Being an east coaster, I always like to take a road trip or two (or three) every season to see the Avalanche since I don't get the chance to see them regularly out west. I usually get to attend one (or both) of the Columbus games, I'll make it up to Detroit once every couple seasons as well (you can tell which years I went, because their attendance is 28% higher). The Avs usually have an early east coast road swing every season, and this year is no different. I decided to make the 10+ hour trek to see the Good Guys take on the defending champs in Chowdtown, and as usual, I AM NOT DISAPPOINT. After paying $40 to paaahhhk my caaahhh, I deserved a little satisfaction, right?
One of the most prominent features outside the TD Better Homes And Garden is this bronze statue of the iconic Bobby Orr goal that sent the Bruins to the 1969-70 Stanley Cup championship. This playful statue is shown here attacking the gentleman in the black shirt and his son. Terrifying scene.
Pictured here is the Bruins 2010-11 Stanley Cup banner. The original version of the banner was much larger and hung nearly to the ice, as it listed the name of every player, every coach, every trainer, the stick boys, season ticket holder names, and all the names on the 2010-11 Canucks roster followed by the words "YOU SUCK" in 188 point font.
The game itself was encouraging. The Bruins were clearly a beat or two off, but it's still the defending champs, and it was in their barn. Semyon Varlamov was the obvious story, as he made three or four spectacular stops when the B's had their best chances, but other players stood out as well. 2008 Octopus Hurling Champion champion Cody McLeod wore the third "A" (Stastny and Hejduk wore the other two as usual) and played a very feisty game, being credited with nine hits and generally being a painful nuisance to the Bruins. Matt Duchene was a threat every time he had the puck on his stick, using quickness to force Boston Gargoyle Zdeno Chara into taking an early penalty, and deftly pretzelling Dennis Seidenberg in front of the B's cage to get a prime scoring chance. Stastny played an intelligent game, and newcomer Jan Hejda played the type of game the Avs had lacked on the blueline last season. This isn't to say there arent areas that are going to require improvement (Shane O'Brien's defensive play is going to cause me to go into therapy), but my first personal experience with the 2011-12 Avs left me encouraged.
Drink to victory... hopefully the first of many this season!
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