April 27, 2013 - Wild at Avalanche

 

Last minute assignment to shoot the Wild as they attempt to make the playoffs with either a victory and/or a Blue Jackets loss, both occur, and the Wild go back to Minnesota happy. The word in the arena was that this would be Milan Hejduk's last NHL game, so I watched for chances to shoot him as well.

April 5, 2013 - Red Wings at Avalanche

Exciting game for all in attendance, though the Red Wings were never behind and ended up scoring the game winner in OT with less than a minute to play. Datsyuk and Zetterberg had some of the niftiest goals I've ever seen. Red ings fans always bring the noise, though the home crowd had a very nice "Red Wings Suck" chant going in the third period. These games always have way-above-average energy and I enjoy that. Thanks for looking.

March 24, 2013 - Canucks at Avalanche

 

Canucks dominated the Avalanche.

March 20, 2013 - Stars at Avalanche

 

 Stars visit, I take some pictures. Jaromir Jagr is still playing well in his veteran way.

March 12, 2013 - Oilers at Avalanche

 

The Avalanche came out flat this time against the Oilers, and the only puck that ended up behind the Oilers goalie was called off due to Landeskog's presence in the crease. I always enjoy shooting the Oilers thanks to all their young stars and the energy they bring with them from the great white north.

March 10, 2013 - Sharks at Avalanche

The Sharks have always played the Avalanche tough in Denver, and Sunday evening was no different, but our goalie was great and some last-second (literally) magic from Duchene in the overtime period would hand 2 of the 3 available points to the home team. The Duchene goal sets a franchise record for the latest overtime goal recorded with .3 or .2 seconds left on the clock... The celebration was sweet after but I wasn't in the best spot for it, but I enjoyed myself and was glad to see this team continue this streak.

March 8, 2013 - Blackhawks at Avalanche

The Blackhawks had a 30-game point streak (no regulation losses) coming into last night's game against the "thoroughly mediocre" Avalanche, which was the second longest in NHL history. The new-look avalanche (Ryan O'Reilly returning to his home ice and a nifty power play utilizing the top 5 forwards on the ice at the same time) showed them a dominant second period with four goals scored, in addition to goals in the first and third periods. The crowd was probably 50% Blackhawks fans, but the home fans got loud as the game progressed. The images above aren't my "best" of the game but I wanted to show the celebration of each of the four second period goals in one post.

February 28, 2013 - Flames at Avalanche

Down 3-0 in the first period, the Avalanche were booed off the ice. They started the second period with 2 quick goals before the Flames went up 4-2. In the third period, as news materialized that Ryan O'Reilly would be rejoining the team, the Avalanche scored 3 unanswered goals and held off late power plays and 6-man attacks from the Flames to win this one 5-4. Everyone in the building got their money's worth as Duchene, Stastny, and Landeskog all had points on impressive plays. Very nice one for the guys in burgundy and blue. I did not have as good of a game as the Avalanche, but made some clean, though not particularly interesting, pictures, and enjoyed the atmosphere. 

February 18, 2013 - Predators at Avalanche

First, I need to apologize for the way the pictures on this blog look. I'll update platforms soon; Blogger has finally forced my hand with even crappier control over how pictures look. Hopefully I can keep the archive without much trouble. I used to code my own HTML and I had to again tonight to get it to look even as good as it does, which I know is not great.

Second, the Avalanche won a shootout today, and for the first time in 10 meetings, beat the Nashville Predators. I was told that Carrie Underwood was NOT in the building, but I don't know what that has to do with anything. Seven goals were scored in the second period. The Predators came within one on a Shea Weber goal with a minute to go in the third, but the Avalanche were able to hold off the 90 second 6-man charge.

February 6, 2013 - Ducks at Avalanche

The Ducks are mighty again, and they did their best to prove it at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night. I felt and shot "loose" and was happy with a couple of pictures I made. The Avalanche couldn't sneak anything by the Ducks' phenom goalie, not that they looked like they could have gotten anything by ANY NHL goalie on this particular night.

February 2, 2013 - Oilers at Avalanche

Under no uncertain instruction to focus on the exciting young Oilers, I had my work cut out for me as the strong-at-home Avalanche spoiled the party. I missed a couple of shots I really wanted, but in the end probably weren't as important as I was setting them up to be, overall I'm happy with this take. I wish I would have turned in a little stronger game-day edit and I'm upset to see that my color was off on my initial takes (very easy adjustment in post but unfortunately I filed from the seats and wasn't seeing a problem at the time). Nice to see another home win for the Avalanche even if I was looking for more Oilers pictures this time. All images copyright Getty Images 2013.

January 22, 2013 - Kings at Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche are at .500 with 46 games to play .... seriously. All joking aside, once the puck dropped last night it didn't really feel like there had been a 113-day lockout. It also didn't feel like opening night. The players and the venue were working out their kinks, as was I. Hockey takes a couple of games for me to warm up, but overall I'm happy with the 71 images I filed. Need to make some adjustments to white balance and my post-processing, and I need to remember to replace the plastic cutout at the shooting hole at the end of the period/game, but these things will come next time. Avalanche beat the Stanley-cup-defending L.A. Kings 3-1 only after a 3-goal third period.