They say that time heals all wounds, but I don’t think that saying applies to hockey fans. It has been over a month since the Avs fell to San Jose in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals, and I’m still heartbroken about it. I mean I am still upset about when the Red Wings eliminated the Avs in 2002 by the humiliating score of 7-0 in Game 7 of the Conference Finals. That was 17 years ago. The odds of me moving past this loss are not looking good. In fact, the only thing that gave me the motivation to finally write this post is that today is June 9th. For those of you who don’t equate specific dates with hockey victories, that is the day the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2001. Tonight the St. Louis Blues will have the opportunity to also raise Lord Stanley’s Cup on the same night that Ray Bourque did 18 years ago. I honestly don’t care if the Blues or the Bruins win; I only want it to be over so that we can officially move on to talk of the coming season.
Before I can fully commit to moving on to next season, I do have a couple of things I need to get off my chest. We all cope with grief in different ways. Sometimes it manifests itself in anger, whether it is yelling, throwing things at the TV, often it is both at the same time. Sometimes it is in tears, where it is no secret that I have shed tears over particularly painful loses. However, in all my years of rooting for the Avs, I don’t ever recollect a time when I felt like sobbing after a loss like I did against San Jose. Not just a couple of single tears, but a full blown heaving, snotty, ugly cry. The kind you have after you have just gotten dumped because that is was it felt like. It felt like the NHL took our chances and ripped them away from us after one of the worst calls I have ever seen.
I am no referee, and nor do I pretend to understand all the rules, but I still don’t, and never will, understand how the would-be game-tying goal by the Avalanche was disallowed because of an offsides prior to the goal. If there is other footage that proves that is was the correct call, I have yet to see it. How a coach can challenge that call, but not be able to challenge a hand pass in the overtime winner that San Jose would later have against the Blues is beyond me. The NHL needs to seriously reexamine some of their arbitrary rules. Either that, or hopefully Joe Thornton can retire so they don’t have to worry about trying to get a cup for him by making blatant wrong calls in each of the series San Jose played.
The Avs deserved that win. We played harder and better than the Sharks in that game. Watching the Avs control the final period of the game, where they outshot the Sharks 15-2, but unable to capitalize on their opportunities was heartbreaking to witness. Even down to the final seconds, the Avs did not give up. We were so close. So. Close. Yet in the game of hockey, close is not good enough, and the better team doesn’t always prevail. It is a tough notion to swallow when we could have advanced the Conference Finals. Rather than bawl my eyes out like I wanted to after the game, I simply quietly resigned myself to bed with a heavy heart.
However, it was with grace and humility that Jared Bednar, Gabe Landeskog and the rest of the Avalanche club took the loss, and it is with that same vain that I must move on as well. No one likes a disheartened cynic, especially when there actually is so much to take away from the season. If you had told me in January after my dad and I saw the Avs play in Montreal that we would end up making it to Round 2 of the playoffs, I would have scoffed and thought you were insane.
My 18 year old ticket from June 9, 2001
Despite having a midseason slump, the Avalanche turned the club around and played like true contenders. The Avalanche had not won a playoff series in 11 years, and they did so this year with a team that was full of playoff novices. Competing in the playoffs, let alone making a long run, is like playing an entirely different season. There is a reason why they say the Stanley Cup is one of the hardest prizes to win. I would suspect that now that our younger players have gotten a taste of the real playoff kool-aide, they will be anxious to pick up where they left off. I truly believe that if the Avs had beaten San Jose, we could be the ones playing in tonight’s game. The Avs are no longer a team that can be overlooked as a one-off. They played with so much passion and intensity that the NHL will be forced to pay close attention to them in the seasons to come.
The regular season is long, and if these playoffs have taught us anything, it is that you never know what is going to happen. It is a different type of game than when the Avs won 18 years ago. Simply having a great season doesn’t entitle the team to make it deep in the playoffs.
While I will never forget this season’s playoff loss, I finally feel like I can now start to look forward to all the playoff wins yet to come. Playoff hockey will reign once again in the Mile High City, and until then I can reminisce fondly about that night 18 years ago when I got to see my Avalanche hoist The Cup, a memory so sweet that it can still conjure up tears nearly two decades later.
On that note, congrats to the 2018-19 Avalanche for an outstanding season, and let the countdown to October begin!