Dual-Personality Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche are officially nuts.  They have two personalities.

Last Saturday the Avs played the first of four-straight divisional games.  Coach Joe Sacco called the game a “must-win”.  The Avs failed to even show up for the game, leaving the head coach looking like a big dummy.  The Avs went through both goalies and let in 8 goals on 30 shots.

Road trips in the Northwest Division are never easy, but after a terrible game against Vancouver, the Avs were probably ready to get out of town.  Two days later the Avs hit the road in Calgary and had a killer game against a red hot team trying to get the lead in the division.  The Avs played hard throughout the game and the Flames players even commented that the Avs are a hard team to play against.  Music to Sacco’s ears. 

Sacco has been saying since the day he was hired that his team will be a tough team to play, win or lose. 

That’s the team that showed up in Calgary but not the one that showed up for Vancouver.

The very next night the Avs faced the Edmonton Oilers.  Which team would show up for this game?

As it turns out, they both did. 

Milan Hejduk was on a line with rookie Matt Duchene (finally!) and was on fire in the first.  The Oil was keeping up on the scoreboard till about halfway through the second.  That’s when the Avs jumped into a two goal lead and rookie defenseman Ryan Wilson laid a huge mid-ice hit on the Oil’s captain, Ethan Moreau.  Teammate Zack Stortini immediately went to Moreau’s defense, blessing Wilson with his first NHL fight.  But instead of finishing the Oil off, the Avs quit playing and suddenly the other personality showed up.  The Avs laid down and let the Oil roll over them for the rest of the game.

After winning 3 of 4 NW division games in October, the Avs have won only 1 of 5 for November.  If there are any games that a team needs to win in the early part of the year, it’s in your own division.  November is loaded with division games, eight total, so they still have an opportunity to go 4-4. But that means showing Vancouver the hard working team tonight.  Not the other side of their personality.  The side that makes coaches and fans crazy!

This is a young team and these things will happen.  It’s up and down like the cracking voice of a boy hitting puberty. And let’s face it; a lot of these guys are barely shaving once a week.  But the best thing about youth is its elasticity.  Its bounce. You have a down night? No problem, that bounce will send you back on the upswing.

It’s rough on coaches.  It’s rough on the fans.

It makes for exciting games and dreadful games. 

Let’s go boys! Time to bounce.