Thursday, December 7, 2006

Denver


Denver

It was a long drive to Denver. We stayed for the night in Phoenix after the game right at the arena. We left first thing in the morning (6:00 AM) for our long drive to Denver. We had over 800 miles to cover in two days. We wanted to be in Denver by Friday evening so we could get settled and ready to go ‘to the Pepsi Centre for Saturday’s game day skate in the morning and the game that night. We made a quick stop in Sedona on our way and stopped for the night on Thursday in Santa Fe. We drove about nine hours to get that far and it was a long day. On Friday morning we started off early again and got to Denver late in the afternoon. We found a campsite not too far from the arena and very happily settled in for the night.
We made our way to the rink in the morning and Graham was attending the game day skate. It is quite a sight driving towards the Pepsi Centre and seeing the Rocky Mountains framed in the background. It is a most unusual sight and quite beautiful. Denver is a lovely city that has retained a lot of its original architecture. Many older warehouse type buildings have been converted to lofts and condos in the downtown area and there are lots of restaurants and shops in the area too. There are a few higher buildings, but they aren’t typical big city high rise type buildings. You can see the mountains from everywhere in the downtown area and I’m sure the local government took that into consideration when new buildings were being built in the downtown area. Graham had quite a meet and greet at the game day skate and met most of the players on the team along with many of the management people. Everyone was so welcoming and took time to stop and chat. He met for a bit with Joe Sakic and got to talk to him about Dan. Joe Sakic was Dan’s hero growing up and his favourite hockey player. It was a highlight of his pro hockey career when he got to face off against him in a game. We were treated like honoured guests by the whole organization. The Hockey Night in Canada team from the west was doing the game, so we visited with Scott Oak and Kelly Hrudey and John the cameraman. It was good to see some familiar faces. Before the game we were guests of the team at the Big Sky Grill. It is a restaurant at the front of the arena. And what a restaurant. It is designed to look like a cabin from yesteryear. All the interior is made of wood beams. The floor is made up of old barn boards sanded down, the walls are timbers from trees that were felled when the fire went through Yellowstone Park in 1988, and the ceiling is from rail fencing from Wyoming. There are authentic western pictures on the walls and animal pelts and heads mounted up high. Two huge stone fireplaces are the centre piece of the entire room. It seated a lot of people and it was full before the game. The food was great too. The Avalanche won the game handily by a score of 4-1. The home team wins again with the Snyders in attendance. Our record is now 7 wins and 3 losses for the home team. Ten teams down and twenty to go. One third of the way there.
Graham's Game Report
Sat. Nov. 25
Pepsi Center
Vancouver Canucks vs Colorado Avalanche
Both these teams have been up and down early this season but the home team came in having won three of the last four. It’s always a treat to see one of the greats of the game, Joe Sakic, who was a role model for Dan. He didn’t disappoint on or off the ice as his leadership of a young Avs team was evident. Youngsters Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny had 4 and 3 points respectively to lead the Avs to a 4-1 victory. We also got to see Dan’s former Orlando and Atlanta teammate Brett Clark score his first goal of the year and log 20 plus minutes on the blueline. His offensive flair is still a strength and his defense was steady all night. Vancouver stayed in the game all night but couldn’t finish against a sharp Jose Theodore between the pipes.
Denver is a vibrant hockey city and our first visit was a memorable one.

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