Colorado Avalanche lack respect from national media
Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images
Assessing recent claims about the culture surrounding the Avs. The Colorado Avalanche is one of the best teams in the NHL, if not the best team. There is no arguing this — anyone who tells you otherwise is oblivious and blinded by rose-colored glasses.
With that being said, coverage should be off the charts for a team that can produce magic on the ice nightly. We see this coverage locally within the Avalanche community with Altitude Sports (if you have it) along with local news outlets.
Nationally, the storylines turn the tide elsewhere. When the Avs are mentioned, the story turns to “how resilient can they be against a big-name East Coast team” or “how will they do against a former powerhouse in the West?” This tweet was making the rounds a couple of weeks back when ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski’s tweeted this to describe the Avs.
I think the word was "bland" and I stand by it. They're fun. They're super talented. They score a bunch of goals. They fail to draw the same kind of emotional response out of me that Vegas and Edmonton do. Maybe that changes with a deep playoff run, IDK. https://t.co/O3GYmd2uZ9— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) April 14, 2022
This came the night after the Avs blew out the playoff-contending Los Angeles Kings 9-3 on national TV. A Nathan MacKinnon hat-trick led the way to this so-called bland effort from the Avs. As the Avs community is, the team and fans ran with the quote.
It's on bland.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/r82s9UbLDL— z - Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 15, 2022
WWWWWWWW in a row!Recap: "Bland" Avalanche complete the job 3-1 over Devils #GoAvsGo https://t.co/gx7hAkLuqE— z - Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) April 15, 2022
Similar to last year when the Avs community ran with MacKinnon’s quote of “we’re the favorites or whatever”, they would run with the Wyshynski quote too. However, that was not the only criticized quote to come out about the Avs in the last few weeks. Alexis Mirjana of the Bardown Beauties Podcast had this to say about the Avs.
Are the Colorado Avalanche really all that?.@alexismirjana isn't so sure.Our full discussion on it here > https://t.co/EfTY0lm0h2 pic.twitter.com/9vLHq0lTVa— Bardown Beauties Podcast (@BardownBeautPod) April 19, 2022
Now, take this one with a grain of salt — the hosts are Minnesota Wild fans. Therefore, there’s certainly some hostility to take place between the two sides of the story. While the podcast looks to extend coverage outside of the Wild, quotes like these certainly got the attention it was meant to grab but perhaps done in the wrong way.
We’ve seen this trend for years on end. The Avs are no big-name East Coast team like the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Rangers. They’re no big-name Western Conference team that attracts so many fans like the Chicago Blackhawks or more recently the Vegas Golden Knights.
Whenever the Avs were on national TV, we’d groan at the thought that the opponent would always be the one talked about. We saw this in Vegas in the second round last year and the Sharks' second-round matchup in 2019. It seems no matter what the Avs do, they will always be overlooked and put down for not being a “big name” in the NHL.
While the Avs may not garner as many clicks, retweets, or attention surrounding the team as others would, the play on the ice is what matters at the end of the day. ABC may have several afternoon matinees with the Chicago Blackhawks away to the Philadelphia Flyers, but they won’t put as good of a show as the “bland” Avalanche would.
Look back at the beginning of this month when the Avs played their only regular-season game on ABC. At home against the Penguins, it may have been the best game of the season garnering nationwide attention for both teams. While a big-name East-Coast team was involved, it got more attention online than a national game involving the Blackhawks and Flyers theoretically would - simply because of the talent on ice from both teams.
Nonetheless, the hockey world seems to see the Avalanche as a fluke, as a team that won’t garner enough clicks on their websites. It is a trend we’ve become all too familiar with. Let the national media believe what they want to believe, but we all know how the Avs truly are.
The Avs are one of the best, most competitive, least bland, and hottest girl teams with all the personality - those outside the realm of the Avalanche community just don’t seem to understand that. It will be phenomenal to shut them up with a deep playoff run ending with the Stanley Cup being raised in front of thousands at Civic Center Park in Downtown Denver.
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