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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Avalanche Season Preview
Matt Duchene hopes he can contribute to the Avs' playoff dash this year
Offense:
NHL 13 rating: 4/5 stars
While the Avalanche may not have the offensive firepower of the Penguins, Capitals, or Wild, they are still stocked full of young talent, such as 26-year old Paul Stastny, 21-year old Matt Duchene, and 19-year old Gabriel Landeskog. Combined, Stastny, Duchene, and Landeskog scored 133 points in the 2011-12 season, including 57 goals. With the addition of P.A. Parenteau, who tallied 67 points in 80 games last season with the Islanders, the Avs' top six is nearly set. Steve Downie and Milan Hejduk will most likely gain the wings on the second line, and Jamie McGinn, David Jones, and Chuck Kobasew will be used interchangeably on the checking line.
Goose rating: 7/10
Defense
NHL 13 rating: 4/5 stars
Defense will be the Avs' strongest suit this year, being headed by Jan Hejda and Erik Johnson. Though ten years apart, the two have developed a strong bonding back on the blue line. They combined for 45 points from the point despite being relatively defensive-minded players. Shane O'Brien and Ryan O'Byrne will dog it out for the fourth defenseman spot, while O'Byrne and Ryan Wilson might even lose their spots to Cameron Gaunce, Tyson Barrie, or even Stefan Elliott.
Goose rating: 7.5/10
Goaltending
NHL 13 rating: 4/5 stars
By far, the biggest question mark on this team is the goaltending. Semyon Varlamov equaled his career shutout total just last season, but he recorded a save percentage that was down 1.1% from 2010. Greg Sherman signed JS Giguere last offseason to back up Varlamov, and he played very well, having a .919 save percentage, which is expected to be duplicated this season.
Goose rating: 6/10 -
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Sacco Fired
Just a week before the NHL preseason begins, Avalance general manager Greg Sherman made a decision to fire head coach Joe Sacco. Sacco has only coached the young Avs for three seasons and has already lost his place at the helm of the bench, leading the team to a 114-109-23 record with only one playoff berth, as the Western Conference's eighth seed in 2010. The position was nearly immediately filled by no other than former Av
Ray Bourque.
"While we appreciate the 114 wins Sacco brought to the team," said executive advisor and former teammate Joe Sakic, "we also believe that Raymond can add even more to the table."
Bourque was formerly a team consultant for the Boston Bruins, for whom he was captain for 15 years.Comment
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Preseason
Colorado Avalanche Depth Chart - 2012-13 STARTER 2ND 3RD 4TH LW Steve Downie David Jones Jamie McGinn Cody McLeod C Paul Stastny Matt Duchene Ryan O'Reilly John Mitchell RW PA Parenteau Milan Hejduk Chuck Kobasew Patrick Bordeleau D #1 Greg Zanon Ryan Wilson Matt Hunwick D #2 Ryan O'Byrne Shane O'Brien Tyson Barrie Stefan Elliott G J.S. Giguere Semyon Varlamov
There will be some interesting position battles in the preseason, most notably for the first line center spot. Paul Stastny and Matt Duchene will fight it out to see who gets the greatest number of points between Steve Downie and PA Parenteau in two games.Comment
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Good luck with the Avalanche. Going to follow this one.Comment
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Pre-Season Sim
9/27 vs. Vancouver - 4-2 L (Giguere start)
9/30 vs. Edmonton - 3-1 L (Giguere start)
10/3 @ Minnesota - 4-0 W (Varlamov start)
10/6 @ Calgary - 5-2 W (Varlamov start)
Colorado Avalanche Stats - 2013 Skaters GP G A PTS +/- GW PIM SOG SPCT Matt Duchene 4 1 5 6 4 0 4 18 5.56 Paul Stastny 4 3 2 5 3 1 5 14 21.43 Milan Hejduk 4 2 2 4 3 0 0 12 16.67 PA Parenteau 4 3 1 4 3 0 2 15 20 Ryan O'Reilly 4 1 2 3 Even 0 12 7 14.29 Steve Downie 4 0 2 2 1 0 11 7 0 Stefan Elliott 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 0 Shane O'Brien 4 0 1 1 2 0 17 3 0 John Mitchell 4 1 0 1 -1 0 0 3 33.33 Tyson Barrie 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 Ryan Wilson 4 1 0 1 3 0 4 4 25 David Jones 4 0 1 1 3 0 0 2 0 Greg Zanon 4 0 1 1 1 0 15 1 0 Chuck Kobasew 4 0 0 0 Even 0 2 5 0 Matt Hunwick 4 0 0 0 -1 0 2 5 0 Jamie McGinn 4 0 0 0 Even 0 2 6 0 Cody McLeod 4 0 0 0 -1 0 2 4 0 Ryan O'Byrne 4 0 0 0 Even 0 19 4 0 Patrick Bordeleau 4 0 0 0 -2 0 2 2 0 Goalies GP W L T GAA TOI SV SV% SHO JS Giguere 2 0 2 - 3.53 118 58 .892 65 Semyon Varlamov 2 2 0 - 1.00 120 67 .971 69
The debate between Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny hasn't quite ended in the preseason, but Matt Duchene will start the season playing center on the first line.Comment
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Avs Make Late Additions
Daymond Langkow is one of three new Avalanche
Just one day before the start of the 2012-13 NHL season, the Colorado Avalanche have added two players to their NHL roster, and one to the Lake Erie Monsters, their AHL affiliate.
Center Daymond Langkow will join the Avalanche, along with defenseman Jaroslav Spacek. Langkow, who is 36 years old, replaces John Mitchell at the center position on the fourth line. In over 1000 NHL games, the former fifth over all pick has amassed 672 points, including 270 goals. He has the most playoff experience on the team, playing 75 career playoff games, in which he has scored 44 points.
Jaroslav Spacek will join the second defensive pairing, with Greg Zanon as his defensive partner. Spacek has accumulated 335 points in 880 career games, even playing 31 games for division rival Edmonton. He signed a $2.5M contract for one year, and he is planning on retiring at the end of the 2012-13 season.
The Avalanche also signed winger Nikolay Zherdev to a $500,000 contract for one season. While he may not join the big team immediately, he may earn time based on his play with the AHL Monsters. Zherdev last played in the NHL in the 2010-11 season with the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring 16 goals and six assists in 56 games in the City of Brotherly Love.
Many other teams have made some late additions, including:
BOS - LW Jason Blake - 2 yr, $870k
CGY - C Tim Connolly - 4 yr, $3.335 M
MTL - D Colin White - 2 yr, $2.6 M
NSH - C Cal O'Reilly - 2 yr, $2.78 M
NJD - D Brent Sopel - 3 yr, $1.835 M
NJD - G Alexander Auld - 1 yr, $1.475 M
NYR - D Brett Clark - 3 yr, $2.5 M
NYR - C Dominic Moore - 3 yr, $2.47 M
OTT - D Brett Lebda - 2 yr, $1.16 M
WPG - D Paul Ranger - 3 yr, $3.045 M
With that, the Avs' opening night lines will be:
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Gabriel Landeskog "C" - Matt Duchene - Milan Hejduk "A"
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P.A. Parenteau - Paul Stastny - David Jones
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Jamie McGinn - Ryan O'Reilly - Steve Downie
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Cody McLeod - Daymond Langkow - Chuck Kobasew
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Jan Hejda - Erik Johnson
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Jaroslav Spacek "A" - Greg Zanon
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Shane O'Brien - Ryan O'Byrne
Semyon Varlamov
JS Giguere
Schedule:
Spoiler
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
bring bak andruw raycroft
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
this was nice
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
AVS START SEASON ON HIGH NOTE
It's early, but we might already be able to say that Milan Hejduk might be back to his old form, already scoring two goals in just the season opener for Colorado in a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
It took over 15 minutes, but Milan Hejduk opened the scoring with a deflection on a point slapshot from Jan Hejda. The goal was initially waved off, but the referees concluded that the goal would indeed count. Just a minute later, Cody McLeod doubled the Avs' lead with a quick wrister and a bad save attempt in what may be the most bizarre goal of the young season.
The Blues made an attempt to answer back in the second, scoring on the powerplay just 12 seconds in. It was quickly snuffed out by a powerplay goal of the Avs' own, a Milan Hejduk wrister from the high slot, which started a three-goal run by the Avs.
In the third period, St. Louis scored two consecutive goals, by Alexander Steen and David Perron, but this was not enough to mount a comeback. With a minute and a half left in the game, the Blues pulled Halak with a two-goal deficit, hoping the extra attacker would help them gain a pair of goals. However, this backfired when PA Parenteau scored on the empty net to nail the Blues' coffin shut with a three-goal lead.
St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche Oct 11, 2012 1 2 3 F STL (0-0-0) 0 1 2 3 COL (0-0-0) 2 3 1 6 Three Stars 
Milan Hejduk
2 G
Paul Stastny
1 G, 1 A
Jaroslav Spacek
2 ATeam Stats Comparison STL COL Shots on Goal 44 37 Hits 14 21 Faceoffs Won-Lost 19 23 Penalty Minutes 15 21 Power Plays Converted 3 1 Power Play Opportunities 8 5 Time on Attack 4:59 3:52 Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD COL 15:19: Hejduk (1): Hejda, Johnson COL 16:07: McLeod (1): Zanon, Varlamov SECOND PERIOD STL 0:12: PP: Backes (1): Perron, Oshie COL 6:32: PP: Hejduk (2): Spacek, Jones COL 10:23: Stastny (1): Jones, Spacek COL 19 
Landeskog (1): Stastny, JohnsonTHIRD PERIOD STL 3:50: PP: Steen (1) STL 8:08: PP: Perron (1): Oshie COL 19:26: EN: Parenteau (1) St. Louis Blues - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Jaroslav Halak 36 31 86% 5.07 Colorado Avalanche - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Semyon Varlamov 44 41 93% 3.01 Last edited by goosedennis; 02-16-2013, 05:12 PM.Comment
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
walbert >>> varlamov
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Re: Rocky Mountain High
Nice update! Quality report, I don't think I see any errors. Props! Good job! I'm so glad we have a skilled writer on these boards. Just wondering but do you do this for a living? That's how good you are. If you don't then you should definitely consider it. Are the Colorado Avalanche your favourite team? I really like them too, but they're not my favourite, ha! Thanks for uploading the video of the goal! I really enjoyed it! I noticed your channel is called OSGoose! I guess it's because your username is goosedennis, and the youtube channel is strictly for your videos from your dynasty. Solid username! Good choice! I noticed there are some other videos on your channel that are a year old! Was that from another dynasty? If it's not then I guess I was wrong! Speaking of that, why is your username goosedennis? Is your name Dennis? I guess that's pretty random with the goose and all. I guess not, maybe it's your nickname! I guess the only complaint I have is that you don't update enough. This is great! I want more! This is seriously like a movie, because I seriously feel like I'm watching one! Like seriously! You were right when you said Milan Hejduk was returning to his old form, because he scored 2 points, they were both goals! He used to be really good! He's done ok lately but not near where he used to be! Do you have any other writing of yours you could show me? I'd really enjoy it! You're just that good!
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