Avalanche 3 - Rangers 1 - Prologue Edition

I am staring at my giant new 24" Samsung monitor, typing on my new Microsoft Arc keyboard, caressing my new Microsoft Arc mouse and, more importantly, sitting at my newly reconstituted desk. I'm also dreading my next credit card bill but that's besides the point.

Back in 2002, the first thing I did when I was hired out of university was to purchase a gorgeous L-shaped desk for my command center. I spent most at that desk writing programs, writing poetry and writing content. I also ate there, read there, watched TV there and at times I literally slept at my desk. It grew into an extension of myself.

Skip to two years ago and my girlfriend and I were moving back into an apartment for reasons I won't elaborate on but some of you may be aware of. Coming from a townhouse we had too many things to fit in the apartment and some things had to go. The final choice we had to make was between setting up my desk or having a kitchen table. The kitchen table won and I put the desk in storage.

Fast forward to last Friday and I was dying. Figuratively. I felt creatively dead - I had for a long time - and I had no idea what was wrong. So I started running through all the reasons this could have happened.

Had my recent health issues changed me on a more fundamental level than just physical health? Was I so burnt out from what I went through that there was simply no energy left for free thought outside of work? Was my brain already digitally re-wired and I was just a consumption machine? Was I simply past my creative prime?

None of those felt true and then it hit me - it was my desk. A cradle of creativity where I could sit, free of suffocation. No laptop buring my lap. A structure open yet contained. Inviting, comforting, secure. It's my zen garden.

So on Saturday we ditched the kitchen table and I set up my desk again. The last time I changed any hardware (monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer, lamp, etc) was back in 2003 and I felt it was time to refresh for 2010. I already had the new computer so the rest was academic.

Today, I sit here a contented man. The creativity? It's coming back.

Does this mean I will be posting more often and with more insight than the twitter-style commentary I've done recently? I hope so. But if not, we'll always have this story.

For tonight, I think I've held up your time long enough so I'll again share a few twitter-style comments on the Avalanche's 3-1 win over the Rangers and call it a blog post.

Twoughts*
*(You know, like a short form of "Twit-thoughts"...wait, I just said it out loud and that's not good...)

Johnny Liles is now 32 points away from 40. The question now isn't will he hit 40, it's will he hit 40 in 40?

Chris Stewart's expression after scoring goals is priceless. And we got to see it twice today.

Both those goals were on the powerplay. Weird.

How badly does Kyle Quincey want to forget his performance tonight?

Does the Rangers not having Marian Gaborik, Chris Drury or Vinny Propsal take anything away from tonight's victory? Hell no.

I love ice-level sounds and caught the following conversation snippet during a whistle: "...for the last 20 f'n years, bud. You won't last." I can only presume it was Adam Foote talking...but to whom? Stepan, maybe?

Have you all watched Tweet It?

Related Links
NHL Boxscore
AP Story
DP Recap
MHH Recap
Put It On Ice Recap
Burgundy Blog Recap
Aaron @ HockeyBuzz Recap

Avalanche 5 - Red Wings 4 - Suck It Edition

The Avalanche marched into Joe Louise Arena tonight on the second night of back-to-back games and walked away with a 5-4 shootout win. Don't try and say that didn't sting, Wings fans.

In a back-and-forth game, the Avalanche got timely goals from Ryan O'Reilly and Daniel Winnick, book-ended by David Jones tallies to get this game into a shootout. From there, Peter Budaj locked it down and Brandon Yip drove in the winning goal to spoil the Red Wings season opener.

Long Thoughts
During last night's "recap" I said that if the Avalanche turned the puck over against the Wings the way they did against the Flyers, they'd be walking away with their asses in a bag. You know, after it was handed to them. Turns out they only needed to marginally improve their turnover rate (because the Flyers are clearly a superior team to the Red Wings) to still get the W.

The Avalance are still making small, silly plays that are really hampering the flow of their game. They are still having trouble chipping the puck out of the zone, a lot of passes seem to be getting intercepted and there's just a lot of running around. One thing that really struck me tonight was how little the Wings appeared to be moving while defending. They were just in the right position. On the other hand, the Avalanche were often racing across the ice to get in a lane or cover their man. The coaching staff needs to get them to settle down and do a better job at reading where the puck will go.

It looks like I spoke too soon in believing Joe Sacco wouldn't stray far from his "ride the Andy" strategy in goal. If this was last season, Anderson would have been in net for both back-to-back games. Instead, he put Peter Budaj in who more than held his own against the Red Wings attack. It's a good sign to get Budaj in early and show the team that it's not all about the Anderson this year.

Short Thoughts
J.M. Liles is just 35 points away from 40 on the season.

David Jones is now just 28 goals away from 30 on the season.

Did anybody else pee their pants - just a bit - every time Datsyuk and Zetterberg were on the ice?

Why were both two-goal scorers in this game on the bench during the first round of the shootout?

Why did David Jones not take a new stick before his shootout attempt?

Two games in a row with a short-handed goal against is something that needs to be addressed right away.

How about Daniel Winnik with not only a crucial goal, but a hard-working *and* skilled goal? Just for that goal alone, I'm counting his signing as the best of the offseason. For any team.

Philippe Dupuis won 100% (4-for-4) of his faceoffs tonight.

Ryan O'Reilly blasted off 7 shots tonight. Three missed, three were on net and one was in the net.

Speaking of shots, brace yourself: the Avalanche outshot their opponent 38 to 28 tonight.

Suck it, Wings fans.

Avalanche 2 - Flyers 4, Quick Thoughts Edition

After defeating the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks, the Avalanche turned their attention tonight to the Stanley Cup losing Philadelphia Flyers. Unfortunately the Avs walked away with their first loss of the season thanks in large part to an abysmally atrocious first period which included two shorthanded goals against. Two.

EDIT: As Tapeleg points out, technically the second goal wasn't a shortie. I still count it in my mind [since the giveaway which kickstarted the play occured while still on the PP] . I'd be open to settling on one-and-a-half.

The Avalanche started the game as a turnover machine and it burned them. You can't turn over the puck as many times as they did and expect to win a hockey game. It was an unbelievably frustrating thing to watch and I can only assume Joe Sacco tore them a new one during the intermission.

As per standard fare, the Avs turned it on in the second period and got within one. In fact, they nearly pulled even but Sergei Bobrovsky made a great save with about 0.01 seconds left on the board to preserve the lead.

Sidebar - Try to say "Vladimir Bobrovsky" fast. I had a heck of a time not bumbling that one. You might wonder why I was calling him Vladimir when his name is Sergei. I'll leave that for you to chew on for a while.

The third period was an exciting, wide open hockey game that had me on the edge of my seat. I subsequently fell off the edge of my seat just as Jeff Carter's game winning goal crossed the goal line, which was awesome.

What a rough way to end a game for Craig Anderson who played great in turning aside 35 shots. I understand the instinct to sweep your legs closed like that but every time I see a goal go in that way, I have to wonder why these guys aren't able to supress that urge.

Quick thoughts
John-Michael Liles had two assists on the night leaving him with just 36 points to go to hit 40 on the season.

Hey, there's Brandon Yip! Scoring a goal and taking a penalty that likely prevented a goal. I wonder what changed tonight that really lifted his spirits...

David Jones still doesn't have the explosive speed he had in seasons past. Let's hope it's not a permanent loss, just a part of his final sprint of rehab.

What the hell was Kyle Quincey doing on his shorthanded breakaway? What looked to be poetic justice turned into something more resembly a poetry recitation.

How about that Giroux kid, eh?

Ladies and gentlemen, your ice-time leader for the Avalanche tonight - Kyle Cumiskey with 22:22! Next up? T.J. Galiardi with 22:05.

Next up - the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night. Please step it, boys. You know why.

Avalanche 4 - Blackhawks 3, Late Review Edition

It was a good start to the season last night and you can already get a glimpse at some promising -and some troubling - developments. I'm going to reel off some thoughts and forgo a more eloquent recap. But to make it seem like I did put thought into this, I'll group things into the "promising" and "troubling" categories.

Troubling
The Avs strategy without the puck still seems to be "chase the puck". It didn't work well last year and it doesn't look like it will do any better this year. Time to fix it.

Slow start, great middle, terrible end - this apparently hasn't changed from last year. It makes for nail-biting finishes but it's super stressful. Quit giving up the lead!

You remember during the MHH roundtable how a lot of us talked about how this team had toughness but nobody knew about it? Where the hell was that last night? They may not be the biggest team but they've got at least show they've got a pair. Anderson shouldn't have to defend himself, guys shouldn't be allowed to get close enough to bother him. And what was with Scott shoving Duchene around and getting away with it? I know he's a big guy but you can't let that precedent be set.

Where was Brandon Yip last night? Vacation? Did he stay at a Holiday Inn Express at least?

Promising
Johnny Liles is just 38 points away from hitting 40 on the season.

Paul Stastny owned that game~ He's always been the quiet guy who just GSD (got $#!^ done) but last night he was extremely noticeable. It looks like he's about to take a step forward in his development and possible become a dominant force.

Chris Stewart is a beast. A beast with silky soft hands. He is going to be so fun to watch this season.

Milan Hejduk is aging extremely well. If his knee can hold up, he should have a good year. It doesn't seem like he's lost much in terms of speed and he still has some of the best hands in the NHL.

Ryan O'Reilly is looking sharp early on. Can he have as good a start to this season as last season?

How about Matty Duchene taking control and setting up the game winning goal? Hell yeah!

Oh and how about the enthusiasm he showed after the goal? He was celebrating all the way to the locker room. That's going to be infectious for the team and it's clearly a good thing.


Final thought
Starting the season with a win on home ice is always nice. Against the defending champs makes it that much sweeter. Let's hope they can ride that momentum into...Monday?! Monday? Damn, that's a long wait.

To my Canadian friends, enjoy Thanksgiving weekend!

Avalanche @ Canucks - Game Preview

The Avs are going to get smoked tonight. I mean, bad. Epic proportions.

See what I'm trying to do there? The last time I got cocky, the Avs got destroyed. So this time, I'm reverse jinxing them.

Avs surge ahead

After Calgary laid an egg against Chicago last night, the Avalanche now have a firm grip on first in the Northwest division. And by firm, I mean 3 points of course. Would you rather that be a pliable hold? Tenuous, perhaps?

Liles and Galiardi return

Sweet! I'm stoked to see both of those players back. Galiardi's impact was missed on the PK and anchoring that fourth line. Hopefully there's no rust from their lengthy layoffs.

Wilson not suspended

Totally agree with Jib here and it's unfortunate that he wasn't suspended for a game. I'm guessing this was the "first time offender" sentencing at play. Which I don't agree with either.

Twit death

Dater is done with Twitter. Ok. Not much to say there except if I misused a hammer by trying to tighten a pipe with it...I probably wouldn't stop using the hammer. I just wouldn't use it in that way.

Though I will say that I've been a long-time twitter user and recently took a break - as I did with many online ventures such as this blog - and feel a bit refreshed because of it.

That I'm on vacation for a week as of right now probably helped that feeling along.

Game time

The puck drops at 10:08pm ET (yikes!). Be there or be...sleeping.

Footnote

That call against the Wings was terrible. I can understand the frustration and anger. I don't like it because it makes hockey look bad and the idea that the ref is infallible in his judgment is ludicrous when all evidence says to the contrary. But it was the Wings...

Avalanche 4 - Leafs 1; Game Highlights

The Canadian Press

I've got to make this quick but I had to get out a few thoughts.

Cody Mcleod's penalty was not a weak call, it was a 100% illegal hit. See the numbers? Don't hit. Simple.

The hit that took out John-Michael Liles was a very similar play and is the reason the boarding penalty is in place. A push/hit at that distance from the boards is very dangerous and if anybody feels otherwise, ask Liles' separate shoulder and see what it tells you.

Jeff Marek nailed it on his twitter last night - Ian White starts in net Saturday for Ron Wilson.

And it was White who denied me going 2-for-2 on predictions last night. Matt Duchene had his first goal looking him in the face while family, friends and former coaches looked on but White made a huge save to put that milestone off for at least one more game.

When the Avalanche signed Darcy Tucker, I had very mixed feelings but mostly on the negative side. He's wiping a few of those away with his points but I still can't help myself...I'm just not a big fan of the guy.

David Jones keeps pushing for his 30-goal season. I was all over this guy as soon as he came in during 07/08 and it looks like this could be his season.

Adam Foote may be slow, but he's still one strong SOB.

The Avalanche will have two 18-year old centers on their roster for the full season.

Oh, and the Avs are first in the West. In case anyone was curious.

Avalanche Downed by Canucks, Lose 4-2

When your team goes down 3-0 by the end of the first period, what is there to say? "They were tired"? "Vancouver was rested"? "It was a late game"? I don't buy any of that.

The Avalanche just weren't prepared to play in the first 20 minutes. When you play the night before, you actually need more of a warmup the next day to get your body ready to fight. Instead, it appeared that the Avalanche woke from a nap that ended about 5 minutes before puck drop, just in time to toss on the pads and skates and see who their opponent was.

John-Michael Liles in particular was looking quite dreadful to start the game. After Alexander Edler ran Chris Stewart face first into the boards, the Avs had what the announcers called a "power play." It was anything but.

Liles had the puck at the point and tried to make a pass with Alexandre Burrows stick a mere inch away from his own. Shockingly, Burrows intercepted the pass, streaking in on surprise starter, Andrew Raycroft with about ten steps on Liles. Lucikly, Burrows got denied by the post but not to worry, the fun wasn't done.

Liles picked up the puck, carrying it along the left boards where he was then rubbed out by Ryan Kesler. Kesler then broke into the Avs zone but was knocked off the puck by Milan Hejduk. The puck ended up in Liles skates and in classic comedic style, he couldn't get a handle on it. Kesler centered it to Burrows who was initially denied by Raycroft but thanks to Wojtek Wolski forgetting he was playing defense, he was able to grab his own rebound and put it into an empty net.

That put the Canucks up 2-0 on the backs of a powerplay goal and a shortie. Taylor Pyatt then completed the trifecta with an even strength goal while Avs fans everywhere picked up the "Tavares or Hedman?" debate.

Luckily, Vancouver came out looking a bit listless - overconfident perhaps? - in the second period and the Avalanche were able to put one past Bobba Lou, on the powerplay no less! And then thanks to a miscue by Lou to start the third period, Darcy Tucker was able to bang home his eighth goal of the season. It was an interesting goal as Tucker shot it from behind the net while Luongo was racing back in. The puck ended up sticking to Luongo's outside skate and as he rotated to find it, he swung it into the net. And we had a one-goal game and renewed hope!

Alas, it was not to be. A phantom hi-sticking call on Ben Guite put the Canucks on the powerplay with a little over two minutes left in the game. In other words, the Avs needed to score a shortie or they were done. And done they were as Alexander Edler nabbed his ninth of the year to make it a two-goal game.

I think the best part of the phantom call to seal the game came this morning from Tony Gallagher (via Kukla) who complained that the referees kept Colorado in the game by parading the Canucks to the penalty box after they went up 3-0. Yeah, that seven second 5-on-3 was a bitch, wasn't it? And Henrik Sedin getting called for a pretty obvious trip at the tail end of a Canucks powerplay was a horribly biased call. And when Edler put the puck over the glass? What kind of crap call was that? Bad referees. Bad, bad, bad.

Random thoughts
Wingers still go deep in our zone, leaving the points open to keep the cycle going. I'm not even a friggin' coach, let alone a defensive coach, and I can see that as a problem.

Marek Svatos hasn't looked too hot playing with Stastny the last couple games. He's been pretty soft on the puck and has actually been trying to carry it too much. He's not a stickhandler, he's a sniper.

AD mentioned that Peter Budaj would get the start but I guess Tony G was trying to trick the Canucks as he went with Andrew Raycroft instead. Interesting strategy. If only the name "Andrew Raycroft" struck fear in opponents hearts rather than inducing laughter.

After last night, I now believe that Scott Hannan is incapable of scoring. He simply can't do it. He had two chances tonight, the second being a wide open cage and he couldn't put it home. Don't feel bad, Scott. We don't expect you to score. Even if it's an empty net. But it would be nice.

From the Announcers
I had the Canucks feed tonight and had the announcers tuned out about five minutes in. But I did catch a couple notables.

Darcy Tucker is 34 but the way he's playing this year, could be 44

Sad but true. Though he has looked much better playing on a grind line rather than a scoring line.

...taken away by Stastny who was in perfect position

Just say "taken away by Stastny", the rest is redundant.

Related Links
MHH Canucks-Avalanche Game Recap
Early errors cost Avs in road loss (Denver Post)

John-Michael Liles Out Indefinitely

Frickity frack.

John Liles hurt his hand against the Red Wings and is now out indefinitely.

Foote comes back, Stastny slated to return, fans getting hopes up and then *BOOM*, we lose our supermodel and top defenseman.

At least it wasn't another snowblowing debacle.

And hey, at least Darcy Tucker won't be in the lineup tonight.

Sigh.

Tony Granato expects Liles back at the end of the upcoming six-game roadtrip. So we'll see him on the ice sometimes in December.

Flu Shots for Athletes

I'm still fighting some health issues which occasionally wake me up in the middle of the night. And when that happens, to get my head relaxed again, I turn to the ol' Interweb for some mindless reading.

Since I had gone to bed shortly after the Avalanche-Lightning game was over, I figured I'd get a head start on reading the post-game articles from the DP and RMN. 

One thing led to another and next thing you know, I found myself over at the official forums for the first time in a month or two reading a thread on call-ups.

At one point, the discussion turned towards John-Michael Liles, who was bitten by the flu bug recently which had people wondering if players get the flu shot. The implication being that if they don't get the shot, it's their fault if they get sick

I won't get into the ins and outs of the different strains of flu, the mercury-riddled preservatives in the shots or their questionable benefit to healthy adults.  

But I will say this: Getting a flu shot doesn't guarantee you won't get the flu. It only guarantees you'll have a better chance at staving off four possible strains of the flu out of the dozens that are floating around out there.

Athletes are extremely well-conditioned people and likely have excellent immune systems. But remember that their job involves being in close proximity with 20+ other people with ample sweat, spit and snot to go around. So it shouldn't come as a surprise when one of them gets sick.

Frankly I'm surprised they don't get sick more often.

This has been a PSA from the "up at 4:00am and bored" committee.

Liles, Foote Re-sign with the Avalanche

(Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

TSN is reporting that John-Michael Liles and Adam Foote have re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche. The terms for Liles are believed to be 4-years at around $4 million per year while Foote is on a 2-year deal at $3 million per year.

I was a bit surprised to learn of the signings. I was actually about to make a post questioning the labeling of Jeff Finger as a "puck-moving defenseman" in Darren Dreger's latest blog when this popped up on the TSN front page. After a dramatic double-take, I decided the signings were a bit more important to cover.

John "The Model" Liles
Liles was a question mark heading into free agency for the Avalanche. He didn't have a great year offensively but most - including myself - felt his defensive game improved significantly. There was a bit of trepidation that he would sign elsewhere and we'd be left with Kyle Cumiskey as our next great hope for an offensive d-man.

The one thing Liles needs to work on is being the powerplay quarterback he is expected to be. Last season he put up 20 points (5G, 15A) on the powerplay. While those aren't horrible numbers, they are not entirely what I'd expect from the #1 D-man on the #1 PP unit. And that's taking into account how ineffective the Avalanche powerplay was last season.

It was believed that he could sign in the $4-$5 million per year neighbourhood with another team. I think it could have easily been $5M so I'm happy to have him back with a $4M price tag. As long as he keeps improving.

Footer
Adam Foote brought in a huge veteran and physical presence at the trade deadline last year. The Avalanche defense had been lauded as a bit soft even with the acquisition of Hannan. However when Foote arrived - and Ruslan Salei for that matter - things turned around quickly. When Adam Foote is on the ice he is angry. It doesn't matter who he plays against, he skates around with a look of hate on his face at all times. I love it!

He is getting up there in age but a 2-year deal is just fine by me. People claim he lost a step or two lately but it's not like he was ever Pavel Bure or Kyle Cumiskey. Whoever thought you'd put those two in the same sentence.

I'm very happy to have Foote back not just for nostalgia sake but for the Chuck Norris mentality he brings to his game. That's right, Footer only has two speeds: skate and kill.

Defensive Line
So where does this leave the Avalanche's defensive line? Full actually. Liles, Clark, Hannan, Salei, Foote and Leopold are now all under contract for next season leaving between zero and one slots available. That one extra slot, lovingly known as the "press box slot", could be filled in by re-signing Jeff Finger but I fully expect him and Kurt Sauer to hit free agency to go somewhere where they will play every night. Yes, yes, Leopold will be injured two games into the season and they can take his spot. Ha ha ha ;)

The Cap
This puts the Avalanche's current defense at a cap hit of about $20M at the moment. Is it a $20M squad? We'll have to wait for the rest of the teams to finalize their rosters to adequately judge that. At the moment, I'm mildly skeptical with a healthy dose of optimism.

This leaves the team with around $37M in total commitments leaving them about $19M to finish off the forwards and deal with the goaltending situation.

If you still believe Sakic is coming back, which I do, then the team is looking at about $14M for the rest of the squad which includes locking up RFAs Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski. That doesn't leave a ton of space so don't be looking for a big free agent splash like last year.

Kyle Cumiskey
Of course, where does this leave Kyle Cumiskey. He's essentially Liles with a babyface and faster wheels. He's toiled down in the AHL for the last couple seasons with a few stints with the big club. When he was up, he was impressive with the caveat that we forgave his defensive errors to a certain degree because he was young and inexperienced.

Well, initially I was going to bemoan a soft defense because Foote had yet to sign. Now that Foote has signed I'm happier with the toughness of the D and actually hope Cumiskey doesn't make the team out of training camp is it would mean a lot of press box viewings and not a lot of action.

Relax much?
There was some hand-wringing going on over the lack of updates from the Avalanche camp. What people often forget is that this team is like the CIA when it comes to giving out information. I was surprised we were as in the loop on the Theodore situation as we were. But after signing two key defenseman to some pretty solid contracts, are people ready to calm down yet? Probably not.


Related Links
Avalanche Re-sign Liles
Avalanche Re-sign Foote

Avalanche Start Christmas Shopping Early?

Adrian Dater notes in a recent blog post that the Avalanche had scouts at a recent Penguins-Senators game. Cue the trade rumours! Actually, a Fleury-Theo trade rumour was brought up a while back by he who shall not be named so it's nothing terribly new.

This time, Dater is mentioning that Liles could be the bait since he's an upcoming UFA and the team has Cumiskey, a virtual Liles clone - minus the dashing good looks - showing signs of promise.

But how many offensive defensemen do the Penguins need? They've already got Whitney and Gonchar filling that role nicely at the moment. Sure, Gonchar is aging but he's not showing signs of slowing down his point production any time soon.

What the Penguins really need is some defensive help, both on the blueline and in goal. Does anyone really think the Avalanche have the players they need?

Liles Getting His Priorities Straight

Photo by Layne Murdoch/Getty Images

The Denver Post has an excellent article up on John-Michael Liles and how he's been changing his game. He's tired of being labeled a one-dimensional blueliner and has been working on improving his defensive game.

I've been very happy with his play so far this season and as he's been avoiding Q's doghouse, it would appear he's on the right track.

View the original article

Sidenote: The article also has a quick piece on the Stars "wooing" Forsberg. Who isn't trying to get Forsberg on their team though? If someone finds an article about a team who says "Nah, we don't want this guy" - and not for salary cap reasons alone - send it along.

Avalanche Reduce Roster to 27

The Avalanche reduced their roster to 27 today. Kyle Cumiskey, Johnny Boychuk, Jeff Jillson and Cody Mcleod have all been sent down to Lake Erie. No real surprises although some people may have been holding out hope that Cumiskey would stick. I wasn't one of those people although I do like his game.

Avalanche.nhl.com has the details as well as a piece on injuries and Liles offensive prowess. Hejduk and Svatos are practicing again but it sounds like Theodore is still recovering. Getting time in the last preseason game on Saturday is "a long shot". Click here to read it.

Game Review: Avalanche 4 - Stars 5 (OT)

(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

The Dallas Stars took out the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-4 overtime win tonight. It dropped the Avalanche's *cough*meaningless*cough* preseason record to 3-0-2. The Avalanche squandered a 2-goal lead midway through the third and the Sergei Zubov ended it on the powerplay.

John-Michael Liles had a 2-goal night to bring his preseason point count to 6 (2g/4a). Wojtek Wolski and Jordan Leopold also found the back of the net. Joe Sakic rifled off 3 assists and Jaroslav Hlinka kept the points coming with one assist.

Peter Budaj played the whole game with Tyler Weiman backing him up. Coach Q had indicated that Budaj would get the whole game tonight and that he hopes to give Theodore some action on Saturday.

Media Reviews
Avalanche.nhl.com
TSN.ca
Sports.yahoo.com
DenverPost.com