Third Annual Real Denver Sports Helmet Awards

With the season over for the Avs, I thought we could pass out some awards to some deserving Colorado Avalanche players. Real Denver Sports would like to acknowledge the players of the Colorado Avalanche with the meaningless Helmet Awards.
The categories, strictly made up on the spot by myself are:

The P. T. Barnum Award goes to David Koci
For suckering y'all into thinking he's as good on D as anyone on this team. Surround him with a team this bad and he actually looks like he can play hockey and fooled everyone from broadcasters to bloggers.


The Friends with Benefits Award goes to Peter Budaj
For always being there when Avs management fucks up the goalie situation. He’s that fall-back slut that will always answer the phone but in the end doesn’t really make you feel any better. But you keep telling yourself he’s better than nothing.

The Endorsement Award goes to Cody McLeod
For makin’ it far enough in this town to get a Subway commercial! It would have been great to see him take a bite without his two front teeth or beat up a Sandwich Artist but it was still an entertaining commercial. Unfortunately McLeod’s Subway commercial was about as entertaining as his on-ice performance.

The Player Most Likely to be a Car Salesman Next Year goes to Peter Mueller
For…wait, who? Oh yeah, the guy who looks like he’s in a Shakespearean troop. Let’s check back next year.

The Best Call-up Award goes to Kevin Shattenkirk
Yeah, well that really worked out well, for St. Louis.

The Most pointless Call-up Award goes to Ryan Stoa
This kid is so bad that even on this team he doesn’t look good. Greg Mauldin and Mark Olver look like keepers next to him. And they’re not.

The Twitter Pollution Award goes to Matt Hunwick
He singled-thumbedly muddied up my Twitter feed with the #blamehunwick hash tag for most of the season. Why wasn’t it #blamesherman?

The Head-Scratcher Award goes to Peter Forsberg
He shows up to practice a week before the All-Star break thus preventing him from practicing with the team while the team was away. Impresses everyone with his two road games but hurriedly announces retirement before the Valentine’s Day Massacre. Did he have a vision of the future? Clearly there are things going on in Foppa’s head that no one else understands. It’s like that itch on your head that you can’t get to because of the helmet you have on. Frustrating.

The Forget-me-not Award goes to Chris Stewart
Wow, I’m gonna miss this guy. It was man-crush at first fight. He is my perfect idea of what a hockey player ought to be. He’s got scoring swagger, he’s got attitude and he’s willing to bust you up if you mess with him or a teammate. I need another tub of ice cream to help me get over this.

The Survivor Award goes to John-Michael Liles
For not getting voted off the island. He won’t win the race for the Captaincy; he just doesn’t have the coconuts for the job. But every time the tribe tries to snuff out his torch he manages to survive. The Liles trade rumors are as old and tired as the stupid show I’m using here as a metaphor.

The Inaugural David Jones Broken Man Award goes to TJ Galiardi
So much promise, so many broken body parts. Jones finally had a reasonable unbroken season and he should be honored that such an award has been named after him. Here’s hoping Galiardi gets healthy and turns out to be the kick-ass 3rd liner that we all know he really is.

The Worst Gordie Howe Hat Trick Award goes to Brandon Yip
It was one of the many things he did poorly this season, but this one just shames the idea of a GHHT. I refuse to recognize it but officially it’s there.

And finally, Adam Foote whose head is so hard he doesn’t need a Helmet Award
Nonetheless he gets the Helmet Award for being a True Avalanche. The man said he “bleeds burgundy and blue” at his retirement press conference. Man, that was beautiful.

-From the Point
  

Avalanche Burgundy & White Game

Tonight the Avs held their annual Burgundy and White game.  After a couple of years of being hosted at the Air Force Academy it was moved back to the Denver area.  The new-to-Kroenke Broomfield Center is a great little venue for just this kind of event.  The event center has been through a management change that resulted in the departure of the minor league teams.  There were reports that the locker rooms were dismantled and rumors that it would not host sporting events ever again.  Fortunately the big "A" painted at center ice was a good indication that the facility still has all it needs to run a hockey game.

Remember, "It's All About the A"

Tonight's "A" stands for Ass.  Or Adam.  Interchangeable.

Footer has been a bit pissy all camp but has been promoted to Five Star Ass after tonight's game.  Not only did he ASSault Matt Duchene twice in the game but he also took a good shot at Mueller(?) can't recall exactly.  Perhaps it's all part of a new training regime for Duchene where he gets mugged on the ice by his landlord.  It's possible, since he did get mugged a lot early last year by just about every team that played the Avs.  As for why Foote has been mugging other players at random?  I attribute it to poor eyesight.  The guy IS pretty old. 

Fantasic video, nice job by Guitarpick8120, obviously a great Avs fan!

As for the rest of the game, the goalies that matter looked good.  TJ Galiardi looked very good with his usual line mates, Stewart and Stastny.

O'Reilly looked pretty good as did Jones.  The Duchene - Mueller - Hejduk line was not impressive, though individually they looked fine.  Just not clicking as a line. 

Almost had a fight between Koci and McLeod.  Kinda glad it didn't happen, Koci is a big guy and I like McLeod.  Daniel Winnik also continues to play well.  Shattenkirk had a good game.  Porter was skating like a mad man but not getting too much done.  Stoa and Mercier were looking decent.

Sakic was spotted in the suites with the rest of the Avs Illuminati, further fueling thought that he isn't just hanging around for autographs.  He working himself into a work.

-From the Point

Second Annual Real Denver Sports Helmet Awards

With the season over for the Avs, I thought we could once again pass out some awards to some deserving Colorado Avalanche players. Real Denver Sports would like to acknowledge the players of the Colorado Avalanche with the meaningless Helmet Awards.

The categories, strictly made up on the spot, by myself and the staff are:

For taking more Shit than any other Avalanche Player that actually did his Job-David Koci
People who say Koci is worthless clearly don’t understand his role on this team. He wasn’t here to score goals, kill penalties or skate fast. He was here to fight and I never saw him shy away from a fight. So you can assault (pun intended) his role, but it’s hard to say he didn’t do his job. Did he win every fight? No. But I’m pretty sure that every guy he fought could kick your ass easily. Unless Scott Parker is reading this. (hopeful)

Highest pay per TOI Award-Ruslan Salei
Salei wins this by a mile racking up a whopping $12,452.00/minute of playing time. Don’t tell me about injuries, all the runners up were injured as well. And some of them were benched extensively.

Best ball cap Award-Peter Budaj
No Competition.

What?  I couldn't find a pic of Budaj in a cap, seriously.
I think he scrubbed the internets of them!!
So here is a pic of a cap...and an ice girl.
WHAT??

Meanest Nickname- Marek Svatos for "Midget"
According to Liles that is one of his nicknames, which he pointed out during an interview. Joking or otherwise…that's just mean!

I’m not Granato Award-Joe Sacco
Nope, not even close. Did you notice those Pens are done? Granato.
The only thing that worries me about Sacco is the hard-ass mentality. I saw an early season interview with him and he was asked if the players could talk to him, did he have an open door policy? The answer: No. Emphatically.

Was G-Money driving the Zamboni after the Pens loss??

The Mike Milbury Just Hit Someone Award-Ryan Wilson

If Wilson can stay healthy I think he has a future on this team.  I like a D-man that knows when to hammer a guy and when to make a play.  Wilson at his best can do both.  Pretty good for a guy that was a throw-in on a trade.

Peter Pocklington Award-Greg Sherman
For trading Ryan Smyth. Captain Canada! I love that guy! I’m still pissed! I can’t let go!
Ok, maybe that is a bit overboard but was Kyle Quincey really THAT valuable this season and Preissing sure wasn’t. Just imagine if this young team had the experience leadership and scoring ability of Ryan Smyth?

Best toothy(less) grin-Ryan O’Reilly

Best Duo since Drury/Hejduk-Duchene/O’Reilly
While The Duke and Drooooory were pleasant surprises for such late round picks. You’ve got to give the kids a lot of credit for living up to the expectations at 18 years old. These two should be great for years to come. Until we trade O’Reilly and THAT will be the worst trade EVER….sheesh!

Five for Fighting Monday - The Gordie Howe Hat Trick

Since I am such a big fan of the Gordie Howe Hat Trick I feel obligated to put the latest such feat up on the blog this morning.  But I'm not happy about it.  And why would any Avs fan be happy about seeing our Avs taking a beat down?  I couldn't find a video of all three aspects of the GHHT so here is just the fight.
If you look closely you will see that besides a half dozen punches that Pyatt delivers, he also takes Stewie's lunch money.



That right there is about how the whole game went.  About how the whole last week has gone for our Colorado Avalanche.
Who would have thought the stupid desert dogs would be spanking the Avs with a 6-2 win at this time of the year? 
Oh, and Wolski has scored twice on the Avs since the trade, but why the hell is he getting some much space out there on the ice?  Both of those goals, Wolski had all day to put that puck right where he wanted.  Terrible!
As you can tell I'm a bit frustrated with the Avs right now.  I think I just knew the game was going to go downhill once I saw Pyatt beat up Stewie.  Pyatt has about one fight a year.  ONE!  And he made Stewie look like a punk.  No one has beat Stewie all year so I'm sure that it affected the Avs mentally to see him get popped like that.
I don't care what other Avs fans say, this might have been a good time for David Koci be out there exacting a little revenge to get the bench fired up. 

-From the Point

It's Official, I've Got a Man-Crush on Chris Stewart

Two Gordie Howe Hat Tricks so far this season.  Yeah, that's right, I said SO FAR! 

He's the only guy in the league with two GHHT's this season.

It's gettin' to the point where Stewie doesn't have real "good" fights all that often, cause people are SCARED!


BTW-anyone that cheered, silently or otherwise about Koci's broken hand...shame on you.
Some guy in the league gets a head injury...you wouldn't cheer.
You think that it's ok cause it's just his hand?  Take it from me, I broke my thumb in August, its still not right.  Doc says it may never be right.  No matter what you do in life, it helps to have 10 functioning fingers.  So don't cheer.  Don't be that guy.

-From the Point

Avs New Years Resolutions

Did you see Attitude doing those lame locker room interviews before the Wings game? Asking the guys what their New Year’s resolutions are? I mean, you gotta have some connections, like me, to get straight answers outa these guys. So I sat down for a beer with each and every one of the guys, all in one night, so I might not remember all this correctly, but here we go;

Stats said he is gonna give up the wooden twig – the highest paid guy on the team is playing with the cheapest stick. So maybe Dad’s advice isn’t always gospel.

Svats said he is gonna fight more often, if he ever gets back in a game.

Budaj resolves to play no more games for the Avs this season, thereby making him the highest paid player-per-game for the Avs.

David Koci gave Boods a look on that and said, Whatever, I’ll still be the highest paid player-per-minute! Koci’s reso is to find time to read more books.

Milan Hejduk: I recall he told the Altitude crew last year that he didn’t think he had any personal improvements to make, therefore no resolutions! That’s some funny stuff Milan. Ok, I agree, you have been one of the most consistently producing Avs for a long time, don’t change! I really have no idea what he told me, I was pretty drunk by then and he is pretty tough to understand sober!

WW said he is going to live up to your expectations no matter how unreasonable they are!  And he reminded me that he dated her,  so how is that for a start?

Liles said he is going to stop growing that pathetic looking beard until the Avs make the playoffs.

Dater is going to give the attendance issues a break till next season, wait, how did that get in here???

David Jones said he is gonna stop getting hurt so much…then promptly slipped in my vomit. If it wasn’t for bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all.

McLeod said he is gonna throw more octopi, more punches and more pucks at the net.

Andy said he is gonna be the #1 star at home more often so he can give those great interviews that the crowd loves.

Stewie said he is going to get more Gordie Howe hat tricks Trivia, how many Gordie Howe Hat Tricks did Gordie have? Leave a comment with your answer!

-From the Point

The David Koci hit on Mike Green

Well, just for fun you might want to head over to CBC to hear what Don Cherry has to say about the Koci hit on Green. I can't get the link to go directly to the video, thanks CBC.ca. So click the link or screen shot, click Sports, click CBC Hockey Night in Canada, click Coach's Corner, click the Dec 19th episode, about 5 minutes in. Nice snow suit, Don, sheesh!

Dirty? Read the discussion over at HockeyIndependent.com

Five for Fighting Monday

Once again it's Monday! Don't let the week beat the hell outa ya.

This weeks Five 4 Fighting spotlight is on the Washington Capitals @ Colorado Avalanche. Mainly because I'm going to the game, woot!

So you want to fight Matt Bradley? Wow, this is a hell of a fight! I hope this game doesn't come to blows, and I certainly hope that the Caps don't use Bradley to swing the momentum cause it might work. Wait, yes I do hope the game comes to blows, and I also hope Jose Theodore is in goal so the Avs get a win! At the same time I expect that Alex Ovechkin guy to put on a show.

So Bradley fights like this? Koci is a lot bigger than Bradley so that may not happen, probably just as well. The Caps don't fight that much anyway.

-From the Point

Does Duchene need a Marty McSorley?

A lot of people have noticed Koci out on the ice here and there with Duchene. Some people, I think, have interpreted this as a demotion for Duchene. However, I think something else is going on here. I think Sacco is just getting them out there together once in a while to let the other team know that he is tired of people running Duchene. He has taken some pretty big hits so far this season and despite the snickering in town about Koci’s willingness to fight, let alone his ability win, he is the only legitimate heavy weight that the team has. And you work with what you’ve got. McLeod was out for a while with that eye injury and then playing with a face shield for a month (but still had two fights). I think his absence hurt Duchene’s game.

Duchene is a young, skill guy and I don’t think it’s a bad thing for Sacco to be concerned about the opponent taking runs at him. He is having a tough start to the season and he could use a little more room on the ice. I think Sacco has the right idea and tonight Chris Stewart was added to the formula and I think it was very successful. Stewie is a guy that can do more than fight; he is a significantly better skater, passer and scorer than Koci. Obvious, I know. But he is also a pretty tough guy that could be out there making plays and making space at the same time, unlike Koci who only makes space. Or takes up space, depending on who you consult.

That’s what McLeod was doing for Duchene early in the season when he was getting SO many good chances to score. But Sacco needs to give Stewie the job for good. Duchene is a little too subtle of a player for McLeod’s crashing style. Where as Stewie gives Duchene a little more to work with. So maybe Sacco HAS given Stewie the job but he isn’t always responding? I don’t know but I know that Duchene needs people on his line that can read plays and make and receive passes for scoring chances.

Right now this team is hurting more than ever for those players. Stewie has been on and off Duchene’s line, and the recent injuries make the juggling even more difficult for Sacco but I think Stewie could excel in this role. Remember earlier in the season when McLeod was skating with Duchene quite a bit? Duchene was getting more room on the ice and therefore more chances. Right now Stewie is hitting the enemy like he’d hit his little sister. In the recent game against the Wild I saw him line guys up for perfect hits only to end up bumping them and he only had one hit tonight. Doesn’t seem like his style, so either the coaching staff has him on a leash or he has just lost his game.

So I don’t really think that Duchene needs a McSorley but I do think the kid needs the space out there that a tough guy will give him.

-From the Point

Five for Fighting Monday

Last year David Koci was with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Today the Colorado Avalanche will play the Bolts, but the subject of Five for Fighting Monday is the game later in the week. The Pittsburgh Penguins. David Koci fought a member of the Pens 5 times last season. Paul Bissonnette twice in one preseason game and Eric Godard on three different occasions. Here is the bout from the preseason, I chose this one because it got the highest rating at HockeyFights.com. Frankly, looking through Koci's fight log you don't see many wins. I guess you could say he holds his own as often as not and that's about it.

It's odd to see Koci wearing 33, obviously that had to go when he came to Denver, looks like it could be his number of choice since I saw him wearing it on a couple different teams, maybe he wanted to be a goalie?
The Pitts game is the halfway point of the road trip. If the Avs are sucking maybe we will see that old tough guy, Marek "Slugger" Svatos throw down with Sidney Crosby! They are about the same size and it might be pretty entertaining! Ok, let's make it a two-fer today and watch Marek Svatos and Claude Giroux from last Monday. They drop the gloves in what was a surprise for fans and announcers alike! Watch for Chris Stewart at about the 20 second mark bangin' his stick on the boards. And the replay is worth watching because at 57 seconds you can see Svatos nod his head in an invitation to go.

You've got to give Slugger some credit for that one. He had been frustrated and I think it righted his ship for a bit. But obviously he can't (and won't) do that every other game to get himself fired up. Of note is several reports that that was his first fight ever, even according to Svats himself. Nonetheless, HockeyFights.com lists two more back in the day, but no video. Too bad.
Enjoy your Monday, enjoy your week and remember, if the week gets tough...throw down!

-From the Point