Now, the Avs may have blown a 3-2 lead last and fell to the Oilers 6-3, yet there is still a lot to be thankful for when it come to the Avalanche.
Natty Mac had a two-point game with one goal and one assist, and now has goals in three of the last four games. MacKinnon needs to start generating more offensively. The Avalanche are in desperate need for a reliable play-maker, and if MacKinnon can’t step up, they will need to find someone who can. Ideally, we’d like to be seeing him with a point a game, but he does have a point in the last four, which is nice (said with Bill Murray’s “which is nice’ quote from Caddyshack in mind). Because of his recent games, I would like to believe that things are heating up for the kid, and I am thankful for that.
Last weekend the Avalanche defeated the Wild with a solid comeback in the third. Trailing 2-0 going into the third, the Avs were able to score three unanswered goals, and win 3-2 in regulation. With as close as the standings are, winning in OT, and allowing the Wild to get even a point would not have felt as satisfying. We might be one game below 500, but we are 2-0 against the Wild. Sometimes you gotta take what you can get, and I’ll take that!
I may not always have the nicest things to say about the boys on the ice, but I can’t help it if I have high expectations for the team. Despite my negativity at times, I am thankful for all the players who play with broken extremities, stitched up faces and give their all to the team. Lord knows, I can’t even come close to doing what they do out there.
The game in which my eldest brother tossed me in the air and I fully embraced the stranger next to me in excitement.
I wouldn’t be able to see firsthand the effort the Avalanche put forth, if it weren’t for my mom, who has kept our season tickets even though she now lives in Seattle. Without those tickets, I would not have been able to watch the Avs win the Stanley Cup in person, obviously, one of the best experiences of my life. While that stands at the top of the list, I have been lucky enough to bear witness to countless amazing games, shared with my family and friends. Whether is was my best friend getting a bloody nose while running up the stairs so that we could boo the Stars during the National Anthem, my brother throwing me up in the air after a game winning OT goal, or my little brother consoling me while my eyes were brimming with tears after losing a playoff series, I have 20 years full of Avalanche memories.
Those memories have made up more than half of my life, and I feel so grateful that I have been able to part of every Avalanche season, good or bad. Maybe it is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that has made me more sentimental, but I truly do feel all those things about the Avalanche.
But let’s not get too carried away. In all honesty I am most thankful that I am not a Red Wings fan.
Happy Thanksgiving!