Ryan Boulding's Colorado Avalanche fan blog

Lets get the loss out of the way by saying: yes, we should have beat Anaheim and played rather ridiculously according my my snobby, high-nosed standards. We did play, however, like we have all year, which is to say we underachieved.

Moving on to the Calgary game. Obviously we won this game because the title says two wins (which also means the next game I discuss was a victory). We somehow cannot manage to win against teams we consistently need to beat in order to gain ground... but we manage to be the thorn in the side of any team trying to gain ground itself. So the Flames, who were hot and crawling up the points ladder met their maker, but not without putting up a fight. Goals for Calgary:  Rene Bourque, Adrian Aucoin, and Jerome Iginla. Goals for the Avalanche:   Marek Svatos(x2), Milan Hejduk, and Ruslan Salei. Svatos, who actually had a decent showing against the Ducks, had a breakout night here, notching two and almost getting an empty netter for the hat. It's always fun to beat a division team and even more fun when that team has lame-ass, sucker puncher, cry baby Todd Bertuzzi on their team. The good news is the home fans never forget and did a nice job booing the goon whenever he touched the puck. Don't know why? Click here.

Continue reading "Avalanche Recap - 3 Games, 2 Wins, 1 Loss"

Here's a fitting summary of tonight's game. Toronto wins 7-4. Terrible Toronto just beat the Avs. Stewart had the first Avs goal. Hejduk had two. Liles had a nice one from a bit out on the dot. Hejduk had another that was called back on a most ridiculous display of officiating. And the snowball took off and the Leafs became an unstoppable machine. Not the finest night of Raycroft's career, against his former team. And Tucker's former team. Again, the first line looked the best. Poor Cumiskey finally got some ice time and then lost an edge, hit the boards, and left with an injury. Honestly, he looked a lot like Stastny when he blocked the shot that broke his arm.

This one was really just brutal to witness. It was Toronto, of all the teams. At this point, the return of Stastny is going to be like the second coming of Christ... or have absolutely no impact on a mediocre team putting forth a rather pathetic performance. Sakic won't even return soon enough to make an impact either way. I don't know if Foppa, in the best shape of his life, could save this sinking ship.

Continue reading "Wow... Toronto? Really?"

Ok. Ok. so I know that I haven't posted here since the season actually started, but I'm renewing my vow to this blog and tonight seemed just as good a place as anywhere to start.

Tonight was officially one of the worst games I have seen the Avalanche play. And I had the added benefit of witnessing the devastation in person. The team couldn't click, they were working against each other and the worst part was that the Sharks didn't even look like #1. Nabokov wasn't impressive at all. In fact, he looked like a nervous rookie at the beginning of the game, flailing around and making unusual plays. It took him a while to find his poise.

At the beginning of the game, they looked bad and we looked worse. But it was all downhill from there. I gave up hope very early in the second period.

Continue reading "Sharks devour Avs"

While we still await Joe's decision to stay...or not - training camp seems to be the new deadline - Avs fans have something to be excited about.

Marek Svatos signed a two year contract with the good guys, sparing a damaging arbitrition hearing and solidifying his spot as a major player for the Colorado Avalanche.

Svatos finished second in goals last year despite a season ending ACL injury. Despite this and a recent shoulder injury, Svatos has proven himself - with sufficient ice time - to be quite talented. He fought along with Ovechkin and Crosby for Rookie of the year and really stepped it up recently.

I've seen him begin to play the body more and he can be lethal with the puck - especially in front of the net, picking up rebounds. Expect Svatos to have a great year, if he sees the ice time he deserves. I'm thinking second line... 

Continue reading "Svatos!"

It's hard to be excited about a man that Denver Post writer Adrian Dater, quoting an Edmonton sports writer, defines as: "Not great offensively, not great defensively. Plays a safe game, kind of like Sauer."

If that really is the case, why did we even get rid of Sauer?

The numbers tell a slightly different story. Sauer had a combined 6 points in 54 games last season but he was a nice +17 with 41 penalty minutes. Daniel Tjarnqvist, who didn't play in the NHL last year, had a combined 15 points in 37 games during the 06-07 season. He was +3 with 30 penalty minutes.

You decide whose side your on. Tjarnqvist is going to have to work for me but that doesn't mean I won't be a fan. Ryan Smyth, despite his less than stellar numbers has won me over.

Naslund goes to the Rangers, Fluery to the Pens... 

Continue reading "Less than sufficient"

The number one blunder in Colorado Avalanche history: Letting go of Chris Drury.

That said, the Avs have had been relatively lackluster in the period of free agency thus far.

What talent has been let go?
    Andrew Brunette – Bruno returned to the Wild and will no doubt prove to us how stellar he really is when we play the team nineteen times this upcoming season. For reasons unknown to most of us, Bruno was seeing decreased playing time and his performance likely suffered because of it. Negotiations were pretty much at a stand still and Bruno felt snubbed in the way he was let go.

    Jose Theodore – A head-case goaltender with the potential to reach the upper echelons – with hard work and lots of dedication. He wanted more money than he was worth and negotiations never really picked up.

Continue reading "Avs wheel and deal with a lot less gusto this time around"