(Editorial note: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKK  - Joe)

The "S" curse continues to plague the once mighty Avalanche as Paul Stastny had been lost due to a fractured right forearm. Stastny suffered the injury on a shot from the Coyotes Olli Jokinen in the final minute of the third period, while the Avs were trying to maintain a 4-3 lead and with the Coyotes on the power play after Brett Clark took a bad penalty with 1:28 left in the game.

Adrian Dater was the first to report the bad news in his blog over at the Denver Post:

BAD News - Stastny has fractured right forearm

But since the Avs never release news this soon about anything, it was hard to believe until Sadowski reported it at the Rocky Mountain News as well.

Avs Stastny out indefinitely after breaking arm

Fans around MHH and the blogisphere are now really wondering what the organization has done to so upset the Hockey Gods as to deserve two straight seasons of this kind of treatment? The answers have varied but two things are for sure.  The Avs are being punished for having had Joel Quenville as the coach in the form of the 'S' curse. The Avs lost Sakic, Smyth, Stastny, Svatos and others last season to injuries, including Sakic, Smyth and Stastny all at the same time right around this time of the season. Already this season we have lost Sakic, Salei, Svatos, and now Stastny to injury and have a few 'S' names that could be added to that list if the Hockey Gods feel so obliged. 

The other reason why the Hockey Gods are dealing out this punishment may in fact be the dreaded Unipron!  Think about it.  The Avs were once a mighty organization on which winning Lord Stanley's cup was the only thing expected every season. Nothing else was good enough.  Now the Avs can barely make the playoffs, if at all. And it all started with? The dreaded lockout and the design of the Unipron.  For more evidence as to the evil that is the Unipron I will direct you back to a former fanpost by MHH's own Stucturalpoke:

In-depth analysis about Avs' downturn

The Avs need to file a grievance with the league to see if there is anyway they can get rid of these hideous abominations to the game, before all hope is lost.

Have a Mighty Christmas Avs fans...if that is still possible?

And try not to have nightmares about Arnason as our first line center....

ADDENDUM: Speaking of Arnason, Dater has the money quote from his updated blog post about the loss of Stastny:

This means that Tyler Arnason is your new No. 1 Avalanche center, folks. If that doesn’t drive up the alcoholism rate among the die-hard fan base reading here, I don’t know what will.

I'm already drunk. - Joe