Avalanche More Than Just Offense

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Avalanche More Than Just Offense
by Matt Gitchell, Colorado Correspondent

After waiting what seemed to be an interminable amount of time for the Red Wings-Blues series to produce an opponent for the Western Conference Finals, the Colorado Avalanche was chomping at the bit. The team got its chance to release that tension as the third round started at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, stealing home ice from the Wings with a 3-2 victory.
The game was a typical Avalanche playoff hockey; that is, a tight-checking, defensive-minded, one-goal game decided, of course, in overtime. Tight-checking? Defensive-minded? Colorado?
The team's offensive guns have never been questioned, with players such as Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Valeri Kamensky, with help from the point in the form of Sandis Ozolinsh. The weak link in this Colorado squad, to most observers, has always been the defense. Often times during the season, if the Avs couldn't assemble a solid offensive showing, the defense was unable to take up the slack. However, Colorado fans hope, those days may be over.
The Avalanche have gone through a remarkable transformation, from a team accused of soft defense and a softer-checking game to a gritty, hard-working team that might not be as punishing as some Eastern clubs, but is definitely becoming a physical presence and a defensive force. The team, and most noticeably its forwards, has tightened its game for a more playoff-viable style of hockey. The quick back-and-forth, run-and-gun play of the Avalanche has been replaced by a more mature, control-oriented game that is both more balanced and more effective.
The Avs' core of frontmen has toned down its game, getting caught out of position less, and helping to force the turnover more. The change of attitude is evident throughout the team, but most noticeably in its highest-profile player: Peter Forsberg. The big Swede, famous for his amazing stick-handling and playmaking abilities, has transformed himself into a human battering ram during the past series. Game One of the Western Finals saw Forsberg hurtling himself at all kinds of Red Wings, an off-camera "boom" of the boards usually meaning that Forsberg was taking somebody out of the play. His speed allowed him to get back and help break up whatever momentum had built in the offensive zone as well. Forsberg's play so frustrated Keith Primeau that the big Wings forward actually broke his stick on the back of Forsberg's legs, drawing a slashing minor in Game One's overtime period.
Forsberg's play is beginning to resemble that of his Conn Smythe Award-winning linemate, Claude Lemieux, who himself has once again proven to be an effective thorn in the side of Avalanche opponents. Former Canadiens captain Mike Keane, who came to Colorado with Patrick Roy, has brought his hard-working style to the defensive zone, and has contributed offensively as well, scoring the OT game-winner in Game One of the Detroit series. Fourteen-year vet Dave Hannan, brought to the Avs for a sixth-round draft pick from the the Buffalo Sabres, has also proved a formidable man to have on the PK.
And one can't mention the Avalanche's defensive forwards without including Stephane Yelle. The rookie center has become a vital part of the Avs' penalty-kill, and is often the man Colorado goes to when there's a faceoff in the defensive zone. Marc Crawford has put Yelle on defensive-zone faces in OT, and has not been disappointed. Yelle plays tenaciously, doing his share of forechecking, and he's good in the corners. He positions himself well, and cuts off angles and passing lanes better than a lot of defensemen in the game.
All in all, the Avalanche have assembled an impressive core of players who are just coming into their game, just as it's starting to matter. The revitalized defensive play of this squad, coupled with the recently devitalized play of the Red Wings, is making a lot of people think twice about writing the Avalanche off as yet another victim of Scotty Bowman's juggernaut and have many thinking that this team could very well skate away with Lord Stanley's Cup.