By: Brandon Rivera
The Colorado Avalanche (Avs) kick off their series with the Nashville Predators at home (game results not available at the time of this writing) this week with games one and two at Ball Arena before heading to Nashville on Saturday for games three and four.
Fortunately for Colorado, Nashville’s top goalie Juuse Saros is expected to be out for games one and two (and possibly beyond) leaving the Predators with a decision at backup between David Rittich and Connor Ingram both of which are not close in comparison to Saros’ talent.
Colorado’s goalie Darcy Keumper on the other hand has been a gem for the Avs during the regular season and is poised to show fans he has what it takes to be the top postseason goalie for this year’s ‘crack at the can.’
This postseason is one that has fans anxious not just because it’s the playoffs but because so much has been expected from Colorado the past several seasons and with their early postseason exit last year, this year’s appearance pressure has doubled in size.
During the regular season the Predators beat the Avs 3 games to 1 but the postseason is the start of a whole new season, and with their top goalie out, the Avs could put the pressure on Nashville early.
In other sports the Colorado Rockies slipped down the rankings after losing all four games in their series with the Philadelphia Phillies last week. The Rockies did, however, bounce back in their series with the Cincinnati Reds beating them three games to none with a combined score of 24-8 throughout that series.
This week the Rockies are at home hosting the Washington Nationals in a three-game series that ends Thursday. Colorado is back on the road to face division rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks who is the only team behind Colorado in the National League West.
Despite Colorado’s slide last week they still remain only a game and a half behind the division leading Dodgers and Padres (tied) and a half game behind the San Francisco Giants. The first bids are in and former Walmart chariman Rob Walton is said to be a front-running contender for the purchase of the Denver Broncos. The sale is expected to be upwards of $4 billion making the transaction the most expensive in NFL history. Joe Ellis, the Broncos Chief Executive expects the new owner to be announced by the start of the 2022 season.
The Denver Broncos had a productive 2022 draft, picking up positions of need starting with edge rusher (first pick, 2nd round) Nik Bonitto from Oklahoma, followed by UCLA tight end (TE) (second pick, 3rd round) Greg Dulcich. Denver also picked up cornerback (CB) Demarri Mathis (University of Pittsburgh), defensive lineman (DL) Eyioma Uwazurike (Iowa State), safety (S) Delarin Turner-Yell (Oklahoma), wide receiver (WR) Montrell Washington (Samford), center (C) Luke Wattenberg (Washinton), DL Matt Henningsen (Wisconsin), and CB Faion Hicks (Wisconsin).
