Colorado Avalanche Blogs

The Avalanche have completed a total overhaul in the goaltending department.

Earlier today, the Avalanche traded their first-round draft pick in 2012 and their second-round pick in either 2012 or 2013 to Washington for goaltender Semyon Varlamov.  Now, J.S. Giguere has decided to head to the Mile High City.

Continue reading "Colorado Avalanche Sign Jean-Sebastien Giguere"

Vancouver is the heavy favorite heading into the 2011 NHL playoffs to win the Stanley Cup.  Their Northwest Division foes can vouch for that.

 The Vancouver Canucks, who won the President’s Trophy by a landslide-ten points over the East’s Washington Capitals, posted an impressive 54-19-9 record for a league-leading 117 points in the regular season.  Obviously, the Canucks head into the Quarterfinal Series as the top seed in the Western Conference where they will meet the eighth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks.  But how much did Vancouver playing in the Northwest Division help bloat their point total?

Continue reading "Weak Northwest Division Could Benefit Blackhawks"

What else can go wrong for Craig Anderson?

After suffering a freak knee-injury in warm-ups on October 26, Anderson was the victim of a groin injury Wednesday against Vancouver.  The knee injury came when Anderson was doing a routine wrap-up in warm-ups that consists of all of the Avalanche skaters converging on Anderson in the crease, trying to shove a puck past him.  But Anderson came out of the shuffle with a knee injury that sidelined him ten games, in which the Avalanche went 6-3-1 and outscored their opponents 38-27 during his absence.  Anderson came back with a swift punch to the New York Rangers, stopping 25 out of 26 shots, including a fantastic sprawling save on Marc Staal in the slot.  The Avalanche went on to demolish the Rangers 5-1.  Things were looking very bright in Denver, as the Avalanche played brilliantly without Anderson, and then the star goalie makes a return in a convincing win.  Things sure can change in just a few short days.

Continue reading "Colorado May Struggle Without Anderson"

Has it been 30 years now since the US beat the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid?(It seems like only yesterday...)

The Americans went on to win the gold medal in hockey that year - something that hasn't happened since, but don't expect any miracles next month at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. No, the United States still isn't favored to win a gold medal in hockey. In that respect the Americans remain underdogs. But with a roster stacked with young talent, they certainly are a medal candidate - one that the powerhouses from Canada, Russia and Sweden can't afford to overlook. "A little bit different situation [than 1980] in my opinion," said United States team captain Jamie Langenbrunner, a forward with the NHL's New Jersey Devils. "As much as Canada deserves all the credit that they're getting for the players they have, the 23 players named to the [United States] team play in the same league as those guys and we feel quite comfortable playing against them on a nightly basis. We feel we belong on the same ice."

Continue reading "USA! USA! USA!"

 Well, we’ve made it to the halfway point of the season, so it is time to hand out a few awards to the deserving, the hopeless and the sensational.

Team of the season: I’m going to take the New Jersey Devils here since they are the one team to impress me more than I had expected. I thought Chicago and San Jose might be the quality of the West and so it has proved. The Devils; well I saw them as a decent playoff team but not the halfway top seed.

Continue reading "And the winner is…"

Violence has been a part of hockey since at least the early 1900's. According to the book Hockey: A People's History, in 1904 alone, four players were killed during hockey games from the frequent brawls and violent stickwork. 

Continue reading "Legend Of The Goon Squad pt.2"

There have been plenty of breakout stories early in the NHL season but none more surprising than the form of Colorado Avalanche goaltender Craig Anderson.

Anderson was always considered a journeyman backup in net until a decent effort in Florida last season when he took over the reins from an injured Tomas Vokoun and secured a 15-7 record in 31 games, 27 of which were starts.

Continue reading "Anderson makes Avalanche whole"

July 9th was a dark day for the Colorado Avalanche hockey club.  After 20 seasons, all being with the Nordiques-Avalanche franchise, long-time captain Joe Sakic announced his retirement from the NHL. Not only did Avalanche personnel say goodbye to their on-ice leader, but their most valuable player.

Continue reading "Avalanche Should Make Pitch for Tanguay"

The Avalanche have taken yet another step to try and answer their troubles in net.  Craig Anderson, one of the best back-up goaltenders in 2008-09, has accepted a 2-year, $3.6 million deal. 

Continue reading "Avalanche sign Craig Anderson to ..."

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.

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.

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.

Continue reading "Sharks devour Avs"

With two weeks remaining until the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers battle it out with Bruce Springsteen in Super Bowl XLIII, I wanted to pay tribute to one of the classiest athletes in all of professional sports. 

Continue reading "Joe Sakic: the Man, the Myth, the quiet Legend"

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

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.

Continue reading "Svatos!"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

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."

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?

Continue reading "Avs wheel and deal with a lot less ..."

No need to wait until June- Alex Ovechkin is your Hart Trophy winner.  Here are the winners for Round 2 of the 2008 NHL Playoffs:

The “thanks for showing up” award goes to Sean Avery’s spleen, which ruptured along with the Rangers playoff hopes in Game 3 at the Garden.  In a series where the Rangers needed to find a way to get uberstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin off their game, Avery was held in check.  Luckily, he all but wrapped up a new contract in the previous series against the New Jersey Devils.

Continue reading "2008 NHL Playoff Awards - Round 2"

http://wizbangsports.com/2008/03/nj_devil_goalie_martin_brodeur.

Only one other goalie has accomplished this feat three or more times. From AP-

DENVER (AP) -- Martin Brodeur made one save using the handle portion of his stick, another by extending his elbow out just in time to deflect away a shot.

Continue reading "NJ Devil Goalie Martin Brodeur wins ..."

http://wizbangsports.com/2008/03/nhl_hands_steve_ott_threegame.p

The incident happened last Sunday. From AP-

DALLAS -- The NHL suspended Dallas Stars forward Steve Ott for three games without pay Wednesday for his hit to the head of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Jordan Leopold.

Continue reading "NHL hands Steve Ott three-game suspension ..."

The Avalanche came into the Staples Center without Captain and Leader Joe Sakic, but were still able to hold off a late rally by the Kings to win 4-2.

The Kings came out slow and lifeless, which led to a Dustin Brown, Holding penalty 2 minutes into the 1st period.  It only took Ryan Smyth 25 seconds to make Dustin Brown and the Kings pay for the penalty, by putting the Avalanche up 1-0.  Only a minute later, Jan Hlincka got a break away and backhanded the puck over Jason LaBarbera's right pad into the net to give the Avs a 2 goal lead less than four minutes into the game.  14:12 into the 1st period the Avs young sensation Peter Stastny made it 3-0 with a goal assisted by Hejduk and Liles.  It was all Av's in the 1st period out shooting the Kings 16-4.

Continue reading "Colorado Avalanche @ Los Angeles ..."