Avalanche Brass Make Right Choice Naming Foote Captain

A couple days ago, I posted this. Geo then tried to asplode my head in the comments and I responded by saying I thought that Paul Stastny would be named the captain.

That wasn't because I wanted Stastny to be the captain. It was simply because so many other NHL teams have recently put the C on players who have barely hit puberty, let alone figured out how to captain an NHL team.

The Avalanche decided to go a new/old route and named aging vet, Adam Foote, captain of the 2009/10 Colorado Avalanche. And it's 100% the correct choice.

We all know Foote can lead. We've seen it in the glory days many times and to stand out as a leader on stacked squads is quite a feat. If you were to go into battle, can you honestly tell me you wouldn't want Foote beside you?

We've seen little of what Stastny can do as far as leadership in his short time in the league and have no idea if a better leader will emerge in the near future.

There's no point putting the weight of a rebuilding team on a young players shoulders. Let a vet handle the load, ultimately passing off a lighter one to an older and wiser young star.

And naming a captain before training camp started? Aces all around.

It's a good start to the season from Avalanche brass. Let's hope they keep it up.

Colorado Avalanche Training Camp is Underway

It began even before I woke up this morning. More fresh ice. More new equipment. More new faces.

That’s right, the Colorado Avalanche have taken the ice for training camp which can only mean one thing – Joe Sakic retirement night is under a month away.

The weirdest thing happened this morning. I woke up, checked to make sure all my limbs were still moveable after an intense opening night of indoor vball, and then had to answer 50 questions from the girlfriend. But the one I really paid attention to was this one: “What was that night for the thing in Denver?”

Even in my sleep-addled state, I knew what she meant. See, the day Sakic announced his retirement I said “I’m going to opening night to see them retire his number.” Her response? “You’re an idiot.” Or something to that effect. And given the costs of what would be almost an overnight trip, I figured she just might be right.

But this morning when I told her the date, she asked “Are you still going?” I’ll fast forward through the rest and end on her final words “It’s only going to happen once. You should probably go.”

So I’ve got a green light! Unfortunately my scrimp-o-meter is off the charts. The flights would be $600, transportation at least another $50, meals about $75, ticket $100, hotel $150 and misc expenses would bring that to around $1000.

I’ve got some thinking to do over the next couple days. But in the meantime, I’m following Jori and Dario’s tweets from dev camp. Maybe that will get me in enough of a hockey mood to forget the money.

Paul Stastny Injured During Avalanche Training Camp

My heart skipped a beat at Jori's last twit:
"Blue wins 3-2, but Stastny was injured"

I asked her just how injured she thought he was and  she said it didn't look good.

Now Dater has a blog post up mentioning Stastny left the ice with a sagging shoulder, clearly in pain after a collision during scrimmage.

If Stastny goes down for an extended time - and if the injury bug starts striking again - then the pundits will be right. The Avalanche will be battling it out in the bottom of the conference.

What a way to start the weekend.

UPDATE: Jori alerted me that the team is reporting Stastny just has a contusion and should be fine. I guess now I have to come through on all those promises I offered up to the Big Guy. 

Related Links

Training Camp Report: Day One

Per Ledin Q&A

Colorado Avalanche Training Camp Kicks Off

Can you smell that? It's the sweet, sweet scent of training camps all across the nation kicking into gear. Your very own Colorado Avalanche began their camp this morning, just three short days after the rookie camp concluded.

All the rookies apparently stuck around for day one of training camp, making for a pretty sizeable roster. In fact, Jori reported they had three teams scrimmaging today due to the size.

Get all your early-breaking Avalanche training camp news via Jori's twitter and blog. And try not to be too jealous that she gets to watch it all unfold ;)

If you're the twitting type - and who isn't - you can also follow Adrian Dater as well as myself. If you follow Adrian, you'll get early notification of all his Avalanche articles and blog posts. If you follow me, you'll get early  notification of all my posts as well as random twits about various things that don't really matter. So if you had to choose just one of us, I think it's an easy choice.

Junior League Jumble

The one thing that came to mind was that this is always a rough time for junior hockey. They're just getting their season into gear while some of their best talent is off at training camps.

This was amply reinforced last night as I watched most of an 8-2 beatdown of the Saskatoon Blades at the hands of the Prince Albert Raiders. The Raiders have zero players off at training camps while the Blades are missing six including starting goaltender Braden Holtby (Washington Capitals) and team foundation Colton Gillies (Minnesota Wild).

Luckily I'm a Swift Current Broncos fan so it didn't hurt too much. But nobody wants to see P.A. win. Not even people from P.A.

Related Links

Avalanche Training Camp Opens Today

Rookie Camp Report - Day One

Rookie Camp Report - Day Two

Rookie Camp Report - Day Three

Rookie Camp Report - Day Four

Rookie Camp Roundup

The Avalanche rookie camp came to a close today with minimal fanfare. But that doesn't mean the anticipation isn't lingering in the air! Camp got underway Saturday as the rookie lineup hit the ice from 9:30 until 11:30 in the morning. As with most hockey practices, the day started out with drills and ended with a scrimmage. The main difference from your typical practice scrimmage is we're talking a full-on game - refs, fights and all!

Day 1 - Cumiskey, Hensick, Stewart and Jones were the most impressive in Day 1 by most accounts. Stewart was strong on the puck and notched 2 goals in the scrimmage. Hensick appears to be living up to his billing as the Avalanche top-ranked prospect, notching one goal and looking impressive. Stewart will give him a run for the money with his power game plus goal-scoring abilities.

Recaps
Avalanche.com Day 1 Report
Avsprospects Day 1 Report
Woodchub's Day 1 Report

Day 2 - Hensick and Stewart continued to impress in Day 2 with Stewart finding the back of the net twice and Hensick putting one home as well. Mitch Love continued to show his feisty side as he and Brandon Straub dropped the mitts. Wall and Weiman both made some good stops and are, as expected, standing out as the #1 and #2 goaltenders at the rookie camp. Cumiskey, benefitting from his 9 games with the Avalanche last season, has improved his positioning and overall game.

Recaps
Avalanche.com Day 2 Report
Avsprospects Day 2 Report
Woodchub's Day 2 Report

Day 3 - Chris Stewart continued to find the twine today. Stewart tallied a hat trick as did Cody McLeod during the scrimmage. Tyler Weiman did not take part in the scrimmage and was reportedly working with Peter Budaj. So there may be a clear cut #3 coming out of rookie camp and Wieman should be chosen to play with the big boys once they take the ice this week for training camp.

And speaking of the big boys, they made a surprise appearance today and played a game of pickup hockey on the other side of the arena. This made rookie camp reports a bit sparse as most fans understandably flocked over to watch names such as Sakic, Smyth, Hannan, Stastny and - yes - Parker, step onto the ice publicly for the first time since April.

Recaps
Avalanche.com Day 3 Report
Avsprospects Day 3 Report

Day 4 - Rookie camp came to a close today with no scrimmage. It was nothing but drills for the youngsters in their final chance to impress the coaching staff. Cuts will be decided later today to select the group of rookies who will attend the Avalanche training camp,

Recaps
Avalanche.com Day 4 Report
Woodchub's Day 4 Report (on Avalanche forums)


With the conclusion of rookie camp, it's time for the veterans to take the ice. The veteran roster reports to the arena for physicals and medicals on September 13th and will take to the ice on September 14th and 15th. The Burgundy/White game concludes training camp on September 16th followed by the first preseason game against Phoenix on September 17th.

Yes, NHL hockey action has begun and the season is less than a month away! To pass the time, check out some of these interviews and articles relating to the Avalanche's promising youngsters.

Rookie Interviews
Avalanche.com Q&A - Ray Macias
Avalanche.com Q&A - Trevor Cann
Avalanche.com Q&A - Kevin Montgomery
Avalanche.com Q&A - Kyle Cumiskey

Related Articles
Avalanche.com - Weiman Keeps Working
Sports Illustrated Camp Coverage
Gazette.com Camp Coverage
Denver Post - Chris Stewart Article
Denver Post - JD Corbin Article
Gazette.com - Brendon Straub Article
Stewart and Hensick Beat The Odds

If anyone comes across other articles, let me know and I'll add them to the list.