Joined in Progress = *expletive deleted*

The national broadcast schedule is out and the Avalanche will be featured 13 times. Unlucky 13. The ol' one-three. Yep, let's try and focus on an ill-conceived superstition than the fact that, once again, the Avalanche's season opener will be joined-in-progress.

That's right, the start to a season worth of Avalanche watching will be led off with gaggles of Avalanche fans crossing their fingers that the Wings/Leafs game won't go to overtime. Then there will be some cursory analysis of the Wings/Leafs game while those same fans simultaneously scream "CUT TO THE F'N GAME!" at their television screens. And finally, a harsh camera cut to action already in progress.

Maybe it's silly "pie-in-the-sky" thinking, but I love the buildup before the first game of the season. I love seeing some pre-game warmup shots, some early analysis, watching the goaltender waiting at the door, head down and getting psyched up, then watching him charge down the gate to christen a new season.

But again, my petty dreams will be dashed. And again, I'll blame it on the Red Wings.

Colorado Avalanche 2008/09 Schedule Released

The NHL has released the schedule for next year and once again, the Avalanche are opening at home. In an interesting move though, they'll be opening it against an Eastern Conference opponent, the Boston Bruins.

My first thought was "Hey, that's something new and possibly interesting" but then I glanced down the list of games in October and thought "They're blowing all the Eastern conference games in October!" But fear not, because then I remembered that this year there will be games aplenty against the Eastern conference. Canadiens, Flyers, Lightning, Bruins, Sabres, Leafs, Islanders, Capitals...my goodness, did you know were this many teams out East?

The Avalanche will also close out the season against a non-divisional opponent in the Blues while playing 4 of their last 6 games outside the division. I guess this year we'll see just how interesting the playoff races are without an inundation of divisional opponents. And who knows, with less games against the Flames, maybe I'll start un-hating them.

Previously, the Avs had opened the season against the Dallas Stars, which meant I could watch the game with my Stars fan of an uncle and, if the Avalanche lost, pull out this gem: "Yeah, well who won the last two playoff series between the Stars and Avs?" Because you know, that doesn't sound childish at all.

And my Leafs fan of an uncle...well he's already a Leafs fan so I don't pick on him too much.