Dater: Too Many Obstacles Finally Did In Avalanche

After rousing final part of regular season, things started going wrong again in playoffs

The Avs are no longer the Stanley Cup champions. It was a one-year run. I know this is a tough morning for many of you, as there are fewer things worse for a rabid sports fan than seeing your team’s season end in a Game 7 on home ice - especially one that was a defending champ.

But, hey, chins up everyone. We still have the events of last year to savor, and this team is still going to be a damn good one next year. We’ll get more into what next year might look like in a future post, but let’s do a proper post-mortem on the Avs season that just finished.

In my final analysis, this team just got too worn down - mentally as much as physically - from the constant adversity, on and OFF the ice.

• Let’s start with the Gabe Landeskog situation, one that hovered over the team all season like an intransigent black cloud. Waiting for Landy became like Waiting For Godot, and just like in the famous Samuel Beckett play, Landy/Godot never arrived.