Improve the Avalanche in 3 easy steps

1 - Score some damn goals. The Goal tending is there, but now we can't score a damn goal.

Milan Hejduk is 63rd in the league in shots on goal. He has scored 8 of 51 and played great defense for a forward from game 1. Hejduk is playing great hockey. But, we can't survive on Hejduk alone and that number should be 90 SOG by now. Problem = no one feeding him the puck.
NHL reference stats

Wojtek Wolski is 2nd in the league with 3 shootout goals. Wow! Seems cool but where the hell is the game time scoring? WW needs to attack that damn net or play the role of Hejduk feeder. Set Hejduk up... he'll shoot.
NHL reference stats

It's a sure sign that we have a weak transition game.

2- Keep the Defense just the way it is. No really! True, our D fails at times in really stupid ways, but there seems to be a great moral building and the chemistry among our blue liners is there no matter what the parring is.

3 - Hit! We are not the most talented team in the league anymore. Not by a long shot. The Av's have a tendency to get outplayed by faster, younger and more talented players. So, how do you stop talent.. you SMASH IT. You must finish checks and punish the other teams players for staying in the pocket long enough to make those pretty passes. Piss someone off with a BIG CLEAN HIT. Use the energy to create chances.

There are 600+ players in the league and the Av's have 3 players in the top 100 for hits?Not bad some of you might think. But lets face facts. We cannot dominate on talent these days. We are not a power house like we used to be so we have to do something to offset the amazing talent we face. HIT! McLeod is the only guy on our energy/crash line in the top 100. Followed by Tucker and Salei? Is this really enough?

Our top hitters:
54th in hits - Cody McLeod COL (energy/crash line)
78th in hits - Darcy Tucker COL (2nd or 3rd line role player)
95th in hits - Ruslan Salei COL (at home D man)

1-0 game? Strangely I think this is just what the Avalanche needed

1-0 game? Strangely I think this is just what the Avalanche needed. The team played great D and when need, the goal tending was there. This is how it should be ever game. Most of the top goalies in the league see the puck a lot less than our net minders.

Lets face it.. we got lucky on our one and only goal. Hensick tossed a little off-speed, curve-ball of a pass that just landed on Tucker's stick. But hey, a goal is a goal is a goal.. same goes for a win. I fully expect to win the next 4.. then drop the next 6. Does anyone think that Sakic is more injured than anyone is letting on? I saw give the guy all the time he needs to get healthy. The rest of the guys need to lessen the dependency on him anyway. Its time to become a team and play the system.

Go Av's!

Well lets be honest - Av's vs. Sabers

The Avalanche stole one there. And, that is the good news. Its been a while sense we have had the goal tending to steal a game and the cherry on top is that we are getting production for all of the players that should be producing. Smith has been great, Hejduk is awesome and our role players have been keep it real with solid play and the occasional goal. The low lights.. well it seem like Joe was off just a little. No panic yet but the speed of the Sabers was very evident. WTF with the Sabers not dropping the gloves? They instigated all of that crap and then went all pathetic about backing it up??? Whatever I say. A win is a win and confidence is cash in hand for a goalie. I will take it.

Rock & Roll Part 2 (before Gary Glitter ruined it)

Travel to any sports venue in the united states... the world for that matter and you are likely to here Rock and Roll Part 2. No matter the game or the athletes playing there is an anthem that means the home team has one-upped the visiting team. Swarms of people who would otherwise have nothing to do with each other join together with feet stomping and fists pumping to vocalize at the top of their lungs the most universal cry of victory... HEY! Only the emotion of competition and the resolution of a victory could get that shy accountant off his seat cushion in 2/10 of a second to clap his hands and toss his cap on to the ice without hesitation. The song that every kid hears in his head as he counts down the final seconds of the Stanley Cup play offs and shots a goal past the trash can on to the garage door to win it all. Only one song captures that felling of compete resolution and exhilaration and it does it with one word. HEY! Rock and Roll Part 2. You know..... the “Hey” song! Written and recorded in 1971 by the Garry Glitter band. Rock and Roll part two was the “b” side single 45lp to you guessed it, Rock and Roll part one. To this day the Avalanche, Broncos and just about every sporting team in the states plays the anthem the Colorado Rockies left behind. I had intended to prepare this article based on the answers to my questions below. Never one to get in the way of a good story I found it is best told by someone who was there. The story behind the most popular song in the NHL!