Colorado

Utah blasts Avs to snap three-game winning streak as Colorado can’t solve goalie Karel Vejmelka

Published

1 year ago

December 13, 2024

Utah blasts Avs to snap three-game winning streak as Colorado can’t solve goalie Karel Vejmelka

The Rocky Mountain region’s new hockey club sent a rude message to the Avalanche in their first game in Denver.

Utah blasted Colorado 4-1 on Thursday night at Ball Arena, with the Avs undone by a cheap goal in the opening period, a two-goal blitz in the second period and a lack of finishing on offense.

“I like the chances we created at times in the game, but (Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka) made some big saves tonight, no question,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “And we got a little unlucky (with a couple of shots off the post). … We turned some A’s into C’s tonight.

“At the end of the day, they put the puck in the net with some great opportunities, and we didn’t. It looked like we were really fighting to find our legs today. We had pretty good intentions, but that little extra that you need to create dangerous chances wasn’t there for the whole game.”

The visitors took the lead off a flimsy goal in the opening period when, a little more than eight minutes in, Dylan Guenther’s crossing pass deflected off Artturi Lehkonen and into the net. Lehkonen was bodying Logan Cooley in the front of the net, and Guenther’s pass that was intended for Cooley instead took a bounce off Lehkonen’s skate and past goalie Scott Wedgewood.

The Avs ended the opening period with a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal, with several bona fide chances, but were turned away by Vejmelka each time.

Then in the second period, Utah took control in a frame that cemented the end of Colorado’s three-game win streak and the feel-good vibes coming off a solid 4-1 road trip.

Joel Kiviranta’s slap shot 20 seconds into the period nearly put the Avs on the board, but Vejmelka slid over and made a snazzy save with his shoulder. Colorado continued to push the tempo and then went on the power play four minutes in, due to a holding penalty. But Vejmelka made another incredible save on a wrister by Lehkonen, plus some other stops as Colorado came up empty on the man advantage.

About midway through the period, Utah firmly took control of the game with a pair of goals within a two-minute frame to go up 3-0.

Vladislav Kolyachonok casually wristed one home from up near the blue line on the right side of the ice, and his low-trajectory shot deflected off Colorado defenseman Calvin de Haan as the puck beat Wedgewood’s leg kickout on the bottom left shelf.

“It was just bad luck tonight,” Wedgewood said. “It’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Utah Hockey Club defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, left, battles for control of the puck with Colorado Avalanche right wing Logan O’Connor (25) in the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

About 90 seconds later, Givani Smith — whom the Avs traded San Jose for earlier this week in the deal that also brought goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to Colorado — was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Utah made quick work on the power play, needing only nine seconds for Guenther to find the net on a slap shot for his second goal of the evening.

Some impressive passing, described by Bednar as “tic, tac, toe,” preceded the goal.

“(Smith) was sort of continuing the scrum, but it’s a penalty,” Bednar said. “I don’t love it, because we were in the game. At that time, you’ve got to be real careful. I like the juice he played with the entire shift, and then we take a penalty and it ends up in the back of our net.”

The second period ended in four-on-four hockey as both teams were on the power play, and Colorado carried its advantage over to the third.

But the Avs couldn’t capitalize as Vejmelka continued to stand on his head. That included Lehkonen getting stuffed on a breakaway with eight minutes left in the game. Colorado finally lit the lamp after pulling Wedgewood with about five minutes to play, leading to Nathan MacKinnon’s wrister with 4:26 left. But Utah quickly responded 23 seconds later with Kevin Stenlund’s goal on the empty net.

Vejmelka finished with 23 saves, including four on the power play. Colorado dropped to 17-14-0 with the defeat, and 7-8 at home, as Utah got payback for the Avs’ 5-1 road win on Oct. 24.

“We’ve just got to start feeding off the momentum of the crowd more, and take a bit more onus to play our game and move our feet (to start stacking wins at home),” winger Logan O’Connor said. “We were doing that on our road trip and it’s really tough to defend us. We just let off the gas too much tonight in too many areas.”

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Originally Published: December 12, 2024 at 9:50 PM MST

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Colorado

Letter to the editor: Don’t let Democrats gut TABOR in Colorado

Published

4 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Letter to the editor: Don’t let Democrats gut TABOR in Colorado

Democrats frustrated? Fine by me! House Speaker Julie McCluskie says we need a real conversation about the state’s fiscal constraints? Well, here it is.

The state is required to pass a balanced budget just like everyone else who lives here, spending no more than what is available, unless they want to file for bankruptcy. Yet Democrats controlling Colorado continue to desire more and more of our money to fund and expand their pet projects in order to take care of us. They will certainly do that if we let them, but perhaps not how we expect.

Their expansion of Medicaid over the years is a good example. The Dems relied on federal payments that were increased in the COVID years to expand the program, knowing good and well those payments were only temporary. Now they want the citizenry to keep funding those increases. Same with many other of their nanny state programs.

The good-thinking citizens of Colorado voted down TABOR attacks by the Democrats in 2019 and 2023 by significant amounts, yet they continue to try circumventing it, even calling many of their tax increases “fees” in order to get around it. The populace knows reality.

“Liberal groups”, woefully unidentified by Summit Daily, are attempting to gut our TABOR flat tax and push us into a graduated income tax so well-off individuals have to pay even more. Why? To be more fair? No. To raise more revenue the Democrats can spend, just like California and New York. That would turn us into a comparable state all right, where wealthy citizens would just leave to avoid higher taxes. What happens when the wealthy leave? Colorado would lose even more revenue, unless of course, the rest of us pay more. That would happen if TABOR is gutted.

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Colorado

Police arrest 2 juveniles, search for third in Colorado, accused of crashing stolen car into patrol vehicle

Published

16 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Police arrest 2 juveniles, search for third in Colorado, accused of crashing stolen car into patrol vehicle

Updated on: March 23, 2026 / 7:17 AM MDT
/ CBS Colorado

Police in Arvada arrested two juveniles and searched for a third juvenile early Monday morning in connection with an auto theft. According to investigators, the suspects swerved at officers who were on foot in the area near 60th Avenue and Yarrow Lane.

Police in Arvada searched for a third suspect wanted in connection with crashing a stolen vehicle into a patrol vehicle near 60th and Yarrow.

CBS

That’s when they allegedly drove into a patrol vehicle.

After a brief chase, officers were able to track down two suspects and continued to search for the final suspect.

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Colorado

Colorado man convicted of multi-million-dollar scheme to sell hand sanitizer during COVID

Published

1 day ago

March 22, 2026

Press Room

Colorado man convicted of multi-million-dollar scheme to sell hand sanitizer during COVID

A 51-year-old Castle Rock resident was recently found guilty on 15 counts of fraud by jurors in Denver federal court.

According to a court document, Rico Tomas Garcia received $2.4 million from two businesses at the outset of the COVID pandemic. He spent the money to purchase a vehicle and three properties without delivering any of the promised product.

Garcia agreed in April 2020 to provide nine million 16-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer to a Virginia-based distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety work gear, according to the grand jury indictment in his case. A second company financed the deal for the distributor.

If reached in full, the deal would have paid Garcia $37.8 million. But Garcia reportedly moved the first $2.4 million paid to him into accounts held by three corporations operated by he and his girlfriend.

A month after making the deal, none of the product was delivered and the finance company halted payments and demanded a refund. Instead, Garcia, according to the indictment, falsified documents about his arrangements with a Chinese manufacturer of the hand sanitizer.

The contract was terminated in June of that year.

Garcia allegedly bought homes in Topanga Canyon, California and Sedalia, Colorado, plus an undisclosed Nevada property, with the ill-gotten proceeds. Federal prosecutors also allege Garcia moved over a million dollars of the remaining money into offshore accounts in the Caribbean.

A federal grand jury indicted Garcia in April 2024. He was taken into custody eight months later. The jury reached its verdict March 9 after a week-long trial, finding him guilty of nine counts of wire fraud and six counts of money laundering.

Meanwhile, the distributor and its finance company are still trying to resolve their finances through a civil lawsuit filed the year the deal went south.

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 8.

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