The Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL - January 29th, 2014

Frei wrote an article about Alex Tanguay.

He's the final Avalanche player with a link to the franchise's initial glory years, in his case famously including his two goals in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2001. He was the young player contributing so significantly but also still a bit in awe of many of the others raising the championship trophy before him.

"I am old in hockey terms," the Avalanche winger conceded Tuesday. "I remember coming in at 19 and looking at the guys who were 34 and was like, 'Oh, my God, those guys are so old and they're still flying!' Fortunately enough, it was perfect timing. We had such a team loaded with stars and we expected to win on a nightly basis, and we expected to win year after year.

"And now, you look at the way this team has been built ..." — he rattled off the names of his most prominent young teammates — "... with all those guys, we've got the potential and buildup to be good for four or five years. Maybe more."

We have an update on Ryan Stoa.

“I guess sometimes it's kind of like you're a proud father as a coach,” Haviland said. “You work with guys. He was very, very excited and very thankful. I said, 'Don't thank us. You did it. You've turned your career.' For me, he's kind of turned it around and put himself back on the map a little bit.

“I told him go up and play the game the right way, though. Don't go up and just be happy that you're there for one. Go up and stay for 10 and 20, maybe the year, and, hopefully, I don't see you again Stoa. He's got the skills to do it. Just do it now.”

This article is fantastic, really. Joe Rogers was born with one fully formed hand, but that doesn't stop him. He is the back up goalie for Notre Dame College.

It was never about talent, or a lack of effort, either. On the first day Notre Dame strength coach Tony Rolinski met Joe, each player had to do an initial battery of fitness tests. One of these was the chin-up bar. Assuming Joe couldn't grip it with his right hand, Rolinski told him to sit out, that he would find another equivalent exercise for him to do.

The rest of the team was milling around, watching and curious, still trying to get a feel for the new goalie with one hand. Joe looked right at his coach and said, "I can do this." Using his left hand and hooking the thumb of his right hand around the bar, Joe cranked out 13 chin-ups.

Everyone, from the seniors to the freshman, went nuts.

"Right then and there, you knew that this young man wasn't going to be beat by anything," Rolinski said. "You could tell the way he was raised and the challenges he's been put through — he didn't care. He was just going to go do it. I knew that I could pretty much make this kid do anything."