The Colorado Avalanche already want a piece of the Minnesota Wild after they absolutely embarrassed them on Thursday, yet with the game taking place in Colorado this time around, the feeling of revenge might get a little more personal toward Matt Cooke.
Cooke didn’t really receive retribution from the Avs from his knee-to-knee on Tyson Barrie during Thursday’s blowout, but Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy provided the Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla with some vague words of warning.
“One day, it might be the opposite,” Roy told Kiszla. “One of our players will hurt one of their guys. And I’m sure everybody is going to be very happy to remind (Minnesota) what happened to Tyson Barrie.”
As a player owning a resume of controversial hits, it sounds like Cooke, 36, isn’t frightened by the possibility of retribution on Saturday night.
“I always have my head on a swivel,” Cooke said to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “That’s the way I play the game. I hit guys and I expect to be hit. That’s part of the game and what I expect. Obviously emotions are high and things are said at times, but it really doesn’t have any effect on how I prepare to play the game tonight.”
Considering that season-opening decimation, the Avalanche would be foolish to spend too much energy chasing Cooke down. Even so, emotions should be running high in Colorado, so the polarizing winger better stay alert.
(Maybe even more than usual.)