Wow. Series Post-mortem.

Worst effort I have ever seen from a hockey team. Ever.

I am writing this as the game is going on, and it's currently 8-2. I knew this team had given up a couple games ago, but I didn't think they would just drop their shorts and take a dump on the ice like this.

Bright spots -
After that first weak goal, Theodore looked really good. Idiot obviously disagreed, but that's why he's called Idiot.
Liles is playing like a guy who wants a big contract next year. He's been very good. I'd like to see him back with the Avs next year, but he'll probably leave.
Jones and Hensick have been playing pretty well, and Hejduk has been at least TRYING to score.

Ugliness -
Sad that Sakic could end his career on the injured list. What? He's not injured? Wow, hadn't noticed.
Arnason...wow, scored a goal and cost us two more. Maybe we'll call that a Tyler Arnason Hat Trick from now on.
Budaj - It's absolutely AMAZING how awful he has been tonight. Just disgusting. He has to go.
Forsberg - Why'd we even sign him in the first place?
The defense was ridiculously bad.
Turnovers.
Idiot - If FG doesn't fire him (or, rather, choose not to re-sign him) after this debacle, I don't think I will be able to support this team anymore. He HAS to go.

At the end of the day, it's shitty that the series had to be like this. I'm not upset or anything, I was actually rooting for the Wings to score a shorty when Franzen put that one in.

It's just a shame that the most classless, uneducated, lowbrow fanbase in the league gets this sweep. Red Wing fans don't deserve their team. But hey, that's life, and this is all they have.

That said, GO STARS!

Game Four

Game Four is tonight. Whoopee.

Luckily, Forsberg has ended all doubt and has taken himself out of tonight's game with an injury to his who-the-fuck-cares. Snasty is out. Smyth is out. Sakic might as well be out - we haven't seen him this series anyway.

If Idiot were smart, he'd put out a first line of Stewart-Hensick-Jones. But there's a reason why his name is Idiot. I expect to see Forsberg replaced with Wyatt Smith. Or maybe he'll dress Budaj and put him at wing.

The Sakic-Hejduk-Whomever line has not earned the right to be the #1 line this series. We need to start thinking for the future and hope that Sakic gets the hint and hangs em up after this season. We need to start getting Jones, Hensick and Stewart ready for NHL duty, and we need to do it tonight. Baptism by fire. They've shown energy and drive, something we haven't seen from Sakic in many many years (if ever). They deserve their shot.

Can we win tonight? Of course.
Can we win the series? Yes.
Will we? Nope.

Hopefully, we'll see Sakic, Forsberg and Idiot's last games with the Avs tonight. I'd rather get the series and season over with than to drag this out any further, to be quite honest. I'd love nothing more than to have them win this series, but I'd also like to win the lottery and play goal for the Avs next year, but none of those things are going to happen.

Go Stars!

I can feel it...coming in the air tonight...

Game 3 tonight.

Controversy in Avs Nation. Coach Q has decided to start his starter tonight instead of his backup, and Avs Nation is livid. Apparently, because Theodore had a couple inconsistent seasons due to a lack of confidence, that means that a bad two games due to a severe flu are proof positive that his confidence is shot and he's experiencing a meltdown. The Chicken Little mindset of Avs Nation has never ceased to entertain me. The thing is, they always cling to the wrong reasons for screaming that the sky is falling.

Look, Theodore was sick. You could make a very strong case that Idiot shouldn't have started him, but that's on Idiot, not JoeTed. That being the case and assuming he has recovered, there is no logical reason to believe or assume anything other than that he will play as he did from January 1st through the end of the Minnesota series.

For tonight's game, Forsberg is a "maybe," Smyth is out, and Hannan may or may not play. Hannan is a non-issue. Smyth is going to hurt, but we've got the depth to make up for that. The real story here is whether or not Forsberg has the nuts to gut it out and put it on the line for his team against his team's biggest rival. If Forsberg doesn't play tonight, there is no reason why the Avs should even consider re-upping with him this offseason.

Forsberg is a great player when he's healthy. The best of his generation, and still one of the best at this stage in his career. But he's never healthy, and that kills chemistry when the team relies on him so much. This team isn't motivated by Sakic at all, they NEED Forsberg in the lineup or they go into the game assuming they have already lost.

Regardless, should be an interesting game tonight. After the first period of Game 1, I expected the Avs to come out looking like a different team, and they did. Damn near won that game. I fully expect the Avs to look like a different team tonight.

If they don't, they are toast and the Wings can wait and see whether it's going to be Dallas or San Jose who sends them golfing.

Round 1 - Game 1 - Avs 3, Wilds 2

Wow, what a game.

- Great goal by Sakic to win it, but I still don't like him. All time leading playoff overtime goal scorer notches another one.
- Credit goes to Salei for taking the smart shot. A lesser player would have shot it immediately and had it blocked well before it made it on net.
- Tonight is why the Avs signed Smyth and Hannan, and they came out with their nuts swinging. I apologize for all the criticism I laid upon these two (which admittedly wasn't much). Hannan was smart and physical, and Smyth was flying all over the place. Any concerns about his skating were answered tonight.
- Backstrom was the balls tonight. Gotta give it up to him, the Wilds wouldn't have been in that game if it weren't for him.
- Theodore was even more balls.
- There should have been no penalty shot. That was a goal. No worries. Made the game more exciting.

This team, this series, the whole thing feels like 03-04 all over again. It's as if FG decided to go out and rebuild that 03-04 team and give it another go and hopefully right the wrongs of that miserable 03-04 playoffs. Foreskin is back, Foote is back, Salei plays just like Blake, Theodore looks like Roy. Wolski is a Tanguay clone (both good and bad). Hell, they even rolled Kelly's ridiculous ass back in there to call the games (get well soon, Haynes).

I guess it wasn't until I heard the first "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" that it dawned on me that the reason this team feels so familiar is that it's the same team we had in 03-04. We all know that that wasn't how that season was supposed to end. Hopefully they live up to the potential they had in 03-04 and have right now.

THREE STARS:
1. Jose Theodore - 28 saves, .933sv%
2. Joe Sakic - 1g 1a, and dude scored the game winner
3. Ruslan Salei and Scott Hannan - It's my blog, I can have two 3rd stars if I want to.

So I guess that's what I get.

I post doom and gloom, and I get the worst flu that anyone has ever lived through, as well as the Avs going on a two-game win streak during which their offense looks absolutely incredible. Worse, I bag on Foreskin and he goes out and puts up 6 assists in 2 games, making him look like the playmaker that he was in his prime.

The funny part about the whole thing was listening to Haynes and McKnob slobber all over Idiot during the Vancouver game, saying that he found a magical combination by putting Foreskin with Stastny and Hejduk. Then, last night, I didn't hear a word when that "magical" line was broken up so that Foreskin could play with Brunette and Sakic.

That makes two things abundantly clear. First, the "magic" was Foreskin, not the combination. Second, that Idiot is a fucking imbecile. If you have a line that scores 3 goals one night, you don't jumble up the lines and separate them one period into the following game.

I swear, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason with that fucktard.

Some teams have won Cups with intense offense and no defense. Some have won Cups with ridiculous defense and no offense. Some have won Cups with a couple stars and a bunch of role players. Some have won Cups with all role players. Some have won Cups with a whole bunch of stars. Some have won Cups because of great goaltending. Some have won Cups despite awful goaltending.

The one thing each and every Stanley Cup winning team has had in common? Chemistry. The teams, and the lines within those teams have ALL had chemistry. You can't win without it.

And you can't generate chemistry if you're always fucking with the lines, genius.

I've said for years that Quenneville needs to be fired. We're past that point. He needs to be tied to a tree and shot in the head. Or sent to the Detroit Red Wings. One or the other.

This is what I was talking about.

Since about a third of the way into the season, I have been saying that this team is going nowhere. For the last two plus seasons, I have been saying the Quenneville hire was a mistake. At the trade deadline, I said that buying instead of selling was a mistake, and that the Forsberg signing was a major blunder.

I was right on all accounts.

This is exactly what I was talking about. Right after the deadline, the Avs were looking really good, and I kept my mouth shut because I was curious to see if Foote and Forsberg really could motivate the Avs to keep up their level of play. Well, as predicted, Forsberg can't keep himself healthy. Groin injuries are a tell-tale sign of a lack of fitness, and that's exactly why Forsberg got his.

Before the trade deadline, the Avs were at least playing with some purpose. I got a lot of shit from people for saying that the Avs played better without Sakic, Stastny and Smyth, but they did. When those three are in the lineup, the rest of the team turns it down a couple notches, because they assume that those three will score the goals and win them the games. Without them, everyone knows they have to step it up, and they do.

Well, now we have the worst of both worlds. We have the team playing without any sort of effort because they "know" the Three S's will pick up the pace. Then, the Three S's don't show any effort themselves. Then, two of the three trade deadline acquisitions are invisible even when they're in the lineup. And to top it off, we don't have our leading goal scorer for the rest of the year.

The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of FG, Idiot and Joe Sakic. Idiot and Sakic are charged with motivating the team, and FG is to blame for not canning Idiot, for re-signing Sakic and for buying instead of selling at the deadline.

It's hard to watch this team with any sort of enthusiasm when you know they're headed nowhere. And we all know that FG is going to sign Idiot to an extension in the offseason.

But, we do now have Salei, and for that I am very thankful.