from Adrian Dater of the Denver Post,

It's an analogy I used once before, which brings a bit of creative shame here. But it's such an apt one, and I think it applies well to what's going on with the Avalanche right now.

It's the old Charles Atlas cartoon strip titled "The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac," in which skinny Mac gets bullied at the beach in front of a girl, then the girl tells him, "Oh, don't let it bother you, little boy." Then Mac discovers the Charles Atlas program, bulks up, punches the bully in the nose and then sallies forth with the girl on his arm as the "hero of the beach."

When first-year Colorado coach Patrick Roy pushed that glass partition on the Pepsi Center bench on opening night, he spoke for lots of Macsin the stands who have been sick and tired of seeing the Avalanche bullied around the last few years.

I'm talking figuratively, not literally. The Avs have had decent enforcers and dropped the gloves plenty. But the fact is, opponents haven't respected the Avs for a long time. They have been considered a soft team. "Easy to play against," I've heard more than once from opposing players, scouts and management people in recent years. Too many teams were able to easily establish their will on the Avs, and too often it seemed like the Avs weren't even all that upset about it.

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