on December 17, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (2)
In a previous post, I asked if the Avs really need a goon like Koci on the roster. After the latest Koci antics, I have to believe that the question is going to start to turn more into a plea for him to be permanently removed from the starting roster. In case you did not see it (YouTube Link), with Tuesday night’s game already out of hand (5-0) late in the 2nd period, David Koci took a run at Capitals player Mike Green, and plastered his face against the glass. The hit injured Green, who did not return for the rest of the game, and it got Koci ejected for the remainder of the contest.
There is a lot of debate in the blog world over whether or not the hit was dirty. I, for one, think that the hit was completely unnecessary and dirty, but that is not the main point in my opinion. My main contention with the situation is that the supposed fire and intensity Koci was showing when the game was 5-0, was nowhere to be found by him or the rest of the team during the 35 minutes of hockey before this incident. The phrase, “Oh, now you decide to play” comes to mind.
Whether you think that this particular hit was dirty or not, there is no question to me that David Koci is a complete waste of a roster spot on this team. I will once again contend that there is no room in this league anymore for a 1/2 dimensional guy like Koci. I say 1/2 because he isn’t even any good at the “Enforcer” job that he is supposedly on the team for. Teams may need tough & grinding players, but they also need to be able to carry their weight in the puck handling, passing, cycling, and occasional scoring departments as well. David Koci has none of that. In the end, he is just a big dude that can stand up on skates. I do not see one redeeming quality about him.
I am also sick of this whole enforcer tradition. Back in the day when Marty McSorley was tasked with protecting Wayne Gretzky, he would often skate on the same line as Wayne (or at least on the next shift) in order to make sure that there were not any liberties taken against Wayne. That “Bodyguard” mentality has somehow morphed into NHL teams just having giant 4th liners on their team that only fight each other. Supposed enforcers on teams are rarely on the ice to stick up for the star player at the moment that the enforcement needs to happen. That enforcement generally just comes from one of the player’s other teammates on the ice and on the same shift as a perceived infraction. To that end, Cody Mcleod and Adam Foote are more of the real enforcers on the Colorado Avalanche than David Koci is.
If you would like to try to argue that the Avs need Koci, please think about this first…he is by far the Avalanche player with the least amount of ice time this season, averaging 3:07 & 5.2 shifts per game. He was on the ice for only 1 shift & 2 seconds in the win over Calgary last Sunday. Just how much enforcement is he really doing on this team?
The Avalanche try to put the bad Capitals loss behind them on Saturday when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Pepsi Center. The game will start shortly after 7pm mtn.
Also, please check out the Avs Hockey Podcast. Jay Vean is doing doing a great job of breaking down the games. You can now also find the podcast on iTunes.
on December 4, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (3)
Most of you probably saw the Avalanche take on the Penguins in the “Igloo” last night. If you did, then you were probably as frustrated angry completely & jaw-droppingly dumbfounded as I was to hear the early whistle by referee Justin St. Pierre on what should have been T.J. Galiardi’s second goal of the night with 11:46 left in the 2nd period. This play can be seen at about the 2:05 mark of the highlight video that I posted. Now, I would never want to blame the officiating for a loss because there is always the argument that the team should have capitalized on the other chances they had. I totally get that, and the Avalanche did have a lot of missed scoring opportunities. Also, if the game was a blowout by the Penguins, then the call would have not made that much of a difference, and it would not be as big of a deal. Having said that (gotta love the Curb Your Enthusiasm reference), this bad stoppage is a direct reason that the Avalanche did not get at least one point last night. The score of the game was 2-1 late in the 3rd period before Joe Sacco decided to pull Budaj for not one, but two empty net goals.
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on December 2, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (2)
Anyone following the Avalanche knows that the month of November was much less kind to the team than October was. After one of the best starts in franchise history, with a 10-2-2 (22 pts.) October, the Avs went 5-6-3 (13 pts.) in November. There are a lot of reasons why this drop-off happened, but here are a couple of the standouts:
Injuries: Just between Hejduk, Jones, Liles, Mcleod, Tucker, Cumiskey, Foote, and Stewart, the Avalanche has lost 49 man games due to injury. David Jones is in the worst shape of the bunch with his recent knee injury, and he may be out for the rest of the season. His case is particularly disappointing because he was just starting to show some promise with his 10 goals and 6 assists in 23 games played. He also had two of the three short-handed goals that have been scored this season by the Avs, so he will definitely be a loss on the penalty-kill.
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on November 19, 2009
by Jay Vean in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (1)
Hello again fellow Avs fans! I know it has been a while, but the last thing I want to do is post just to post. When something relevant comes up in my head though, I’ll be here!
I’ve had a few revelations having to do with some Avalanche online resources that I thought I would pass on to you guys. These revelations have really helped me be more informed, and much less frustrated, between and during Avs games. I hope you find these suggestions useful so you can enjoy your Avs online connections as well.
Let’s start with Twitter. My initial thinking when it came to Twitter was, “Let me find as many Avs fans as I can on here and follow them all!”
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on November 18, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (1)
After a meltdown 8-2 loss against the Cannucks on Saturday, the Avalanche players really needed to gut-check themselves before facing the Calgary Flames last night. Calgary is hot right now, and the division lead was at stake. As a fan, you hate to draw long-term conclusions from any one game. But with this match-up, and the consequences that came with it, there was a definite sense that this single game would show how much heart this new Avs team really has. The beating on Saturday and two days rest demanded that, win or lose, they dig deep and really come out with a solid effort against the Flames. The Avalanche did win 3-2, but there are two stats that pretty much tell the whole story.
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on November 9, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (0)
So far this season, the Avalanche have given up the first goal in 12 of the 18 games that they have played. For them to have only 4 regulation losses is a testament to their ability to stay in games and not give up. In a previous blog, I equated this to an old Ali “Rope-a-Dope” fight. In a lot of the games where the Avs have come back from a deficit, they have had the clear stamina advantage late, which allowed them to impose their will on the other team. Last night against Edmonton may have been the first indication for us as fans that the constant struggle to come from behind is starting to wear on this team.
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on November 2, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (0)
After two terrible losses in a row, the Avalanche have officially hit their first rough patch of the season. There are plenty of excuses being thrown out there as to why the Avalanche looked the way they did over the last two games. The two prevailing excuses seem to be 11 of first 15 games on the road makes a team more tired, and injuries to roll players like Cody McLeod and Darcy Tucker hurt the team in the energy department. These are probably contributing factors to our 2 loss streak, but there is a lot more going on.
First of all, I do not subscribe the the “tired on the road trip” excuse as much as some people seem to. These guys are professional athletes, and it does not take that much rest to be able to play another game. I can see falling off slightly on back-to back nights, but having a day of rest between games should be enough to physically be ready for the next night.
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on October 28, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (3)
I was not able to watch the Avalanche v. Oilers last night because my DirecTV signal was being jammed by a giant storm cloud dumping 4 inches of snow on us in just a few hours. So, since I really cannot have an opinion on the team’s performance (other than what is in the highlight video), I thought I would just discuss some of Craig Anderson’s stats after the first 12 games.
Because of the dismal performance of the team last year, there are a lot of “experts” who are very cautious about giving this team any credit for where they are in the standings. We have added some good players like Quincey, O’Riley, and Duchene, but Craig Anderson is the main reason for the team’s current success. Here are his impressive numbers after making all 12 starts for the Avalanche:
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on October 22, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (3)
After watching the spectacle on the ice during the 2nd period between David Koci and Derek Bougard, I can’t help but ask the question that is the title of this blog. I would also like to ask this question of the NHL as a whole, but I will just start with the Avalanche for now.
First of all, don’t get me wrong. I love a good hockey fight as much as the next guy. If two players are in the heat of competition, their emotions start flying, and that leads to an impromptu fight, then I am perfectly ok with that.
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on October 18, 2009
by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk,
Comments (2)
One of the biggest tests of a good team is whether or not they can overcome adversity. I think it is safe to say that last year’s team would have packed it in during the third period Saturday night, and there would not have been much of an attempt to tie things up. Among our biggest gripes of the team last year was that the goaltending really did not give us a chance to win each night. There was constantly a feeling that if Budaj or Raycroft could have made a few more saves, then we would have had a chance to steal a point here and there. On Saturday night, across the board, from Anderson, to the youngsters Duchene and O’Reilly, the team just did not quit. I am not at all saying that they planned it this way, but it reminded me a bit of the old “Rope-a-Dope” move that Ali used to put on guys. I think that there was definitely a stamina advantage on the Avalanche bench toward the end of the game. The ice started to tilt toward the Detroit end, and the Avalanche took advantage of their opportunities.
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