The Colorado Avalanche are in the Western Conference Final.
They swept the Kings. They beat the Wild 4-1, including a three-goal comeback in Game 5 that I rewound twice because I couldn't believe what I was watching. And Wednesday night at Ball Arena, they start a series against Vegas with the Stanley Cup Final on the other side of it.
If you live in Colorado, you can feel the city tightening up. Burgundy and blue everywhere. Sports bars filling up early. Kids wearing Mackinnon jerseys to school. Every grocery store checkout person has an opinion on the third line.
We love the Avs. Always have.
This run hits different for me though. And not just because I've been a fan for twenty years.
The Avs basically started this company
I've told this story a few times, but it bears repeating right now:
A few years back, I took my two oldest — they were 3 and 5 — to an Avs game. Somewhere in the second period, I looked at them in the seats next to me and ran the scenario in my head: what if they got separated from me right now?
They didn't have phones. They couldn't remember our phone numbers. They didn't know our address. If one of them wandered off to the bathroom and got turned around in the concourse, I had nothing — no plan, no tag, no system. Just hope that someone nice found them and that an arena employee figured it out before things got bad.
That "what if right now" moment is why myScanBandz exists. A QR code on a wristband. Scan it, register it once at home, and if anyone ever finds your kid wandering, they scan the same code and your phone rings. No app. No subscription. No batteries. (The setup takes about two minutes.)
So when I watch the Avs make a Cup run, I'm not just rooting for the team. I'm watching the building where the idea was born.
Ball Arena in the playoffs is a different animal
If you've never been to a playoff game at Ball Arena, here's what to expect:
It's loud in a way regular-season games aren't. Like, physically louder. The kind of loud where you tap your kid on the shoulder and they don't notice because the building is shaking.
The crowds outside are denser. Tailgating in the lots, lines wrapped around concourses, people drinking on the sidewalks of LoDo for two hours before puck drop. It's the same energy as Coors Field on opening weekend, but compressed into a tighter footprint.
Everyone is in matching colors. Burgundy jersey, blue jersey, occasional throwback. From thirty feet away your kid looks like every other kid in the building.
Cell service inside Ball Arena gets spotty. When the building is packed, the network is packed. "Just text me when you get back from the bathroom" doesn't work if neither of your phones has bars.
I'm a paramedic. I work big events. I know what "we got separated for ten minutes" looks like from both sides — the parent side and the responder side. At a playoff game, ten minutes of separation feels like a lifetime.
What I'd do if I were taking the kids
I'm hoping to get the kids to a game this run. If we make it down to Ball Arena, here's the routine:
Wristbands go on at the house. Not in the parking lot. Not at the gate. At the house, before the drive. Because I will forget. I have forgotten. The Sports band is the obvious pick. The Let's Go band works too if your kid leans more cheer-mode than sports-mode.
Pre-game scan check at the gate. Five seconds per kid. Just confirm the contact info is current. Done.
Family meet-up spot if anyone gets separated. Not "stay close" — that's not a plan. An actual physical location. "If you can't find us, go stand at Section 116 and wait." Tell every kid the same spot.
Gear tag stickers on the jerseys and the team hats. This is the other half of playoff games nobody talks about — stuff disappears. Hats get knocked off. Kids leave jerseys at the concession stand. A QR sticker on the inside tag means a $90 jersey comes back.
The bigger picture
Avs vs Vegas starts Wednesday. If they win that series, they're in the Stanley Cup Final the first week of June. Either way, the next two-to-six weeks are going to be the loudest Ball Arena has been in years.
It's also the front edge of what's shaping up to be the most crowded summer in modern American history — World Cup, America's 250th, festivals, travel, the works. A playoff run is a great rehearsal for what summer's going to feel like everywhere.
And speaking of crowds: I'll be at Boulder Creek Festival May 23 weekend — my first vendor booth ever, in my hometown.
The timing this weekend is almost too perfect. Friday afternoon I set up my first-ever vendor booth at Boulder Creek Festival — in my hometown, in the same county where I grew up watching this team. Then if everything's dialed in by sundown, I'm hoping to sneak down to Ball Arena for Game 2. First booth ever. Conference Final. The team that started the company that's about to sit on a table on Pearl Street.
Full circle doesn't even cover it.
If you've got Avs tickets this run, or you're hitting any other big stadium with the kids this summer — the wristbands and stickers are worth a look. Order takes about a week. Setup takes two minutes. The Avs are giving you plenty of nervous-tension chest-clenching moments already. Don't add "where did the 5-year-old go" to the list.
Go Avs.
— Todd
Founder, myScanBandz
@myscanbandz on Instagram