Stan Kronke

Hello Colorado Avalanche fans and those interested in stopping the uncontrolled monster that is Kroneke Sports Enterprises.

Yes, that’s right, our buddy Stan Kroenke, who owns not only the Avalanche, Denver Nuggets and the Pepsi Center but also the Colorado Rapids professional soccer team, the majority of the English football team Arsenal and a new ticket agency called TicketHorse, is at it again. This time, he wants to become majority owner of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams.

But there’s a catch. To become a majority owner of an NFL franchise you can’t own another major sports franchise (including an MLB, NBA or NHL team.) Hence, Kroenke would have to sell the Avalanche and the Nuggets if he wants to join the big boys in the NFL game.

If you’ve been following Hockey Goddesses, you’ll know my disdain toward the current Avalanche regime, which I believe comes from the top. There is not a team in the league that is less fan-friendly than the Avalanche. A dismal 3rd from last in ticket sales last year from an organization that previously held the record for most consecutive sellouts (which in itself is questionable, but that’s a whole other post) has revealed this neglect for the fan experience. So, you can imagine the excitement I initially felt. Kroenke gone! A change in the guard! More fan-friendly! Is this too good to be true?

It turns out it just might be.

See, Kronke has tried to get the Rams’ ownership transferred to his wife, who would then become the majority owner, hence allowing him to keep the Avs and Nuggets.

Yep. That’s right. He is pulling out all the dirty tricks in an attempt to continue to expand his evil empire, which means the Avs will slip even lower in priority. We already have seen what happens when you own an NBA team as well as an NHL team. The NHL team will always be the redheaded step-child. With all the big contracts the Nuggets had to fill this past season the Avs were sacrificed, falling well under the league salary cap because, presumably, Kroenke didn’t want to dig too deep in those pockets.

Thankfully, the NFL said “no” to the transfer of the Rams to Kroenke’s dearly beloved, but that doesn’t necessarily preclude other family members from “purchasing” the Avs and Nuggets. So, unfortunately, there’s a very good chance we fans may actually be stuck with the same old Kroenke, the same old philosophy and the same ol’ poor treatment.

Sigh.

But a girl’s allowed to dream, right?

Photo: Stan Kroenke from daily.com.

Adam Foote wears number 19 on Joe Sakic retirement night.

I try to be kind in my posts. I really do. But I can’t hold back on commenting on the insane decision both Adam Foote and the Colorado Avalanche made. Yesterday, the Avs signed Footer to a one year, $1 million deal.

Nothing too personal Adam, but it’s time to retire. The Avalanche have a plethora over overpaid defenseman and given that this was probably the weakest part of their game this year (oh the ugliness had we not had Anderson in net) it seems like starting fresh might be the way to go — especially with the number of young defensemen in the system.

That extra $500,000 or so would look awful tasty on a talented, skating free agent this summer. Yes, the Avs have plenty of cap room, but to land a couple of high-scoring forwards that extra might just come in handy.

Foote has definitely lost a step the past couple of seasons and his decision making has been questionable. As I said — nothing personal. We sat next to his wife and kids all last season and they were quite nice. I’m just surprised given his declining performance (and his wife’s apparent boredom as she could be seen texting on her BlackBerry throughout the games) that he’d sign for another year.

A friend suggested that perhaps the signing was more about a roof over Matt Duchene’s head (he lived at the Foote residence all last year) and keeping a close eye on the young starling. Given the nature of this signing, it’s as good an explanation as any.

Photo:  Adam Foote by Goddess Sasha. Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Darcy Tucker at his first Avalanche training camp.

Yep, the Colorado Avalanche are out. I don’t know why, but watching the kids this year scrap their way into a spot this year has really endeared me to them  — more so than many other teams.  Yes, they weren’t supposed to make it to the playoffs this year, and were slated to finish last in the NHL.  Yet I can’t help but feel a bit of heartache for the kids.

Maybe it’s because I know that I’ve probably seen Darcy Tucker for the last time with the Avs.  It seems like just yesterday when Goddess Kaatiya called me to tell me we had signed him.  One of my all-time favorite players, I was ecstatic.  Tonight, he waited until the rest of the team had exited the ice before giving the fans a big wave.  How could have time passed so quickly?  Still, we saw almost every single home game he played with the Avs

Then there are the kids.  Who doesn’t love to see a bunch of 18-to-mid-20-year-old kids play their hearts out each night?  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a bunch of kids over achieve than the team of old talent reach a quarter of their potential year after year.  Yeah, they made the games worth attending this year, and my heart breaks a little bit for them.

Maybe it’s that we’ve finally given up our season tickets for next year.  I’ll save the details for another post, but it was time.  I actually love this team more than I have in years, but the folks at Kronke Sports Enterprises and team management have proven to me this year that it’s not worth dumping another several thousand into the least fan-friendly organization in the league.  And it makes me sad knowing that we no longer have those 40 games to go to in the middle of winter.

I hope the future holds more energy and fire, and I’d love to see them pick up a talented, skating European — a Swede or a Russian would be nice.  But alas, the Avs seem to be an “all American, all the time” team anymore (with a couple of exceptions.)  Now THAT might bring me back to season tickets.

But that’s all in the future.  For now, I think I’ll just listen to the down and depressing music of the Drive-By Truckers and wallow in some self-pity.  I went to almost all the home games this year.  I deserve it.

Photo: Darcy Tucker by Goddess Sasha. Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Peter Mueller poses for a picture at the NHL YoungStars Game in 2008.

As Goddess Sasha mentioned yesterday, our good pal Peter Mueller was traded from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Colorado Avalanche with some other guy for Wotek Wol… Wole… Something Polish. As a long time fan of #88, I was a bit shocked that Don Maloney would ship him out; but to be honest, I think it is a very good thing for him and his development.

I first got to know Peter as a rookie in the WHL as a member of my hometown Everett Silvertips.  The fact that he came to play here in Hooterville was a bit of  a shock to most folks who follow junior hockey; and it was a really big shock to the folks at the University of Minnesota as he had already committed to play there and had a scholarship. However, once he got a little older, he changed his mind and felt that major junior would be a better road to The Show than college.

So, he came to town and proceeded to not only have a great rookie year with 58 points in 52 games, but he went home to Bloomington with the WHL Rookie of the Year award and WHL Top Draft Prospect award as well as several other team awards during the season.  For an encore, he scored 78 points in 51 games during the 2006-2007 season and helped Team USA’s U-20 squad to a bronze medal at the World Juniors after being selected 8th in the 2006 draft.  It helped that he was alongside Zach Hamill, who now is Boston Bruins property; and that the Tips had a phenomenal season on the way to winning the WHL version of the President’s Trophy. Unfortunately the playoffs weren’t as good as they could have been thanks to one Mr. Devin Setoguchi and the Prince George Cougars, but I digress.

There was a lot of talk in the late summer of 2007 about whether Peter would make the Coyotes squad or would he come back to the Tips for another season, as he had two more years of eligibility. I would have liked for him to come back, partly because he’s a good kid and would have helped the team out tremendously; but you could see at the end of the season that the WHL pond was getting to be a bit too small for our boy from the land of 10,000 lakes.

However, I don’t know if dear Pete really realized just what being a full time NHL player would be like. Yes, he had youth and a whole bundle of talent; but without a taskmaster coach like Kevin Constantine, I can see how hard it might have been to stay the course with all the goodies an NHL contract brings with it.  Yes, he had a very good rookie season and was even voted for a few times for the Calder; but a rookie season does not a career make, nor does it guarantee even a good second season and #88 in your program was proof of this. True he had some issues with injuries; but I think if he had been with a different team with a different coach and more stability, things might have been a little better.

However I try to be optimistic and I really think if last night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks is any indication, things are looking up for our good pal Pete. He scored a goal, tripped a Duck and generally looked happy, which makes my little black heart happy too.

Photo: NHL

Peter Mueller warms up in one of his last games as a Coyote.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, or saddened to see Wojtek Wolski go. I know many Avalanche fans were hoping for Ruslan Salei or John-Michael Liles to be traded, and if Wolski had to go, they wanted a veteran in return.

I, for one, am happy to see the less-than-physical player leave our ranks. Rumors were that Wolski didn’t see eye-to-eye with the Avs management, and that he was on his way out. I take that to mean, they asked him to put his big body in front of the net and he didn’t want to take the beating.

Most Avs fans don’t watch a whole lot of other hockey, except what’s force-fed to them on the networks. That means, they don’t know a whole lot about the Phoenix Coyotes and Peter Mueller. I’m sure Goddess Amy will weigh in on this, since she saw him during his Junior days in Everett when he played for the Silvertips, but I really think this guy is going to be great. The Avs needed another center, and why not grab a young guy with tons of talent, a good work ethic and is easy on the eyes? ;-)

Getting rid of Liles would have been ideal. However, no one was going to pick up his inflated salary. The general public may not have been watching him the past couple of years, but the scouts were and he just doesn’t fit into too many team’s plans. After all, you can only have so many Mike Greens in the league.

Salei? Yeah, he’s carrying a bit of a salary, but for those people who never watched more than a couple of Ducks or Panthers games, they don’t understand what a talented, smart and crushing player he can be.  In his first game back this season, he threw some punishing hits and got an assist, looking as if he hadn’t missed a beat, and ended up +2 in a 3-2 loss. He is most physical defenseman next to Adam Foote, and he’s a smart player and great skater to boot. Why anyone would want to deal him is beyond me. I’d get rid of Brett Clark and even my lovely Scott Hannan before I’d ditch Salei.

Teasers:  I’ve promised KHL reporting and I will deliver soon.  Also, look for more rants on what else? Colorado Avalanche fan experiences.  Suffice it to say, we will not be renewing our season tickets next year.

Photo: Peter Mueller by Goddess Sasha. Copyright 2009-2010. All Rights Reserved.

Check out Goddess Sasha’s pictures from last night’s Avalanche/Red Wings game. Datsyuk and Zetterberg and Holmstrom … Oh my!

Joe Sakic has retired, the Avs sat out the free agent frenzy, and they are still trading high ranked prospects for career minor leaguers.

I understand. Teams have to rebuild. The salary cap has changed the game. One would think that a team would have some foresight and get some creative marketing to keep the fans coming, or at the very least interested. No so for us Avalanche fans. Below you will find the letter I sent to the Avalanche (complaints are not welcome in the Avalanche organization and the only email on their or the Pepsi Center website is ‘webmaster@pepsicenter.com’ and it specifies that that it is for tech issues only – all other correspondence is directed to – get this – snail mail!).

Screen shot of the Avs website’s “Contact Us” page as seen on July 18, 2009 (click the image above to see full size).

* * *

Dear Colorado Avalanche,

It is with a touch of sadness (yet more frustration) that I write this letter.  We are wishing to rescind our initial 2nd set set of season tickets, the ones that were to be located in the “Avaholic” section.  Although it is quite a deal, we feel that we can’t invest any additional money in an organization that quite frankly does very little, if anything, for its fans.  For now, we are going to hold on to our current season tickets, although at this point we are uncertain as to what we will ultimately decide as we approach the beginning of the season.

My husband and I are long time hockey fans.  We come from families whom had season tickets for the original NHL team here in Denver, the Colorado Rockies.  We have been season ticket holders for almost 10 years, and since the inception of the team, before our incomes would allow for full season tickets, we were 14 game holders, our total investment equaling thousands of dollars. We love the team and the sport, yet the attention given to fans in Colorado is one of the poorest in the league.

Several times a year we travel to other cities to see the Avs.  Each time, we’ve had an experience that far exceeds any we have had in Colorado.  From San Jose to Atlanta, L.A. to Boston, Dallas to Calgary, and may others between we have seen organizations that care about their fans.

Little things such as allowing fans to go to the lower level and sit by the glass to take pictures or cheer on the team during game warm-ups are allowed everywhere we have been – except Colorado.  In fact, one is not even allowed to go sit by the glass with lower level tickets, unless you are going to sit in your assigned section.  Practices are much the same, with no access to the glass.  Instead, fans are forced to sit in the stands, obstructed by netting.  We have been told this is a liability, yet I can name at least a dozen venues I’ve watched practice at the past two years and not a single one denied fans the chance to watch from the glass.  Even in this years rookie camp, we were not allowed to watch from downstairs by the ice.

Other examples abound.  Special events for season ticket holders and other fans are nearly non-existent.  Go to other cities and you will find charity events such as casino nights where one can interact with the players.   Even a huge market team such as the New York Rangers has such events. Yet in Colorado, there almost nothing, save for a fashion show where players are highly protected from the constituents. Game promotions are few and far between, and the quality just isn’t what it is in other cities. I would be happy to expand on the above issues to any interested party.

Pierre Lacroix has asked the fans to be patient while he rebuilds the team, yet what incentive do we have to be loyal?  Sometimes, promises of a good team just aren’t enough.   Look at a team like the Washington Capitals, whose organization even in tough times has marketed the team to the fans and made them feel like the team truly is theirs.  Various programs, promotions, and simple access to the team (something that costs nothing), has lifted the team to new heights and was well on its way even before the arrival of Alexander Ovechkin.

I have considered writing this letter many times throughout the past few years, and have finally reached the point where our concerns should be heard.  In times of such economic strife, why should anyone spend their hard earned money on a team that quite frankly, has shown they care very little about us.  And, in a city where the economy is actually much more favorable than most other cities in North America, the already pathetic attendance supports our concerns.

Thank you for your time, and we wish the team better times in the future.

And in what’s been coined (by me) as “The Battle of the Bottom Feeders” I bring you the Avs fan point of view for this live blog.

1st period:

• Yay!  Paul Stastny is finally back!  We’ve missed him and his gap-toothed grin.
• Mike Haynes, Avalanche play-by-play guy starts by saying “Watch for #17 for Atlanta.”  Really? Duh!
• Toby Enstrom!  Short handed goal?  I can’t help but get excited.  It’s Toby!
• Ilya! Scores on a fantastic tip.   My fantasy! (On my Yahoo! Fantasy team.  Geesh, get your mind out of the gutter).
• Oh, Darcy Tucker.  He went to the wrong penalty box.  It was definitely a LOL moment.
• I’d pay Ruslan Salei to hold me as long as he’s holding Colby Armstrong.
• Ugh, but I wouldn’t pay him to throw me into the boards like that!  Ouch!
• Uh….Reasoner?  Wow.  The Avs don’t look so hot.
• I’m wondering why Budaj hasn’t been yanked.
• They guys are mentioning that John-Michael Liles has been out and will return later this road trip.  I hadn’t really noticed he was gone, to be honest.  Yes, that’s the kind of year the Avs have been having.
• Ilya loves playing the Western teams.  It suits his run and gun style.  I think he’d be quite at home on a team out here ;)
• Milan!  Hejduk!  He’s been a bright spot all year.
• I’d love to say something nice about Kozlov but haven’t found a way to yet.  Not that there’s anything bad, just nothing outstanding.
• Awww, little Toby. It just had to be said again about my little friend
• And the period ends 3-1

2nd Period:

• Ilya is so fast.  So very fast.  I think I was that fast at one point. And then I woke up.
• I’m actually almost missing the Thrashers’ play-by-play guy and his strange affinity for calling the guys by their first names.
• Oh no!  Laperriere blocked a shot from Kovalchuk and went down.  I think it got the side of his knee.  Aww, and Ilya asked him if he was OK.  Love!
• Ouch!  Guite!  Shoulder pain is certain to follow that crash into the boards.
• Oh, Laperierre and Ilya spoke before the face off.  I wonder what was said. “Ilya, can you *not* shoot right into me when I’m clearly not in direct line of the goal?”
• Wrong team, Slava.  This has not been your best game.
• Thrashers have won 6 of last 7 faceoffs?  Wow.  Colorado seriously needs to look at a faceoff man in the off-season.
• Toby almost scored again!  He’s having a splendid night!
• Milan part 2!  3-2 now.
• OMG! So many posts are being hit!  There have been a good 4 “almost” goals in the past 2 minutes of this game.
• Peverley goes and …. uh, yeah.  Yank Budaj!
• Melee!  Gotta love a good scrum, although not much came of it.
• And the second period ends 4-2.

Third Period:

• Oh goody. Let’s start the period on a penalty kill, Avs.
• Now a power play.  Looks like we might get out of those tonight without giving up another shorthanded goal.
• Oops.  Spoke too soon.  Another powerplay.
• Five minutes into the period and there has been hardly any even strength play.  Like no more than a few seconds.
• Fact:  Atlanta only has 9 home wins this year.  I think they’re on their way to 10 tonight.
• When did I become such a pessimist?  Couldn’t be the fact that the Avs are last place in the Western Conference, could it?
• If I had a dollar for every time Smyth  hit the boards behind the net I’d be rich … or I’d at least I’d be able to buy a nice dinner at Russia House.
• Slava Kozlov?  In the box?  I know one goddess who isn’t going to be happy….
• The skating in this game is crazy!  Crazy good.  Wow!
• Empty net already?  This is sad indeed.
• Wait!  Wow!  One goal game now.  Stewart has been good for us.
• Salei has been a much more dirty player lately.  And I like it.
• Oh!  Almost!  So close!  Yet…..yeah.  :-(
• Final score: 4-3, Atlanta.

1st period, Colorado Avalanche at Atlanta Thrashers (2-24-2009)

• Paul Stastny is back. Now I need to decide who to drop from my fantasy team.
• PP already for Colorado is not good. Only hope is that Budaj is in net.
• Enstrom has a shorthanded goal? What?! Very nice. A bizarre looking goal, but awesome nonetheless. (First career shorthanded goal.)
• It’s very interesting how the Thrashers have all of a sudden been able to score shorthanded.
• I really think it’s time to pick up Rich Peverley in one of my fantasy leagues.
• Ilya looked fantastic vs. Adam Foote.
• Nice to see Darcy Tucker back in the ATL — and still taking penalties.
• It’s getting good baby. Another nice goal.
• Kovalchuk credited for tip in. Not that I saw it, mind you …
• I am absolutely cursing Comcast. F*** YOU for having such horrible service. This entire year I’ve had to watch all of the hockey games on the Center Ice package through pixelating and stuttering and freezing on the feeds. You pay 150 bucks, you should get crystal-clear reception. One day of bad reception I can understand. EVERY night is so not acceptable. Sometimes I think I’d better off just listening to it on the radio.
• I am going to call them now, damn it. Damn them for interrupting my game watching — and making me sit on hold. And messing up my first Blog-Along since November. Grrr…
• OK So I just spent the last 15 minutes on the phone with Comcast begging them to solve our problems. I have a “job number” now and an appointment with the cable guy. You know how it goes, you have to sit there for a five hour window and wait for them to fix something that shouldn’t be a problem in the first place. Double grrr…
• So no blogging from about 13:00 – period end. Thanks Comcast!

Intermission 1, Colorado Avalanche at Atlanta Thrashers (2-24-2009)

• I scrolled back through to see that the team had scored again. Marty Reasoner looking gorgeous scoring there. Plus Slava Kozlov assist.
• What the hell has gotten into this team? Why, now that they are practically mathematically eliminated from playoff contention are they suddenly winning — and racking up goals?
• Peter Budaj is one of my favorite goalies.
• Natalie Taylor, the little cheeseball who does intermission reports, subtracts, rather than adds to broadcasts. I am a female journalist and feel ashamed of her every time I see her. STOP SMILING! You look like a deranged Cheshire cat. It was so much nicer when they made Darren Eliot hustle downstairs for the intermission interviews on that West Coast roadtrip. SportSouth, I am begging for mercy here. STOP NATALIE TAYLOR. She’s a twit. Get a female journalist — a real one. Not one who looks like she’s two seconds from jumping the guy she’s interviewing. The Southern accent isn’t helping either. She’s just not professional at all.
• I absolutely love this year’s Thrashers’ marketing piece — that little 30-second clip. “It is the moment of impact … it is making a stand when it’s needed most…” I totally dig that. I wish I could find it on YouTube. For years I thought their TV ads weren’t as good as they could be — or should be — this year’s is really, really good. I think it does a good job of conveying the intensity and toughness of the game, while showcasing the players. I find it somewhat intriguing that they used Johan Hedberg and not Kari Lehtonen as the goalie in that spot.
• I’d still like to see a little more selling of the personalities on the team. Exelby would do a fabulous job at this. But while I hold my breath for that, I’ll take this very well done ad.
• Speaking of selling the game in Atlanta, I would love to see Anson Carter, not just back in the league, but on the Thrashers. He’s good looking, he owns his own hip-hop music label, he’s personable and funny, he’d just be a great marketing piece to appeal to a hugely important demographic in Atlanta — black fans — a demographic that really is overlooked. He’s a talented player that I think could fit in in Atlanta. I’ve thought that for a long time. And with this management’s penchant for penny-pinching, bringing in an aging NHLer who is out of the league and playing in Switzerland right now — well, that sounds right up their alley. On the other hand, let’s remember, too, he’s not that far from a few glorious seasons playing on a line with the Sedins. I’d wager he’s just as good as anyone on our third or fourth lines, but, unlike most of them, he has the potential to appeal to and intrigue a whole new group of fans. Maybe. Just a thought.

2nd period, Colorado Avalanche at Atlanta Thrashers (2-24-2009)

• I predict the Avs will lock it down now. The Thrashers will get frustrated and fall behind.
• I was a cheerleader back in the day. I love real cheerleaders. The Blue Crew are NOT real cheerleaders. So cheesy. Give me a break.
• Let me tell you, the last truly great cheerleading squad I saw was in Denver — the Nuggets cheerleaders are FANTASTIC! Real cheerleading and hot girls. I don’t mind the girlies, but make them have some damn talent other than looking good in the uniform. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be nicer to have little kids shoveling snow? Just a thought.
• Ouch! Ian Laperriere hit by a Kovalchuk slapshot. I do like him very much. He seems like a cool dude.
• I was on a roll before my call to Comcast. Then my husband wanted to watch the first period. So I watched it a second time. Now I’m out of the flow. A little remark on the Marty Reasoner goal in the first period. Slava made the prettiest pass to set it up. He’s so awesome.
  
• I find myself torn. I want the Thrashers to win. I do. But I sure would love for them to get a high draft pick. At this point going on a winning streak doesn’t do them all that much good in the long run.
• Clink! Milan Hejduk scores! Typical Thrashers, just kind of mentally losing it.
• The Little-White-Russian Line lives — except the Russian is Ilya Kovalchuk now. Not Slava.
• Milan Hejduk is one of those players that you forget about. I’m not sure why because he’s so good.
• John Anderson looks thrilled with that Todd White penalty. The Thrashers love to give away leads. They’re so generous.
• Another shorthanded goal? Wow. Go Rich Peverley.
• OK. I am even more convinced that it’s time to pick up Peverley for my fantasy league. But I have so many good centers already. Hmm…
• White could have had a goal right out of the penalty box and it would have been a gorgeous one.
• I enjoy fights. I don’t want us all to just get along.
• Kozzie had a nice blast on the PP.
• Shooting gallery, but no score by Thrash.

Intermission 2, Colorado Avalanche at Atlanta Thrashers (2-24-2009)

• Aren’t intermissions so much nicer when they don’t involve Natalie Taylor?

3rd period, Colorado Avalanche at Atlanta Thrashers (2-24-2009)

• Ryan Smyth is one of my favorite players in the league. He’d be awesome on the Thrashers. He’s got guts.
• Budaj has a great goalie mask. Kari, not so much.
• Good clear Marty.
• Kind of off topic, but damn it’s good to see John Tortorella back in the league. I’m just sorry he’s out of the Southeast and we won’t see him as often. Oh the thought of him versus the New York media makes my mouth water.
• Another Thrashers penalty. They are begging for the Avalanche to step up and take the game from them.
• Zach Bogosian could have had a good one, so could Kovy.
• Clark tackled Kovalchuk.  Penalty.
• I looked at the score and know the result. Way to go Thrashers! You tried to give it away at the end, but hung on.
• Enstrom had a good game.
• Slava does this hilarious congratulate-the-goalie move.  Look for it next time you watch the Thrashers — and see them win.  (Good luck with that!)

I visited the Pepsi Center twice this past weekend for NHL games — Avs vs. Wild and Avs vs. Predators.  I have to say, I was sorry find that the Avalanche have discontinued their use of the Avalanche warning siren as part of their goal celebration.  Now it’s kind of a run-of-the-mill affair.  That siren, coupled with Blur’s Song 2 was distinctive and cool.  Let’s listen, shall we?

You’ve got to admit that siren makes it pretty cool. Now let’s listen to an Avs goal celebration from 2008. It’s missing a bit of panache and could be the goal celebration just about anywhere. Hell, it could be the music they play when the Nuggets win. Very nondescript.  On top of that, they are using Gary Glitter’s Rock and Roll, Pt. 2.  I have a big problem with that.  Gary Glitter is a convicted child molester.  I’m sorry, but his music should not be used in NHL arenas or any arenas — particularly any place that children frequent.  That’s just a slap in the face to his young victims.  No royalties for convicted felons, thank-you-very-much!

Everything old is new again, let’s bring back the siren and ditch the music of the dispicable child abuser Gary Glitter.

Goddess Sasha and I were practically kicked out of Avalanche practice for observing the team from ice level at their practice facility.  I’m a photographer and like to take pictures, and as I was shooting Andrew Raycroft, we were politely asked to move up to the balcony to watch.  I explained that I was there to take pictures and the nice man explained that it was a distraction for us to watch practice from ice level — like you’re allowed to do at every other NHL arena (!).   If little Goddess Sasha, her pal Master A and I can distract a whole team of professional hockey players by our mere presence, the team must have bigger problems than fans wanting to watch practice from downstairs.  Anyway, I was disappointed and  I told him I wouldn’t get any good pictures from upstairs.  He assured me I would.  How, exactly, do you get good pictures through a white net and two panes of glass?  Then he told us that the coaches said it is a liability for us to be there watching from behind the glass.  Last time I checked, about 100 or so people watch every NHL game from behind the glass.  Is that not a liability?    I’ve been to many NHL practices and at all of them people happily milled around, watching through the glass or sitting in the bleachers adjacent to most sheets of practice ice.

Lesson One: Fans attending practice generates interest and buzz for the team.  People who go to practice tell their friends “I saw Darcy Tucker today at practice doing …”  whatever.  It’s irrelevant, but people will tell their friends about the funny or cool thing that happened at practice.  Or show their pictures to their friends.  Or post it on a photo sharing site or message board, where people will get excited, not just about the Avalanche, but hockey in general — and that’s a good thing!   Treating fans like they are nuisances is going to have a similar effect, only negative.  “Some guy basically kicked me out of practice today” or “I went to take goalie mask pictures for my collection, but I didn’t get any shots — they wouldn’t let me!”   Not good buzz or PR at all.

So far I have been very disappointed with the Colorado Avalanche.  They won’t allow attendees to go down to the lower levels to watch warmups before the game.  Why?  Goddess Sasha (an Avs season ticket holder, by the way) witnessed an entire team of youth hockey players from Saskatchewan being told they could not watch the Edmonton Oilers warming up because they did not have lower level seats.  That’s not right!

Lesson Two: Young people grow up to be old people with money — why alienate your future customers?  Why make your city and your team look bad by treating customers — yes customers — this way?   Without the fans, all you have is a bunch of grownups playing a kids’ game.

Boo Avalanche marketing team!