Burgundy and White Game Recap

The Burgundy and White game took place last night, an annual tradition for the Avs. The intra squad game is a great opportunity to see the entire roster in an actual game situation. The guys didn’t disappoint, either. Let me break it down period by period.

Period 1:

This game started out pretty slow, which made me worry that the pace would continue. Thankfully, though, it picked up pretty quickly with a goal just 1:40 in by Matt Hendricks to put Burgundy on the board. Peter Budaj, playing for the White team, looked really shaky the entire period and even let in another goal at 10:38, scored by Kelsey Tessier. Craig Anderson played great for Team Burgundy, standing on his head and stopping a breakaway or two. Matt Duchene did manage a goal for the White at 15:49. He was assisted by Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejduk, a line that really looked solid throughout the night. Darcy Tucker showed his true colors by starting a lot of “discussions” with a few different players. More on this later.

Period 2:

The big story of the second period was the charging penalty Tucker received after a pretty gnarly hit on John-Michael Liles. JM went to the locker room immediately after the hit, but according to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, this was just for a bloody nose. Still, pretty unnerving. After Burgundy was called for too many men on the ice, Chris Stewart made them pay with a power play goal at 10:25. Even though he gave up another goal, Anderson continued to impress with a lot of great saves.

Period 3:

New goalies for the third! Tyler Weiman came in to play for the White and Trevor Cann was in net for Burgundy. Both goalies were solid and kept the score at 2-2 until the end of regulation. The big story this period, however, were the fights. Matt Hendricks, playing for Burgundy, had two fights in the period. His first with Chris Durno didn’t last long and the refs decided not to give the players and penalty box time for the scrum. The second fight for Hendricks saw him matched up with Chris Stewart, with Stewart coming out on top. The guys sit for 5 this time. Now it’s time for the…

SHOOTOUT

While this was going to happen no matter what the score was, I’m glad it actually counted for something instead. Paul Stastny scored the only goal in the shootout, giving team White the 3-2 win. Duchene had a shot, but only the blade of his broken stick made it past Trevor Cann.

This was the first Burgundy and White game I’ve attended, and I’ll definitely do it again next year. It’s a neat tradition the team has that gives fans a great close-up look at their 09-10 Avs.

Game Notes

Starting Lineups

Burgundy Team
Galliardi, Tucker Svatos, Cumiskey, Foote, Anderson

White Team
Stoa, Stastny, Hensick, Liles, Wilson, Budaj

Goals

Period 1
Burgundy – Hendricks assisted by Haydar at 1:40, Tessier from Clarke at 10:35
White – Duchene from Wolski and Hejduk at 15:49

Period 2
Burgundy – none
White – PPG Stewart from Sertich at 10:25

Period 3
No Scoring

The full game sheet is available at http://avalanche.nhl.com