Wednesday, January 27, 2010 @ 8:30 pm by Josh Burcham

Nothing better than your team winning and winning a lot is really good. Sorry to all the Dallas fans out there, but below is a new feature on Hulu of condensed NHL games.

We’re going deep into the Playoffs and I’m predicting now…the west wins the cup this year.

Monday, January 18, 2010 @ 11:06 pm by Josh Burcham

It’s a win! It has been nice to have a winning season and fighting for first and not last! And for some sugar on top the Detroit Red Wings are having a horrible system. Not sure if I am more excited over the Avs winning season or the wings crappy season. Colorado took a nice shutout of the Oliers, 6-0. Granted the Oliers are in last place in the west, but a win is a win and we need to keep Calgary behind us.

Unfortunately the above is a picture from last years season was pretty constant, so it has been a nice change of pace. We still aren’t back to our old glory days, of Roy, Sakic and Forsberg and Anderson still has some rough nights, but we are moving in the right direction.

FYI to all, Winter Olympics are right around the corner. Let’s go USA!

Friday, October 16, 2009 @ 8:58 am by Josh Burcham

Before something changes I thought it important to post this now with the Avs leading the western conference. Don’t want them to fall into old habits and start moving down the list, but these last couple of seasons have proved that it is a high probability. Now lets cross our fingers and cheer our team so they keep the steak going. Let’s Go Avs!

Monday, May 18, 2009 @ 9:55 am by Josh Burcham

Denver Post is reporting that Patrick Roy has been offered the head coaching job for the Colorado Avalanche’s 2009-2010 season. No reports of terms of the job offer accept that is is a “coaching-plus” job.

“Patrick is a very deliberate guy who analyzes everything,” said Jacques Demers, who coached Roy’s Montreal Canadiens to the 1993 Stanley Cup. “He’s not necessarily going to take the first job that might come along. He’s going to want to go into a situation he thinks is on the right track and that he’s going to feel comfortable with.”

The ball is in Roy’s court. I’m stoked to see him behind the Avs bench and going to make more frequent trips to Colorado. Denver Post’s article, Roy has offer to coach Avs.

Monday, May 11, 2009 @ 12:15 pm by Josh Burcham

You might not be as interested in this as much as I am, but Patrick Roy (all-time best goalie to ever play in the NHL). Up till recently Roy held the most wins from an NHL goalie and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006. Could be taking Tony Granato’s head coach spot behind the Avs’ bench. Roy met with Avalanche President last Thursday-Friday, May 7th and 8th.

Since retiring from the NHL, Roy went to become the Owner, GM and Coach of the Quebec Remparts. Winning the Memorial Cup (equivalent to the NHL’s Standley Cup for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) his first season.

Nathan actually had a chance to meet Roy a couple years back when his team went up to Quebec representing the Colorado Avalanche’s youth hockey and didn’t even know who he was meeting. I was disappointed to say the least. Love you Nate.

This would be Sick! I would be in Colorado as much as possible, which my mom would love! Nothing new in an NHL team of bringing one of the greats back as a coach, wink wink, Gretzky. Don’t get me wrong he was an amazing player, but now he’s had a couple of years to prove himself and the team just can’t produce. The coach usually takes the blame. Roy has a impressive coaching record on his resume and was been a know leader on the teams he played for. Let’s see what he could do in the Pros.

I’m curious to see him give it a shot. Seriously, it can’t be much worse then dead last in the West with a 32-45-5 record!

What the Press is saying: Sports Illustrated, The Denver Post, and Colorado Avalanche Blog.

For Fun: Like father like son. Below is a picture of Roy’s son holding onto the Family reputation.

Notice he doesn’t wear his dad’s number.

Sunday, February 15, 2009 @ 10:15 pm by Josh Burcham

Quoting Jim Carrey from Dumb and Dumber, “so you are saying there is a chance”. My Colorado Avalanche have struggled this year and that is probably a understatement. They are sitting dead last in the Western Conference right now, but we might see some upward movement.

The Avalanche took down the Wings Sunday night by a score of 6-5 in a game that needed 5 shootout rounds to decide the winner.

For those counting, that’s 3-0 against the Evil Empire this season. Yep, my team sitting last in the Western Conference was able to take down one of the best teams in the league three out of three times and has officially taken the season series regardless of what goes down on March 4th. Now that wasn’t a small feat.

Recap from Colorado Avalanche.com
Ian Laperriere scored just 16 seconds into the first period and Wings and Avs fans alike were shocked. If anyone would score first, you’d think it would be the Wings loaded offense against a 3.00+ GAA goaltender in Andrew Raycroft.

The remainder of the first period was fairly sloppy. Nearly as sloppy as Chris Osgood’s puck handling abilities. The Avalanche killed off the first of their three 5-on-3 situations – conspiracy my ass, Wings fans – and headed in to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

The second period opened with the Lappy line and once again, they didn’t disappoint. They pushed the puck deep into the Wings zone and then Laperriere got in front of Osgood to help create havoc in front of him, allowing a Ruslan Salei point shot to find the twine.

2-0 and the feelings of “ Is this real life?” were starting to kick in.

The question was quickly answered with four penalties, two 5-on-3 sequences and two Red Wings PP goals in the span of 2 1/2 minutes. Tack on a beauty Marian Hossa goal at 8:58 and real life was rearing its ugly head with a 3-2 Wings lead.

Then the third period started and everyone was thinking “It can’t happen again.” But happen it did. Andreas Lilja took a penalty just nine seconds into the period which ended at the 1:01 mark when Marek Svatos got a stick on a Wojtek Wolski shot to even things up at 3-3.

Marian Hossa put the Wings up 4-3, Ben Guite tied it up. Jiri Hudler put the Wings up 5-4, Milan Hejduk tied it up. Who would have thought the Avs would have the gumption to keep battling back against the Wings?

The Avalanche held off a late onslaught from the Wings to take it to OT. An OT which proved fairly uneventful so it was off to a shootout.

I won’t detail all the shooters since it went five rounds, but suffice to say that Hejduk is still money and when Leopold scored to end it, I leaped out of my chair with more joy than should be afforded to simply cheering for the winning team in a sporting event.

Tonight, I’m going to revel in the honeymoon phase of this win. Because when I wake up tomorrow, it will be to a bleak, uncertain future.

And for some great memories:

Thursday, November 6, 2008 @ 7:57 pm by Josh Burcham

NHL GameCenter will change my life. All games at my finger tips. Now I just have to find $20 a month. That will take some work.