What a start to the season for the Avalanche. With just about as good of a first game you could’ve wanted for a team that finished dead last in the West a year ago, the burgundy and blue started the 2013-14 season with goals, defense, fantastic goaltending, not to mention a fired up Patrick Roy who wanted to get in the action like the good ‘ol days.
Was that perfect, or what? There’s no other way to start this column. Avs legend and now Avs Head Coach Patrick Roy got the Pepsi Center louder than I’ve ever heard it. Thanks to a cheap shot towards the end of the game from Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy on Avs rookie Nathan MacKinnon, Roy wanted a piece of the Ducks at the end of the game. In case you missed it, (and I’m sorry for you if you did) Roy tried to knock down the dividing glass that resides between the Ducks and Avalanche benches and Roy wanted to have a few words with the Ducks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau regarding the late-hit. It was like watching Avs-Red Wings from the good old days. Queue the Roy-Osgood fighting reel.
(Sigh of excitement to try and calm myself from the awesomeness)This comes after three very solid periods from the Avs all around. Five different Avs scored on Wednesday night, and no line looked as pretty as Jamie McGinn, P.A. Parenteau, and Nathan MacKinnon. The No. 1 overall pick for the Avalanche gave two beautiful passes to McGinn to account for two of the Avs’ six goals, making Joe Sakic & company look pretty ingenius off the bat for drafting the 18-year old from the Halifax Mooseheads.
What’s even better? Semyon Varlamov looked strong in goal for Colorado. For a guy that fans already started to lose faith in after last season, the 25-year old made 36 saves in net for the Avs, and Varly was five seconds away from shutting out Anaheim in the season opener. What makes his job much easier is the play of the defense, which was atrocious a season ago, but looked stellar in game one. Off-season defensive additions for the Avs in Cory Sarich, Nate Guenin, and Andre Benoit helped Varlamov throughout the night in their own zone to get the win.
After breaking out to score six goals tonight, you realize that the scoring should be there this season. With the likes of O’Reilly, Duchene, Landeskog, and Parenteau, goal scoring shouldn’t be an issue. The Avs will go as far as their defense goes in 2013-14. Many who didn’t pay close attention last season would point to Varlamov for the failures, but the defense was the big issue. When the defense plays smart hockey between the blue lines like we saw tonight in the season opener, Varly will make the saves. The Avs invested multiple picks in the guy, and you can bank on the fact that he will come through as long as his teammates play smart in front of him.
The game we saw out of the Avalanche tonight in all aspects can start a fire for the squad. Being the young team that isn’t expected to do much this season, Patrick Roy & company have the talent to win the games where they outwork their opponents. And for the first time in a long time, we saw a certain dominance that comes from leadership. Call me crazy, but yes-men type Avs coaches of the recent past didn’t have their squad playing this way.
Patrick Roy is just the right guy to be coaching this team. We saw something tonight we just haven’t seen in a very long time. Ryan O’Reilly said it post-game.. “He knows the game,” O’Reilly said. “It’s good to have that from your coach.” Roy is a very smart hockey-mind, and he’s got that ability to light a fire under the bellies of this team.
Having it been only one game, you can’t get too excited about a team that finished last in the Western Conference only a year ago, but the excitement that came from game No. 1 at Pepsi Center tonight sure does seem special.
A LITTLE EXTRA: Just in case you Avs fans missed Roy getting heated after the Ducks game tonight, this is a MUST WATCH. You can’t help but grin from ear to ear. Anyone have flashbacks of Avs-Redwings Roy-Osgood? The crowd went freaking NUTS. See video below.
http://youtu.be/3y2OOc6WTrg
Anthony Rodriguez
Anthony is the Founder, Administrator, Editor and Publisher of Lightning Rod Sports. Originally from California, Anthony has been raised in the Rocky Mountains and Denver area for most of his life. Anthony works with the Emmy-winning student-run T.V. newscast at MSU Denver, The Met Report, as the Assistant General Manager, formerly the Sports Producer, as well as Lead Anchor and Production Assistant. He is currently the Play-by-Play Announcer, Color Commentator, and Production Assistant for the Metro State Broadcast Network, and calls games for Metro State soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball as a “Voice of the Roadrunners.” In addition to that work with the Metro State Broadcast Network, Anthony also hosts the monthly 30-minute magazine show called "The Roadrunner Review" which airs on Altitude Sports and Entertainment. He hosts the bi-weekly "KMet Sports Show" on KMET Radio at MyMetMedia.com/KMETSportsShow. He is also the Founder, Administrator, Editor, and Columnist for his own Denver Sports website, LightningRodSports.com. Anthony is also part of the Social Media team at Examiner.com, and has worked with the Altitude Radio Network for the Avalanche and Nuggets. Anthony is a former Producer for Mile High Sports Radio, as well as a former Sports-Talk show host on the LightningRod Radio Network.
Equal parts humor and insight. Spot on my man. This week has felt like Christmas morning! HOCKEY’S BACK!