That maybe Peter Gibbons describing his endless series of bad days in "Office Space," but Adrian Dater of The Denver Post is truly living that life. And he lets you know it, in his blog posts and especially on Twitter.
And it's too bad, because it's easy to tune out a writer who wears out his footie pajamas by stomping and kicking the moment something displeases him. There is no middle ground for Dater. It's either hot or cold, you're with me or against me.
And that's a problem, because he might just be right about what is wrong with the Avalanche, and perhaps, he might be on to something about the growth of dump and chase hockey in the NHL. But nobody appears to want to talk to him. He sure does let you know about it in a recent blog post.
The Avs of today just casually take off their gear and quietly walk to their back-room sanctuary, keeping their heads down to avoid having to talk to the media. This team just seems like it doesn’t care enough, doesn’t want it bad enough, and that’s the real indictment of it.
He's just getting warmed up, folks.
What does GM Greg Sherman have to say about all this? Dunno, he hasn’t wanted to talk to the media lately. I’ve asked. Josh Kroenke? Ditto. It’s like Avalanche management has all retreated into the bunker lately, hoping not to be seen by the dastardly one or two people that actually cover this team anymore. I mean, can you imagine if these guys worked in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver or Philly or New York? The media would be all over them for answers. But I guess in good old little cowtown Denver, they don’t really need to answer to anybody. At least, that’s the impression they give off too much.
The poor guy is really down, or maybe it's just his way of drawing more people into his pitty party.
Well, that was three hours you and I will never get back. What a terrible hockey game tonight at the Pepsi Center, in front of the lowest crowd of the season (12,015). Just awful.
Well, this little zinger on Twitter, announcing his blog post, clearly showed his true intent.
Postgame rip job on Avs
Hmm, I want someone from the organization to talk to me and yet I christen my latest gift of gab with "RIP JOB" on the ribbon. It sure doesn't open doors, which would help him both better address his specific point with the Avalanche as well as the greater point of what the entire NHL needs less of.
Seriously, several teams have taken the safe route of dumping the puck in, scramble in the corner, cycle forever if you win the puck, retreat quickly if you don't. The Kings' Anze Kopitar had 1 shot, no points, 3 hits and 2 takeaways in 23:10 of ice time against the Sharks last night. I applaud his fine defensive skills but this man is a premiere playmaker, has the muscle to take on the big boys in front of the net and can really wire a shot. But he's playing a checking role because Terry Murray's idea is to flip the puck into a corner as soon as you hit the blue line and then see what happens next. You really need a playmaker for that?
Colorado, Dallas, Nashville and now St. Louis and any other team playing not to lose rather than to win, are equally as guilty, if not as successful in the standings.(And what happened to the wide open Western Conference?) But it doesn't always have to be this way.
The Stars have shown that they can play hockey. On Nov. 6 in Carolina, Sheldon Souray set up a goal with a pass from the defensive zone to the red line, where Vernon Fiddler was able to take the puck, gain the offensive zone and find Eric Nystrom along the left wing boards. Bingo, bango, bongo, a goal off the rush by Nystrom.
And sadly, that was a rare occurrence, according to Billy Jaffe, who was doing guest color commentary on the Stars broadcast that day, most likely because Daryl Reaugh needed a day off to produce more entertaining offerings for the public lexicon. (Have I mentioned that I love the Center Ice package?) What to make of a game that has fewer goals off the rush and more off scrums after a rebound in front of the net. Or for that matter, after a point shot bounces off any number of shot blockers, skates, heads, toes, whatever, before going past the goalie, who could not see any of that process.
I wish Dater would expand on that, but he needs to find the mantra that helped Peter Gibbons achieve blissful clarity (mine is skate, shoot, score). Adrian, stick with me and the Razor. Look how calm we are.
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