The Week That Was the Avs 12/23-12/29

Wow, this week has really gone by fast. Just looking through things this morning and realized that it was already Friday so I'd best get to recapping the past week for the Avalanche. This past week the team tied the consecutive home wins streak in Avalanche history at 8 and also matched the franchise record of 8 home wins in any given month, also at 8, en route to a 3-1 record for the week. The recent Avs winning ways have them back to within a point of the playoffs, though they currently have played more games than all other teams but Minnesota and Carolina which have also played 39 as the Avalanche have.

The Week That Was the Avs 12-16/12-22

The Avalanche come back from a horrid road trip against their Canadian division rivals to continue strong play at home. Sure, they gave up a few leads and thus gave back a couple points to other teams but despite still not having back to back regulation wins going back to last December they have tied the Avalanche record of 7 straight home wins, though admittedly 3 of those were in the shootout where the team is perfect this year and have won 17 of their last 18 games in the shootout. They will have a chance to break both the good and bad streaks before Christmas against Tampa Friday night.

The Week That Was the Avalanche 12-16/12-22

While it has been a frustrating time for Avs' fans, so much so that I stepped back from my daily checking of the normal sites, I will go back and check out my normal sources and recap this past week's activities once again. It's not that the week became any less frustrating, just that I want to continue to do these weekly.  At the time this was started Colorado had lost in Edmonton to finish the road trip 0-3, and then gave San Jose a point with under :30 left even though they went on to win. They still had a game in San Jose as I started this, but finishing this thought after the game it is just more frustration as a two goal lead was blown in the third period and the Avs failed to even get a point with many of their goals against coming off bad turnovers.

The Week that Was the Avs 12/2-12/8

The Avalanche this week finished their home stand with a couple of wins, taking the last three at home, but then dropped their first two back on the road.  Their record for the week was 2-2, and if they want a chance at playoffs they need to be better and will likely need 2/3 of the points left available to them this season.

Past Meet Present - From the Fire to the Furnace

Last night the Karameikan Fist was back at it, outnumbered but prepared for the attack to come.  While I expected casualites on both sides the rolls definitely fell with the party and I overestimated what numbers, as well as high damage but low AC/HP mobs could do as well.  It certainly helped that the party had good tactics and stuck to them, and that they used some tools that helped their case greatly, but you'll see what I mean there in the recap below.  I will say that while they have escaped this little fire relatively well, they certainly haven't escaped the problem and will be up against it next week.

Without further delay however, here is the recap of the latest installment of the Karameikan Fist.

The week that was the Avalanche 11/25-12/1

vs. Oilers : The news before the game was that EJ was placed on the IR and it would be retroactive and Stefan Elliot would make his debut having been given the call the night before as he prepared to play for the Monsters, a game in which he would miss but the team would go on to a 5-1 win. To start the game Jake Schroeder, a regular at the Pepsi Center, sung the National Anthem for the 500th time, and the Avs came out strong. Elliott started the game and had a short first shift and played a steady game not really getting noticed good or bad until early in the first when he jumped up into the play showing good speed and instincts. He would do this a couple of time through the game. The Oilers would start the scoring after a turnover at their own blueline by O'Brien, but the Avs would come back as Wilson laid out Taylor Hall in the corner with a monstrous hit and as the Oilers, and specifically one of the defensemen, came to confront Wilson, Duchene fed the puck ahead to Kobasew all alone who would have the puck poked off his stick right to McClement who put the puck in the net. The Oilers would regain the lead and be up 2-1 going into the 3rd, but the Avalanche kept pressuring and soon tied it up. Elliott would stop a 2-on-1 blocking the pass deep, and shortly after that the 20 year old Elliott would walk the blueline and put a wrister into the back of the net. His first career goal would turn out to be the game winner as the Avs would get another from the defense (3 on the night) and then an empty netter from Stastny which moved him into 10th in all time scoring in the franchise, moving him past Mats Sundin on the list. O'Reilly ended up with a pair of assists on the night, and the hot guys for Edmonton (Hall 10 in last 4, Eberle 10 in last 4, Smyth 8 in last 6 among others) were all held scoreless. The last 8 games the Oilers got at least a point against the Avs so this was a nice change, and after 7 straight losses for Varlamov it was good to get him back in the win column as well. Elliott, by the way, is the first Colorado defenseman to score a goal in his NHL debut, and the first Avalanche player to do it since forward Vaclav Nedorost scored Oct. 3, 2001 at Pittsburgh.

Past Meet Present - Into the Orcus Nest

Most people leave a hornets nest alone, but that isn't the life of an adventurer.  Even then most adventurers will whack the nest with a stick or rile the hornets up in other ways.  Our adventurers have chosen to take a much more dangerous and gutsy path however, instead choosing to jump right into the nest and confront the entire hive at once.

After many weeks off because of work and real life obligations and then the Thanksgiving holiday as well, we were finally back at it last week and things didn't take long to get exciting and next week promises to be a full blown fireworks display.  Here is the recap of the events from last night's exciting installment from the Karameikan Fist Adventuring Company.