Dater's Travels: Memories Of Avs Games In Long Island

Did I tell you of the night I drank with the Hanson brothers?

Let’s do something new here at Dater On Avalanche. As the Avs start a new road trip through the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, I’ll write some memories of mine from previous Avs trips there. As someone with about 1.7 million miles and thousands of hotel room nights covering this team since its inception, I should have a few stories to tell.

I also want to make this a travelogue guide of sorts, for Avs fans who might be doing a road trip to any of these cities, with the best places to go and other little tips about what to do in those cities.

So, let’s start off with tomorrow’s Avs roadie, at the Islanders.

MEMORIES

I definitely need to start with the Nov. 28, 1995, Avs game at the Nassau Memorial Coliseum, which was won by the Avs 7-3. This was one of my first road trips, and I still remember this game well, with memories including:

• I remember Avs players such as Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg and Sylvain Lefebvre huddling around former teammate Wendel Clark at the morning skate on the day of the game. Clark had been traded by the Avs right before the season, in a three-way deal that brought Claude Lemieux to Colorado. Clark held court as he talked about his new life in N.Y. and that he and his wife were expecting a child soon. He used a lot of colorful language, which I soon came to realize was the hockey way of dialect. Profanity is the preferred language of the NHL, I started to really learn in earnest, after listening in some on Clark’s visit with the boys.

• I’ve written about this before, but an enduring memory from this stay at the Long Island Marriott - directly next to the Coliseum - was seeing Forsberg and Adam Deadmarsh playing ping-pong in the hotel’s fitness center/rec room. Believe me when I tell you the action was hotly contested. I forget who won, though.

• On the night before the game, I rode in a limousine to a New York Rangers home game with none other than Avs general manager, the late, great, Pierre Lacroix and legendary Avs PR man Jean Martineau. I forget how this all came about, but all I know is I was in a limo with Lacroix and Martineau for the whole ride - about an hour ride - and got VIP treatment in all facets of the night. Lacroix wanted to get a look at the Rangers - the team that beat his Quebec Nordiques the season before in the playoffs - as they played the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils that night at Madison Square Garden. I remember pleasant talk with Lacroix, and little did I know but only about a week later, Lacroix would be dealing with Montreal on a historic trade for Patrick Roy. The Rangers-Devils game finished in a 1-1 tie. We all rode back together too, and Lacroix was a gracious host.