Slap Shots & Chip Shots

My team’s last game was this Sunday. We got into the 2nd round of the EAHL playoffs before losing 5-0. It was a painful thing to watch. There were 10 available players for the game, so there was a lot of ice time for everyone.  There would’ve been 1 more player, but I had to watch from the bleachers.

See, that’s me in the chair with the stylish cast. My season ended a week before when our team was up 4-0 in the 3rd period of our first playoff game.  I challenged an opposing player for the puck just outside our zone. I raced toward him then turned to stop. Apparently the stop wasn’t as successful as I thought it was going to be. There was a collision and, with all my weight on my right skate, I fell back. Since it’s physically impossible to keep your skate dug into the ice while laying on your back something had to give, so my tibia snapped and my fibula broke in 2 spots.

That was not the way I wanted to end my season. After an ambulance trip to the hospital, lots of pain meds and surgery, I’m now hanging out on my couch with my casted leg propped up. There’s now a permanent rod in my tibia and I’m off my feet for a long while.

I was really impressed with the reactions by everyone involved. As soon as I hit the ice, one of the refs went straight to the scorer’s box to have them call 911, someone from the other team gave me his jersey to put under my head and Jesse Badder, the League Director, was on-hand to remind my family of the benefits of my USA Hockey membership. I was also impressed with the West Metro Firefighters who lifted me onto the gurney with as little pain as possible while standing on a sheet of ice. Thank you everyone who made a horrible injury as easy on me as possible!

I miss skating already. I’ve been going at least once a week for the past year. Going to watch my team play, just being next to the ice felt good. My injury hasn’t scared me at all, it just made me realize how much hockey has become a part of me. I’ll do ANYTHING to get back out on that ice. I can’t wait until my doctor’s appointment on Monday. I want to get the rehab started and I want to do it right.

ambulance, cast, EAHL, edge ice arena, fibula, injury, Playoffs, rehab, right leg, skating, tibia, usa hockey, west metro fire department

I know it’s 2010, but aren’t these playoffs technically considered the 2009 Playoffs since the season started last year? I’m so confused. Anyway, this was a fun run. Hope we do it again next year, but better.

4 Best Things About The Playoffs

1. The Legendary Craig Anderson

No, not the Infamous Craig Anderson. We already know about him. I’m talking about the legend he created with his play during the series against the Sharks.

“I swear I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my life, but that was… awesome.“, Kyle Keefe started the Chris Farley quote and the crowd at the Pepsi Center finished it after Anderson’s Game 3 shutout of the Sharks. He stopped 51 shots to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead in the series. This was just an example of the awesome play of Anderson during this series.

2. World-Class Jackass, T. J. Galiardi

I mean that in the most flattering way possible. Now T.J. isn’t that big of a guy, listed at 6’2″, 175, but Galiardi spent all his free time in the ice getting under the skin of the Sharks players. If you’re a San Jose fan, you hate him for it. If you’re an Avalanche fan, you love him for it.

3. Defying Expectations

Hell, the Avalanche weren’t even supposed to be in the playoffs this year. They were rebuilding. It was going to take time to gel this young team and first-year coach into a competitive team. I know the “We’re just happy to be here.” attitude is usually viewed as a cop-out for those who don’t really have any belief in themselves, but this is truly how the Avalanche players and fans felt about their appearance in the playoffs.

4. It’s The Beginning of Sometime Good

The Avalanche had the 2nd youngest roster in the league. 6 rookies make their playoff debuts for the Avalanche. Us fans have a lot to look forward to from this team. The chemistry created by this team during the regular season and the playoffs will, with any luck, last a long time.

4 Worst Things About The Playoffs

1. Duchene got PWND

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a HUGE fan of the kid. I want to see #9 Avalanche sweaters everywhere. What he did in his first year with this team is spectacular. Unfortunately, in the playoffs he looked like a 19 year old rookie who was in over his head. He had 3 assists, a plus/minus of -2 and 9 shots during the 6 games against the Sharks. We expected a lot more from the kid, and I’m guessing he expected more from himself, too.

2. Shots, shots, shots

When you’re the eighth seed facing the first seed and you allow 40 shots per game on average, you’re not going to get very far. Craig Anderson, as damn-cool as he is, cannot steal every game. The Avalanche really need to improve on this. I just hope they can do that without messing up the great set up that got them to the playoffs this year.

3. Penalties

I busted out ye ole calculator while checking out the stats on NHL.com  and here’s what I came up with:

• The Avalanche had 29 minors and 1 major totaling 63 minutes of penalty box visitation.
• The Sharks had 22 minors and zero majors totaling 44 minutes of penalty box visitation.

That’s a 19 minute difference in penalties. On average, the Avs were in the penalty box just over 3 minutes more per game than the Sharks. All these numbers are starting to get confusing and they may start running into each other if I’m not careful, so I’ll hurry up and make some conclusions. The Avalanche took too many dumb penalties. The refs made too many bonehead calls/non-calls. Both groups need to do better next season.

4. We Lost

Only 1 team out of the 16 that make it into the playoffs gets the joy of not saying this. It doesn’t matter if we were just happy to be in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter if the Avalanche defied all expectations. Losing is never fun.

Chris Farley, Craig Anderson, Kyle Keefe, Matt Duchene, penalties, Pepsi Center, Playoffs, rookies, Sharks, TJ Galiardi