Yesterday the Avalanche twitter released this picture. (As such, I’m giving photo credit to them, until informed of other ownership.) While the Los Angeles twitter feed still rules over all of the other NHL teams, it is nice to see the Avalanche loosen up a little bit. Tweeting silly things like this e-card show that the Avs are a fun organization too.

The organization’s apparent mantra is-”We are a family organization”. Typically, I’m proud of this stand, of the way the Avs pride themselves on being a family. I like the fact that the organization aims to put together a team of players with strong character, and I love the fact that many former players come back to work in the organization. The Colorado Avalanche franchise has been around for nearly my entire life, but on a larger scale, the team has only existed and competed in 17 NHL seasons. It’s rare for things to go as smoothly as they have, both internally and externally.

Yet, in the past year or two, I have found myself feeling dissatisfied with the Avalanche, and their internet presence. While other teams (in particular, the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, and the Pittsburgh Penguins) have broadened their appeal online, the Avs have seemed painfully clunky at times. There are rare practice updates, the sporadic lockerroom interviews, and the simple tweets stating what is happening during games.

Even though this is probably a small thing, I’m clinging to this picture for dear life right now. Mostly because it was either write about this or rant about that one time when I was at a game and Missy Franklin was there and they showed her on the jumbotron and the announcer said she would be available to sign autographs on the main concourse.* However, I’m also clinging to it because I hope it signals a more accessible Avalanche team in the coming years-something I’m sure many of us would love to have.

**No I didn’t go meet her. I was on a quest to find the place that sometimes sells this one pasta dish I like (specificity at it’s finest, I know). By the time I remembered “Oh yeah, there is a probable Olympian signing stuff downstairs” my knee was having a temper tantrum, I was hungry and irritated about the lack of said pasta dish, and the period was starting in a minute or two. So now, I’m hoping that they have Missy do a ceremonial puck drop at some point and I can meet her during that game. (I mean, the girl has 3 gold medals, 1 bronze, 1 race to go as I write this, and she’s a native Coloradan. They HAVE to at least be trying to get her to drop the puck at some point this season, right?)