Playoff hockey is what I have always referred to as “the most wonderful time of the year.” When else would you find yourself hugging the stranger next to you, with your heart pounding so furiously you think you might pass out, except for during a playoff victory. No matter how heartbreaking an elimination is, I will always take the thrill of the playoffs over the off-season beginning in early April. But with the Avs falling to the Edmonton Oilers twice in the last week, it has basically eliminated the Avs’ hopes of making the playoffs. Christmas won’t be coming to the Mile High City this year.
As gut wrenching as it is, we can’t necessarily say that the Oiler’s stole the game from us. With the Avs’ sloppy power play and unable to capitalize on key plays, it was our own bench that was lacking. I hate to criticize my team, but I think credit is due to the Oilers, who entered the last two games against the Avs with nothing to lose. Their loose play was no match for the lackluster Avs, who had everything to lose, and did.
The dejected atmosphere in the stadium and locker room was enough to depress any Avs fan. It’s one thing when a solid play on the opposing team dictates the outcome, knowing that your team did everything they could for the W. It’s another thing, when the three words that best describe the Avs’ play "are as follows, and I quote: Stink, stank, stunk!”
"Edmonton, why? Why are you stealing our hockey season from us? Why?"
Perhaps with the weight of the playoffs practically off their shoulders, the Avs themselves can loosen up, and start playing like the team they can be. Even if we can’t make the playoffs, I say, let’s try and steal as many points from the teams who do need them.
As for next season, to the Oilers I quote our brilliant narrator from How the Grinch Stole Christmas; “[they] hadn't stopped Christmas from coming, it came! Somehow or other... it came just the same.” Next year the Avs will clinch a playoff spot, and we can once again celebrate in yuletide fashion “the most wonderful time of the year.”