Friday, November 28, 2008

Game 22 Preview

In an extremely rare Friday afternoon game, the Avs will travel to Phoenix for the first game of the year against Gretzky's Coyotes. Apparently, the Coyotes will be playing in their new (read: ugly) third jerseys for the first time this season, but don't expect much as the Avs de-throned the Kings on the night of their third jersey unveiling this past weekend. Foote and Liles are still out, and Sakic looks to be a game-time decision. Look for Tjarnqvist to be in the lineup again, after playing what I thought to be one hell of a game on Wednesday night, tallying a goal and an assist. Also look for Lappy to continue his hot streak of three points (2g, 1a) in the last two games. Coincidence or not, ever since I picked up a snazzy new "It's All About Lappy" wristband from Karen on Saturday, Lappy has been on absolute fire. A Gordie Howe hat-trick with a fight against Carcillo would absolutely make my day.


If you'd like to pick up a Lappy wristband, or other merchandise, please visit www.itsallaboutlappy.com. It goes towards a wonderful cause and is run by great people who would really appreciate your support.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Total Avs Update!

Once again, it's been awhile, and I do apologize for that. Since I've last posted, a lot has happened in the world of the Avs.

-Peter Budaj has been on an incredible hot-streak, save for a soft goal against the Kings Saturday night. In one of the most exciting Avs games in recent memory, he out-dueled the great Roberto Luongo, on the road nonetheless, in a 2-1 shootout victory. He followed that up with another shootout win, this time 3-2, a few days later in Edmonton, in a game that many would say that he completely stole. Saturday night, he won yet another shootout game, blanking all three Kings shooters.

-The team's offense is still struggling, although signs of hope could be seen in the Kings game Saturday night, as three pre-shootout pucks found the back of Ersberg's net. Also, Super Joe is scheduled to return tonight, which might be able to provide the spark they're looking for.

-Paul Stastny signed the contract extension that we all knew would be coming, for what seems to be the going rate for the up-and-coming superstar/future face of the franchise. At five years, $33mil, it works out to $6.6mil per year, which really isn't too much to be paying him to replace Sakic in the future
*Note: It took me a while to actually type out that last sentence and believe it will have to happen some day.

-In Saturday night's game against the Kings, which I was lucky enough to attend, there were two VERY scary moments, as both Adam Foote and Wojtek Wolski were checked head-first into the boards, and laid motionless on the ice for a good few minutes each. Foote's seemed so serious that they actually brought a stretcher on the ice. Upon seeing this, my heart completley sank to the floor, possibly even the core of the Earth, but moments later, he got up and skated off the ice with help from his teammates and trainers. According to the Denver Post, Wolski seems to be in better shape, and could even play tonight in Anaheim. Foote has already been ruled out for tonight, allowing Tjarnqvist to see his first action of the season, but the injury doesn't seem to be as serious as it looked.

-Tonight the team travels all the way to sunny Anaheim, California to take on those damn Ducks. Actually, our normally sunny climate out here in California is bringing us rain tomorrow, my 23rd birthday, and keeping myself from celebrating at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. For that, I give a gigantic two middle-fingers up to whoever controls the weather down here. Thanks for ruining my birthday, a-holes! Sakic looks like he'll be back in the line-up, and if Wolski plays as well, Jones and Arnason should be watching the game from up above in the press box. It should be a tough game against a physical Anaheim club, but hopefully the team will be able to out-physical the Ducks on their way to a whopping 10-10 record on the season.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Game #15 Preview

I make my return to this blog with some very bad news. My beloved Ben Guite is out "indefinitely" with a rib injury. How will I possibly go on without him? I really don't know. All I know is, I'm going to miss that damn stache.

Anyway, tonight the Avs travel to red-hot Vancouver (hot as in the way the team is playing, not the weather), to take on the Canucks. Luongo is currently riding a three-game shutout streak, which would've ended tonight with a Guite hat-trick (we can dream, can't we?!), but now the team will have to rely on the likes of others to get the job done. Mr. Sakic didn't make the trip with the team due to his ailing back, so I assume our slew of under-acheivers (Jones, Arnason) will be in the line-up tonight, poised to do.. very little. Peter Budaj has a one-game shutout streak of his own going right now, so the hot goaltending won't only be coming on one end of the ice tonight.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Game #10 Recap

What could be said about this game? The Avs, particularly Andrew Raycroft, looked like an absolute disaster on the ice. The first two goals of the game were given up on nearly identical shots, beating Razor glove-side, top-shelf. To be honest, the only player I noticed making a constant effort on the ice was none other than the team's constant scapegoat for any and every problem, Tyler Arnason. What a shocker there. Maybe he finally realized that his job was in jeopardy and decided to play his heart out last night, and it showed. The only other positives to be taken from this game was the lack of penalties taken, zero minor penalties and three majors for fighting, and a 2 for 4 night on the powerplay. Let's hope the Avs got all of their bad play out of their systems over the last four periods and will come out flying on Sunday against the best in the west, the San Jose Sharks.