To Stop the Malcontents

by Mike @ MHH on Nov 28, 2007 8:23 AM MST in News Comment 19 comments

I've decided to post a completely off-topic story to tell one of the highlights of my Avalanche Fanhood. I've got to do something so that I don't continue to think about the current doldrums the Avs find themselves engulfed in.

Way back in 2001, my obsession with the Avs had blossomed to full ripe and juicy fruition. The acquisition of Big Daddy Bourque the season prior and the flirtation with greatness in that playoff run had me convinced that this was the year. The Avs had made it to the Cup Finals against the Scouts/Rockies/Devils and Marty "What do you mean she's your sister?!?" Brodeur. It was a good series to be sure, filled with many highlights for both teams. One thing stands out for me though...

Game 4, tight game, Avs getting out-shot but holding a lead when St. Patrick misplays the puck which leads to a Devils game-tying goal. I'm ripping my hair out and throwing stuff, my girlfriend is shaking her head in wonder at my completely inappropriate response to a sporting event thousands of miles away, when the phone rings. It's my sainted mother. By sainted, I mean, raised three sons solo, and only one misdemeanor between us!

Anyway, the first words out of her mouth are "What is Roy doing?"
And I'm all, "Why are you watching the game? You don't care two squirts about hockey!"
And she's like "I know it's important to you, so I was watching, but every time I watch, something bad happens!"
"THEN QUIT WATCHING THE GAME!" I screamed.

So she did. Later, when she came to visit during the weekend of Game 7, she sat at the back of the room on a couch where she couldn't see the TV just to keep her superstitious son happy as the Avs won the second Cup in franchise history.

So what I’m trying to say is the Avs have ME and my sainted mother to thank. And Bourque. Drury too. Sakic and Tanguay had a little something to do with it also.

Now back to your regularly-scheduled Coach Q Bashing.

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You got it all wrong

Sorry, it was because I made the sacrifice of wearing the same Adam Foote hat, sat in the exact same spot on the couch AND drank exactly two Breckenridge Brewery Avalanche beers per game.

Then, I was so juiced after the Avs won the cup that I bought a 43" big screen TV and the Avs stopped using that giant mountain to skate through during intros. This has been the curse since 2001. I sold my TV on Craigslist just last month. Now, it's just a matter of the Avs skating back through that ugly ass mountain and the world will be right again. That, and bringing Roy and Bourque out of retirement.

by Dario on Nov 28, 2007 8:50 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

I thank you both

my wife and I got incredibly caught up in the 2001 win. How much? Our son was born the following spring. We didn't name him Stanley...but we could have.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Nov 28, 2007 10:31 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Re: I thank you both

You mean you should have.

by Joe Dunman on Nov 28, 2007 10:57 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

nah

we're totally happy with "Horatio".

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Nov 28, 2007 1:53 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Horatio

Like this Horatio?

by Joe Dunman on Nov 28, 2007 2:38 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

That made me misty eye'd

You married the perfect woman DD.

by Dario on Nov 28, 2007 1:23 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

perfect woman?

true story:

we were trying to take our rather elusive cat to the vet, but she wasn't cooperating. We finally cornered her in the kitchen. There's 2 exits to the kitchen - I was at one door, Christine was at the other...while the cat just sat and looked at us in the middle of the floor. Finally, my wife had an inspiration. In true Roy fashion (she's a big Roy fan), she opened up her 5-hole (watch it, gentlemen) and as soon as the cat made a break for it, she closed it up and captured the cat.

and THAT is when I knew I had married the perfect woman.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Nov 28, 2007 1:58 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Perfect

Now if only Jose Theodore was that good at closing the five hole.

by Joe Dunman on Nov 28, 2007 2:37 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

you mean...

I'd have to marry him too?

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Nov 28, 2007 3:41 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

You're killing me

I'm dying.

by Dario on Nov 28, 2007 3:21 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Off-topic

As Joe already pointed out the other day, (and I add more to it), Brian Burke is an idiot. Look what he said about Bertuzzi (and Steve Moore incident), in the first night Bert played in Vancouver since leaving the Canucks:

"I know Todd Bertuzzi is a character person, who thought he was going to the aid of a teammate"

"As I said at the time, sitting right here, right beside him, I cannot condone what happened that night, but I think what Todd meant to do was well intentioned"

Oh yeah, very well intentioned as you can see in the sucker punch in Moore's neck and subsequent crash head-first on the ice...

Almost 5,000 miles away... It's the Portuguese Avs Fan!

by LuisAvs on Nov 28, 2007 11:07 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Burke is an idiot

I had no idea what you were talking about for a while Luis. I just saw the new quote from Bertuzzi's Vancouver game yesterday. Burke is an outright jerk. I can't believe he won a cup.

by Dario on Nov 28, 2007 3:23 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

superstitious

I too am very superstitious. At one point I stopped going to games, every time I'd go we'd lose. So I stopped lol. I went to the home opener this year though and we won. I might go to a couple more games too.

lmao @ the Brodeur reference.

by Mike the Avs Fan on Nov 28, 2007 2:57 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

I was wondering

If anybody got that. Good on ya, Mike "The Sequel".

Mike @ MHH

by Mike @ MHH on Nov 28, 2007 5:54 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Better than mine...

My story from that game is much more sorrowful. (Is that all I post to this site? My tales of woe? oh well, here we go)

My sister-in-law-to-be was either in or doing the lighting for a play (I don't remember). So I set the game to record -- no big deal. I set the VCR to record on it's slowest speed and for much longer than the tape would actually hold. Well, we finally get home, and nobody at the play told me the score of the game -- hell nobody at the play even knew there was a hockey game that night, let alone a GAME 7! I quickly turn on the TV to see if for some unknown reason it is in overtime and I needed to change tapes, well, it was over judging by the infomercial that was playing, so I rewind the tape and go to bed to watch it first thing in the morning. I wake up giddy and get the necessary snacks and drinks, turn the game on and it's Baywatch. W.T.F. ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Well, turns out I didn't cancel the recording before rewinding. So all I got to see was the tail end of the on-ice celebration. I still haven't seen the game.

My wife (girlfriend at the time) was laughing, but not at me -- out of relief that I was the one responsible for the #$%^ up, not her.

by StructuralPoke on Nov 30, 2007 11:49 AM MST reply actions 0 recs