Avs ready to get back to work

Snowstorm gave players chance to play with families

Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Twenty-four hours after getting an unexpected day off, the Avalanche returned to practice Friday at the South Suburban Family Sports Center.

"I think people were coming in sore more from shoveling than playing hockey," coach Joel Quenneville quipped.

While the blizzard that hit Colorado certainly was no joke - thousands of passengers were stranded when Denver International Airport was closed and cars were strewn along treacherous roadways throughout the Denver metro area - Avalanche players made the best of it after Thursday's game against the Calgary Flames was postponed to a date to be determined.

The Avalanche arrived at DIA from Edmonton around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, in time for players and staff members to get home.

Ian Laperriere, who lives in Lone Tree, spent time playing in the snow with his 4- and 2-year-old sons, Tristan and Zachary.

"We had a blast," he said. "I've never seen that much snow in my life and I'm from Canada. The kids hadn't seen that much snow, so we waited for more to come down and we just went out there and shoveled a little bit."

Laperriere, who lives in Blainville, Quebec, in the offseason, played eight-plus seasons with the Los Angeles Kings before signing as a free agent with the Avalanche in July, 2004.

"I've never seen that much snow come down in two days," he said. "I've had snowstorms in my younger days in Canada, but nothing that bad."

Laperriere is hopeful that the time away from the rink will prove to be a blessing, beginning tonight when the Avalanche takes on the Chicago Blackhawks, at the Pepsi Center (7, Altitude).

"Sometimes rest is a weapon, and that was rest no one was expecting," he said. "Hopefully, it is going to pay off somewhere down the line."

With four wins in the past five games, the Avalanche would liked to have been able to play Thursday, but team members understand it wasn't possible.

Aside from safety issues, the on-ice officials scheduled to work the game weren't able to get into town.

"You just deal with it," Quenneville said. "We handled it the best we could. There are certain things you can control in our business and certain things you can't.

"We'll roll with it and move with it and get ready for (tonight's) game, which is a big game."

Thursday's postponement was the second caused by weather for an Avalanche home game. A March 19, 2003, game against the San Jose Sharks was moved to the following day because of a snowstorm.

The Avalanche shifted the first two games of its 1999 first-round playoff series with the Sharks from Denver to San Jose following the Columbine High School tragedy.

"This was probably one of the biggest snowstorms I've ever been a part of," said Brad Richardson, who is living in Cherry Creek. "There were a couple storms when I played junior at Owen Sound up in Ontario that were pretty bad. They got a lot of snow up there and the wind blew and it was pretty bad.

"But this one, everything in the whole city shut down basically. It was tough to go get groceries. There wasn't much at my house, being a single guy. It was tough to get to food but I managed all right.

"A lot of people with cars are in trouble and are still buried. Luckily, I have a truck and can plow through it."

The amount of snow this blizzard dropped didn't faze Brett Clark too much, but he grew up in Saskatchewan.

"There is a lot of snow, but I've seen a lot of snowstorms," he said. "It was pretty good, but I think my biggest one was in Montreal when they had the big ice storm."

Clark was playing for the Canadiens when a deadly ice storm hit the region in 1998.

"Everything was shut down - the airport, hotels, hospitals, buses," Clark said. "A lot of power was lost. It was a little more severe than here. Here, we didn't lose power."

SVATOS OUT: Right wing Marek Svatos didn't practice Friday and will miss his fourth game in a row because of a groin injury. Svatos will have a few more days for treatment after tonight. The Avalanche doesn't play again until Wednesday against Dallas.

Blackhawks at Avalanche

• When: 7 tonight.

• Where: Pepsi Center.

• TV/radio: Altitude; KKFN-AM (950).

• Leading scorers

Chicago (15-14-5) G A P

RW Martin Havlat 12 11 23

C Bryan Smolinski 7 16 23

RW Radim Vrbata 6 14 20

LW Jeff Hamilton 10 9 19

D Duncan Smith 0 15 15

Coach: Denis Savard

Colorado (17-15-2) G A P

C Joe Sakic 14 23 37

RW Andrew Brunette 11 18 29

D John-Michael Liles 9 17 26

C Paul Stastny 9 17 26

C Tyler Arnason 10 15 25

Coach: Joel Quenneville

• Injuries: Chicago - C Michal Handzus (knee surgery) and G Patrick Lalime (back surgery) are out. Colorado - D Jordan Leopold (groin) and LW Brad May (shoulder surgery) are on injured reserve; RW Marek Svatos (groin) is out.

• Sidelight: The Blackhawks, who beat Toronto 3-1 on Friday night, were 8-2-3 since Savard replaced Trent Yawney as head coach Nov. 29.

• Notes: The Avalanche has won three home games in a row and four of five games overall . . . Brunette has four goals and six assists in the past seven games . . . Liles has three goals and three assists in seven games . . . Rookie Wojtek Wolski has one goal and four assists in nine games . . . The Blackhawks won the first two games against the Avalanche, 5-3 at the Pepsi Center and 2-1 at the United Center.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com