Dear Colorado Avalanche,
Have you heard of off-sides? In case there is any confusion, here is what the NHL Official Rules state:
Rule 83 Offside:
Off-side Players of the attacking team must not precede the puck into the attacking zone. The position of the player’s skates and not that of his stick shall be the determining factor in all instances in deciding an offside. A player is off-side when both skates are completely over the leading edge of the blue line involved in the play.
A player is on-side when either of his skates are in contact with, or on his own side of the line, at the instant the puck completely crosses the leading edge of the blue line regardless of the position of his stick. However, a player actually controlling the puck who shall cross the line ahead of the puck shall not be considered “off-side,” provided he had possession and control of the puck prior to his skates crossing the blue line.
The rulebook continues into further detail, and Avalanche players I suggest you give it a look. For easy reference, it is The 2015-2016 Official Rulebook, page 123-124. Perhaps you should try abiding by this rule, and maybe even try it out in practice so that you can bring the puck into your own zone and generate some actual chances. I don’t know, just a thought. While I’m at it, you probably need to put a tad more shots on net, with just eight shots in two periods, you’re not impressing anybody. Well, maybe impressing me by how bad you were tonight.
To be honest, I am shocked it wasn’t a blowout game. My only other positive takeaways from tonight (because not being a blowout actually is a positive) were that our penalty kill was solid, and Pickard played outstanding. Picks was the only reason the Avs were even in the game, and truly gave us a shot at winning with saving 40 out of 42 shots on goal. Thanks to Calvin, we we were able to keep the a**hole Blackhawk fans at bay. The Hawk fans next to us didn't know how lucky they were that my brother and I weren’t drinking tonight, otherwise they would have gotten much more than just my glaring and noncommittal remarks when they tried to talk to us.
However, thank you to the cameraman who put my little brother and I not only on the Jumbotron, but also onto Altitude!
It is Super Bowl week, and thus we sported the duel apparel.
My sincerest hopes that you give us a much better performance on Thursday vs the Stars.
Yours truly,
Sam Jam
P.S. Gordy the Stick – to get onto TV, you must actually attend the matches.
