#saw a tweet that said just pull up to a game in an avs jersey and you’re hited!

[slaykovsky]

if you’re an avs fan who’s always wanted to play with the team! now is the time!

[hils79]

Denver Shenanigans

I was going to do a whole write-up of my trip to Denver but, honestly, it would end up being huge. 

I’ve posted about my adventures on the ice at Pepsi Center, about meeting Tyson and Gabe, and embarrassing myself in front of Colin.

Here’s some other highlights.

We saw Marc Moser very briefly behind the bench before warmups at the first game we went to. One of my friends, who is local, mentioned I was over from the UK and like some sort of mystical Avs Santa Moser pulled a pop socket and pin out of his pocket and passed them to me. We couldn’t hear each other through the glass so we mostly communicated by mouthing words and using hand gestures but he asked me how I was enjoying my trip and I told him it was great.

Big Z caught me taking a photo of him during warmups.

Kerfy got out of his car to pose for a photo with a little kid and then stayed out for everyone else. We’re laughing here because we both got distracted by something someone else was doing and forgot we were supposed to be looking at the camera. Also, he’s very warm. Like I’ve got about 4 layers on here and I could still feel how warm he was when he put his arm around me for the photo.

Long Beach Native Matt Nieto is the sweetest guy. He took the time to read the poster I was getting everyone to sign and asked me how I was enjoying my first visit to Denver. 

Barbs was also really sweet. He asked me if we had a hockey league back at home and we talked about that a bit. He was disappointed to hear that my city doesn’t have any sort of well known soccer team.

We did a tour of Pepsi Center while the Canes were practicing. Dougie Hamilton photobombed us.

We ran into Lauren Gardner and Conor McGahey during the tour and they are absolutely the nicest people. Even though I’m sure they had places to be they stopped and chatted to us for a good 10 minutes. Lauren called me Red, hugged us all multiple times and told us to come up and see her before the game that evening. Conor is a total nerd (and I say that with love as a fellow nerd). We talked about comics and playing musical instruments (he plays sax). He always says hi to me on the radio when I tweet to say I’m listening and I got to thank him for that. Also, if you think his voice sounds good on the radio that’s NOTHING to what it sounds like in person. So rich and smooth. I could have listened to him talk all day.

I joked that I was milking how far I’d traveled and that every sign I was making was going to mention that I’m from the UK. Lauren said she’d try and get our signs on TV. Haven’t actually watched any of the games we were at to see if that happened yet.

I was really hoping to meet them both and was considering tweeting them to ask before this happened. Lauren is such an inspiration for women wanting to get into sport broadcasting. She really knows her stuff and is smart, warm and kind. I’m so sad she’s leaving Altitude but I know she’s going to do great things. And I got to tell her how much I love listening to her on the podcast. There’s always something missing when she’s not able to make it and one of the other guys fills in. 

They insisted on taking a photo with us before they left and then debated whether we should stand in front of the goal or in front of the Zamboni.

We got to see where Coach Bednar does all his press stuff

And where Lauren does all the intermission interviews

We went shopping before the game and I came away with a ton of stuff including this amazing tshirt. Technically it’s a youth shirt but one of the perks of being short is that youth stuff fits me.

As requested we went up to see Lauren before the game and she gave me a high five for getting a puck from Tyson. You could tell she’s feeling really emotional about leaving and she gave us all more hugs and said she was going to miss everyone.

The lights are super bright for the cameras so we all look really washed out while Lauren in her stage makeup looks flawless

Our signs made it onto the Avs Twitter and look at this perfect timing of Tyson skating right in front of my sign. 

The next day we went to Sobo which is the liquor store Mark Rycroft owns. We wanted to buy some gifts for friends/family and he was super nice. He walked us around, gave us recommendations based on our budget and insisted on getting a photo with us before we left. He was so excited that our group was from all over. 

It’s pretty common knowledge that Tyson Barrie loves Dairy Queen and when I mentioned we don’t have it in the UK the rest of the group decided we must go there. So here I am having my first ever Blizzard (cookie dough). It was pretty good. 

For our third game we all made signs for Gabe and wore Landeskog jerseys to show that we miss him. We all ended up on the jumbotron which was kind of cool (I clearly do not know how to draw the # symbol). 

I survived Colin Wilson staring right at me while wearing a backwards hat

Also, EJ looking like he’s about to murder me

During one of the intermissions we met Bernie which was super fun.

At the end of our final trip to practice I had a pretty decent collection of signatures on my poster. I’ve now bought a frame for it and I’m going to hang it over my desk in my bedroom. I appreciate Colin and Tyson signing next to each other even though I met them on different days. My two faves together. 

I love that for our last game we all inadvertently ended up wearing jerseys with different players’ names on. We have a broad selection of faves. 

Once the game was over and it was starting to hit me that I was leaving the next morning things took a turn for the amazing. The other #DenverShenanigans girls had been plotting and snuck off and bought me a game used Colin Wilson stick for my birthday. This whole trip was technically a birthday present for myself (I turn 40 in September but there’s no hockey in September). I honestly had no idea they’d been planning this and pretty much started crying in the middle of the bar at Pepsi Center. I’m so lucky to know such wonderful people. 

And then @some-say-this-is-a-blog made me a beautiful quilt in Avs colours. I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve such amazing friends. 

And that concludes my Denver Shenanigans. Honestly, Denver is one of the most friendly places I’ve ever been to. Even the TSA guys at the airport were friendly! 

We’ve already started making tentative plans to go back next year for the Stadium game but it’s going to depend on the schedule. I definitely want to go back next year but I want to do like I did here and go to block of home games. It’s a long way to travel for just one.