Morning Flurries: the Montreal Canadiens are Western Conference Champions…kinda

Good morning Colorado Avalanche faithful. We’re a few weeks into the off-season and the Avalanche have some company on the golf course as of last night.

That’s right, the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights in game six with a 3-2 overtime victory. The lowest seeded team in the entire playoffs has pulled off three straight upsets on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s the Canadiens’ first appearance since 1993 and the first for a Canadian team since Vancouver’s 2011 appearance in the finals. Montreal will take on the winner of the Tampa Bay/New York game seven, taking place this evening.

The craziest part of it all? Technically the Montreal Canadiens are the Western Conference Champions:

In Avalanche news, it’s been 10 years since the beauty we know as our captain was drafted to the squad. It’s hard to believe ten years have passed since Colorado drafted Gabriel Landeskog, but here’s some proof.

Also, if you’re in the Colorado area and would like your chance to get on the ice at Ball Arena, the Avalanche are holding “Ice Patrol” tryouts.

That gives you about a month to get your skates sharpened and your lungs back in your chest in preparation.

Continuing the post-mortem season theme of rehashing everything that occurred in the previous season, NHL.com put up two reflection pieces on the debuts for Avalanche rookies Alex Newhook and Sampo Ranta on the site. The future is ridiculously bright for Colorado. Is there any team that boasts a better collection of under-25 talent than the group put together by Joe Sakic?

And in a surprise to nobody, the players all agreed, the Avalanche had the coolest Reverse Retro jersey. After seeing all of them on the ice I must agree, although the Kings’ reverse retro is also pretty awesome (and should become their new primary immediately).

In non-Avalanche news, ESPN is putting together the broadcast crew for their return to the hockey world. Mark Messier is the latest hall-of-famer to join a team, signing a multi-year deal as a studio analyst for ESPN. Messier joins former Edmonton Oiler team-mate Wayne Gretzky in making the transition to broadcasting next season, with “the Great One” joining the analyst team at TNT in a similar role that Messier will occupy with ESPN.

The expansion Seattle Kraken have their first head coach. Former Philadelphia Flyers coach Dave Hakstol will be behind the bench for the inaugural season under the Space Needle after singing an undisclosed deal prior to the expansion draft and NHL Entry draft, where the Kraken hold the second pick.

That’s going to do it for today. Enjoy your day wherever you are! Hope you have as much fun as these guys!

Brandon Saad telling the world, “there ain’t no laws with the claws” in that picture!

Go Avs Go!