Why do my 15 close friends and I deserve to win a suite? Because as
lapsed hockey fans, we suffered the anguish of extreme NHL withdrawal. Okay, at first we were content to pay more attention to the NBA and baseball, but eventually we realized it was simple denial. After glimpsing a picture of the Avs in Johnny Carino’s lounge, and checking the TV to find only baseball and basketball, we crossed the street to
Jackson
’s All American Grill to watch the skaters at the Ice Centre at the Promenade. We missed the goals, saves, and hits; but most of all, we missed the playoffs.
Hockey may not hold the traditional roots of basketball, football, or baseball, but it's still one of the most exciting spectacles on ice, especially during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. What other sport has the trophy recognition of the Stanley Cup? Teams slashing, tripping and high-sticking one another in an attempt to hoist an oversized cup and skate it around the rink like an icon of worship—truly a ritual worth watching! There is something innocent and pure and at the same time horribly bloody about hockey, but at the end of the series the two teams line up and shake hands like gentlemen.
While many people didn’t notice the lack of hockey last year, my friends and I convened at the Lake Avenue Tavern to pray for the unemployed zamboni drivers of North America and their families. We hoisted a glass (or three) to the continued heartbeat of hockey after the labor war—we anticipated celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Avalanche! If for no other reason, the Lake Avenue Tavern deserves a break from the drinking we did to drown our NHL sorrows! Allow us this chance to revel in the return of our team at the Pepsi center suite—do we deserve it? You bet your Avalanche!!