Colorado Avalanche players on ice again, and there is proof!

Ladies and gentlemen, there were Colorado Avalanche ice hockey players skating on Pepsi Center ice today, June 15, in the year of our Lord, 2020.

The Avalanche released a video just now of three players skating at the Can. They were Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog and Philipp Grubauer. Skating and shooting hockey pucks! Can you believe it? The video was 12 seconds long (hey thanks guys, Scorcese can keep his day job still I think) but at this stage, we’ll take anything we can get, right?

Here’s the video:

🚨This is not a drill!🚨

Gabe and Nate are running drills!#GoAvsGo https://t.co/2VHhByylx7

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 15, 2020

This is all part of the Avalanche Phase 2 return, where groups of no more than six players can voluntarily skate together. Formal training camp is still another 25 days away – July 10. But it’s nice to know that Nathan MacKinnon is back in the city of Denver, isn’t it? Same with Landy and all the others.

Who are all the others? Well, the Avs aren’t saying, but I know of some others, such as Ian Cole and Nazem Kadri, and I’m pretty sure Erik Johnson is or will be soon too. UPDATE: Avs Twitter posted a shot of Cole coming on the ice too:

Colesy is on the ice!!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/6GuvIqaJQH

— x-Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 15, 2020

I’ll tell you what: I haven’t been so excited to see Colorado Avalanche hockey players on the ice in, like forever. I know most of you feel the same way.

Let’s hope things keep going as planned in all this Return to Play initiative, and that I’m writing about actual Avalanche games again before too long.

Per NHL Phase 2 regulations, only one member of a team’s media relations department can be on hand when players are skating. Longtime media relations director Jean Martineau, for instance, is not allowed in the building (or at least he wasn’t today). No “regular” media is allowed inside, and won’t be for all of Phase 2. I am extremely hopeful that we’ll be allowed inside the building when training camp opens up, but we’ll see.