December 19, 2013 - Oilers at Avalanche

I always enjoy shooting the Oilers, regardless of their record, for the young players and for the classic style. They play good hockey and the games in Denver always seem close. The Avalanche would take this one, though.

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 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 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.

April 5, 2012 - Blue Jackets at Avalanche

It was a must-win, and the Avalanche didn't have much. Blue Jacket Cam Atkinson had his first NHL Hat Trick, and Steve Mason shut down the Avalanche.

December 19, 2011 - Flyers at Avalanche

For the second time in a week, the Avalanche blew a one-goal lead with less than 30 seconds on the clock, and for the second time in a week, they won in the shootout.

It was sweet to shoot legendary player Jaromir Jagr as he continues to rack up points. He now has well over 1600 points.









Duchene snuck this one past popular goaltender Ilya Bryzgolov.



Ryan O'Reilly celebrates the game winner in the shootout win.

October 30, 2011 - Kings at Avalanche

Nice win for a team having a hard time winning, especially at home.

Landeskog.

Hejduk.

Landeskog.

Duchene.

October 20, 2011 - Blackhawks at Avalanche

New starting goalie Semyon Varlamov was awesome in this home start for the Avalanche, but the Blackhawks got to him twice.


Marion Hossa moves the puck up the ice.


Duchene the third year centerman shows some youthful enthusiasm for an Avalanche goal.


Warped view of the action. Something different.

March 6, 2010 - Blues at Avalanche

Nice easy win for the Av's, led by a Chris Stewart hat trick. None of the goals happened in front of me, but I found some nice celebration.

Anderson faced the greater number of shots, and stopped enough to earn the win. Here he gets a nice little congratulations tap by Stewart, who was not only the star of the game, but earned the honor of being named the NHL star of the week. Nice.

I also liked this shot of the bench celebrating a Milan Hejduk goal. He had two as well - in his first game back for the team.

February 12, 2010 - Coyotes at Avalanche

Friday nights at the Pepsi Center really are the best. Especially when the Av's win. I read things on the hockey blogs words blasting the Av's like (regarding today's game at L.A.): "A win by the Avalanche would move them into 3rd and guarantee them at least 5th place over the break. Certainly, the effort will need to be better than it has been for that to happen.". Dater did not post anything on this one, but I am sure he would have blasted the way they played until the 3rd period, when they caught up and scored the game winner.

Phoenix Coyotes left wing Vernon Fiddler (38) crashes into Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson (41) as the puck flies through the air in a clowd of snow during a regular season game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Phoenix Coyotes at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The Avalanche beat the Coyotes 2-1 in regulation.

Duchene scored both goals, but both were opposite end of the ice from me... so I didn't get action on the goals. Here's a celebration pic. I did catch some really decent action at my end.

Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene (9) and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brett Clark (5) celebrate a goal (Duchene's 2nd goal on the night, and Clark with the 1st assist).

This was the last Av's home game before the Olympic break. Next up: Red Wings on March 1st. Should be a good one.

January 6, 2010 - Islanders at Avalanche

The Av's lost this one. Pretty tame game overall. Its fun to see a match-up between the 2009 #1 pick John Tavares and the #3 pick Matt Duchene. The two have similar season-to-date totals (with 30 points and both at best -5 under), but in the last month Duchene has out-pointed Tavares 10-3. Here's an image of the the lower pick bashing the first pick.



Thanks for looking!

December 26, 2009 - Stars at Avalanche

Great game for the Av's, not a great game for this photographer. I'll post a couple I liked OK. 4-1 victory, including an empty-netter. Chris Stewart showed up, and 29-year old rookie Chris Durno scored his first NHL goal.



Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene (9) has a wrap-around assist to right wing Milan Hejduk (23) (not pictured) as Dallas Stars goalie Alex Auld (31) tries to follow the puck during a regular season game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

Colorado Avalanche center Matt Hendricks (15) bleeds from his eyebrow as he and left wing Cody McLeod skate during a regular season game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The Avalanche beat the Stars 4-1.

Next up on the schedule are the Islanders on January 6th. Thanks for looking!