Denver Post file photo
Good news for long-suffering Avs fans who never have gotten to see a preseason game on television: on Friday, Sept. 26, the Avs’ game against the Montreal Canadiens from Quebec City will be shown on Altitude. This marks the first time in team history that a preseason game will be on TV, home or road.
I’ve been asked a million times why preseason games have never been on TV, and the answer is what you might expect: cost. The team has never felt the expense of televising a preseason game has been worth any potential returns.
This should be a special game to see, though, which I’m sure factored into Altitude’s decision. It’ll be played at the arena of the former Quebec Nordiques, the Colisee. Patrick Roy coached a junior team there for years, and of course this is the city that lost its team to Denver. I know that Joe Sakic is planning on traveling with the team for this game, and no doubt there will be some kind of ceremony for him and Roy.
Of course, The Denver Post will be at this game too. Erstwhile correspondent Mike Chambers will be there with all the details. I’ve got a ton of early-season travel, so I made the reluctant choice not to go to this one. Quebec City is a treasure though. I had the great fortune of traveling there in 2001 for a couple of big stories I did about life there since the Nordiques had left. I even got to eat a fabulous meal with the team’s former owner, Marcel Aubut, at a fantastic restaurant there. That trip is probably in my all-time top 10 of favorites over the years.
