THE VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE: WE WILL NEVER FORGET (no matter how much we want to)
Today is the day where it all went wrong last season. Not that it had been going particularly well prior to Feburary 14th, 2011, but this is when our team really hit rock bottom. Not only were we slammed with the teary-eyed retirement of St. Peter only hours before he was slated to play at the Pepsi Center for the first time in years, our team also suffered the worst defeat in team history that night. They gave up 9 goals and only got one in return from Daniel Winnik (spelled "Winnick" by the person who wrote the Avs' website's official recap). Anderson started the game, then was replaced by Budaj at the beginning of the second, then spent the last 10:44 of the game back in net. And if that wasn't enough, Matt Duchene, who was pretty much our only hope at the time, somehow injured his hand and left the game early.
That following Friday, Anderson found himself playing for Ottawa, and just after midnight on Saturday, Erik Johnson and Jay McClement became members of the Avs. And on February 26th, I began a series of photoshops called "The Chronicles of Sherman and Elliott's Tank"
Why do I bring this up now? Because sometimes you have to remember the dark times to realize how far our team has come. Instead of Languishing in the basement, we have a bright and shiny new Swedish Rookie who's been lighting up the NHL with his complete play. Ryan O'Reilly is now in full-on beast mode and has helped lift this team into playoff contention. Stastny, Jones, Galiardi and Hejduk have finally started to find their game again, and Matt Duchene is almost back from injury. Peter Mueller is also out of his quiet room and back on the ice. Our defense has been good this year too - we have too many good options for the blueline instead of too few! And our goaltending is night and day. Instead of watching two goalies battling for the worst save percentage in the NHL, we have a Conn Smythe winner and an extremely talented youngster trading off awesome performances.
We may not have a Cup Contender yet, but the darkest days seem to be behind us. However, like I said above, sometimes you have to remember your bad days to appreciate the good ones. So, with that in mind, here's the complete run of all of the Elliott and Sherman's Tank photoshops.
Related: The Top 10 Most Satisfying Ways to Get Rid of the Tank
WARNING: All 22 images are posted below, so if you're on a slow internet connection, you may want to go grab some coffee (or a Kleenex if you just watched the Forsberg retirement speech) while these images load.
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 1: Elliott Tanking in LA, Published Saturday, February 26, 2011, Avs @ Kings
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 2: ALARMPANZER!, Published Sunday, February 27, 2011, Avs @ Ducks
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 3: Tank on a Tank in a Tank, Published Tuesday, March 1, 2011, Avs @ Sharks
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 4: Taking the Tank back to the Mile High State, Published Saturday, March 5, 2011, Avs vs. Oilers
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 5: The Return of O'B-Wan, Published Tuesday, March 8, 2011, Avs @ Wild
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 6: Despicable, Published Friday, March 11, 2011, Avs vs. Ducks
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 7: AVP, Published Saturday, March 12, 2011, Avs @ Predators
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 8: What the F*** is a Canuck?, Published Wednesday, March 16, 2011, Avs @ Canucks
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 9: The A-Team, Published Thursday, March 17, 2011, Avs @ Flames
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 10: Teasin' Taylor Hall, Published Saturday, March 19, 2011, Avs @ Oilers
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 11: The Pre-Tank Ride of Paul Stastny PART 1, Published Tuesday, March 22, 2011, Avs vs. Blue Jackets
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 11: The Pre-Tank Ride of Paul Stastny PART 2, Published Tuesday, March 22, 2011, Avs vs. Blue Jackets
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 12: Canada's Hokey Mascots, Published Thursday, March 24, 2011, Avs vs. Maple Leafs
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 13: The Bigger Johnson, Published Saturday, March 26, 2011, Avs @ Kings
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 14: 8 To Go, Published Monday, March 28, 2011, Avs @ Ducks
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 15: Everything's According to Plan, Published Thursday, March 31, 2011, Avs vs. Predators
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 16: Starting Goalies, Published Friday, April 1, 2011, Avs @ Coyotes
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 17: Wanted: Bang-Bang Brothers, Published Sunday, April 3, 2011, Avs vs. Flames
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 18: A Little Secret, Published Tuesday, April 5, 2011, Avs @ Blues
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 19: Motivation Concussion, Published Thursday, April 7, 2011, Avs @ Stars
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 20: Deja Tank, Published Friday, April 8, 2011, Avs vs. Stars
The Chronicles of Elliott and Sherman's Tank, Edition 21: Forever 52, Published Sunday, April 10, 2011, Avs vs. Oilers
