Eurolanche

The Monsters' week

In this start of of the season, I was impressed by the goalies, like everybody else, and by two guys, Sgarbossa and Andrew Agozzino. I already knew that Sgarbossa came to the Avs via the Sharks, in that trade that left some fans fuming. Sgarbossa though looks like the real deal, he leads the team in points, he's a good passer and he has a knack for the net, so I see him in an Avalanche jersey next year.

What I didn't know was the status of Agozzino. To my dismay, I looked him up and I found out that he's actually the property of the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he signed with the Monsters during the lockout. He's a really good player, he's tied with Sgarbossa in points, but he has a way better +/-. So if everybody else is as excited as I was watching Andrew play, relax. He's not an Avalanche prospect.

The latest games that the Monsters were involved with were against the Abbotsford Heat and the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Heat series was just bad, they lost both games to a division rival and they also lost the 1st place in said division.

The latest game, which I just finished watching was against the Griffins, the AHL affiliate of the beloved Detroit Red Wings.

The 1st period was pretty quiet, Van Der Gulik scored the only goal. What happened after the 1st break was insane, though. Agozzino scores soon after the beginning of the period, with a very nice shot from a good distance. That was his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Van der Gulik and Barrie. Speaking of Barrie, he's the one that confirms to be the future stud of the Avalanche defense, while Elliott has a horrific season (13 games, 0 points, -6). Tyson has 12 points in 16 games, which surprisingly enough has him tied on the 3rd place with Thomas Pock, the Austrian that most of us thought wasn't good enough for the AHL. Pock even has a better +/- than Barrie!

After Agozzino's goal, Mitchell Heard scores immediately after the Monsters killed a penalty. That's Mitchell's first goal as a pro, but his celebration was cut short by Nicastro who scores about a minute later. A few minutes later, they score again.

It doesn't stop there, Van der Gulik scores again and it's 4-2 for the good guys.

The give and take continues, 7 seconds into PP, Nyquist makes it 4-3 and you start wondering what are the goalies doing in this period. Finally, the horn stops the mayhem and we're on to the third.

Unfortunately, while the Griffins continued to score at the same pace, the Monsters didn't. Jurco ties it up and seconds later he scores again. Another Griffins goal was disallowed for playing with a broken stick and then Olver fought Tatar to change the momentum with about 5 minutes to go. In case you were wondering, Olver won it after pulling the jersey over the head of Tatar.

With 1 minute left, Barrie sets up Lerg, and the captain ties up the score and the crazy game continues in OT.

A not so obvious penalty, in front of the Griffins goal, during the over time, meant a 4-on-3 power play and Nyquist takes advantage of the open spaces and gives his team the 6th consecutive win. Two points for the Monsters in the last 3 games and a little bit of a slump, but they head into a big break so they have time to get themselves together.

Robert Ciubotaru regularly writes his personal views and opinions on the latest Colorado Avalanche news exclusively for the Eurolanche fan club website. He's also available for chats about the Green Bay Packers or the Chicago Bulls.