It took a while, but I have a few pictures up from Rookie Camp. I put them over on my Hockey Photo page, so I don’t clutter things up too much on JAHL.

You can find them after the jump.  There’s just a few, nothing real insightful, but they are up. I went, I took photos, I blogged. Ha.

Technorati : Avalanche, Avs, Camp, Colorado, Hockey, Mayotte, NHL, Rookie, Wolski

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There are a lot of bright spots for the Avs future kicking around, so long as the Avs hang on them. From Stastny to Wolski, there is some talent waiting to develop into dangerous NHL players. One of those is Tyler Weiman.

I’m big on Weiman. He played for the Championship Colorado Eagles a few years ago, earning Rookie of the year and Most Outstanding Goaltender awards. Weiman looks good in goal, solid with his positioning, and quick with the glove hand. He isn’t quite ready for the NHL, but he will be soon. He could be the answer in a few years when Budaj and Theodore play out their contracts. Now it’s a question of experience.

That experience took a major step last night, with Weiman’s first NHL action. Weiman got the win in net, playing the 3rd period, OT, and the shootout.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

He stopped 13 of 14 shots in 25 minutes, two of three in a shootout, and skated off the Joe Louis Arena ice with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

“There’s a lot of history in this building and this is the first time I even dressed for an NHL game, so it’s a good feeling,” said Weiman, who was the Avalanche’s sixth pick (164th overall) in the 2002 NHL entry draft. “I’m just trying to make the most of my opportunities, do the best I can.

“I understand the situation here. I’m just trying to get a little confidence and a little experience at the same time. It’ll help me not only now but down the road. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I have high expectations for myself.”

Yeah, the situation in goal is pretty much set. Unless the Q (Quenneville) starts messing with the goalies like last year, Weiman wont see much more action with the Avs. But the future is looking good in goal. I’m pretty happy with that. The rest of the goalie situation, we’ll have to see.

Stupid Phone Tricks
Originally uploaded by Tapeleg.

You have to try things out. This is a test to see if this email/flickr/phone thing works.
If you find it dtuck in your RSS, that tap handle is from Baltimore, MD. Hockey is everywhere.
Hopefully, this will get better with a better phone, which has to wait for now.
–
Sent from my Treo, crossing my fingers

Sometimes the gauntlet gets thrown down in the hockey blog universe, and even with the hockey love on your side, you have to respond. Like a child being told that it isn’t worth it, I will still give as well as I have taken.

IwoCPO at A2Y started the bile and hatred of the season with his first of many, “Why My Wings Are Better Than Your…” It was a childish rant, more along the lines of a detailed list of hopes and dreams, powered by whimsy and self-deception. I wish things were easier for IwoCPO, but he is in Michigan, home of the wish-we-were-Canadians. I shouldn’t bag on him too much, as half of my traffic to this blog comes from him alone, sitting in front of his computer, shaking his fist, yelling phrases like, “What the hell is a Tapeleg?!?!?!” Sad.

But this offseason has been pretty tame, allowing the loathing for my Trifecta of Evil (Wings, Canucks, and Devils) to settle like a vinaigrette dressing (my metaphor engine is down today). This is when you look to your fellow man to bring all the hate, anger, and fury that is totally unreasonable to the surface.

So, without further meandering, I give you, Why the Avalanche are so much better than the Red Wings.

Goaltending: HAsek. (that is not a typo, I laugh every time I hear his name) Come on. He could lose a puck in the crows feet around his eyes. I know he was the goaltender of the Wings for some successful campaigns, but come on. If this were a production of A Christmas Carol, he would play the Ghost of Excuses Past. Osgood? Why is it he can only play well with the Wings? Oh, yeah. Because he sucks out loud, and has needed a good team in front of him to get the job done. The least heard phrase in St. Louis when he was there? “Great save by Osgood!” You know I don’t care for Theodore, but he at least doesn’t need a defenseman to skate the old man into goal. Both teams are in wait and see mode, but at least ours isn’t collecting Social Security.

Offense: No. Simply put, you are wrong. While the Wings were off in Europe during the lockout, the Avs were home getting fat and lazy (not Tkachuk fat, but still…). It hurt the team, especially players like Super Joe. That isn’t the case. The Avs may not have a few of the guns from last year, but Svatos is back, Wolski is a terror, and Brunette is underrated. You have….someone… who is it? I’m looking at the scoresheets from last years playoffs and NO ONE STANDS OUT. I’ll get back to you.

Defense: Are you seriously going to pick on Liles? Really? He put up Rob Blake like points, took less penalties, had a better shot %, and still is faster skating backwards than most Wings (that last one, I can’t prove. It just sounds good). You have the Norris Trophy winner, sure, but he probably gets tired dragging Chelios around by a tow rope. Chelios. He really had a great World Cup of Hockey in 2004. He got to play, while staying five feet from the boards at all times. He should have been on my side of the glass. Of course he resigned. The Motor City Mechanics aren’t around this year.

4) Fans, hockey knowledge, overall attitude toward hockey: Yeah, right. You own hockey, I keep forgetting. We know nothing about hockey. That is dumber than you think we are. That’s like saying you know nothing about clean air (oh, never mind). Yeah, our fans suck. We are horrid people who only come out to games to continue the SELLOUT STREAK. We know nothing about hockey, because we don’t come from an Original Fix city. Keep fooling yourself. We’ll let you. This is more childish than ending an argument by screaming “Gordie Howe!!!” Come and actually talk to some of the fans. You could be surprised.

5) Tradition: Who needs tradition when you win the cup in the first year in town. That’s something you can bank on. Then you do it again five years later. Wings won back to back cups, I know. After 42 years of not having it. And we didn’t need the hated rival to win it to get a kick in the pants and do something about it. Red Wings tradition comes with a healthy dose of Blackhawks like losing. The 1996 Stanley Cup Victory video was on the other day. Avs looked good. Still do.

I do want to say that in his post, IwoCPO did not tear me nor JAHL a new one. He was rather complimentary, but I can not rebut what he posted without taking it to him somewhat. So I want him to know how much I appreciate this opportunity to get the rivalry back where it belongs, red hot and mad. Go to Abel2Yzerman, check out his blog, for it is worthy of high praise. And you get to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, without that awful Detroit smell.

And, did I hear the IwoCPO lives in Memphis? I think he has all the making of a River Kings blog going.

BTW: If you think this post is going to piss off Wings fans, just wait. I’m cobbling together some honesty that will hurt. Oh yes, there will be pain.

Technorati : Avalanche, Avs, Colorado, Detroit, Hasek, Liles, Wings, rivalry

The Avalanche beat the stars last night in the first preseason game, 4-1 with 3 power play goals. The story today, though, is goaltending.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

If his first two training camp performances are any indication, Jose Theodore already is prepared to begin the regular season.

One day after stopping all 21 shots he faced in the Avalanche’s Burgundy and White exhibition, the 30-year-old goalie was nearly perfect Tuesday night in the team’s preseason opener.

Don’t start shouting about how it’s only preseason, I realize that. But it is nice to see something positive about the guy right now. It’s preseason, but at least this is based on performance.

Since we have one two papers in town, the other can talk about Peter Budaj. From the Denver Post:

How much action the Avalanche’s backup goalie gets in general this coming season is probably more predictable than it was in 2005-06. Last season, Budaj ranked anywhere from first to third on the Avs’ goalie depth chart, depending on the month.

Yep, all goalies all the time. As for the lines, Brunette – Sakic – Hejduk were the main line, but that’s about all I have:

Last night was the draft for the Waiting For Stanley draft. Afterwords, we went over to one of my sub-blogs for a little smackdown. The chat lasted for about 3 hours, and was hilarious. Trades were made, insults were slung, and much drinking ensued. You could almost see Hodge regretting his choices as he tried one single-sided trade after another. (Brunette-Liles for Gaborik-Demetra?) Today he posts his inaccurate assessment of the night. Earl Sleek for the Battle of Earl California took on a couple of Ducks, proving how married to his team he is. It is kind of cute, though, not being able to give up a few Ducks for more points. He is the perfect person to be blogging the Ducks. As for me, I have a few choices I may regret. But, for a first time draft, drafting seventh out of eight, I feel I did pretty good. A few late round sneaks, a decent (but hated) goalie, and, even though the big time scoring leaders were gone by the time I got there, a decent mix up front. We’ll have to see.

Technorati : Avs, Budaj, Draft, Fantasy, Preseason, Stars, Theodore

The Avs started reassigning players today. From the Avs website:

Seven players were assigned to the club’s American Hockey League training camp in Albany, NY, RW Dan DaSilva, G Kris Mayotte, D Brandon Roach, C Ryan Steeves, RW David Svagrovsky, C Peter Tsimikalis and D Michael Vernace.

Three players were assigned to their respective junior teams, C Codey Burki (Brandon-WHL), C Chris Durand (Seattle-WHL) and D Raymond Macias (Kamloops-WHL).

No real surprises here. But so far that’s seven to Lowell Albany, and how many from Carolina. Again, the dual affiliation is going to get sticky. Some of these guys (most?) will get sent down to the Arizona Sundogs (Central Hockey League affiliate) from the River Rats after their training camp. For instance, I don’t think Mayotte is ready to be a goalie in the AHL, so he will go down to the Sundogs. I hope these guys had a good rookie camp. I didn’t see anyone dogging it.

The Avalanche are done with training camp, and the preseason starts tonight with the Avs taking on the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center. The game won’t be televised, but will be broadcast on radio.

The preseason also means that coverage of the Avs has been picking up quite a bit. NHL.com has it’s season preview of the Avalanche, which has this little bit at the beginning:

The exodus is under way in the Rockies, where the Colorado Avalanche is moving into a transition phase, as a number of very familiar faces have moved on from the perennial Western Conference powerhouse.

Frankly, I like the sound that a lot more than rebuilding. The Avs haven’t yet to reach the rebuilding stage yet, although it is close. Shedding the sloppy one year contracts, getting back the “bonus money” cap space, giving the younger players the chance to play for a year, and work within that transition is going to pay dividends in the future. The predictions of doom before the season even starts, before a single game is played, are not yet founded in reality. High expectations have been shelved around here, but the team has yet to prove anyone right or wrong. As fun as it is to write about, the success or failure of the team is still in the future.

The focus on the team is all about who has left, and not on who is here. I doubt the Avs themselves will focus too much on it, as there is nothing to be done about the loss of FORMER key players. Now, someone else has to become those key players. Liles for Blake? Svatos for Tanguay? Wolski for Forsberg? Those are the exciting questions right now.

Oh, and the Avs still have Joe Sakic. Here is what he had to say in the Denver Post:

“It was like that last year a little bit, people doubting us,” Sakic said. “But it’s how you come together as a team, and we’re going to have a lot of guys that surprise people. We’re going to have a good, exciting team again. We’ve got to try to jell quickly, because we’ve got a lot of new faces. We’re going to work on that in training camp.”

O Captain, My Captain. I can get behind that. I realize no captain is going to be down on his team from the start, but how can you not believe Joe Sakic? Some people are questioning if he is too old for the new NHL, but not I. Super Joe still has one of the hardest wrist shots around. He lost a half step last season, due to not playing in Europe (which we saw with other players), but that won’t be the case this year. He’s still got the passion and the skill, which is what a team like this needs. If you go to the full article, scroll down to see Super Joe in his old Nordiques uniform. Worth it.

John-Michael Liles is one of the players whom the Avs will be looking toward this season to make big things happen. From another Denver Post story:

Liles symbolizes the new-look Avalanche defense. He’s young, fast and offensive-minded. But he’s not very big and not very physical. Fortunately, this is the new-look NHL, which favors players like Liles.

Liles is one of those players who was overshadowed by his teammates. He has solid numbers, if coming around with his game, and is one of the perfect players to take hold of this new NHL. He could become a franchise D-man, if he is allowed to. Don’t forget, he was chosen for the 2006 Olympic team, which may not have gone anywhere, but he was good enough to be chosen. That says a lot.

This season, I’m going to be looking for that Mike Commodore type of D-man somewhere on the roster (who would have thought anyone would say that). Commodore, during the run to the Stanley Cup, was one of the most positionally perfect d-men out there. He was interesting to watch, which is strange for a televised game and a defensive d-man. If the Avs have that sort of player on the second or third D-line (or both), it would go a long way in playing with a defensive responsibility they showed when they were winning in the playoffs (when they were losing, they didn’t look like they knew what they were doing going the other way). In front of an uncertainty like Jose Theodore, they will need to show a bit more defensive savvy, rather than just being the high-flying Avs of old.

Still no news about Steve Konowalchuk. That isn’t surprising, since he is still in the middle of tests. I wonder, if EKG testing was around in the sixties, how many players would have sat out due to health issues? Hell, they would have to sit out due to liver issues, if all the stories told are to be believed.

There will be some more coming up, as the media cranks up it’s coverage of hockey, and I figure out were JAHL will be headed through the season. Dig out the frosty adult beverages, the ride is about to start.

BTW: This makes post number 100 on JAHL.

Technorati : Avalanche, Avs, Konowalchuck, Liles, NHL, Sakic

Tyler Arnason is earning a bit of praise from the Rocky Mountain News:

Tyler Arnason reported to training camp in tip-top shape, physically and mentally, and is on a mission to make the Avalanche look shrewd for signing him as a free agent.

So far, he’s making a favorable impression.

AS nice as that is, let’s not go too crazy here. We’re only talking about camp and the Burgundy and White game here. The intersquad game was won 4-3 by the Burgundy team, of which Arnason was not a part of. He did score a goal though. Also, Jose Theodore stopped every shot (21) sent his way.

Tonight, the Avs take on the Stars at the Pepsi Center, in the first ‘real’ preseason game. I will not be going, even though it’s only 6 blocks away. I have other plans, and will be executing them to perfection. More on that later.

Also, I know I promised the Red Wings smack back to IwoCPO at Abel2Yzerman. It’s coming, probably tomorrow. Patience, young Skywalker.

James “Boomer” Gordon picked the playoff teams for the season. I missed the Eastern picks, and could care less about the East. Here is the West

Columbus first in the Central

Minnesota first in the Northwest

Ducks first in the Pacific

Detroit, Nashville, Edmonton, Calgary, San Jose finish off the list.

Huh. You know, some days, I wonder what these people are doing, reporting and giving opinions, or just being shift-disturbers. Columbus over Nashville? Minnesota over Calgary? Come on. I understand the Conference has gotten a lot better for most teams, but this seems silly to me.

I have my serious issues with the list, but I keep remembering that it is just one list, from a source that needs to sell me a list. I’ll tell you, I’m getting sick of some of the mainstream media batting around thoughts and garbage just to get a rise out of the audience. Ever get the sense they don’t even believe what they say? The Hockey News is one that has gotten under my skin lately. It seams like every other week, they decide to bash on the NHL in America and the American fan for no good reason. Frankly, I’m not sure why I keep buying it. I get better hockey news and views from Kukla’s Korner than anywhere else. From there, I can pick what interests me as far a columnists go. I used to go to TSN and ESPN.com a couple of times a day. Now I use an RSS Reader, look to the blogs for opinions and news, and get better information with more options than ever. Most of the hockey news I want comes to me, rather than having to look for it. My RSS feeds include google and yahoo news searches for “NHL” and “Colorado Avalanche.” I get updates every five minutes, then read what I want. And I get updates from my favorite bloggers automatically (who are independent writers, doing a real craft).

And most of it doesn’t piss me off like some of the mainstream outlets. The people I read daily are there to provide information and an honest opinion. I know they don’t need me, as much as I need them. They would still do the job without me reading. Not so with the mainstream. If you don’t buy (or buy in to) their product, they have no purpose. They might like hockey, or whatever else they like, but if they don’t sell it to us, they cease to exist. Even an independent blog who relies on advertising to get by started on it’s own, and continues under it’s own steam. John Buccigross is a good columnist, and a fun read. But do you think ESPN would let him swear in his column if he wanted to? I, on the other hand, get to tell you that he is a shitty hockey player (I saw him at the UHL AllStar game in 2005). I’m not saying that he doesn’t get to write what he wants, and he is a good writer, just that he doesn’t fly under his own flag. And, sometimes, that makes a big difference. The Hockey News doesn’t get to tell me about the mainstream media’s problems, just like the Red Hot Chili Peppers do not get to tell me about being an alternative band.

So I listened to the picks on XM Radio, and then used my power as a consumer, and turned them off. Then I wrote this little rant. And, since you decide to read something other than what is easy, you get to sit through it.

Technorati : Hockey, Mainstream, Media, RSS, THN, XM