Mile High Hockey adds to its McGinn-sized masthead

Bust out the cigars! MHH has an addition.

In an effort to keep Avalanche readers informed on the entire organization, I reached out to one of the most informed folks on MHH when it comes to the Lake Erie Monsters: Earl06. Earl has graciously agreed to join our staff and will be bringing you LEM updates, as well as other interesting stuff. Rather than blabbering on, I will let him give you a glimpse into the man that is Earl.

I've been a fan of the Avalanche since the beginning, a little before that even. I moved to Colorado in 1991 and eventually settled in Telluride. Since there wasn't an NHL team in the area and the teams I followed growing up, the Islanders and Whalers, perpetually sucked, I started following the Nordiques. Joe Sakic was awesome and the rookie Forsberg kid looked like a winner. They reminded me a lot of the early Atlanta Braves dynasty teams, young, lots of raw talent, moving up fast. Like every other hockey fan in the state, I was ecstatic when it was announced that the Nords were moving to Denver. Even through moving to Asheville, NC in 2001, back to the Western Slope for a while, and finally back to Asheville again, I've stayed loyal to the Burgundy & Blue.

Most Avalanche fans don't pay much attention to the farm clubs, and I really didn't either until the lockout. The Avs have traditionally treated their minor teams like a storage locker for extra players more than a field to cultivate talent. Last fall, the Lake Erie Monsters were the only game in town if you wanted to see real live Avs players on the ice and I got hooked. There was youth, some promising talent, maddening inconsistency, but the signs of an organization making a commitment to develop players were there. As the big club begins to improve (we hope) it's going to be fun watching more and better prospects play in Cleveland instead of spending their first pro years in the NHL.

I found MHH a long time ago from a blog post Dater put up, but never registered until the summer Landy was drafted. Sports blogs & forums are usually full of horrible personalities, case in point: the official Avs site forums, which I participated in long ago. MHH, and most of the hockey blogs on SBN for that matter, somehow buck this trend. Posters that do research and write thoughtful posts, posters that scour uncharted corners of the internet for any small bit of info pertaining to the team, posters that can truly debate - exchange ideas and facts rather than just scream opinions at each other. It's an anathema to 99% of internet forums and very refreshing to see.

As to my experience, or lack thereof, most of the writing I've done is business related, so if anyone gets the odd urge to upgrade their kitchen or install hardwood floors after reading something I post, that's where that comes from. I also follow professional cycling and Formula 1 racing quite closely, so some strange analogies might leak into anything I write. That aside, I'm looking forward to keeping those who are interested informed about what happens in Cleveland as best I can.

Welcome to the fold! Here's to hoping we don't bring you down to our level too soon.

You can follow Earl on Twitter @mckinley06