Colorado

This might be the best Green Bay Packers bar in Colorado

Published

1 year ago

November 8, 2024

This might be the best Green Bay Packers bar in Colorado

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).

A full house packed with Cheeseheads intently cheering for their beloved Green Bay Packers at Wally’s Wisconsin Tavern last Sunday didn’t realize they were in the presence of Wisconsin royalty.

Kim Flitcroft of Lake Geneva, Wis., who was crowned Alice in Dairyland of 1990, was in town with her husband for a family visit. Naturally, they celebrated game day at Wally’s.

Where else in Denver would a former Alice in Dairyland go to watch the green and gold than Colorado’s best Packers bar?

Flitcroft was too humble to mention her reign, a year-long responsibility that involved representing the state’s agriculture sector at public appearances, but her 77-year-old mother was tickled to tell me. No big deal, you say? I grew up in Wisconsin, so I knew what it meant and was honored to meet her. Flitcroft also is one of the Packers’ 537,460 “owners” who hold 5.2 million shares of stock. It pays no dividends except bragging rights, which are priceless.

Flitcroft loved Wally’s, which is crammed with Wisconsin sports memorabilia and photos. A massive lighted Schlitz sign greets visitors at the front door. Flitcroft and I are old enough to remember when Schlitz was touted as “The beer that made Milwaukee famous.” Flags for the Packers and Brewers hang from the ceiling, along with another that says “Drink Wisconsinbly.”

“I like that you’re out of town, you walk into a bar and it feels like you’re at home,” Flitcroft said. “It’s amazing. When you’re a Packers fan, you’re almost a whole other family together. I don’t care where you go or who you are, it’s like you know each other. It’s just such a special relationship that I don’t think you feel from other teams.”

That’s why I love Wally’s so much. Even though the Packers let us down last week, falling to the Detroit Lions in a rivalry game, we had loads of fun.

Summer Koehn, who moved from Milwaukee to Denver 18 months ago, got to Wally’s four hours before kickoff to make sure she and her friends got a table.

“Everywhere you go, there are Packers fans,” Koehn said. “How fun is it that you come to Denver and there’s a bar specifically for that? It’s loud, it’s fun. We’re a different breed.”

They (OK, we) are. They poke fun at their image and never take themselves too seriously.

“No,” Koehn agreed. “We’re Cheeseheads!”

Green Bay Packers fans RJ Brogis, wearing jersey 23, and Brandon Books, wearing jersey 18, watch the Green Bay Packers take on the Detroit Lions at Wally’s Wisconsin Tavern in Denver on Nov. 3, 2024. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Located in LoDo at 1417 Market St., Wally’s is attached to the Rhein Haus German restaurant, which also is filled with Cheeseheads on game days. Rhein Haus was co-founded by James Weimann, a Sheboygan native who named Wally’s in honor of his father. A huge photo taken at Wally’s wedding hangs in the bar. When Weimann started the Rhein Haus in 2015, the space now known as Wally’s was a side bar for Rhein Haus. In 2017, it took on its own identity and Packers decor.

The menu has lots of Wisconsin foods, including bratwurst, cheese curds, potato pancakes, giant pretzels, fried pickles and the “Lombardi Burger,” an Angus beef patty with cheddar cheese topped with fried cheese curds. (Alas, no Schlitz.)

Flitcroft’s mother, Judy Nettesheim, and I were kids when Schlitz ruled and Vince Lombardi’s Packers won five NFL championships in seven years (1961-67). We like to remind fans of other teams that the Packers, founded in 1919, have won the most NFL championships (13).

“In our family, your blood ran green and gold,” Flitcroft said. “It was just our life.”

Darryle Brown grew up in Virginia but fell under the spell of the Packers when Brett Favre was quarterback. He was dressed for the game with a Packers hard hat, jacket and bib. A Packers medallion with a light inside hung from a huge chain around his neck.

“I like the fact that it’s a good atmosphere,” Brown said. “It stays packed with my tribe of fellow Cheeseheads. Every time we score a touchdown, the celebration here is electric. It’s just a wonderful experience.”

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Originally Published: November 8, 2024 at 6:00 AM MST

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Colorado

Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild

Published

9 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild

The Colorado Avalanche had a chance Thursday night to regain some real separation between them and the Minnesota Wild.

It didn’t happen, and special teams were again an issue.

Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored a pair of power-play goals, while the Avalanche took too many penalties and did not convert its chances with the extra man in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena. The Wild scored on two of six power plays, both in the second period, then added a shorthanded goal into an empty net for good measure.

“We took six (penalties). Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a slow start to the second and then just kind of started getting going, then took a bunch of penalties and kind of took the momentum away and swung it back in their favor again.”

Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent early in this contest and stopped 31 of 34 shots for the Avs in his first start since the Olympic break. Colorado, which went 0-for-3 on the power play, has not scored an extra-man goal in back-to-back games since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The Avs are 2-for-31 with the man advantage since Jan. 16, and at 15.1% are last in the NHL.

The Wild are now just five points behind the Avs in the Central Division, though Colorado has two games in hand. Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for the visitors.

“I think we crated enough chances to win the hockey game,” Bednar said. “We give up the (second power-play goal) and that’s the difference in the hockey game for me. We had a chance (on the power play) … we score and it’s a tie game. We haven’t had an easy time capitalizing on some of our chances that we created in the last month.

“I’d like to see that turn around a little bit.”

Minnesota took advantage of three penalties on Colorado in a span of 53 seconds to take the lead with 2:23 left in the second period. Captain Gabe Landeskog was sent to the box for elbowing Eriksson Ek away from the play at 14:15 and Valeri Nichushkin was called for cross-checking at 15:04.

That gave the Wild a 5-on-3, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry for the home side. Brock Nelson won the 3-on-5 in his own end, but Brent Burns’ backhanded attempt to clear the puck out of the zone went into the stands for a delay of game.

Minnesota had a 5-on-3 for 1:56, which Colorado successfully killed off, but because Burns’ two minutes didn’t start until Landeskog’s penalty ended, there was more 5-on-4 time and Eriksson Ek scored his second of the night. The Swedish Olympian was trying to send a cross-crease pass to Kirill Kaprizov, but it hit the inside of Blackwood’s right leg and pinballed across the goal line.

Because of the extended penalty time, both Eriksson Ek and Boldy officially logged a shift of more than four minutes, leading to that goal.

“I’m not a big fan of the penalties we took, necessarily,” Landeskog said. “Obviously, mine is a penalty. Val, I felt like he was protecting himself and Burns, that’s a penalty. There’s nothing to argue about there. But yeah, that tilts the ice for sure and just gives them unnecessary momentum.

“So yeah, undisciplined and we’ve got to be better there for sure.”

Eriksson Ek put Minnesota in front at 7:48 of the second period. Cale Makar was called for slashing when his one-handed swipe while Yakov Trenin was attempting to shoot from the left wing. Trenin’s stick broke, so Makar went to the box.

Blackwood made the initial save on Matt Boldy’s shot from the high slot, but Eriksson Ek was there near the left post to clean up the rebound.

Martin Necas continued his hot run with a goal to even the score at 13:30 of the middle frame. Nathan MacKinnon picked up the puck in his own zone and carried it into the offensive end. He left a drop pass for Necas near the right point and then played fullback, driving Wild defenseman Daemon Hunt back to give Necas space and then providing a screen on a lethal wrist shot from his Czech linemate.

That was Necas’ 24th goal of the season. He added a second goal in the final minute after the Wild had built a three-goal advantage to give him 25 on the season.

It’s also three in two games since the Olympic break. Necas had three goals and eight points in five games for Czechia at the Olympics in Milan, equaling his country’s record for points at the event.

MacKinnon missed Colorado’s first game back on Wednesday because of maintenance. He actually slipped to third in the NHL scoring race as of Thursday morning, in part because Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov has now has 53 points in his past 23 games to track down MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid to make it a three-man race for the Art Ross Trophy.

McDavid (five times) and Kucherov (three) have combined to win the Art Ross in eight of the past nine years. MacKinnon has never won it, but has finished second each of the past two seasons.

Minnesota scored a second goal off a Colorado player to make it a 3-1 game and then added two empty-net tallies around Necas’ second goal to seal the Wild’s sixth win in a row.

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Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon

Published

21 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon

Updated on: February 26, 2026 / 1:18 PM MST
/ CBS Colorado

Late Thursday morning, a house fire spreading into the nearby woods in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon prompted officials to issue a pre-evacuation order to nearby residents. Firefighters have since brought the blaze under control.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, a house fire broke out around 11:30 a.m. in the 10600 block of Ralston Creek Road in Golden Gate Canyon, located around 25 miles west of Denver. The fire then began to spread into the nearby trees and grass.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office

Multiple fire units quickly responded to the scene, and the JCSO issued a pre-evacuation notice to all residents within a three-mile radius, warning them to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

At 12:34 p.m., the sheriff’s office announced that the fire is no longer spreading and the burn area has been contained to less than an acre. A photo shared by JCSO shows a structure nearly completely destroyed by the fire.

Pre-evacuation orders were lifted around 1 p.m.

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Colorado

Toyota Game Recap: 2/25/2026 | Colorado Avalanche

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Toyota Game Recap: 2/25/2026 | Colorado Avalanche

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