By Aaron Ilia Merritt
It’s that time of year again! Time to lace up the skates, and tape up your hockey stick.
The NHL season is upon us. This means fans can now again look forward to Wednesday Night Rivalry “The night you love to hate” on NBCSN. Fights, crazy mascots, amazing overtime goals, and game-winning saves are finally here. Three cheers for hockey season!
This year’s NHL season has just begun. The beginning of the season has shown hockey fans that the Boston Bruins have started out slower than usual at 0-2-0, abnormal considering that the Bruins are almost always in the playoffs. Also the Montreal Canadiens have started out 3-0-0. It is a bit surprising to see that the usually uncompetitive Arizona Coyotes have started out 2-0-0. However, the beginning of the season does not always show which teams are Stanley Cup material, but it is always a good thing to start out strong, especially in professional sports.
The Colorado Avalanche had a rough preseason start, only scoring one goal the entire preseason. The Avs were not projected to have a playoff good year by many sports analysts. Two years ago the Avalanche were reunited with Patrick Roy, one of the most iconic goal tenders in the NHL of all time. Only this time Roy was not putting on a jersey, but donning a suit to lead the Avs as their head coach. The Avalanche made it to game seven in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Minnesota Wild in overtime. Their current season has had a rough start with the Avs record being 1-2-0. Opposing teams have been able to score up to six goals a game against the Avalanche.
Netminder Semyon Varlamov may not be to blame, the fault can be found with the Av’s defense. When watching the Avs play, the other teams have been able to get off many shots that could be defended by a defenseman if the defense was effective.
Fans all over the league may find that in 82 games, a team has a lot of chances to turn a losing season into a Stanley Cup season. Hopefully Patrick Roy and the Avalanche will be able to fix any weaknesses and come out of this season successful.
