Archive For December 2009
The Koci Debate Heats Up
on December 17, 2009 by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk, Comments (0)
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.
Slept on it, and No I Don’t Feel Better
on December 4, 2009 by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk, Comments (0)
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.
November Report: Bumpy Road
on December 2, 2009 by Kevin Nash in General Avalance Talk, Comments (0)
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.
