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The Eurolanche book (12.)

The Eurolanche book (12.)Eurolanche will be gradually publishing the entire book about its history via its website throughout the summer.

14 hours to Minnesota (2012/13)

The 2012-13 season presented a big challenge for Eurolanche. A lockout was looming over the NHL. Eight years prior, when an entire season was lost to a lockout, Eurolanche didn’t even exist, which is why we didn’t know how the situation would affect us if a similar scenario was to happen again. Despite the impending situation, we managed to organize a special event in Prague in summer 2012. A meeting with Milan Hejduk, Jan Hejda and David Koci. The first two named players, still playing for the Avalanche at the time, met with five Czech and Slovak Eurolanche members in mid-August at the restaurant of one hockey arena in Prague. Just the fact that we managed to bring two Avalanche players to one place outside Denver during the offseason felt like a miracle, which couldn’t be so easily repeated. The last time we were in the company of two current Avalanche players was at the turn of 2008 in Denver during the Eurolanche Invasion I, when we had lunch with Marek Svatos and Peter Budaj. Our meeting in Prague in 2012 was entirely different, as the season in Denver was put on hold for several months and its future was still in the balance. Milan and Jan stayed with us for about two hours, during which we asked them every possible question, about their early hockey years and the futures of their careers as well. Who knows if Hejduk already knew that he would be replaced in the role of team captain by Gabriel Landeskog in a few months? If so, he didn’t show it, because we also asked about his responsibilities as captain. Your typical autograph signing and photo session followed after our Q&A session. It was one of the most beautiful moments in the history of the Fan Club. The NHL season was put on hold, but we still managed to somehow get it to come to us, in the middle of the hot summer.

In case you’re interested in the unabridged, colored PDF version of the book, contact us at eurolanche@eurolanche.com. The physical copies are all sold out.

 

The following day, we attended a similar meeting with David Koci, who was already a former Avalanche by then. The enforcer stayed true to his reputation. David’s a clever guy, he likes to read non-fictional literature, you can talk about anything with him and, as he wrote several years later for the Bezfrazi.cz project, he only fought to get to the NHL, because he wouldn’t have made it otherwise. In summer 2012, he was planning to play the second-last season of his career for HC Sparta Prague. He even invited us Eurolanche members to attend one of his games during the coming season. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the game. I also regret not taking a photo with him back at the meeting. The meeting was a success and I could return to Bratislava eager for any news about the negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA.

A miracle didn’t happen. The season didn’t begin on time. The teams didn’t hold their training camps. The players were forbidden to enter any arena owned by an NHL team. I still remember walking near the Bratislava castle, when I received an e-mail notification saying that Colorado named Landeskog as their captain, making him the youngest team captain in NHL history. It didn’t improve my mood. The fate of the 2012-13 season was still unclear. Some sceptics even talked about the end of Eurolanche. Like, what will we write about when the NHL ceased to exist for some time?

I took the lockout in 2004-05 really hard. I didn’t have internet access at home back then. My only connection with the world of the Colorado Avalanche was still the teletext, the occasional news flash on Galaxie Sport and debates with my high school classmates. The 2012-13 lockout went quite different. Eurolanche already existed for several years, became a household name in the hockey community and managed just fine without NHL games. In fact, nothing better than the 2012-13 lockout could’ve ever happened to Eurolanche. The fact that NHL players entirely depended on playing in Europe meant that they had to fly to us now. Suddenly, they were nearer to us than ever before, even if only for several months or weeks. We realized the opportunity we had at Eurolanche and began one of the most successful periods in our history.

In early November, I embarked on a three-day trip through the Czech Republic. My first stop was Liberec. I managed to get media accreditation for a game of the Karjala Tournament between the Czech Republic and Sweden, which was part of the Euro Hockey Tour. Newly-named Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was supposed to be in the Swedish lineup. What an interview it would be! Would be... While I was on my way to Liberec, the first reports about Landeskog suffering an injury during the morning skate began to surface. He ultimately didn’t suit up for the game and opted to stay at the hotel instead. The following day improved my mood.

Thanks to the lockout, Chris Stewart and Wayne Simmonds signed a contract for the local Bili Tigri Liberec team, with the duo playing five and six games respectively. I arranged a meeting with Chris with the club officials. Although it wasn’t game day, the team was scheduled to have practice. I watched him directly from the bench. Chris immediately recognized me despite the fact that it was more than a year since Colorado traded him to St. Louis along with Kevin Shattenkirk for Erik Johnson and Jay McClement (with both teams also swapping draft picks). Chris didn’t forget about Eurolanche, nor did he forget the first three Invasions, during which he met our members in Denver. I interviewed Chris and had no idea that he and Simmonds would make an abrupt exit from Liberec, much to the dismay of the club officials who even issued a really angry official statement.

My trip continued closer to the Slovak border, to Znojmo to be more specific. The local HC Znojmo club organized an exhibition game against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to commemorate the first anniversary of the tragic plane accident which took the life of Znojmo hockey product Karel Rachunek. Semyon Varlamov was one of the goalies on the Russian team. Thank you, lockout! Although he was only sitting in the stands, I caught up with him outside the arena. Why? Because the Russian visitors had their locker room in the nearby practice rink, a 100-meter walk away from the main arena. I’m not joking. Following the final whistle, the Yaroslavl players had to walk on a rubber carpet leading out of the arena and into their locker room. They had to walk by the fans, without any security whatsoever. I suddenly saw Varly, who gave me an exclusive interview, which gave the impression that he couldn’t talk about two topics at the time – about his injury, which prevented him from playing, and about the ongoing lockout. For example: Why didn’t you play the last two games? The answer: I can’t tell you.

I was overjoyed from my trip of Czech hockey arenas. NHL players in the near vicinity of my home? Hockey writers covering the NHL likely work like this on a daily basis. I wanted to continue in the set tempo during the remainder of the lockout. Because of it, we managed to publish 28 own exclusive interviews – we never surpassed this number during any other season. Eventually, I didn’t have to travel to the neighboring Czech Republic to meet the players anymore. They started to come to me, because my local team, HC Slovan Bratislava, played its second season in the KHL. I managed to get media accreditation to their games with a single goal in mind – to interview the visiting players somehow connected to the Avalanche. This is how I managed to personally conduct interviews with the likes of Sandis Ozolinsh, Ville Nieminen, Per Ledin (not as part of the KHL, but the Champions League), Ryan O’Reilly, as well as with Marek Svatos, the only player of the home team, following the restart of his career. I also have to mention my phone calls with Jan Hejda, which had the form of a monthly recap of the season (after it finally began), Gabriel Landeskog, who played back home in Sweden, the wonderful Ian Laperriere, or e-mail interviews with David Jones, Calvin Pickard, former Avalanche player Rick Berry, but most importantly, with Seth Jones and Aleksander Barkov, who were projected to be selected among the top three during the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Especially the interview with Jones became extremely popular. We questioned him several days before the draft, when there was still a chance the Avalanche might draft him.

I also have to look back at the interview with Ryan O’Reilly. Everything began at the airport in Bratislava, where his then-employee Metallurg Magnitogorsk landed. A lot of fans were waiting for the players at the arrival hall. The top attraction was undoubtedly Evgeni Malkin. For me, it was O’Reilly. After he saw me, he recognized me right away and I had the opportunity to welcome a player of the Colorado Avalanche to my hometown of Bratislava. Another extraordinary moment. We agreed on an interview, which we did at the hotel the team was staying at. The ones remembering the time back then know that the relationship between O’Reilly and the Avalanche was tense. It was early January 2013 and O’Reilly couldn’t agree on a new contract with the team. The worst-case scenario had him playing in the KHL for the remainder of the season. During our interview, I directly asked him about the entire situation. He didn’t avoid any question and wasn’t hesitant with his answers, answering my questions with several long sentences. Who read between the lines realized that his relationship with Colorado was far from ideal. The interview had great success in the media. We were cited almost everywhere. O’Reilly even chose the photo I took during our interview as his profile picture on Twitter. You know the rest of his story. He returned to Colorado following the start of the lockout-shortened season following an offer sheet by the Calgary Flames, which the Avalanche had to match in order to retain him. The offer sheet sealed his fate in Colorado. Since then, Avalanche fans have been constantly debating whether it was him who should’ve left, or if it should’ve rather been Duchene.

This is the part where I’d like to thank our co-workers, who conducted interviews for us with Paul Stastny in Germany, Matt Duchene in Sweden and Greg Mauldin in Switzerland. It just wasn’t humanly possible for me to travel all around Europe.

On January 12, the NHL announced the end of the lockout. We were already sitting on a plane bound for Denver on March 7. The Eurolanche Invasion V was organized extremely quickly. We had no other option because of the lockout. Beside me, Matej decided to participate for the third time and our duo was joined by Eurolanche’s vice president Rudolf Sery and Daniel Kollar. Daniel, who lived in the eastern Slovakia, traveled to Bratislava by bus. The journey took him between 10 and 12 hours, more than it took to fly from Vienna to Washington. We officially began our trip at a small bus stop in Bratislava, from where a shuttle bus to the airport in Vienna regularly departs. This bus stop became a symbol of a number of Invasions. I began my oversea trips right there at this small bus stop in Bratislava. What a paradox.

Our flights were without any problems. We didn’t have to run and cut in line of people at the Washington airport like a year ago during Invasion IV. A day after our arrival, we saw the Avalanche win 6-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks. We couldn’t have wished for any other start. Or could we? Two days later, we were waiting for the official opening of the Pepsi Center. We went there extremely early, because we forgot the time changed in the US. Because we were so early, we saw Joe Sakic at the arena. We called him and he stopped by. I met him for the second time in my life, the first one being during Invasion III. He gave us several autographs and we took the iconic photo, which appeared on countless promotional material and in the media. After the game against the San Jose Sharks, we were pleasantly surprised by the approach of Joe Thornton, who had no problems to sign cards and take pictures with us despite the fact that we wore Avalanche jerseys.

The weather was crazy during our first couple of days in Denver. Snowing kept constantly changing with what felt like summer. Luckily, the Sun won during the remainder of Invasion V. Colorado was also winning. They won three from the first four games. They only lost to the Edmonton Oilers, falling 0-4 to them. We brought a custom made banner to the game, which said that we’ll be driving to Minnesota after the final buzzer. Yes, we really did. After the game, we boarded our rented seven- seat van and began the drive to Minnesota together with our friend Nick.

Have you ever experienced a more hellish drive than one where you drive straight ahead for 14 hours and can’t see anything around you? Everything our friends from the US told us was true. The route from Denver to Minneapolis is the most boring one in the entire country. In 14 hours, we made several stops, one longer one, and drove a total of 1,500 kilometers, crossing both Nebraska and Iowa. Three of us kept changing at the wheel, which made transport significantly easier.

Following our arrival at our motel, we grabbed a bite to eat and went to bed. The next day was way more interesting, beginning in the biggest shopping mall of the US – Mall of America. Hundreds of shops, carousels right in the middle of it and endless walking. We later went to downtown St. Paul. It took me several years to realize that the buffet, which caught my attention in the streets while passing by, served as the setting for one of the scenes of the Christmas comedy Jingle All the Way starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Downtown St. Paul didn’t blow us away. Once again, it proved that Denver truly is unique and special. That’s why we wanted to beat Minnesota even more, with the Wild slowly becoming a hated rival at the time. We were cheering for our guys from the last row. It didn’t help. The loss stung, but we didn’t have time for that. The same scenario from two days ago in Denver took place – we boarded our van and drove back home.The road back took only 12 hours.The rising Sun greeted us as we entered the state of Colorado. We had a wonderful view of the scenery, the surrounding mountains and the countryside. It was great to return to the place that grew so much on us. Exhausted, we returned the car and went to the hotel, or in the case of me and Rudo, to Nick’s house where we slept during the entire trip. Nick even helped us with a cracked windshield. Somewhere along to road to Minnesota, a small rock hit our windshield, causing a small crack. The crack kept getting bigger and bigger and we began to fear that the windshield might break. That’s why I recommend everyone renting a car paying the extra money for an insurance package. The prizes are significantly lower than they were in the past.

Colorado ultimately won three of the seven games of the Eurolanche Invasion V. For the very first time, Colorado finished an Invasion with a losing record. Luckily, we could still meet the players after games. Lunch with Jan Hejda following practice at the Family Sports Center was also part of the program, as was a meeting with Jake Schroeder, who became a big friend of ours. It’s Jake who sings the anthems prior to every hockey game at the Pepsi Center. The fans love him, which is apparent by the cheering heard when Jake arrives at the arena following an absence due to other working obligations after a couple of games. Jake even got us tickets into the lounge. We felt like we were in heaven. It felt like watching hockey from the comfort of your own living room. It was a truly unique experience.

During Invasion V, we discovered new places that were a mystery to me up until then. We went on a tour of Coors Field, the stadium of the MLB’s Colorado Rockies, visited the Cave of Winds, rode to the top of Pikes Peak 3,500 meters above sea level, or went to a closed mine in Idaho Springs. We also went to downtown Denver and bought several souvenirs at our favorite shops. The guys went to several NBA games and we also went to a lacrosse game.

Invasion V was special. For the first time, we visited a different US state and went to our first Avalanche road game.The firsts continued even after the Invasion ended. We didn’t go home right away, as we visited Toronto instead. For the first time, we had the opportunity to visit a neighbor state. How did we make it happen? We were initially supposed to just change flights in Toronto and go back to Europe, but our flight was cancelled and they moved us to another one, 24 hours later. Could we have wished for anything more? Thanks to this, we had an entire day to explore the Mecca of hockey. Aside from downtown Toronto, we also visited the Hockey Hall of Fame. We also thought about going to the top of the CN Tower for 32 Canadian dollars, but we simply didn’t have any money left. We were most likely the first tourists the employees there saw turning around and leaving upon learning the entrance fee (which I currently consider not being expensive at all). The real problem was that we really didn’t have any money left! The same thing that happens after every other Invasion happened yet again. Everyone arrives to the US with a sizeable amount of savings. Wasting money isn’t anything special, because you do it literally every day. As the final day approaches, the field trips get less and less frequent, as do lunches and shopping, up until the money well goes dry. That’s what happened in Toronto and the reason we had to turn around at the CN Tower. The next day, we safely made it back to Europe. There were no complications. Almost. A different group of guys from the Czech Republic kept drinking beer during the entire nightly flight. The cabin crew was losing their patience. The last thing I wanted was having to land somewhere on Iceland to throw them off the plane. Luckily, it never had to come to this.

At the end of the 2012-13 season, we could honestly say that we were at least a little glad that the lockout happened. We got close to our players, made a lot of interviews, organized yet another Invasion and, what’s more important, North American and European media began citing us and our articles. We appeared in so many media that I had to create a special section for all our media mentions. It didn’t matter if it was on smaller websites, or national American media, printed magazines and newspapers. We valued each reference and citation. It was a crucial season, thanks to which we build up our name and reputation, which significantly impacted Eurolanche’s future steps during the following years.

The season of the Colorado Avalanche: The lockout-shortened season was strange. There were almost no personnel changes, the draft was bad and everyone was running out of patience. After 48 games, Colorado had 39 points, which meant a last-place finish in the Western Conference and the second-last spot in the NHL. P.A. Parenteau led the team in scoring. The entire coaching staff was fired after the season. Patrick Roy returned to the club and Joe Sakic became team president.


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17/08/2018 - 21:51