Shhhh, don't tell... Avs atop Western Conference
Joe Sacco as a rookie player with the Toronto Maple Leafs, now a rookie coach with the Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche took a cue from their cross-highway neighbors the Denver Broncos. With a dominant win in Toronto on Tuesday night, the Avalanche stretched their record to 4-1-1 after two weeks of hockey… good enough for the top spot in the Western Conference standings. Their record and style of play mirrors a city-wide movement towards accountability.
What began with the firing of high-profile Super-Bowl winner Mike Shanahan was continued with firing of two-time loser Tony Granato from his station as Avalanche Head Coach. The fever spread to Coors Field where the dismissal of Clint Hurdle from the Rockies dugout turned the team from dismal to playoff-bound. There, Jim Tracy took over and assured every player that their job was on the line. Leading into training camp at Dove Valley, new Broncos coach Josh McDaniels issued an ultimatum that his team would not tolerate quitters… or crybabies.
Freshman Avalanche coach Joe Sacco’s method has been tantalizingly similar to McDaniels’; a stout defense and an opportunistic offense punctuated across the board by a workmanlike commitment to individual responsibility at every position. These Avalanche look nothing like the Granato-coached mess that took the ice last season. This team, well… plays as a team. And that is the most noteworthy difference for this talented young squad. Tony G coached individual players well, and he is still a great developer of talent for that reason. But his team looked and played like they were engaged in pick-up hockey at a neighborhood rink.
Hockey is more about team play than any major sport this side of soccer. Successful coaches build the team mentality first, allowing individual talent to grow and thrive within that structure. As a minor league coach with the AHL Lake Erie Monsters and a 13-year NHL veteran C-liner, Sacco learned the importance of fundamentals and continuity. It shows in the miraculous turnaround exhibited by the Avalanche this season.
Whether or not the Avs are a playoff-caliber hockey club is still unclear. But even with the loss of veteran defender John Michael Liles to injury last night, this team will continue to play hard-nosed hockey. And that will be good enough to start a young team down the long road to postseason glory.
