Eurolanche

Eurolanche Invasion V: The best event

Back in 2000, I was 10 and my friend from childhood knew only one NHL team – Colorado Avalanche. So I chose them as my favorite NHL team. It did not matter I could not spell or pronounce its name or players like Joe Sakic or Peter Forsberg correctly. I had to wait on my first televised game for the next three years. Until then, my only NHL source was a TV teletext. In 2007, I decided to establish the European Fan Club of the Avalanche hockey. Why not?

Be honest, I had never expected the following development and experiences. Today, it is 2013 and I can say I have organized five trips of Eurolanche members to Denver, I participated in four of them. Moreover, Eurolanche has appeared as the source or a topic in the several local and national US media for many times. We are in the contact with the Avs players and even team´s management knows about our activity. There is no other NHL Fan Club which works on the high level as us… Do you still believe there is something impossible in your life? You can fulfill every dream – only if you really want and if you are willing to sacrifice a majority of your free time.

The busiest schedule

Firstly it was look like there would not be the fifth trip of Eurolanche members so-called Eurolanche Invasion V to Denver this season due the lockout. There was no hockey even until the end of the calendar year 2012. But from a day to day the both sides have agreed on the new CBA. The schedule was released soon. Some Eurolanche members had serious interest and really wanted to go. The final decision to go was spontaneous and made beyond the Eurolanche deadline. Finally, three members from Slovakia including me, Rudo and Lukas, and one member from Czech Republic, Matej, were in Denver from March 7^th to March 21^st. The schedule was busy, but very special. At the end of the Eurolanche fifth trip to Denver in last less than five years we could say once again: This was the best Invasion in the history.

The main schedule contained visiting of six Colorado Avalanche home games of course. From the Invasion I, the management and players of the team support our activity in Denver by giving us complimentary tickets to the lower level of the arena. The big plus are post-game passes for the meeting with every Avalanche player after the end of the game. The special part of the Invasion V was also two interviews did by Conor McGahey, the Pepsi Center announcer. Both interviews were broadcasted on the jumbotron, so the fans easily got know us. At the end of our trip, the all arena was cheering to us, what was an unforgettable moment. 

Not only in Denver

The big highlight of the trip and the milestone of all previous trips was the visiting of the seventh and away game in Minnesota. After the home game in The Can we drove for 14 hours to St. Paul, where we visited the city center, Mall of America – the biggest shopping mall in the USA and spent one night at the hotel. After not good Avalanche game in the Xcel Energy Center we immediately drove back to Denver. After all, it was not alone trip of the Invasion V. The next schedule included trip to Cave of Winds, Pikes Peak Railway ride, Idaho Springs´ gold mine, the Coors Field tour (MLB stadium), visiting of the NBA and NLL game and more. If you were following our coverage and daily updated diaries, you know how busy our schedule was. All information is available at the specialized website invasion.eurolanche.com.

At the very end of our trip, the Slovak part of the members traveled to Toronto for one day. We visited the city center, saw CN Tower and were in the Hockey Hall of Fame of course. The Fame is a place which every hockey fan has to visit at least three times in his life!

Positive aspects

The big positive of the Eurolanche Invasion V was the increasing of Eurolanche´s popularity. Thanks to the activity on the social networks we met in person with new fans, start new friendships, the local US, Czech and Slovak media mentioned our trip, the total visitors of our website were increasing – and all that happened in spite of not good Avalanche results. The interesting finding was that even a member of the top Avalanche management department knows about our activity. I was told by several sources that people in Denver and on the team talked about our project in very positive way. The second famous member of the management whose we met was Joe Sakic.

Some Avalanche players have know us for years, so it was nothing special, when they talked to us openly and then we could see their emotions after the games. We have the closest relationship with the Czech defenseman Jan Hejda. Overall, amongst all Czech and Slovak players in the Colorado Avalanche since 2008 it is Hejda who has the best relationship with us. I cannot forget on Peter Budaj, who helped us a lot in the past. Hejda is in the regular contact with us, he is a big warrior, who really wants to win. He regrets every loss or bad game. He has sweet heart, sense of humor and great relation to the fans. He is big team player and you maybe do not know it due his calm nature.

Join the Eurolanche and Eurolanche Invasion VI

Maybe you have a feeling it was very easy to organize this or previous Eurolanche Invasion, but I have to say it was not. There was a big team work behind all trips. There would not be Invasion or even Eurolanche without active members. So it is definitely sad if there are fans who want to travel to Denver without contributing to anything. The most active members work for the Eurolanche 2-3 hours on daily basis voluntary. We welcome every kind of help. And thanks to help of the Avalanche fans there could be the Eurolanche Invasion VI in the future. It would be the best trip in our history - like was the Invasion V. The Avs promised us the appearance on their website for the next time. Would we wish something more? I doubt. If you think you can help with writing the stories or with anything, do not hesitate to contact us at eurolanche@eurolanche.com. Also you can participate in this unique project.

Eurolanche has more than 230 members from more than 30 countries. Besides the five Invasions we also organized meetings between the members and meetings with Peter Budaj, Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk, Jan Hejda and David Koci. Our members could win Avalanche merchandise and signed photos of the players. The popular feature of our website is the Eurolanche League where you send your predictions for the Avs games and win attractive souvenirs. You can join us via this form at www.eurolanche.com. You can find us also on Facebook and Twitter @Eurolanche.