from Nick Groke of the Denver Post,

In the new age of the NBA and the NHL, the decades-old idea of game-day morning practices is no longer sacred....

The Avalanche tinkered with getting rid of the morning skate last season, just as the team went from worst to first in a surprise run to the playoffs. They have returned to it for the most part this season.

"I'm not a big believer of the morning skate, quite honestly," Avs coach Patrick Roy said. "Never have been."

Of course, nobody's talking about not having any practice, only the game-day morning walk-through. In some ways, it's a silly idea. Players wake up early, often after playing late the night before, then trudge to the arena for a half-hearted walk-through in which coaches go over the scouting report for that night's game.

The tradition of the NBA shootaround and the NHL morning skate dates to the 1970s....

In the NHL, innovative Flyers coach Fred Shero is credited, or blamed, depending on the perspective, for popularizing the morning skate. After he led Philadelphia to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1974 and 1975, the rest of the league copied his idea.

more with some NBA tossed in...