A few final thoughts...

I got to talk to Adam Foote, Darcy Tucker and Tony Granato following tonight's game. None of them seemed overly concerned with the outcome, though all three were quick to point out the positives. One scoring correction was made following the game - Colorado's third goal was credited to Ryan Smyth, with assists from Darcy Campbell and Paul Stastny.

It is a hockey tradition to select three stars following each game. Denver radio personality Sandy Clough made the official selections tonight:

1. Teddy Purcell, L.A.

2. Anze Kopitar, L.A.

3. Ryan Smyth, Col.

If I had been the one making the selections, they would have been:

1. Anze Kopitar, L.A.

2. Peter Budaj, Col.

3. Teddy Purcell, L.A.

Granato was very complimentary of Budaj's play in his postgame comments after the Slovakian netminder made 21 saves on 22 shots - a save percentage of .955. Not bad.

Now, as for my experience - it definitely was a treat to see what goes into covering a professional sporting event. First of all, it is nice to have the stats right there in front of you at all times, which is something we don't have the benefit of when we go out and cover high school sports. I was joking with Terry Frei of The Denver Post about that convenience as we walked out of the arena this evening.

Also, I didn't have to worry about tracking down players and coaches immediately after the game, thanks to the NHL's policy of having the locker rooms open to the media 10 minutes after the contest ends. I was able to walk into the Avalanche dressing room and speak to Tucker and Foote with no problem, and then Granato held his post-game presser shortly thereafter - though we were forced to do it in a hallway rather than the interview room, which turned out to be locked (they'll get these things worked out by the time the regular season starts - it's preseason for the arena crew, too). It also was a nice reminder that while professional athletes seem larger than life to many, they're really just normal guys, and thus interviewing them isn't much different than interviewing anyone else. I just had to keep reminding myself of that, and everything was just fine.