Mothers have very difficult jobs which are thankless 364 days a year. Today is the one day we set aside, in an attempt to make up for the other 364 when we are too busy being self-engrossed, to show our mothers exactly how much they mean to us.

This means presents. Beautiful, wonderful, expensive presents.

Until now. This year, if you are short on presents, merely print out this lovely bouquet and present it to your mother.

And if you are a mother, consider this my gift to you.

Happy Mother’s Day…enjoy the view!

Happy Mother's Day!

No, it wasn’t a nightmare. This past season really was just that bad for the Colorado Avalanche. They really aren’t in the playoffs. They really do have the second pick of the 2011 Entry Draft (along with at least one more in the first round). Most of the organization really is sitting on their couches to watch the race for the cup…just like us.

Sigh.

Their absence does not mean, however, that you should stop watching hockey. My opinion is that any hockey is better than no hockey, and playoff hockey is pretty darn good hockey.

Wow, that was a lot of word repetition. I apologize.

So, without further ado, here are the reasons why you should watch the 4th/5th seed matchups in the first round. » Continue reading “Things To Do When Colorado Is Dead: Why You Should Watch The 4/5 Seed Matchups”

David Jones scores the game winning goal in overtime for Adam Foote and the Avs. (Photo by Katie Martinez.)

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers 4 – 3 in OT to close out the 2010-11 season at the Pepsi Center on Sunday afternoon.

It was an emotional day all around, as it marked not only the end of the season but the end of captain Adam Foote’s 20 year NHL career. » Continue reading “Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End”

The Colorado Avalanche welcome the Dallas Stars to the Pepsi Center Friday night in the second of a back-to-back, home-and-home series.

Thursday night Dallas won their last home game of the 2010-11 regular season 4 – 2, maintaining their pride as well as their postseason dreams of glory. The Colorado Avalanche Light Version left Dallas with what’s left of their pride only slightly dented; they looked decent in the loss but were clearly the inferior team. » Continue reading “Hit Me, Baby, One More Time”

When the Colorado Avalanche show up in St. Louis to take on the Blues, it will mean absolutely nothing. Both teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention. Every man on the ice is now solely playing to save face. And possibly their jobs.

Series Record: Avalanche 3, Blues 0.

That’s right, sports fans: the Avalanche are actually winning a series this season. And not just winning, but winning handily. Dominating, even. It’s a nice feeling.

Over the three games the Avs have outscored the Blues 14 – 9. In case you forgot, “outscored” means that the Avalanche have scored more goals than the Blues. Weird, I know. » Continue reading “No One Cares, But The Avs May Just Beat The Blues”

Milan Hejduk scored the Avs' only goal in the 3-1 loss to the Flames Sunday night. (Photo by @JessicaAvsFan.)

While the Colorado Avalanche managed to keep the score respectable, they did not play well enough to defeat the Calgary Flames and lost 2 – 1 in regulation Sunday night.

First Period:

Absolutely nothing happened. The only true excitement came when Peter Budaj made a terrific save and robbed Rene Bourque at 18:28. So while the period was a little boring, at least no one scored and the Avs were keeping pace with the Flames in shots on goal (11 – 10 in favor of the Flames). The period ended with the score tied at 0.

Second Period:

It started much the same as the first, with both teams playing just well enough to keep each other scoreless. But about halfway through the period the Avalanche defense took a few shifts off in a row and the result was an Olli Jokinen goal with an assist from Alex Tanguay. The Avalanche outshot the Flames 18 – 12 in the second, but they couldn’t put the puck past Mikka Kiprusoff and the period ended with the score at 1 – 0 Flames. » Continue reading “It’s All About The Small Victories”

Sure, the Colorado Avalanche haven’t had much luck with stopping the Calgary Flames this season. But they are fresh off another shootout win (with HUGE attaboys to Ryan O’Reilly, Philippe Dupuis, and Jay McClement) and surely in the mood to play playoff spoiler to the team that slaughtered them 9 – 1 on Valentine’s Day. The Flames currently sit at 9th in the West, three points behind the 8th place Chicago Blackhawks with three games (including Sunday night) remaining.

And to that sentiment, I say a resounding GO AVS!

Series Record: Avalanche 1, Flames 4

The Calgary Flames have outscored the Avalanche 26 – 13 in their five games. The Avs haven’t beaten the Flames since October 28, 2010, and they had to score 6 goals to do so.

The good news is that the Avs have actually scored 13 goals against the Flames this season. Not bad. The men still in the line up who have come up big for the Avalanche include Brandon Yip, Daniel Winnik, Mark Olver, and Cody McLeod.

The Flames have pretty much scored at will against the Avalanche, with everyone getting in on the action. Niklas Hagman, Tim Jackman, Matt Stajan, Olli Jokinen, Alex Tanguay, Curtis Glencross, Mikael Backlund, David Moss, Tom Kostopoulos, Jarome Iginla, David Moss, Anton Babchuck, Mark Giordano, Rene Bourque, and Ales Kotalik have all scored goals in the season series.

The most often-seen goaltenders in the series are Peter Budaj for the Avs and Mikka Kiprusoff for the Flames.

Keep an eye on Ryan O’Reilly, Philippe Dupuis, Brandon Yip, Matt Duchene, and Jarome Iginla.

Ryan O’Reilly had an absolutely killer game on Friday night. A goal, an assist, and the shootout winner. I’m so happy that this hard working kid is finally getting some offensive production and the recognition that goes with it. O’Reilly has earned every single ounce of it and more. I’m sure the competitive O’Reilly will want to keep this swing going against the Flames tonight.

Philippe Dupuis has found himself in a bit of an awkward place this season. He played too well in camp to not make the team, and his grinding style of play has certainly improved the team. But with a plethora of centers and Dupuis’ low offensive numbers he has found himself in the press box a lot lately. Perhaps scoring the first goal against Phoenix on Friday night will get him the ice time his play deserves.

To call Brandon Yip invisible lately is only a little bit of an understatement. He has scored a mere 5 points since January 1. He has been productive against the Flames, however, scoring two goals in the season series. If he would like to show up and maybe put one in the net tonight, that would be terrific.

Matt Duchene was not a scoring part of the Avs’ win over the Coyotes on Friday. In fact, he only had one shot on net all night. My guess is he will not be happy with this and look to turn on his game tonight against Calgary.

Jarome Iginla just hit the 1000 career point mark Friday night when the Flames won in St. Louis. The guy is an obvious offensive threat and he has done more than his share of damage in Colorado. Iginla will be fighting extra hard to get his team to a playoff berth as well as getting his 40th season goal. I fully expect him to be putting on a show against Colorado tonight, probably co-starring ex-Av Alex Tanguay, who has scored 1 goal and 4 assists in the past two games.

For your viewing/listening pleasure:

The puck drops at the Pepsi Center at 6:00 pm MDT. The television broadcast can be seen on Altitude, and the Altitude radio broadcast will be on Denver radio at AM 950 and online through NHL Game Radio.

The 2010-11 Colorado Avalanche season is rapidly drawing to a close. It has been somewhat of a train wreck leaving fans all over the world feeling a little defeated. The players surely feel the same way, now playing merely for pride and next season’s opportunities. It would be excellent to see the boys come out skating hard and playing to win, giving themselves a true chance to spoil the playoff hopes of a division rival.

Just in case you didn’t catch it before…GO AVS!

Thursday night the Colorado Avalanche welcome the Nashville Predators to the Pepsi Center for the last time this season.

I’m sure Avalanche fans will all join me in issuing a simultaneous “it’s about time.”

Nashville has roundly dominated Colorado so far this season. As they currently hold a playoff spot by a mere two points, you can bet they will come to the Pepsi Center determined to score on the Avs as often as Finch hoped to score with Stifler’s mom. (Any guesses as to which movie I watched last night? Anyone?) » Continue reading “Smashville Looks To Complete Season Domination of Colorado”

In spite of an early look of dominance, the Colorado Avalanche ultimately fell to the Anaheim Ducks and the greatness of Teemu Selanne 5 – 4.

First Period:

At 3:34, the unthinkable happened. Milan Hejduk sent a beauty of a pass to Ryan O’Reilly on an Avalanche power play and O’Reilly put it in the back of the Ducks’ net. The Avs opened the game with a 1 – 0 lead.

Not even two minutes later Hejduk made another brilliant pass, but this time Matt Duchene was the recipient. He made an absolutely gorgeous move to get around Ryan Getzlaf and made the score 2 -0. The Avalanche managed to keep the Ducks scoreless through the first.

Let me say that again: the Avs led 2 – 0 at the end of the first period.

» Continue reading “Selanne Leads Ducks’ Domination Of Avs”

Or, even better, a distraction in a fire in a barrel. The Colorado Avalanche conclude their short-lived SoCal road trip in Anaheim Monday night against the Ducks.

The Ducks currently hold 7th in the west by one measly point over Chicago, and Calgary and Dallas are 2 and 3 points away respectively. This logjam means Anaheim really, really needs the two points from a win. Luckily they are playing the Avs, who gave two points to Toronto and the Kings in the past week.

Well, Toronto had to earn them. The Kings sacrificed Anze Kopitar for them. At least the points didn’t come cheap. » Continue reading “Avs May Need A Distraction To Beat Ducks In Anaheim”