NHL FanHouse 1-on-1: Avalanche Coach Joe Sacco

FanHouse reached Avalanche coach Joe Sacco on the phone in his office at Colorado's practice facility Tuesday morning. The Avalanche, predicted by many to finish last in the West, is off to a 2-0 start after wins over San Jose and Vancouver. The first-year coach was understandably reluctant to celebrate too much -- especially with a seven-game road trip beginning Thursday in Nashville -- but was happy to talk about his team's surprise start.

What were the keys to your two wins?

It starts with Craig Anderson in goal, of course. He has been outstanding for us. I also feel that we laid the groundwork in training camp for the kind of style that we're going to play, and the players have really responded.

"I can tell you there isn't a single person here who thinks this is a last-place team. One of our biggest themes in meetings is that we are going to surprise teams. I really believe it." How would you describe the system you have implemented?

Aggressive, lots of puck pursuit. We need to be a difficult team to play against. We have to forecheck hard, play with some structure and create turnovers in the offensive zone. We have to bring tons of energy and effort to the rink very night.

At your season opener at home, there was also plenty of emotion.

That was a special night for our franchise -- honoring Joe Sakic. Everyone on our team looks up to Joe. Seeing he and his family, seeing how much he meant to our fans, that really got us going. The arena was packed and you felt like you were part of an historic event. Our players wanted to come up big and they did.

Were you as happy with your effort against Vancouver (a 3-0 win)?

That was much different. We came out flat, but Craig kept us in the game. Little by little, we started to take over and we were opportunistic. But ultimately, that game was about Craig Anderson. We won and I had plenty to go over in the video when we got back to practice.

As a team that needs to focus on its forecheck and keep chances-against down, you do have something of an advantage in a pretty good scoring line.

We do. We've had Paul Stastny (one goal and three assists) between Milan Hedjuk (0-3) and Wojtek Wolski (3-1-4). That's a high-skill line. We also have Marek Svatos and an up-and-coming kid like Matt Duchene, so hopefully we can have a balanced attack.

Has Duchene surprised you, considering he's just 18 years old?

We're playing two 18-year-olds. (2009 second round pick) Ryan O'Reilly, too. We're very happy with both of them. I didn't know much about Duchene until he came to camp. He's a very smart, very skilled hockey player with exceptional speed. They're both getting good ice time, around 12-14 minutes. You just want to see them progressing and not put too much pressure on them.

How important is it to have a respected Cup-winning veteran like Adam Foote as your captain?

Adam's been great for us. He's very excited to be captain because he knows he has a good crew of young players with him. He's vocal and he's a competitor. Our entire coaching staff is made up of first-year NHL coaches, so it's been good to have Adam as a sounding board on some issues.

Were you aware that so many people picked you to finish last in the West?

That's okay. If anything, we'll use it as motivation. I can tell you there isn't a single person here who thinks this is a last-place team. One of our biggest themes in our meetings is that we are going to surprise teams. I really believe it.

What do you hope to accomplish this week in practice before your seven-game road trip begins Thursday?

We're spending a lot of time working on our play away from the puck. Especially with so many young players, we are a work in progress. There's always teaching to be done.