Just got back to the hotel after seeing the Avs beat the Bruins 2-0. We got a ton of pictures and some video - I’ll try to have some up tomorrow or Thursday.
A few quick notes on the game:
- Way more Av/Nordique jerseys in the crowd than I expected.
- Tim Thomas was very good in the game. The local media gave the 1st star to Timmy, and, honestly, I’m not sure this was just a “homer” move. Peter Budaj was stellar, too, of course, but Thomas kept the Bruins in the game.
- The Avs starting lineup included Ken Klee and Kurt Sauer - not a normal pairing. As soon as the puck was dropped, Klee came off and Sauer’s normal partner came on. I’m not really sure why the Avs did this.
- Ossi Vaananen looked, um, adventerous with the puck, especially in the first 5 minutes or so.
- Wideman from the Bruins has a bit of a nasty streak in him - surprising to me, because I thought he had a rep more as an offensive type. There wasn’t a ton of scraps in the game, but anytime the teams came together, Wideman seemed to be involved. Late in the game, Wideman took a swipe at Paul Stastny in front of the Avs bench, causing Scott Parker and Mark Rycroft to send a few verbal “how do you dos” to Wideman and the Boston bench.
- Speaking of Stastny, I was hoping he’d be able to extend his streak (I believe he’s now tied with his dad for 2nd longest rookie point streak in NHL history). The first goal originally went to McLean from Clark and Hejduk…but later they gave the goal to Clark and gave Stastny the 2nd assist. One more to tie Selanne, right?
- I’ve gone on and on about how today is my birthday - a perfect day to take in my first Avs game. My wife and I bought our tickets in September, so there’s been a 6 month buildup for tonight’s game. Imagine how freaked out we were at 6pm when we were turned away at the gate for having invalid tickets. 6 months of waiting, hundreds of dollars spent on a trip…all to get turned away. It all turned out ok in the end. We had inadvertendly ordered 2 sets of tickets, cancelled 1 order and then somehow printed the wrong ones. The Garden ticket office was great getting it fixed for us.
- I have a few pet peeves about seeing hockey games in person: people who don’t respect the anthem (that goes for players too, Marc Savard), losers who dance like an idiot to get on the jumbotron, and the wave (thankfully, no wave tonight). But, by far, the biggest is people who knowingly sit in wrong seats and then, when the real ticketholders arrive, play dumb, making people pull out their tickets to prove they are supposed to be there. It didn’t happen to us tonight, but it did to the people sitting in front of us.
- Unless the NHL fixes their crappy shedule, the next time I’ll get a chance to see the Avs in Boston, Joe Sakic will be 43 and Paul Stastny will be 27. Guh. I don’t even want to talk about how old I will be.
Good win for the Avs, and I’m glad to hear that you were able to get in and see the Avs. I always think Brett Clark looks more adventurous with the puck than Vaananen, even though I’ll admit it’s mighty exciting with either of them
Yes a great game and great job by both Staz and Boods. And yes Staz in now tied (16 games with a point) with his father for the franchise rookie record, and with one more will tie Selanne for the league record. Another mentionable is that he is only 6pts behind Malkin in the Calder race.
The Avs starting lineup included Ken Klee and Kurt Sauer - not a normal pairing. As soon as the puck was dropped, Klee came off and Sauer’s normal partner came on. I’m not really sure why the Avs did this.
It’s something Cloutier has done in the past with center ice face-offs on the road. Home team gets the last change so they make their best guess on matchups for the opening faceoffs and only have to change one defenseman to get the defensive matchup they want. However, if they guess wrong and it was Klee’s forward line they really wanted then Sauer would probably have stayed on the ice if they didn’t win the faceoff. On the first clear he would switch out. Generally this is done in the 1st and 3rd periods when the bench is easier to reach. It seems like a minor thing but when you’re matching defensive lines it can be hard to sync without double-shifting.
I saw a lot of Nordique jersys on the broadcast. It’s sad to see Boston so empty, that city deserves a better team.
Agreed. It’s tough to see Boston in shambles right now. Bostong and chicago are 3 of the three most important American markets (NY being the third) and the NHL is letting the owner of these teams just let their teams rot. It’s a shame
I would say the arena was 3/4 full, which was a bit surprising since the B’s have been playing well lately, and are in the hunt. To be fair, it was colder than heck in Boston, so maybe that was a factor too.
Thanks for the explanation of the starting lines, Dario!
The Garden’s been pretty empty, except for the recent game against Montreal. We’ll always be a hockey town at heart, but the Bruins are alienating some fans with the way they’ve been in recent years (cheap and uncompetitive). Some people gave up on them years ago, but I think at the very least they’re improving. I have no idea why the B’s have played so horribly at times this year, but they have. No one except Thomas did a single thing in that game.
Tell me when you post those pictures! I was there, too, in the front row, but all the pictures I took were fuzzy.