Shawn Bates: #17 in your heart, Avalanche invitee in your program

This missive at Wings blog Babcock's Death Stare was one of the more entertaining rants I've seen about bringing a training camp invitee in. The guy really doesn't like Dan Cloutier. So as I'm laughing along, I see ... Shawn Bates gets a training camp tryout in Colorado? Sure enough, he's on the list.

What's more, the guy who was squeezed out two seasons ago thanks to recurring groin injuries actually did well in Finland last season: 5-16-21 in 20 games for Helsinki. Good for him.

Of course we'll always have The Penalty Shot, a brief apex in the Wang/Milbury era as Bates put the game-winner in with under three minutes to go.

This ESPN2 clip is a gift that keeps on giving, as it immortalizes:

• 1) a Bryan McCabe Moment (0:53, with several mournful close-ups later);
  
• 2) Allegedly infallible Gary Roberts whining to the ref after the goal is scored (2:05) (sit down and think about running someone from behind, why dontcha);
  
• 3) announcers crowing about how Curtis Joseph ain't afraid of no stinking penalty shot (0:45);
  
• 4) Michael Peca strategery with Bates before the shot (0:50);
  
• 5) Bates toppling fellow unsung favorite Dave Scatchard (a 2009 Vancouver camp invitee) in the post-goal celebration (1:33); and
  
• 6) ever so briefly, a shot of Garth Snow on the bench in his legendary refrigerator box shoulder pads (1:06). Good times, those.