If someone feels the need to make more than three consecutive tweets about a particular subject I’ve always believed that a blog post would be the better way to go.  I created about five tweets this morning regarding the Matt Duchene injury situation AND I’m making a blog post.  I hope you don’t mind too much.  There’s a lot on my mind right now.

Earlier today the Colorado Avalanche announced that Matt Duchene will be out roughly four weeks with a left knee injury suffered during his first shift of the game against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday afternoon.  Duchene was hurt when he ran into teammate Jamie McGinn.  Things like this happen in the game of hockey.

First, this could have been worse.  Way worse.  An ACL tear or a concussion are near the top of that “worse” list.  I’ll definitely take four weeks as compared to “out for the remainder of the season” or “out indefinitely.”

After years of playing and coaching I find myself thinking like a player and a coach in these situations.  I can assure you that the team and the coaches worried about Matt Duchene for a very small amount of time before they set their focus on tomorrow night’s game in Columbus and the rest of the season.  One thing winning teams do well is keeping their focus on what they can control.  Injuries are one of the things winning teams worry very little about.  Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself because one of your best players is now injured is NOT happening right now.  This Avs team may even be MORE focused on the things they need to do to keep gathering two points at a time.

Overall, #WhyNotUs still very much applies.  It’s not going anywhere.  “Us” is of of those beautiful hockey pronouns.  This Avs team and its fans will continue to use #WhyNotUs because that “us” is what has made this season so special so far.

And hopefully things are just getting started.

Let’s Go Avs.