When Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville played for the Colorado Rockies from 1979-82, the team logo, a derivative of the state flag, was on the front of “sweaters” that really weren’t sweaters at all. Wins were rare. Beleaguered goalie Hardy Astrom had more blown saves than an entire bullpen. The NHL franchise always seemed on the verge of being moved to a rumored city du jour.
Blessed with an abundance of talented players – the problem was they shuttled in and out of town, usually traded for each other – and good guys, the Rockies in six seasons in Denver played a grand total of one home playoff game. That was against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1978, four years before the Rockies packed up, moved to New Jersey and became the Devils.
So there are plenty of men around North America – from Quenneville through such Rockies standouts as Barry Beck, Wilf Paiement, Lanny McDonald and Chico Resch – who at least can watch the baseball Rockies’ run and joke that they have a spiritual, in-name-only connection to the potential Miracle on Blake Street.
Even if they never wore pinstripes and batting gloves.
“The buzz around the town and the community is real,” Quenneville said after the Avalanche routed Columbus on Saturday and the hockey players plotted their strategies to meet at Coors Field the next night. “You can’t help but root for them and cheer for them. You watch them game in and game out and they’re so solid, you just feel that they’re going to get it done.”
There is a kinship among pro athletes, and especially among those toiling in the same market. Beyond that, players can become giddy fans when attending or talking about other sports, whether that’s Avalanche captain Joe Sakic grieving about his beloved Seattle Mariners falling apart and other players clinging to childhood loyalties, or veteran pros simply getting caught up in the enthusiasm for another franchise in their workplace.
Also, the Avalanche players from Western Canada – Sakic, Scott Hannan and Ryan Smyth – have a geographic bond with Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis, the Vancouver native and former University of British Columbia star. The Avs even have baseball heroics in their annals, if you go back far enough, with Little League World Series stars Chris Drury and Pierre Turgeon among their alumni.
“We had a bunch of our guys at the play-in game against the Padres,” said Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles, born and raised in the hockey hotbed of Indiana. “To be there for that was just amazing. You can’t help but get excited about it, that’s for sure.”
The Avalanche’s 15-2-2 run at the end of the 2006-07 regular season had some similar elements, including that it was unforeseen, yet the only way it would have gotten into the 2007 Rockies’ realm was if the hockey team not only had made the playoffs, but roared through them and ended up winning the league championship.
“You look at that run the Rockies have put together, it would be impressive in any sport,” Liles said. “In baseball, it’s even more impressive. You win three of four games, everybody’s really happy.
“To have won 19 of 20, that’s unbelievable!”
On an Indianapolis-area all-star youth team, Liles caught star pitcher Tom Mastny – the Indonesian-born right-hander who was the winning pitcher in the Indians’ 13-6 extra-inning victory over the Red Sox in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Avalanche winger Ian Laperriere admitted he isn’t a baseball fan, then laughed and added: “I’ve jumped on the Rockies’ bandwagon with the best of them. … But my ankles aren’t sprained.”
Hockey still routs baseball on one front.
Triumphant NHL players raise the storied Stanley Cup, fulfilling lifelong dreams.
Triumphant MLB players, if they even bother to take a turn with the hardware, raise an annually manufactured monstrosity called the Commissioner’s Trophy. (Plus, I had to Google it to figure out what the trophy is called. That’s how insignificant the trophy is.)
Other than that, the experiences can be similar.
