Here is everything Colorado Avalanche and hockey in general that you may have missed this week from blog pieces to podcasts!
Colorado Avalanche
I really enjoyed listening to all of the Hockey Mountain High Podcast this week. It was titled “Getting to the Dance,” which is a reference about making it to the playoffs. It does not matter how you do it; all you have to do is get in.
Aarif and JJ touch on a number of topics in this episode, including injuries to Matt Calvert and Cale Makar, what is working and what is not with the Avs and how getting the two points is the most important thing each night.
The Hockey Writers put out a great article this week that looked into one of the Avalanche’s top prospects, Alex Newhook. We have all been seeing highlights pop up on Twitter of some of the great things he has been doing. Here is confirmation that Colorado has another good player on the way up.
🎙 "The Chirp" feat. @AlexNewhook_ #ChallengeAccepted // #ForBoston🦅 pic.twitter.com/Q5hpw6GjAZ
— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) March 1, 2021
Ryan Boulding released an article on Mile High Sports on why there should not be fans in the stands at Ball Arena. He dives into all the reasons why it is still too early to allow fans back into sports arenas.
In the March 3 episode of the Locked On Avalanche podcast, Chris talks in depth about the lack of trust the players have for the next man up and how it is impacting the team. I was nodding my head the whole time in agreement with everything he was saying.
Off the back of a 6-2 loss to the Sharks on Monday, and as the two teams prepare to meet again tonight, @avalanche head coach Jared Bednar knows certain elements have to improve as they reach a crucial part of the season.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/yKtA7civb7
— AltitudeTV (@AltitudeTV) March 3, 2021
And of course, with the expansion draft just around the corner, fans have to be praying that their beloved players remain safe and do not get moved to the Seattle Kraken.
Hockey in general
The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association played their very first game at Madison Square Garden in New York last weekend. It was a big day for women’s hockey. Check out the story about that night and what it meant for those players at Madison Square Garden.
With the NWHL broadcasting games this season until it was canceled, it looks like we will get to see more and more women’s hockey in the years to come. Who knows, we might even eventually have a Colorado team in the women’s league; wouldn’t that be fantastic!
And this week on 31 Thoughts: The Podcast with Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman, they talk about the NHL Entry Draft and what is best for the game. With everything pandemic, you might not have thought about the impact on scouting and the ability to pick players for draft. It is not an easy task. Friedman talks through his thoughts on why it might not be possible to have a draft this year.
What do you think about the way junior players make their way into AHL affiliate teams before entering the NHL? More importantly, those on-fire 19-year-olds who are not allowed to make the jump because they do not yet fit the guidelines of the current agreement, which says they must be 20 years old or have played four seasons in junior hockey before they can join an AHL team. Tony Ferrari’s view is that maybe it is time to redesign the agreement based on the number of 19-year-old players who are good enough to make the jump.
Have a great weekend and go Avs!