Eurolanche

A recap of Eurolanche’s eleventh season

The Eurolanche Fan Club finished its 11^th season in existence. During the 2017-18 NHL season, the Fan Club organized its tenth Eurolanche Invasion, Invasion X, its biggest event ever under the name Eurolanche Raid 2017, its biggest-ever member meeting to celebrate its tenth anniversary and two additional member meetings. Eurolanche also published an own book detailing its 10-year existence in two languages.

“In terms of organized events and activities, our eleventh season ranks among our busiest together with the previous one. We’ve achieved a lot, surpassed previous milestones, published our own book, went to Colorado for the tenth time and made numerous media appearances all over the world. It was quite a ride, which ultimately resulted in the Yeti Ultras group for the Fan Club’s most active members, who began to meet on a regular basis,” said Eurolanche Founder and President David Puchovsky.

Eurolanche began its eleventh season in August 2017 during its biggest member meeting in history. A total of 18 members from three different countries came to Slovakia to celebrate the tenth birthday of the Fan Club. They enjoyed a rich, four-day schedule, which included a raffle, various competitions, a welcome package with souvenirs and autographs, as well as congratulations and birthday wishes from Avalanche players and employees, including Joe Sakic.

Eurolanche Raid 2017 became the Fan Club’s biggest organized event ever. 58 Eurolanche members travelled to Stockholm, Sweden, for the Avalanche’s double-header against the Ottawa Senators. Dozens of other Fan Club members made their way to the Swedish capital individually.

“On the occasion of our 10^th anniversary, we published our own, 200-page long book in both English and Slovak, which details our history and all our events. It was printed in a limited edition of 300 books, which is already sold out. We began distributing the book at the beginning of the NHL Global Series, which in itself was a beautiful present for us Europeans and Eurolanche members for our 10^th anniversary,” said Puchovsky.

To support the sale of the book, which was also given to several Avalanche players, as well as to Avs GM Joe Sakic and team president Josh Kroenke, the Fan Club launched two websites in English and Slovak (Book.Eurolanche.com and Kniha.Eurolanche.com). Everything connected to the NHL Global Series and the Eurolanche Raid 2017 was published on GlobalSeries.Eurolanche.com, another newly-launched website. Furthermore, Eurolanche also created its official Instagram account.

The Fan Club also ventured to the US for their 10^th overseas trip during the 2017-18 season. Five Eurolanche members from three different European countries took part in Invasion X. During the span of two weeks, they experienced on of the busiest Invasion schedules ever and attended five Avalanche home games and two away games in Chicago and Columbus.

Eurolanche’s eleventh season also included two more member meetings, both of which were held in Brno, Czech Republic. During the second one, the participating Fan Club members watched an Avalanche playoff game for the very first time in Eurolanche history.

In connection with the high number of organized events, the Fan Club launched a premium member group called Yeti Ultras. Each Eurolanche member can become a member of said group for at least two years simply by participating in an event organized by the Fan Club. The members of this group can take part of numerous additional competitions and enjoy other benefits as well.

A number of media outlets, including Swedish sports newspapers, NHL.com, the Avalanche’s official website, as well as Colorado’s regional FOX 21 channels published and aired reports about the Fan Club and its activities during the 2017-18 season. On this occasion, NHL.com, the NHL’s official website, dubbed Eurolanche the “world’s largest Colorado Avalanche fan club”.