Morning Flurries: Avalanche back on the grind

Welcome back, Avalanche fans! I’m sure you all missed your morning flurries plenty, but no one could do quite the job that the Raw Charge crew was doing covering the All Star Game.

Since we last checked in, I’ve watched exactly 11.64 seconds of hockey, and they were all Hilary Knight putting on an absolute snipe show during the accuracy competition:

The NHL isn’t a big fan of fun, so they didn’t let the USWNT demonstrators officially place in the events they demoed during the skills competition. But if they had, Knight would have finished third in her event - behind only Brock Boeser and Brian Boyle, and ahead of Sidney Crosby.

Standing just as tall (and weighing just as much) as Claude Giroux, Hilary Knight is easily one of the most talented US-born hockey players in the game right now. And while the rest of the players she beat at the All-Star Game won’t be heading to the Olympics in a few weeks, she will be! So let’s all cheer on Knight and Team USA. #GoTeam.

While we’re on the topic of Team USA and the Olympics, by the way, I think the world needs to know that Colorado native and Lindenwood coach Nicole Hensley has revealed her new mask for the upcoming winter games, and it’s straight fire. [InGoal Mag]

Now, for the Colorado news I’ve been depriving you all of for the last two days...

It’s the start (well, sort of) of another new week, and that means another week’s worth of updates on all of Colorado’s prospects. Get your updates here, in case you didn’t check the site yesterday. [Mile High Hockey]

We’re also getting ready for a new game day, which means two of the trio sent down to the AHL before the break - Dominic Toninato and David Warsofsky - have been brought back up. This time, though, AJ Greer has been left in San Antonio, while defenseman Andrei Mironov will get the recall instead. [MHH]

With the trade deadline just a month away, here’s your look at who’s being shopped (according to all the best sources of course) and who the teams are coveting right now. [MHH]

Finally: as the season heads down the back stretch, how have the Avalanche rookies done so far? [MHH]

Now, for around the league and hockey in general:

The AHL All Star Game happened more or less in tandem with the NHL All Star Game, which is always kind of fun (because really, why give some space to the games? Pile ‘em one on top of the other, I say!).

There were some nifty goals and some neat appearances by promising prospects, but let’s be honest: we don’t care enough about the AHL ASG to dedicate a big section to it. Sorry. Instead, I’ll share my favorite highlight from the weekend:

In the NHL, the wonderful Tampa Bay SB Nation blog has another translated interview for the world to peruse, this time with Mikhail Sergachev. [Raw Charge]

Also, ICYMI, Willie O’Ree was honored at the All Star Game, which is marvelous news. [Raw Charge]

In the world of trades, could Shea Weber possibly be on the move again? [Habs Eye On The Prize]

Oh, and here is proof that Zdeno Chara is a big old softie crammed into that enormous, goliath-esque body:

To close out today, I’d like to draw attention to two stories that plodded their way around the internet yesterday.

First, let’s discuss the art of scumbaggery.

This headline popped up in my timeline yesterday morning:

I don’t care if you absolutely can’t stand being around kids. That’s cool; they can be kind of a lot. They’re kind of like drunk frat guys at a bar; unless you’re mentally equipped to deal with them, they can cause a massive headache. (I say this with nothing but love for my toddler, by the way.)

Bad-mouthing children is kind of tacky, though, because a lot of what makes them hard to handle - their stream-of-conscious way of talking to you, their nosy questions, their volatile emotions and messy hands and inability to understand things - is not their fault. They’re still half-baked and all that. Empathy for children is what produces quality adults.

And if you bad-mouth a child to their parents? You’re one seriously dumb schmuck. Add on doing it while live on air as a radio host, and you deserve your indefinite suspension. Like, come on dude.

Finally, here’s a hearty farewell to Chief Wahoo. May you eventually serve as no more than a relic in a museum somewhere.

I’ve seen a few people upset about this on Twitter, and maybe you’re one of them. That’s perfectly okay. While plenty of indigenous individuals have spoken out about their upset regarding the use of his caricature for so many years, we all have the right to our personal perceptions and opinions. If you think Chief Wahoo wasn’t a big deal, you are absolutely allowed to feel that way.

If you have the time, though - no matter which side of the argument you’re on - I’d recommend giving this piece from a few years back a read.

At times, it’s a bit disingenuous, even to me. The language is a bit melodramatic through parts and can feel a bit like virtue signalling on the part of the author, particularly at the beginning. (I, for one, could have used less of the burning river analogy, but I’m also a noted curmudgeon with a dry personality.)

Once you get past the intro, though, it’s an incredibly informative read on the history of the Chief Wahoo logo - believed by many of its defenders to be steeped in history and an honoring legacy, but in actuality a harsh reminder of just how racist the nation was a mere half century ago.

You may get through it and still think that it’s posturing to get rid of a logo that, for most of the wearers, isn’t at all meant to be the same as the comic strips initially used to portray Louis Sockalexis. Hopefully, you’ll be as horrified as I was to read what actually went on, and feel a little humbled. My mom’s family is Metis and my dad is Jewish, and even I felt a little uncomfortable at how cavalierly I viewed Chief Wahoo during my formative years.

Either way, it’s a fantastically-researched history lesson. At the very least, you’ll have some new tidbits to bring to the bartop next time you’re arguing about it with the nearest dude while watching the game. [Sporting News]