Eurolanche

Recap: Eurolanche on Tour XIV

SLOVENSKÝ SUMÁR TU

The last time I wrote a summary of a trip to Colorado was 15 years ago, back in the 2008/09 season, when we visited our dream state as part of the Eurolanche Invasion I, as the trip was called back then. I told myself that I’d do it again, this time for Eurolanche on Tour XIV due to the unique nature of Eurolanche’s fourteenth trip. For the very first time, we had the opportunity to see playoff hockey with our own eyes. And not just once – we’ve seen a total of three games the Colorado Avalanche played against the Dallas Stars. 

It's always been a dream of mine to see the playoffs. I wanted to get Eurolanche to the post-season as well, but I realized there were several factors that were against it – financial difficulty, the short duration and last-minute arrangements due to the nature of the playoffs itself and its schedule. That’s why it looked like it wouldn’t be possible up until the last moment. However, there were two Czech fans among our members, Matěj and Robert, who were determined to go at any cost. I couldn’t believe it up until the moment when we suddenly booked our plane tickets and had tickets for three games…

Well, three games was relative at that point. Since this was a second-round playoff series, we weren’t sure we’d get to see them all. There was a very real scenario, in which the series would end very quickly and after the first, certain game, we’d have to “stare at each other” for the rest of our week-long stay in Colorado.

The flight from Vienna via Frankfurt was without any problems. We didn’t even wait long at the immigration control in Denver or at the car rental office. Everything went smoothly. In Denver, we were greeted by sunny and very warm weather. It was May, summer was starting and the heat turned out to be our companion during our entire stay. What a contrast it was to all previous trips! And it was far from the only one. 

From the rental office, we immediately made our way to Ball Arena, where the fourth game of the series standing at 2-1 in favor of the Stars was waiting for us. The stakes were high. Unfortunately, meetings with our friends in the stands were way more pleasing than the on-ice performance. The players seemed to have really heavy legs, almost as heavy as the expectations from the Avs faithful in the stands. And as if that wasn’t enough, the 5:1 loss was made worse by the pre-game announcement of Nichushkin’s problems, which ruled him out for the next 6 months. I’ll be honest, the anger for his third failure was felt throughout the entire arena and behind the scenes as well. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. 

During our first day in Denver, we experienced an incredible number of activities. Looking back, we didn’t really have a choice – almost every time, we’ve travelled to the US for more than two weeks, but this time, we had to do everything in just seven days. Therefore, we literally swept through every store possible. We began with stores in downtown Denver, as well as others outside the area. We couldn’t miss the official store in the arena, Altitude Authentics, and also had a nice drive to the town of Boulder to get special puzzles. There were plenty of stops. Later, we were invited for dinner to a friend of Eurolanche, Ken and his family, who hosted the Fan Club group for the second time in a row.

Not even 48 later, we were back at Denver International Airport. As opposed to the previous year, we didn’t have time to drive to Dallas, we went by plane. As if there weren’t enough firsts, we got to experience playoffs on the road! The atmosphere at the American Airlines Center was fantastic. No long, dragged-out silent pauses like during the regular season. When you add a 5:3 win, Makar’s fantastic performance and the Avs cutting the Stars’ series lead to 2-3 to all of that, we were on cloud nine. 

We only planned to stay a few hours in Dallas, stay the night and go home. There was no time for anything else in the city, any activities were grounded by the high temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, only to turn into a huge storm on the day of our return, which caused the cancellation of our flight. The next flight to Denver? In 14 hours. Since Mother Nature was raging outside, we had to spend the entire time at the airport. I laugh about it today, but even such boredom brought several funny moments, which, from the point of view of the direct participants, we like to remember. I can think of our inside jokes (Hi, Robert!), but I’ll keep those to myself, haha.

We touched down in Denver at three in the morning and were grateful to Chris, who picked us up and drove us to the car we left at his house. We didn’t sleep in; we couldn’t afford to lose a day. In the morning, we drove to the top of Pikes Peak, up to 4,302 meters above sea level! Connoisseurs and those who remember recall that a rack railway goes up this mountain and that once (out of two attempts) the train made it all the way to the top. This time we went by car. Luckily for us, just below the summit, we found out that a road sweeper was removing the last bits of ice to clear the way for us to be among the first ones on top in the summer season. We saw incredible views, but it was only possible to stay outside for a few seconds, despite it already being May. 

The Avs ended up losing 1:2 in double OT that night, bringing their quest for the Stanley Cup to an end. It was a game of missed opportunities and it was decided by none other than Duchene. The dream of watching Game 7 in the Czech hockey restaurant SoBo 151 was gone… I’ve rarely been on edge and as stressed out as I was on that evening. Ultimately, I calmed down. It was just sports and I was excited first and foremost that we finally managed to do it and that we were such a great mini group. In one of the intermissions, we met Marc Moser and Jake Schroeder.

Eurolanche on Tour XIV also brought a walk in downtown Denver, a drive to the town of Fairplay and the first visit to the museum in South Park, which only opened in summer and maps the first inhabitants of the State of Colorado (it’s a fantastic place, it’s a shame that it’s closed most of the year), scenic drives in the mountains and in a bison reservoir, the first visit to the local Colorado Rapids soccer stadium, a visit to the amphitheater and a farewell night in SoBo 151 with our friends, capped of by an hour-long walk to Ball Arena with Jesse.

 Author of this story David Puchovsky in the middle of the photo.

It was a packed, unforgettable week. Eurolanche once again made history and achieved something that I didn’t believe was possible just shortly before it happened. So as not to forget, I want to thank all our American friends for their support, as well as the American TV channel FOX 31 for the interview – for the first time during their morning, live broadcast on the second day following our arrival in the US. Once again, we felt at home and we’ll believe that Eurolanche’s return to the playoffs will end with a win.

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