Cream Puffs Anyone?

The Avs are really a bunch of cream puffs.  As I go through the lines it is rather jarring (reverse pun intended) how soft they are. 

Duchene-Stastny-Hejduk is as soft and snuggly as a Reese Witherspoon Rom-Com on a Valentine’s Day date.  Call them the softie line.  As hockey players that shoot, pass, deke, etcetera they are doing better than just okay.  Hejduk has magic hands, Stats is solid and reliable and Dutchy is fantastically creative.  But mean and gritty?

Jones-Olver-Mueller was a recent line.  Jones has long been excepted to go to the net but doesn’t seem to have the personality to do it on a regular basis.  Mueller is reputed to be a floater and Olver is just small.  That said, Jones has raw talent that clearly works at times even if he is streaky.  Mueller has a ton of talent if he can just stay healthy.  But none of these guys are going to knock an opponent to the ice hard enough to make an impression.

Individually there are guys that need a look too.  O’Reilly being the most important.  He is having a killer season and no doubt part of that is due to his steady maturation and insane work ethic.  But I think playing with Landeskog has a lot to do with it as well.  Landy makes space on the ice for O’Reilly to work.  Landy leads this team in hits and most of them are good, solid hits.  O’Reilly, despite all his gifts as a player is still a cream puff.  I can’t possibly count how many times O’Reilly has had a chance to lay a lick on an opponent and he pulls up.  His “finish your checks” hits are half-hearted and weak.  It’s the only criticism of his game I can conceivably level at him. 

None of this is meant to say that these guys aren’t what the Avs need on the ice.  Nor am I saying they aren’t tough, they take punishment and keep on playing.  They are talented but lack the latent chip on their shoulder that not only has a place in this game but is a necessary component of success for most teams.

I believe that the management of the Avs have seen that this component has been missing ever since Chris Stewart was traded away.  Perhaps it was thought that TJ Galiardi was going to fill that roll.  He was certainly given plenty of time and opportunity to do so but it just didn’t seem to gel. 

The challenge with the Stewart-type of players is that they are pretty good at too many aspects of the game for their own good.  They are just good enough with the puck that one coach/team wants them to focus on that and let the physical nature of the game take care of itself.  The next coach/team wants it the other way around.  These guys that can skate well, move the puck well, score and have a mean streak aren’t a dime-a-dozen.  They often have trouble fitting in to the lineup and yet their value can’t be denied.

With the acquisition of Downie and McGinn the Avs appear to be back on track.  The team has a big defense, upgraded goaltending and now a little more grit to go with the talent up front.  This just may be the pieces the Avs have been missing that can get them back to the playoffs.

Here's a nice cream puff recipe for ya, remember, serve with a bit of attitude and everything will be fine.

Ingredients

• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
•  
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs

Directions

1. Mix together vanilla instant pudding mix, cream and milk. Cover and refrigerate to set.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
5. When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.

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
  

Joe Sacco – Tough SOB

It’s all about the A. Dater said the other day in his Twitter feed that Sacco is a tough SOB. I’ve suspected as much for a long time now. Here and there I’ve seen interviews and such that made me think that he projects this persona, or perhaps it is not a persona, that you don’t want to mess with the guy.
I don’t get the feeling that he is a players coach. You aren’t going into his office to have a warm sunny chat. If you are in that office at all you are probably in big trouble.
Sacco has sent TJ Galiardi down to the minors to “work on his game.” While I agree that Galiardi hasn’t been as good as we’ve seen, I’m not really that surprised either. Couple reasons, the first is that I never thought the kid was 1st line material anyway, nor do a lot of bloggers/fans. Second, seems like Sacco wants 3rd line mentality on the 1st line and that might be a bit difficult to achieve all the time.
Regardless, Sacco is sending a message once again with his tough love.
Will it work?
I have no idea.
But if it doesn’t, get ready for the fall out.
Sacco seems to have a tendency to look a bit schizophrenic with his lines. Defensively he has really messed with a few guys…but mostly with good results.
Liles got a little bench time last season and that was shocking, to say the least.
Hunwick is finally getting the seat after the fans have ridden him mercilessly for weeks. We saw this same thing with Wilson earlier in the season where it seemed that Sacco could have benched the guy a little sooner. However, I do have to think that perhaps Sacco should be given a little credit for trying to let guys play their way out of a slump.
We all saw what a mess you can make of a player (goalies specifically) when Quenneville was here with his quick hook. So maybe Sacco should be given a little credit for being patient with really young guys?
But when he does drop the hammer, he’s not fooling around. For now at least, the message seems to be getting through.

-From the Point

Avs Training Camp Report

Day two was a far more spirited affair than day one. It was also in the rink with very limited seating. But the advantage to this rink is the access the Avalanche illuminati have to the rink. Their little private perch in the corner, full of Avs brass is enough to make any prospect skate twice as hard and hit and score and do all those things hockey players do. Including running every rookie on the ice, apparently for the hell of it. I’m looking at you Koci. You, the guy that is alienating your already sparse fan base.

Speaking of the training camp experience. It’s cool that the fans get to come in for free and all, but it really is getting pretty crowded. I suggest if you are standing there talking about golf for three hours, hell, for 10 minutes while a scrimmage is on, you should do it some where else and let someone else in to see the Avs camp!

To enforce this the Avs can take a couple of those ticket sales people up front and have them patrol the isles. Anyone not intent on the scrimmage is out! I mean the ticket reps don’t have much else to do!

Cause this year the slogan is “It’s all about the Fans!” 

Well it ought to be...

Right?

I admit to watching the defense more closely than the offense, mainly because the offensive prospects haven’t changed much from last year or just don’t have a shot to make it this year.

Training camp flop: Kevin Shattenkirk
Wow, for all the hype surrounding this kid I didn’t see a thing! I picked him out of the crowd on nearly every shift during scrimmage and most of my ratings were OK and one was Bad. I watched him lose the puck at the blue line resulting in a rush to his end and a goal. Later in the day I rated him Good most of the time and Better on a shift where he brought the puck in and shot on goal.

On day 2 Shattenkirk was again up and down. I saw one nice steal and an outlet. But it was mostly a down day. Good players get the puck and make something happen. I noticed Shattenkirk spending a lot of time apparently ensuring that he was in sound positional placement, but doing little else. When he did get the puck, especially late in the day he was sloppy, hesitant and often deferred to his defensive partner, Scott Hannan, allowing him to make the play.

As for the regulars: Ryan Wilson was solid but nothing spectacular, Liles looked sharp and Hannan was playing his usual, unadorned and steady style. Foote looked good. Kyle Cumiskey was reported to be out with a groin injury.

That leaves Quincey. Last year I was thoroughly unimpressed with Kyle Quincey in training camp and yet he had a decent season. However, the fact that Quincey was suddenly in Sacco’s doghouse late last season has me wondering. Then there is this snippet from rookie camp of some interesting occurrences on the ice involving Quincey. On day two Quincey was as interested in dropping the gloves with his future teammate (Winnik) as he was in playing defense. Put it all together and I’m just slightly concerned that the guy might have a bit of an attitude at times. Hopefully it never turns into anything significant.

The top nine on this team is all but set but I expect we will see a lot competition though the year at the wing position for the top lines. Is Galiardi really a first line wing? Yip, Jones and even Mueller are likely to battle for this position and Mueller has the early lead by the looks of it in training camp. But Mueller and Duchene seem to have good chemistry so he may not enter into the fray much.

But I thought Galiardi looked good. Fast skating and quick hands and concentrating a lot on the game with the puck. I like to see that because a lot was made of the game he was playing so well in some opponent’s heads last season. And while that can be valuable, I like to see it on the ice as well.

Ryan O’Reilly was also looking good during camp and the leftovers from the Battle for the top Two Lines will, regardless of the outcome, leave him with some considerably better line mates than what he was working with last season. The Avs should have a third line that will be able to score often enough to make teams pay attention.

All the regulars looked good, except I thought Yip and Jones looked only average on day one, but stronger on day two. Other players that looked good were Greg Mauldin, Matt Ford, Travis Gawryletz and Troy Rutkowski. Too bad none of them have a shot in Hell of making this team on opening day.

So that leaves the 4th line guys. McLeod looked fine and we got a look at the new acquisition, Daniel Winnik. On day one I thought: Winnik is big, looks competent enough to play forth-line time, but does he have heart? Matt Hendricks is the type of player that is easily replaceable on paper but perhaps not so much in the locker room. We’ll see, but the Avs appear to have little room in THEIR hearts or their budget for guys that have won over the fans with heart, note Ian Laperriere and now Hendricks.

On day two I saw a couple things that I saw on day one from Winnik. But on day one I wasn’t sure I wanted to give him credit yet. But as day two rolled along those things were there again. So I hope that the Avs have indeed acquired a defensive forward that is aggressive on the fore check and bonus, effective. He doesn’t just press the defense; he steals the puck or makes them cough it up. Very nice.

Who gets these last two offensive spots (if indeed there are two, I doubt it) is anybody’s guess. No one was particularly outstanding in camp except Greg Mauldin and he doesn’t seem like a good fourth line kind of guy. I saw him lay one hit in two days. I’d say that by the antics David Koci was pulling on day two that he thinks he can earn the job by simply creaming rookies into the boards. Doubt it.

Who gets the call is going to depend on play in the preseason much more than two days in camp.

Goalies, yep there were goalie there. See The Avalanche Guild for some excellent goalie coverage from training camp.

Seen at training camp: a guy with his copy of Eat, Pray, Love.

-From the Point

Game 5 - What was that?!?!?!?

               To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin with this.  I thought the Avs would come out flying tonight, or better yet, hoped they would.  Not so!  They only had two shots in the first period compared to the Sharks 12.  I don’t call that a good start to a game.  Although they did get 17 shots in the third period, a bit late in the game if you ask me.

                I won’t complain too much about the officiating although there are obviously some errors being made on calls.  I’m not saying the Avs don’t deserve some of these penalties but the whole melee with Hannan, Duchene and McGinn, that was pretty weak.  I get why Hannan got the penalty but why McGinn didn’t get more than two minutes blows my mind.  He obviously took a couple of swings at Duchene’s face; I don’t really call that roughing.  But... enough of that.

                

                My question is this “Where is the offense???".  The Avs have scored 9 goals in five games.  But 5 of those came in game 2 and one was technically scored by Boyle in his own net.  The top line of Stastny/Stewart/Galiardi has a combined point total of 1 in the last three games.  That’s only one assist by Stastny!!  When you’re the top line for a hockey team, they need you to be more productive.

                Maybe it’s time Sacco changed things up a little bit.  I know he put Tucker on the second line last night but I think that’s a lack of options more than anything.  I’m sure he’s scratching his head with the coaching staff today trying to find some way to revive this team.  Its do or die tomorrow night and something need to happen pretty darn fast.   Maybe put Duchene/Yip/Galiardi back together, they were pretty good when Sacco first put them together.

                One thing I did enjoy though, and I don’t really know why, is that the Sharks scored 5 goals and this is what the stats sheet looked like.

                Talk about not stepping up big Joe.  You had zero points when your team shows up and scored 5 and you only have 2 assists this whole series.  But than again, who could have seen this coming……..ehhh…..anyone from anywhere that’s followed hockey even a little bit in the past few years, that’s who!

                As for Anderson, you can’t be superman every night, you’re only human.  Shake it off and come back with a vengeance tomorrow night.

-Frenchy

Those Damn Kids, Can’t Tell Them Anything!

The Colorado Avalanche came out flying around in their first playoff game and looked great. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Did someone forget to tell the Avs they have no chance?

Was it just plain ignorance?

Maybe these guys haven’t been reading the papers? Cause if they were they would know better. They aren’t supposed to win. Sure, the Sharks have that whole choking thing to overcome. But this is the lowly Avs. The Avs that were falling apart at the end of the season. Were declared “done” after the Olympic break.

Yep, blame it on plain ole ignorance. These kids just don’t know any better. Damn kids!

I’ve been critical of some of Sacco’s coaching decisions this season, but I’ve got to say that he deserves credit for getting the team ready for game one. Ten guys on this team made their playoff debut in that 2-1 win on Wednesday night. I would say Sacco is doing a fine job of handling this team’s young guns.

Hey! Let’s play a little game of Which One Doesn’t Belong

TJ Galiardi could have lost a tooth when an errant stick hit him right in the pie-hole. He took fourteen stitches in his upper and lip and was back out there in no time.

"That's playoff hockey!"

Maybe the Avs are the wrong team to hit in the mouth. All season long everyone has underestimated this team. The playoff prognosticators even admit as much…and then STILL pick the Sharks in five.

Picking the Sharks in five is safe and could still be correct. But most of those fortune-tellers expected that one Avalanche win to be at home, so now what?

Honestly, now the expectations go up just a little in the Avalanche locker room. So even though ignorance is bliss, these guys can’t be ignorant of the fact that we as fans are expecting another stellar performance!

At the same time, the Sharks are probably starting to wonder if they hit the wrong guy in the chops.

Five Reasons I love Playoff Hockey

1. Avs are in the playoffs
2. Avs are in the playoffs!
3. I have an excuse to grow a scraggly beard
4. With this scraggly beard, I don’t have to shave and I get to work 5 minutes early
5. With this scraggly beard, my boss doesn’t suspect that I’m looking for a job

-From the Point

Avs Rookies Rule!

Five for Fighting Monday

It's the holidays, don't beat anyone up at the mall! Ok? Ok!

There was a lot of talk about Koci and the value of fighters in general around Colorado last week. Scott Parker's name came up a lot, mostly in a positive fashion, namely because he was a fan favorite. Parker's first fight in the NHL (and with the Avs) was against Tony Twist. Whew! Welcome to the NHL Scott!

So I thought we would watch a Parker fight today. I found this one of Parker fighting George Parros. It's too bad Parros and his porn-stache couldn't stick around in Colorado a little longer. Fighting and a classic mustache all in one!



Parros played a whopping 2 games in the 2006-07 season with no fights.
How many of you know that Parros was traded for a pick that was used on TJ Galiardi? How about that for a good trade?
-From the Point

Avs' Stastny, Galiardi make for unlikely roommates

Good story on NHL.com

"Hey, I did my background check. I didn't want to live with a slob," guffaws Stastny. "He makes his bed every morning. He'll do laundry. And we'll switch off on the dishes.