The Denver Post's Mark Kiszla wants the Colorado Avalanche to embrace a new rival in the Western Conference's current standard-bearers, the Chicago Blackhawks--who the Avs happened to defeat by a 5-1 tally on Tuesday evening--and the reasoning behind his suggestion is...Interesting:

For years, the Avalanche had a beautiful blood feud with Detroit. But commissioner Gary Bettman, who tirelessly works 24/7 to make hockey a worse game, moved the Red Wings to the Eastern Conference.

Yes, the Red Wings still stink. But it's tough for Colorado to maintain a feud with a team that shows up to its house only once a year.

Hate a hockey team? Is that really necessary?

Well, yeah.

NHL rivalries are built on familiarity, contempt and all those things that make a hip check hurt so good.

In the NHL, hate means dropping the gloves in the third period, then buying the guy you pummeled a beer after the game.

Back in the day, so long ago that families actually looked up from their smartphones long enough to tease a sibling at the dinner table, our mothers insisted hate was a nasty word. But, in the age of Twitter, when etiquette is taught by Richie Incognito, hate has become one of the more polite four-letter words in our language.

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