see that when I chose Minnesota to beat them in 7 games in my local hockey pool, and because of that, have likely lost that.

Anyway, I'd like to congratulate the Wild too, for managing to stage only one-goal losses, and not 3 or 4 goal crushings like some have predicted.

The Ducks stayed with the Wild's defensive style, and even played along with it, but, in the end, it came down to the solid goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov, who, after a somewhat questionable season, has rebounded in fine fashion with numbers nearly identical to last year's magical playoff run, with a 1.34 GAA and .948 SPCT, that's 4 goals in 3 games.

It's also kind of sad to see Jean-Sebastien Giguere's awesome season sit on the bench.

Hey, the series isn't over yet, but with a 3-0 Anaheim lead, you can say it is indeed over...

I'll have my eye on the Nashville-San Jose game tonight, it should be great again!

Meanwhile, in more sad news...

-Gaetan Duchesne dead at 44.
According to RDS, Gaetan Duchesne, who played over 1,000 NHL games, has died.
Duchesne reportedly suffered cardiac arrest while working out.
He was 44 years old.
He totalled 179 goals and 254 assists in 1,028 games with 5 different teams.

May he rest in peace.
His son, Jeremy, is actually a goalie for Val D'Or in the QMJHL and was drafted by Philly.

While Paul Stastny flourishes with the Avalanche, brother Yan can only watch.

After Paul Stastny extended his franchise record 17-game point streak with 2 assists en route to a 3-2 victory over the devious Buffalo Sabres, father Peter must've been proud and brother Yan must've been jealous.

It looks like Paul Stastny has inherited his hockey magic from his father Peter Stastny, whose career with the Quebec Nordiques left many in awe.


A second round draft choice in 2005, Paul has 22 goals and 43 assists this season for a total of 65 points.

He trails early season Calder favourite Evgeni Malkin, of the Pittsburgh Penguins, by only 4 points and don't be surprised to see him win rookie of the year after his recent success.
Malkin hasn't inspired me much this season, I can see he's a developping young player, but I don't think he's as great as everyone thought he was going to be. I also don't believe he's lived up to the hype that's come with him from Russia.

Stastny is on a current 17-game point streak and who knows how much longer that'll last.
He could be making a late push to win the Calder trophy, despite the Avs' stumble this season in the standings.

Meanwhile, down in a town name Peoria, brother Yan can only watch in jealousy as his brother's NHL career unfolds successfully.

Yan Stastny was an 8th round pick by the Boston Bruins, and in those rounds it's a guessing game. Looks like they guessed wrong, Yan Stastny was traded to the Oilers before he even laced them up in Beantown.

In 2005-2006, with the Oilers, he never got accustomed to his surroundings, dressed for 3 games, was pointless and -1.

He was then traded back to the team that had dumped him, the Boston Bruins, along with checking center Marty Reasoner in exchange for Sergei Samsonov.
Stastny had his chance now, the Bruins were willing to offer him a checking line role, and again, he busted.
In 17 games, he only scored once and added 3 assists for a measly total of 5 points and was -2.

People then started to realize that he's not what his father was, but the Bruins were still willing to give him a shot.

You guessed it...he disappointed mightily, with only 2 assists in 21 games and a -3 rating, the Bruins had enough of this Stastny for a lifetime, shipping him to the surging St. Louis Blues for a mid-round pick.

Right now, Yan Stastny is in Peoria, the Blues' farm team, and you have to figure if he can't even win a job in St. Louis, that he won't win one anywhere.

The closest he'll probably ever get to the NHL again, unless some team is really desperate, is through his television screen.

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.