Be advised Mile High City, we have been invaded.
If you have been to a Colorado Avalanche game recently (home or away), you may have noticed a group of rambunctious fans cheering widely, often in thick accents and proudly waving flags. Who you are witnessing is the Eurolanche, a European fan club for the Avs.
“I got an idea of uniting the European fans, because there was, there still is, a large community in Europe of [Avalanche] fans,” said David Puchovsky, who is the founder, President and editor-in-chief of Eurolanche.
In their 10th year of existence, Eurolanche has grown to 640 members from 40 different countries. 10 members of the group are currently in Denver, participating in the ninth Eurolanche Invasion.
“The main idea of this invasion project is to bring as many European fans to the Pepsi Center as possible,” said Puchovsky. “Every time, most of the people with me here are new.”
So what keeps Eurolanche coming back to Colorado? The Avalanche would be the obvious answer, but additionally, they love the Centennial State.
“From the city of Denver, the state of Colorado, there are such amazing places to visit,” he said. “It’s probably the nicest state in the United States.”
Eurolanche also check out road games each year. On this trip, they headed to California to see the Avalanche take on the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks.
“We were searching for some options in California, and one day I asked the guys when we were here ‘what about Mexico?’ It was one of the best moments of our trip so far, because it’s crazy that we came to the United States for hockey and suddenly we were in Mexico for the first time in our lives.”
Six games in the books, one more to go. They’ve seen Hollywood, Tijuana and Red Rocks. The one thing the trip is missing? An Avalanche win, which, hopefully they will get Wednesday night. Even though this season has been a struggle for the Avs, Eurolanche is still keeping the faith.
“Every team must have some bad seasons, losing seasons, losing years. We hope and believe that the near future there will be some turnaround, and they will be the winning franchise again. It will happen, the question is when.”
Photo courtesy of Eurolanche