FanPost

Best Avs Birthday Weekend Ever

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Our seats for the Blues game.

My wife surprised me for my 35th Birthday (also my last pre-fatherhood Birthday) and bought us plane tickets to Denver and tickets to the Sharks and Blues games. My B-Day is around Christmas so when I found out about the trip I was pretty stoked for two Avs games against their playoff foe and the defending Stanley Cup Champs! However, as December turned to January and the Avs decided to lose 7 of 9 games, I was less excited - almost uneasy/nervous about our trip. It was an awful thought at various times but I was left wondering "did my wife really spend all this money for what should be an awesome trip but the Avs have decided now is a good time for their winter tailspin?" Of course, I couldn’t tell my wife I was dreading the trip so I had to play along and pretend I wasn’t on the verge of a breakdown… So I packed (threw in some essentials and neatly folded my jerseys) on Thursday morning and we were off to the airport!

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Great seats for the Sharks game!

Once in Mile High City, I told myself I was going to "enjoy the experience and have fun" regardless of the outcomes. My in-laws (alleged VGK Fans (they moved from Vegas to Denver a few years ago) who like to have a good time) got six tickets for the Sharks game so I gave myself a pep-talk and decided I was going to enjoy the experience and have fun regardless of the outcomes. We were getting ready to leave for the game and I came down stairs in my MacKinnon jersey, my father-in-law had a look of jealous-astonishment on his face and muttered "I wanna wear a jersey". Lucky for him, my Makar 3rd jersey was upstairs in my suitcase. In hopes of creating a new Avs fan, I obliged and let him wear it. They got great seats for the game (section 124, row 10 - basically center ice behind the penalty boxes) so I really didn’t want to see the Avs lose or blow another lead. As it turned out, the Sharks were just what the doctor ordered. Nuke lit the lamp with a sweet move 45 seconds in and then Cale capped off the period just before intermission to make it 2-0. When my Father-in-law realized Cale scored the 2nd goal you would have thought HE scored the goal - it was priceless. The Avs kept it rolling through the 2nd and it seemed as though we might have a couple new fans. We raced off for a couple more beers at intermission then wandered into Altitude Authentics and proceeded to miss the entire 3rd period but apparently only missed out on the Sharks being dirtbags. After swooping some merchandise, we’re leaving the Pepsi Center and my slightly inebriated father-in-law proudly proclaims "HOCKEY IS MY LIFE". Double mission accomplished - Avs win and a new fan!

We didn’t have any plans on Friday so I made the executive decision that we’d stop by practice because, why not? Once we arrived (10ish mins late) there was no sign of MacK, EJ, Cale, Cole or Z (apparently this was an optional skate) and they were going through some informal passing/skating drills. Mikko was dinking around at one end by himself and was eventually joined by Landy for a little while. Most everyone sauntered off the ice after 30 mins or so leaving just Jost, Burakovsky and PEB. Jost and Bura were working with one of the assistants on deflections, rebounds and shooting through traffic while PEB was working on one-timers at the other end. On one of Bura’s reps during the shooting through traffic drill (2 cones set up at the top of the circle with a stick laying at an angle on top of one of the cones) he mishandled the puck and knocked the stick off the cone which apparently was unacceptable as he proceeded to tomahawk his stick over the goal and into the glass. My wife thought this was hilarious and it was!

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Sooooo many Blues fans...

By Saturday, the nerves were gone and I was just excited. The Avs got a much needed win against the Sharks and seemed primed to take on the defending Champs. It was just my wife and I for the matinee so we took the light rail and arrived early to hit Altitude Authentics (again) and catch pre-game warm ups. She got us great seats (Section 144, Row 22) and since we didn’t have the in-laws, I was going to take it all in and enjoy every second. In spite of the hordes of Blues fans (there was seriously a line to get into Pepsi Center that was almost entirely Blues fans/jerseys), the atmosphere was electric. The opening goal was ALL thanks to SammyG - great interception at center ice and then he made the most of Mikko’s blunder to put the puck on a platter for Mack. Predictably, the Blues tied it up on the Power Play before the period was over. Before many made it back to their seats for the start of the 2nd, ROR turned Cale around and made a sweet backhand pass to set up Sundqvist to make it 2-1. I’m not gonna lie - at first I was excited to see it was ROR who got the puck at the blueline after the turnover - it looked like a breakaway because he had a step on Cale but I know he isn’t the fastest skater. But then he spun around Cale (who caught up) and made THAT pass. Quickly, The Can was quiet and a little nervous but it didn’t last very long thanks to a takeaway and partial breakaway for Bura. The goal was originally credited to Jost and I couldn’t wait to give him props for staying late at practice, working rebounds and then scoring on a rebound in the game. But it wasn’t meant to be as the puck deflected off Bura’s skate and into the net. About 10 minutes later my jaw nearly hit the floor when the most impressive thing I saw all weekend happened. Cale gathered the puck at the blueline, faked down the boards, stops, then proceeds to walk the ENTIRE blueline and have enough composure and patience to make it to the top of the circle before firing that sweet wrister past Binnington setting the franchise record for goals by a rookie defenseman. Seriously, how many rookie defenseman have the skill and composure to pull that off? Seconds later, Burakovsky beat Binnington shortside chasing him for the afternoon. In the 3rd period, the top line got stuck on the ice after an icing - they actually ended up with a great scoring chance after the faceoff but then got stuck in their own zone leading to a wide open Pietrangelo and it was 4-3 Avs. The Blues kept the pressure on the Avs for the remainder of the period until Landy put it away with the empty netter. What a game! Having just beat the defending Champs, we had no choice but to stop at Altitude Authentics (again, again) for more swag (it’s almost impossible to find Avs gear in Boise).

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Your Number 1 Star of the Game!

On our way out of the Pepsi Center I saw a kid holding a rolled up sign and a stick. Of course I was curious and wanted to know whose stick he got. Lo and behold, he was a Blues fan and snagged one of the craziest/most intriguing sticks in today’s game - Mr. Ryan O’Reilly’s. As many of you know, I have a complicated relationship with ROR - loved him, despised him (offer sheet & contract demands), indifferent toward him (Buffalo), disliked him (Blues), disliked him even more during their playoff run. I was a little salty after he won the Conn Smythe but may have finally come to terms that he’s just a great hockey player and it just didn’t work out in Denver. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool the kid got one of Factor's sticks!

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Nice sign and stick, kid!

With a freshly stuffed suitcase - including 3 Jerseys (Makar Home for me (custom order cause they’re sold out), MacKinnon 3rd for my Wife and a Home for the incoming baby), 2 flags, 2 hats (one for me and one for the kiddo), a polo, beanie, license plate cover and beer koozie - we got up early Sunday morning and flew back to Boise. What a weekend, best Birthday present ever!!

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