![]() “You’re standing there, you’re walking down memory lane, and then two minutes later, the puck drops. Then he joined his new teammates and played more than 20 minutes in the season opener. Johnson hopped onto the ice with his former teammates as they watched the banner-raising and posed for a picture. “It’s just another thing in the long list of things I’m extremely grateful for (from) Colorado and the organization, the city, the fans, my teammates.” “It’s a special thing to be a part of,” he said postgame. Brendan McNicholas, who handles player relations for the Avalanche, told him the rundown before the game, though, and the defenseman watched a championship video montage from the Chicago bench. After the morning skate on Wednesday, Johnson wasn’t sure if he would be on the ice for the banner raising. “It’s way better than anything I could’ve imagined,” he said.Ģ. He figured he was wasting his time, and when he opened the ring box, he found he was right. His wife, Kelly, also came and received the championship necklace given to players’ partners.īefore getting the ring, Johnson spent some time trying to imagine what it would look like. The Blackhawks travel arrangements even allowed him to attend Monday’s ring ceremony. The defenseman, who was part of the championship team, now plays for the Blackhawks, so he was in town for the opening night celebrations. Jack Johnson found himself in the inverse situation of the Avalanche newcomers. It covers the first two games of the season: a 5-2 opening night win Wednesday against Chicago and a 5-3 loss to Calgary on Thursday.ġ. We have 18 this week, in honor of Alex Newhook’s jersey number. The newcomers’ experience leads off our first weekly observations column of the regular season. “It’s nice to experience, too,” Sedlak added. “These guys did such an incredible job last season and are getting a lot of credit and a lot of celebration,” the goaltender said. Rodrigues felt similarly, and Georgiev viewed the pomp and circumstance as motivation. After practicing with the group all preseason, he now knows the Avalanche players who were on the winning team, and he’s happy for them. Hopefully we can do it again.”Īhead of the banner raising, Blidh said he expected the ceremony to be awesome, even if he wouldn’t be participating as a defending champion. “Watching those, not even being a part of it, you get chills,” Rodrigues said. He found it cool to see how special the night was and said the tribute videos that played inside the ring box were especially impressive. Rodrigues, who came over from the Penguins, said “you become friends really quickly” with people in a hockey locker room. “I felt like I wasn’t a part of last year and I wanted them to finish their season, close that year up,” Blidh said, adding he didn’t blame any of the other new players for choosing to attend. They could do whatever they felt comfortable with, and Blidh and Sedlak decided not to go. The four newcomers were invited to attend the dinner and ceremony at which Colorado players got their rings, but they weren’t required to attend. “They have the experience, they have the stories.” “They obviously have lots of memories together, but it’s also nice,” Sedlak said. He’s enjoyed talking to teammates, including fellow Czechia native Pavel Francouz, about the run. Sedlak knows that winning bonds a team, and he was nervous about how it would go integrating himself into the group. Blidh, who was sent to the AHL Colorado Eagles after sitting out two Avalanche games as a healthy scratch, was one of four players on Colorado’s opening-night roster who didn’t appear in any Avalanche games last year, joining goalie Alexandar Georgiev and forwards Lukas Sedlak and Evan Rodrigues.
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