April 8, 2011 - Stars at Avalanche

Wrapped up the 2010-2011 Hockey season on April 8, a couple of days 'early' as there was still a home game to play, but the team has been pretty uninspring of late. Here's to a productive draft and offseason.


Brandon Yip had a nice goal from the left side.


Jay McClement was wearing an "A" patch.

March 31, 2011 - Predators at Avalanche

Nashville Predators right wing Matt Halischuk (24) jams the puck under the pad of Colorado Avalanche goalie Brian Elliott (30) but does not score during a regular season National Hockey League game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Nashville Predators at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.


Apparently Nashville loves Pekka Rinne. Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (35) watches as the puck flies past Colorado Avalanche center Jay McClement (16) off the stick of Colorado Avalanche center Kevin Porter (12)

Lexington and his manbeard in one of the last public appearances.

March 19, 2011 - Morehead State vs Richmond

March 19, 2011 - Gonzaga vs BYU

March 17, 2011 - Wofford vs. BYU

BYU fans 1) love their man Jimmer, and 2) Aren't half bad at making fun of themselves.

March 17, 2011 - St. John's vs Gonzaga

March 17, 2011 - Morehead State v Louisville

Games like this are why we do this. Morehead State started strong, but the game was tied at the half. Heroics at the end led to a 62-61 upset of the 4th -seeded Cardinals. I was sorry to see Morehead State get shut down by another Cindarella team on Saturday with the loss to Richmond.

Kenneth Faried drives hard against Louisville.

When this block happened, I was really surprised to not hear a whistle. Looks legal in this image.

SI.com used the image of the winning shot front and center.

March 11, 2011 - Ducks at Avalanche

Another game, another Avalanche loss.

March 5, 2011 - Oilers at Avalanche

The spectators, or at least the home fans, didn't get much of a hockey game Saturday night. If they were looking, though, they might have been entertained in other ways.

David Koci and Steve MacIntyre exchange blows to the delight of cellphone camera users in the first few rows.

Some young fans have some fun at everyone's expense.

Lauren Gardner, keeping everyone happy.

February 26, 2011 - Texas at Colorado

I picked a good one for my first college basketball game in 7 or so years. Colorado had been down by 22 points late in the first half before going on an amazing 26-4 run, going ahead up by as much as 10, and eventually winning 91-89.

Colorado's man, Alex Burks, has an easy two.

Burks celebrates a nice defensive play as Jordan Hamilton looks discouraged and the Colorado fans go wild.

Jordan Hamilton and Cory Higgins.

Texas' Tristan Thompson.

ESPN Love.

February 23, 2011 - Oilers at Avalanche

The bloodiest hockey game I have ever witnessed. McLeod was injured by a player's stick during an opening faceoff. He would return to the game.

Ryan O'Byrne continues to play out his entire shift after being sliced by Taylor Hall's skate. He would not return to the game.

Young Taylor Hall has a one-on-one with new Avalanche goalie Brian Elliott but is unable to add to the score. The Oilers would take this one 5-1.

February 16, 2011 - Penguins at Avalanche

No captains, no stars (Jordan Staal?), still a decent game. Av's still can't win one and have now lost nine straight. Pens fans may have outnumbered Av's fans, but all were pretty loud.



Fans: React.



Fleury: Pouvoir.



Stastny: focus.



Wilson: beatdown.

February 3, 2011 - Wild at Avalanche

The Wild aren't as boring a team as they were a year ago. I saw a several very impressive would-be assists that Andy was able to block. Unfortunately, the 2-0 hole the Av's dug themselves into in the first two minutes of the game, including Burnett's 1st of 2 on the night, above, proved insurmountable.



Koivu nearly has Andy and Stastny beat.



The first time I've seen Yip drop the gloves. This one I saw coming, and I have another shot where all four gloves are in the air at the same time.

January 26, 2011 - Coyotes at Avalanche

Sad game for the boys in burgundy and blue on this final NHL game before the all star game break.



Defenseman Keith Yandle celebrates a goal. He had two points on the night.



Andy protests a goal where he felt there was interference. The referees were the most hated team in the building after a 2nd period disallowed goal.

January 22, 2011 - Bruins at Avalanche

With this game against the Boston Bruins, I've photographed every NHL team at the Pepsi Center. I was glad to see the Av's in their road whites and the visiting Bruins in their "alternate" or 3rd jerseys.



I also tried out something new, thinking it might be good to try for some really tight shots of a few players. Took me a couple periods to get my settings dialed, and there is still some work to do, but it was pretty cool. It sucks shooting through the glass.

A close up of Marc Savard's faceoff face. He was pulled from the game in the 2nd period after smashing against the boards. He's missed a lot of games in the past two seasons to concussion, so hopefully he's OK.


For some reason this game featured more scuffles than I would have expected. Here, David Koci waits for his masters order to attack.


Stastny picked up his 100th career NHL goal in the first period. Here, he tries to tip in a pass that ends up in the lap of Tim Thomas. At the end it was a bad loss for the Av's but a decent game for me.

January 10, 2011 - Red Wings at Avalanche

The Av's were out to an early 4-1 lead in this one, making approximately 60% of the fans in the Pepsi Center happy. The Red Wings games are always the very best of the year, and this was no exception. The rivalry is alive in Denver anyway.



Jonesy puts one past backup goalie Joey MacDonald in the 2nd period.



Ryan Wilson lays out a sorry Red Wings player.



The captain Foote and the goalie Budaj celebrate a hard fought 5-4 victory.

January 8, 2011 - Islanders at Avalanche

I don't care what the news says - this one is all about Tavares v Duchene for me. I love that we got the better guy in the 2009 draft, even though he was the third overall pick. Can't even remember who went #2....



Feisty faceoff.



Tavares is credited with the game winner in overtime. Av's now 0-6-2 or something in the last 8 games against the lowly Islanders. They got the point on a Hejduk goal with 0:04 left in the third, which made it a pretty good game overall.

January 4, 2011 - Sabres at Avalanche

Can't shoot the Sabres without trying to get something good of Ryan Miller. Here our guy O'Reilly is in on the action in the crease. Thoughts are with that kid tonight.



Duchene and O'Reilly, celebrating an overtime win.