The Colorado Avalanche have seen a bounce back in their play this season after a dreadful 2016/17 campaign that saw them finishing with the worst record in the salary cap.
With 60 combined losses and only 22 wins, the Avs managed to register only 48 points last season. Heading into Saturday’s slate of games, Colorado occupies the first wild card position in the Western Conference with 84 points.
One of the reasons for the Avs turnaround (beside the MVP performance from Nathan MacKinnon) is how solid of a job Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier have down in the Colorado crease.
According to SportingCharts.com, the Avs finished with the second worse save percentage at .894 last year. This year, Varlamov is stopping .916 of shots directed at him, while Bernier put together a nice stretch of games and sits at .914 on the year. The former Los Angeles King, Toronto Maple Leaf and Anaheim Duck carried the club when Varlamov went down earlier this season, and with Bernier currently out with a neck injury, the Avs were forced to recall Andrew Hammond from San Antonio. Unfortunately for Hammond, he was struck with an errant stick while sitting on the bench, and was diagnosed with a concussion. So, the Avs were forced to go with the fourth goaltender on their depth chart, 22-year-old prospect Spencer Martin.
While Martin hasn’t appeared in any game action this season, he's breaking in a new set of Bauer 1S pads with a beautiful custom graphic that symbolizes the Avs unique logo, colour scheme and geographical location.
Those are simply stunning, just like the Rockies themselves. Those might be up there for the best custom graphic we’ve ever seen on a set of goalie pads, and the maroon colour really makes them stand out.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Martin throw a custom graphic on his gear. Two seasons ago, the Oakville, Ontario, product threw the Avs’ secondary maroon C logo on his Bauer leg pads for development camp.
In 31 games with the Rampage this season, Martin is 14-12-0 with a 3.05 goals against average and a .895 save percentage. Maybe he'll get some game action soon to show off these beauts.
(h/t Bauer Goalie)
