Mike Haynes

New Season

There is nothing like the start of a new season.  It doesn’t matter what the sport is.  Each has its own unique sense, feel, sounds, and even smell.  I have attended all the Colorado Avalanche training camps. The camps usually start the second week in September.  I am often struck by the familiar attributes of hockey camp.  I have always enjoyed the feeling of walking into the chilliness of the rink after being in the heat of the outside.  There is something special about each year when I park my car and walk, basking in the summer sun, toward the door that leads into the building that hosts the camp.  I love opening that door for several reasons.  First is the blast of cold air that always hits me.  Second are the sounds of hockey.  The slap of the stick hitting the puck.  The thwack of the puck hitting the boards or the glass.  The crunching noise of players crashing into each other and ramming into the boards.  I can stand in the lobby, hear those sounds and it brings a smile to my face.

Hockey training camps have their own smell.  I am not talking about the horrific gunk stench from a bag of used hockey equipment.  It just smells different from other sports.  Football has the heat of summer mixed with grass and the player’s equipment.  Baseball has its wonderful spring air and the smell of leather gloves and wooden bats on a beautiful day.  Hockey is different.  It is a combination of cold, sweat, and anger.

The best part of training camp is always the unmitigated hope.  Every season brings newness and the belief that maybe, just maybe it might be the year for a Stanley Cup.  It is that contagious outlook that puts an extra spring in the step of everyone in the organization.  All feel fresh and positive and believe that it could go their way and work out as they hoped.  Rookies think they may play well enough to make the big team.  Veterans are young again, and feel as if they can fly on the ice.  Coaches and management believe that if everything goes according to plan there might be reason to have a parade route mapped out.  That feeling permeates the building and I feel it when I walk in the first day of camp.

We all love a new beginning, perhaps a second chance.  That is what hockey training camps are all about.  I have always relished the chance to see a rising star emerging out of those early practices.  There is the opportunity to watch a wily vet showing off his moves.  There inevitably is the older player, coming from another team, hoping to make an impression and hang on for another season.  All those sites bring comfortableness to attending another training camp.  I enjoy talking to the fans wanting to discuss their favorite players and share with me their hope for a winning season.

No one likes to get old, we all want to stay young.  Going to the Avalanche training camp each season makes me feel young again.  The players might come and go and the people might change but the best part of training camp hockey remains the same.  It is a time to feel excitement for the future and the wonder of what might be possible.  

Elegance and Class in Hockey

Hockey players are tough and they play a rough sport. Within that physical world there are players through the years that have played with elegance and class. Jean Beliveau and Jean Ratelle are two players that come to mind. Let me add another name. Pierre Turgeon. I had the pleasure of getting to know him as he ended his terrific career with the Colorado Avalanche. Even as his playing days came to a conclusion he played with sportsmanship as well as great skill. More importantly, he carried himself off the ice like a gentleman and with dignity that is now rare in our society.

Why do I bring this subject up?  I had the privilege of being the emcee for a banquet preceding the JWHL U-19 AAA national playoffs being held in Littleton.  The JWHL is the Junior Women Hockey League. The U-19 AAA’s are among the best women hockey players in North America. They are young women that are headed to college on hockey scholarships and some will play in the next winter Olympics.

At the banquet, the JWHL player of the year is given the Liz Turgeon Award. Liz Turgeon was an elite hockey player for the Colorado Select and played well enough to earn a hockey scholarship to the University of Minnesota. Liz Turgeon is the daughter of Pierre and Elizabeth Turgeon. On December 23, 2010 Liz was in a car accident that took her life. She was 18 years old.

My daughter, Kiara, plays for the Colorado Select U-12 AAA team. She sat next to me at the banquet. Also sitting at our table were Pierre, Elizabeth, Alexandra and Valerie Turgeon. Alexandra is the twin sister of Liz. Valerie is Liz’s 14 year old sister. I have no idea what it is like to be that family and deal with the tragedy of what they have gone through. I do, however, admire the way the family handled that evening.

There came a time during the course of the banquet that the Liz Turgeon Award was to be given to the worthy recipient. I had to stand in the room of 200 players and coaches and introduce the Turgeon family to come to the front and be there for the presentation of the award. I know I wasn’t the only one with tears in my eyes as I described Liz Turgeon as a player and as a person.

Through the night Pierre and his family talked with other people about hockey and about life. They never once looked perturbed or offended by the questions. They took an interest in other people’s lives and were inquisitive.  Pierre has always had a reputation as one of the nicest guys in the game, and I saw plenty of evidence to know that it is true. That night was a reminder that no matter what obstacles and sadness life throws at us, it is better to react with kindness and love.

There is a way to play the game of hockey with elegance and class. More importantly, Pierre Turgeon has lived a life with elegance and class. We should all strive to do the same.

 

Strange Uniforms

When Peter Forsberg decided he wanted to play again with the Avalanche, I was reminded of a strange sight in sports. It always startles me when I see a player in a uniform that I don’t associate with him. It was odd when Peter Forsberg was playing with the Philadelphia Flyers, but it was really strange to see him in the mustard colored sweater of the Nashville Predators.

It got me thinking about players finishing their careers with different teams than they started with, and how surreal it looks seeing them in a different jersey. I don’t believe we will see too many players like Joe Sakic playing 20 seasons with one team anymore. Technically, that one team did begin as the Quebec Nordiques. Avalanche fans almost saw Joe wearing a New York Rangers sweater when the Blueshirts tried to sign him as a free agent in 1997.

When I look back over the years there have been some strange uniform transitions in sports. My all-time strangest in football would have to be Johnny Unitas finishing his career wearing a San Diego Chargers number 19. Close behind would be Joe Namath on the sidelines for the Los Angeles Rams and O. J. Simpson carrying the football for the San Fransisco 49ers.

I think anyone would admit that it just didn’t seem right to see Michael Jordan shooting baskets for the Washington Wizards. Maybe even stranger was Jordan wearing number 45 for the Birmingham Barons baseball team.

On the subject of baseball, did you know that Babe Ruth finished his career wearing the uniform of the Boston Braves? I know he started with the Red Sox, but he is just so connected to the Yankees it is the mental picture I have of him.

I don’t believe there is much debate as to the strangest sweater switch in hockey history. While you could make a case for Wayne Gretzky in a St. Louis Blues sweater or Gordie Howe in a Whaler sweater, I believe there is only one that is the most jarring. I am old enough to remember Bobby Orr skating for the Blackhawks. Orr’s number 4 belonged only on the back of a Boston Bruins sweater.

I was thrilled when the Avalanche traded for Patrick Roy, Theo Fleury and Ray Bourque. I have to guess that fans of the Canadiens, Flames and Bruins saw it differently and couldn’t believe what they were seeing when those players donned an Avalanche jersey.

The Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry continues to this day.  The teams don’t like each other, so there are no trades between the two franchises. Every so often there is a free agent signing though. It hasn’t happened too often, but it still seems so wrong when it does happen. By my count, four players played first with Colorado and then played for Detroit. Those players are Anders Myrvold, Uwe Krupp, Brad May and Ruslan Salei. I have discovered three players who have done the opposite. They are Jim Cummins, Todd Gill and Kyle Quincey.  

One of the toughest things I have ever done as a father was breaking the news to my son that his favorite player left the Avalanche for another team. Kian cried when I told him that Ian Laperriere was going to be a Philadelphia Flyer. It broke his heart.

Kian now has an Ian Laperriere Philadelphia Flyers jersey that he wears when he plays street hockey. That looks very strange to me.

 

The First Season

The Colorado Avalanche had a reunion of the 1995-96 Stanley Cup championship club before the start of the 2010-11 season. I was fortunate to be there, just as I was fortunate to broadcast all the games from the first ever Avalanche season. I called 113 games. There were 9 pre-season, 82 regular season, and 22 post-season contests.

Going to the reunion conjured up a lot of memories. I was asked many times about my favorites from the first Avalanche season.

Here are my top five:

5. First Broadcast in the NHL

After spending fifteen years broadcasting minor league sports, I was excited for the big time. I had   called hockey games in some of the strangest broadcast locations in a lot of old and odd arenas. I was   looking forward to some luxury in the NHL. What I got in my first game was the Ed Lumley Arena in   the Cornwall Civic Complex. The Cornwall Aces were the Avalanche AHL affiliate and they hosted the pre-season game. I squeezed into a room the size of a small broom closet and proceeded to start my NHL broadcasting career. It was not what I had pictured, but it was still the greatest day of my life up to that point.

4. Best Game of the Regular Season

On February 3, 1996 the Avalanche played their most exciting game of the season. The New York Rangers came to Denver to play the Avs. The Rangers were just two years removed from winning the Cup, had a better record than Colorado and had gone nine games without a loss. The Avalanche came out flying. They scored four goals in the first period and added three more in the second on their way to a 7-1 victory. The excitement was in the way they scored. Coach Marc Crawford kept rolling four lines and the Avalanche showed how much talent and depth they had that year. It was a precursor for things to come later in the season.

3. Best Avalanche Playoff Series Ever

The second round of the 1996 playoffs brought the Avalanche and Blackhawks together. I still consider it the most exciting Avalanche playoff series. There were four overtime games. One went to double overtime and another was a triple overtime night. Twice Colorado trailed Chicago in the series, eventually winning in six games.

2. The Roof Almost Comes Off

The season before the Avalanche arrived I broadcasted hockey games for the Denver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies played in front of loud, enthusiastic fans and won the IHL’s Turner Cup. I knew that Denver had great hockey fans, but I was unprepared for what happened in the waning moments of the final game of the Western Conference Finals. Colorado was getting closer to ousting the heavily favored Red Wings and was going to play for the Stanley Cup. The fans kept getting louder, and every time I thought it couldn’t get any louder, 16,061 fans would take it up another notch. It was the most noise I have ever heard in an arena.

1. The Parade

The Stanley Cup belonged to the Avalanche. It was time to celebrate. The organization decided to do it big and do it right. That meant a parade through downtown. I remember waiting on a bus that was to take me though the parade and wondering how many people would show up. We turned a corner and all I saw were people. It was wonderful. There were people lining the streets, people hanging out of buildings and fans swarming the fire trucks that carried the players. I was honored to emcee the event at the Civic Center. I now know what the performers at Woodstock felt like when I walked out onto the stage and saw hundreds of thousands of people cheering.

 

This is an Avalanche House

I recently wrote a blog about the first hockey game that my father brought me to.  In 1968, Dad took me to see the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.  There was never any doubt what team we were going to root for and which club we wanted to win.  When I was growing up it was very clear what my dad’s favorite teams were.  It was also very simple what teams his children were instructed to follow. It was never more evident during a fall Sunday afternoon while the family was watching football.  My brother foolishly asked if we could watch some of the Green Bay Packers game.  My father yelled loud enough to startle Y. A. Tittle, “This is a Giants house!”

By the way, if my brother got permission to see the Packers game, there was no remote in those days.  I was the remote. My father would tell me to get up and change the channel. I would have to pick up the pliers from atop the television (the plastic knob had been lost) and turn the metal piece to get one of the 5 available channels.  Forget about UHF channels, they were a fuzzy mystery.  Sometimes, I would have to stand next to the TV during the game holding the rabbit ears to get better reception.

Growing up, I never imagined defying my father and picking a different favorite team than his beloved squads.  That is why it is so shocking what is happening in my house. 

It all started with football when my son, Kian, announced he was a Broncos fan.  I sort of understand him being a traitor.  He was born in Colorado and when we spend time viewing football we always watch the Broncos.  I take him to Mile High Stadium to see Broncos games every season. So, I get it.  It is hard to accept, but I understand.

Now, Benedict Arnold has gone too far.  He lives in a nice house, thanks in large measure to the Colorado Avalanche.  He has clothes on his back and gets to eat because of the Avs.  He is more than willing to take Avalanche tickets to watch games in person.  He even pretends to enjoy sitting next to me in the television booth at the Avalanche home games.

Kian’s favorite player is Ian Laperriere.  Ian was always nice to him and would even skate with him after Avalanche practices.  Kian’s heart was broken when Lappy left to play for the Philadelphia Flyers.  Then the unexpected happened.  Kian became a Flyers fan.  Philly is now his favorite team.  He knows about every player and reads their box scores every morning.  It is killing me.

I try to be a good father, so I do things that will make him happy.  I recently was at the NHL store in New York purchasing Philadelphia Flyer merchandise for Christmas presents.  I felt like a teenager buying cigarettes at the convenience store.  As I was waiting in line to buy a Flyers hat and a Flyers shirt, I kept waiting for a tap on my shoulder.  I thought I would turn around and see someone from Avalanche management shaking his head in disappointment. 

I have accepted my son going against me.  I understand he has to make his own decisions, even if different from mine.  But, if he ever comes home in a Red Wings jersey, he is out of the will.

 

Hockey Heals

Hockey is just a game, right? Not always. Sometimes hockey can help heal a family that is hurting. This is a story of how hockey is helping a Colorado family, especially a young boy who misses his mother.

There are few things more devastating to a child than the loss of a parent. Mom is usually the center piece for any family. She takes care of the house, drives the children to activities, keeps them well fed and most importantly makes sure they are loved.  Early this summer ten-year-old Ryan Overton couldn’t wake up his mother. Unexpectedly, Meghan Overton had passed away.  If you have been through something like that, then you know how Ryan felt. If you haven’'t, you can only imagine how his life has changed forever.

This is where hockey comes in.  Ryan is playing in his second season for the Foothills Flyers. I have seen him play hockey, he plays in the same league as my daughter. I have watched how Ryan plays the game with tenacity and passion. I have known his father Brian for many years. Dad would relate stories to me of how Ryan was decorating his room with memorabilia and talking incessantly about hockey.

The Colorado Avalanche heard about the Overton'’s story.

"Avalanche For A Day" is a program the Avs started to encourage kids to strive for excellence in their school or community. Several times a season a child is selected to visit an Avs practice, meet the team, watch the game from a suite and accompany the team on the ice for the anthem.  Matt Deluzio, the Manager of Hockey Programs for Kroenke Sports Enterprises, does a wonderful job taking the children and their families through their special day.

I was there when Ryan participated in the program and I watched as his eyes were wide open with wonder as he saw his heroes practicing. I was able to see him standing outside the Avalanche locker room shaking hands and getting autographs.  It was a great reminder to me how much hockey players can have an effect on young boys and girls. At age ten, your whole life is ahead of you and perhaps those dreams of playing in the NHL are what keep your hopes going. I know after broadcasting hockey games for thirty years that I have become jaded to being around these great athletes. I get to go to all the practices, ride on buses and fly on the team plane with the Avalanche. I was reminded how special my life is when I saw Ryan and his family sitting on the bench before the game. There was excitement on their faces as they watched the Avalanche warm up before the contest …and for a few minutes the pain they had been dealing with was dissipated while watching the Avs get ready for the game.

I was a ten-year-old boy a long time ago. If my brothers and sisters were mean, or my parents were mad at me, I could always go shoot pucks against the garage and feel better.

I have no way of knowing the inner turmoil that Ryan is going through, but I can still picture how much sheer joy Ryan had on his face when he skated out on the ice with the Avalanche and stood on the blue line next to the players during the anthem.

Ryan loves hockey.  The Colorado Avalanche did a very nice thing for him.

There is no replacing your mother, especially at such a young age, but hockey can help the hurting a little bit.  Sometimes, it’s more than just a game.

Skipping Through Memory Lane

Last year I wrote a blog about watching the current Avalanche team through the eyes of my young children. I see them selecting which players are their favorites and watch them discovering a love for hockey.  I was reminded last weekend of why I enjoy the game so much and why it is important to have a favorite player and team. I grew up in a house with a father who watched a lot of sports. He enjoyed watching any sport on television but his passion was to see his favorite teams in person. He had season tickets for college and professional teams wherever we lived in the country, and we moved a lot. I wanted to spend as much time with my father as possible, so I attended many games with him.

One of my earliest memories of those adventures was a trip to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Rangers play in 1968. All the Rangers games I had seen were on a little black and white television.  Back then people dressed up to go to sporting events. My father wore a suit and tie and I had my Sunday church clothes on. I am from a large Irish family, so it was a big deal when I was selected to go to the game. My many brothers, sisters and cousins were jealous as I rubbed it in for weeks that I was going to see the Rangers play in New York City. We rode the train in from Long Island to Penn Station. There was just one entrance into MSG. At that age it was overwhelming trying to make my way into the arena with swarms of people also trying to get through the doors. Holding my hand, my father led me inside the arena. I was almost knocked over by the sights and sounds. I looked around and soaked it all in. The bright whiteness of the ice, the different colors of seats, the scoreboard and thousands of people excited to be in the building. Then the teams came on the ice and I was awestruck by the colors. Having only seen the Rangers in black and white, I was bowled over by how wonderful the uniforms looked.  It was a life changing moment.

I watched the game with intensity and decided that Eddie Giacomin, the goalie, was my favorite player. I was fascinated by the equipment and the way he would sprawl on the ice to make save after save. The game moved along in a blur to me, but I will always remember the special feeling of walking in with my father, falling in love with hockey and deciding which player to emulate. I knew that I wanted to play hockey and be around the game for the rest of my life. The next day before our daily street hockey game I taped magazines to my legs, cut out cardboard with eye and mouth holes for a mask and put on my baseball glove. We didn’t have any fancy hockey equipment or nets. We would put two rocks six feet apart in the street for goals, use whatever old wooden hockey sticks we could find and with a tennis ball for a puck we would play for hours.

Now when I play street hockey with my children and their friends it brings me back to a time of innocence and happiness.  I love hearing them call out what players they will imitate and while the kids get to use fancy new nets and the latest in street hockey sticks it is nothing but pure joy when they play. Madison Square Garden will always have a special place in my heart where my father and I were able to spend precious time together and I had a chance to find out that sports are more than games. It is a way for two people to connect and have a bond that lasts forever. 

 

An Irishman Stops Talking Long Enough to Write

During the past thirty years, I have made a living by talking. I have always been a voracious reader and have secretly wanted to write stories. Throughout the years, I have written some articles for sports team magazines but nothing that would make John Grisham nervous. This is a great opportunity to write a regular blog through the Altitude website.

 

Six years of working with Altitude has given me an opportunity to broadcast many sports from drag racing to bull riding. My family is a big supporter of local teams, so we try to go see as many professional and college games as we can. Of course hockey fans know me best from broadcasts of Colorado Avalanche games on radio and television for fifteen years. My first blog will be about the Avalanche, but I am also looking forward to writing about other sports in Colorado.

 

It is a very interesting time in the Colorado Avalanche franchise history. The Avs arrived in 1995 with a team full of superstars that immediately made an impact on sports fans in the area. It was easy for fans to fall in love with a team that was a winner right away and had a lot of players with dynamic personalities. It also makes sense that long-time fans have such fond memories of the first nine years when the Avalanche contended for the Stanley Cup every season and made dramatic trades that brought in the best players in the NHL. It was a whirlwind time that will never be forgotten.

 

While those days are the glory days for the Avs, there is a new era building. I enjoy talking about past Avalanche seasons but I am also very aware of what the Avalanche is building toward now. I have two young children who play hockey and either go to or watch almost all of the Avalanche games. They don’t have any memories of the past great teams. Peter Forsberg, Claude Lemieux and Patrick Roy are just names that they hear me talk about. They, like a lot of new fans, have their own heroes. My six-year-old son has picked Matt Duchene as his favorite player. My nine-year-old daughter has her own favorites on the current team. When we play street hockey, the kids in the neighborhood pretend they are a player from this current team.

 

I hope you have been out to see a game or at least have watched on Altitude; this team is exciting. They skate fast, work hard and are winning games. It is fun to look back in the past and relish the wonderful times, but there are now new heroes emerging for Avalanche fans and the future looks bright.

Mike Haynes' Blog

A name that has become synonymous with Avalanche hockey in Denver, Mike Haynes recently completed his 13th season as the voice of the Colorado Avalanche.  After spending nine-plus seasons calling play-by-play for the Avalanche radio broadcasts, Haynes moved to television during the 2005-06 season and begins his fourth year in that role for Altitude Sports & Entertainment.

NOTE: These are the views of Mike Haynes and do not necessarily reflect the views of Altitude Sports & Entertainment.