“I don’t hold a great amount of enthusiasm for next season, and have a strong sense that it is going to be a long road ahead until we could be watching our team playing in June.” These were the words written by yours truly last summer, and it I can confidently say that I was wrong. Dead wrong. Now, our playoff fate is still yet to be determined, but the fact that we are even discussing our playoff picture in early April is beyond what I could have hoped for out of this season. At the beginning of the season, I will be the first to say that I had little hope for anything to truly develop for the Avs. All I wanted was for us to have a better record than last year, and clocking in only 44 points, it didn’t seem like I was asking for too much. Had someone asked me what the odds of making the playoffs were, my response would have been a laugh. A laugh at how absurd that idea was. Turns out, not so absurd.
Last season I was dismayed by how bad we were, and this year, dismayed by how bad we aren’t. Is that even English? Truthfully, I don’t even care if it isn’t. We have 93 points for the season so far, which is more double last year’s points. DOUBLE! Trump is president, and the Avs are almost in the playoffs. Is Stranger Things actually real and are we in the "Upside Down"? Since there is an obvious lack of strange extraterrestrial-like monsters, and no crazy scientists chasing us, I am going to say that, no, this is reality. And as all true die-hard fans know, I knew that it was only amount of time till the Avs righted themselves. I just didn’t expect it would be so soon.
One of the reasons for the Avs’ success this year can certainly be attributed to MacKinnon. While there may be no “I” in “Team”, there is one in Mackinnon, and it can’t be overlooked how his on-ice domination has helped excel the Avs forward. He is currently having the best season of his career, with 94 points, and 5th in the league in scoring, only nine points behind the league leader, Connor McDavid.
Another key factor in the Avs turnaround has been their home-ice performance. Last year, the Avs won all of 13 games at home, but this year have won 28 games at home (this is including the future win on Saturday). They even broke a franchise record for the most consecutive home wins in a row with ten. That is only three shy of how many we won at home all of last season.
In fact it is our home ice domination that has prompted me to write this article now. I will be at the final home game of the regular season this Saturday against the Blues, and the outcome of the game will most likely determine if we make the playoffs or not. I’ve spent more than half of my life being a diehard Avs fan so know myself well enough that come Saturday, all I will care about is making the playoffs, and once making the playoffs there can only be one satisfied outcome. Therefore, in preparation of becoming the maniacal fan that I truly am, I wanted to say that it is never too late to say sorry, and no matter how prideful you are, you can always admit when you are wrong. I am both sorry for ever being (and am sure I will be again someday) the doubtful and pessimistic fan that I was, and that the Avalanche have proven me wrong. Sometimes is feels good to be wrong.
I’ll see you in the playoffs, baby!*
* This I not the time to prove me wrong, Avs.