Go Avs
As a recent hockey re-convert (I have thoroughly enjoyed hockey at different times in my life but, as many fans of hockey, my interest has waxed and waned over the years with things like lockouts and all that miserable garbage (I still can't enjoy baseball anymore like I used to - bring on football season, already - should hockey enter a lockout situation next year, they might as well pack in the whole league) - some of my earliest hockey memories are of the Cincinnati Sting of the WHA in the '70s - incidentally, the team that Mark Messier scored his first professional goal with, clear back in 1978 - I could have been watching that game on good ol' WXIX), I was relieved to see the Colorado Avalanche take the first step in getting the Stanley Cup back in Denver... They beat the Dallas Stars 4 games to 1. Game 5 just ended about a half hour ago, and much to my relief, it wasn't another game where the Avalanche went up by a couple goals only to give them back in the third period... I was seriously hoping to avoid a triple overtime 2-1 loss or something like that - it gives me heartburn... Luckily, they won 5-1 today... They looked really sharp the entire series, considering how lackluster they looked towards the end of the season. The young Marek Svatos has shown himself to be not an "up and comer" but an "already here-er," with something like five assists and a goal in the series, after missing 79 of 82 games in the regular season with a bad shoulder... I look for good things from him in the next series, as well as the future of the Avs, provided owner Pierre LaCroix doesn't get an itchy trigger finger and deal him off after one bad performance, as he has shown a bit of a tendency to do with others in the past...
My favorite Av, Paul Kariya, didn't play at all this series with a bum ankle after he was totally fucked over with ninety seconds to go in the regular season (the guy that wrenched him down didn't even get a minor)... He's probably the fastest skater I've ever seen in a hockey uniform (and maybe one of the smallest, too). The team did okay without him this series, I guess, but I (for one) definitely missed seeing him flying down the ice. Hopefully, he'll get back in, soon.
Meanwhile, the Avalance are probably the deepest team in hockey, with four complete lines of all-star caliber players. When players like Paul Kariya and Alex Tanguay go and get themselves hurt, luckily, there's someone who can contribute at the drop of a hat (or puck) to back them up... In all seriousness, any of the four lines can go against the first line of any other team in the league... And if everyone is healthy, there would be a potential to have five lines that could blow the doors off of any other team... Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Milan Hejduk, Paul Kariya, Steve Konowalchuk, Alex Tanguay, Teemu Selanne, Matthew Barnaby, Andrei Nikolishin, Dan Hinote, Rob Blake, Adam Foote - all total stars. Throw Marek Svatos, Chris Gratton, Darby Hendrickson, Karlis Skrastins, Riku Hahl, John-Michael Liles, Bob Boughner, Peter Worrell (a "tough guy" enforcer that can actually play hockey, too) and Ossi Vaananen into the mix and add a touch of uber-goalie David Aebischer, and you can mix and match as you like and have the potential to decimate any team in the league...
Depending on the outcome of the Calgary/Vancouver (Bertuzzi is a chump) series, the Avalance will either face the #2 seed San Jose Sharks or the #1 seed (and other arch rivals, besides lowlifes Vancouver) Detroit Red Wings... Either way, the Avalanche have gained some serious momentum and necessary confidence in the first round... It's a team full of stars that has hopefully shaken the "underachievers" monkey from their backs...
So, take a few days off, fellas... Heal up, get ready to stomp whoever's next... for me? Please?
