"It was the A": How a love of the Avalanche helped a Navy Corpsman get through the fight of his life

It all started when he was a teenager, when he tagged along with his parents for a multi-week hitch in the Northeast U.S. and Canada in their jobs as “Carnies” – traveling carnival employees. Despite being born in Seattle and raised mostly in Colorado, Aaron Allen somehow took a liking to the hockey team in Quebec as they passed through. Partly, he admits, to be the contrarian to his father, Don, who proclaimed his newfound love for the Montreal Canadiens on the same trip.

“I started following them with a passion. I mean, how could you not love a team with Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote on it? Then, the team that I loved in Quebec moves to where I lived in Colorado,” Allen said. “It was like out of a storybook.”

The passion for the team only grew stronger. Despite enlisting as a Navy corpsman at age 17, in 1995, and beginning his own nomadic professional life, the Avalanche was Allen’s constant companion and comfort – through basic training at Camp Pendleton to a village in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when, on an October day in 2007, his life would change forever.

On patrol in his new role as a corpsman for the Navy Fleet Marine Force Corps, in the War in Afghanistan,  second in a convoy of vehicles, an improvised explosive device hit the lead vehicle. The gunner in the turret of the lead vehicle was struck and, Allen knew, in immediate need of medical attention. Before waiting for his fellow Marines to establish a secure perimeter, Allen said he dismounted from his vehicle to aid the gunner, who was severely injured.

“I wasn’t able to save him,” Allen says, slowly, with welling emotion.

All Allen said remembers from the moment of that terrible realization is “yelling, then a flash.”

While still tending to the mortally wounded Marine, a rocket-propelled grenade from the enemy struck nearby. The shrapnel severely damaged most of his lower back and broke the tailbone. One of his ankles was essentially turned the wrong way. The shrapnel did damage elsewhere, including the brain.

He survived, however. And you know what he really, truly believes helped save him?

“It was the ‘A’,” Allen says. “The A of the Avalanche has helped me through so much shit in my life. Military people, we’re all superstitious anyway. It’s like, when we all grab a handful of dirt on the battlefield. I had my Avs gear on too. I believe the A helped save me again.”

Underneath Allen’s military uniform, he had on a Peter Forsberg home white Avalanche jersey.  Other days, he wore a burgundy road Sakic jersey.

When his mentor, or “Sea Daddy” – a gruff older Navy corpsman who is still active – visited him in his hospital room and marveled at his resilience, Allen said he pulled up his bed blanket to reveal another Avs shirt and told him “The ‘A’ saved me.”

Today, Allen can mostly walk on his own, though he needs a cane at times. He lives in Portland, Ore., with his girlfriend.

But he’s in another fight for his life. Several months ago, it was learned that what was originally diagnosed as a kidney stone was actually a cancerous tumor on the kidney, and the cancer spread. While he said his doctors are optimistic the cancer can be fully excised, Allen lives a life of multiple surgeries and radiation for that – plus the ongoing pain of the injuries suffered 12 years ago.

Still, there is no self pity in Allen’s voice. He knows he is lucky to have so much support not only from his parents, Don and Ann, and his girlfriend, but the many members of the “Avs Fam.”

“I’ve gotten to know so many of them, and many are who I consider to be real, true friends,” said Allen, 41.

Among those in his Avs Fam is former Avs enforcer Scott Parker. Allen named his own son Parker, partially because of his admiration for him, and also because he once lived in Parker, Colorado. It was only a few months ago, though, that Parker had heard of Allen and his story. When he did, he phoned him and the two have since become close, from a distance. Parker has done a lot of other work with wounded veterans.

The joy in Allen’s voice when talking about his new relationship with Parker and his wife, Francesca, is plainly evident.

“I mean, I couldn’t believe it when he first called. I mean, “The Sheriff” called me!” he said.

Because he was on active duty at such a young age, and because he hasn’t lived in Colorado for a long time, Allen has seen very few Avs games in person.

Partially because his girlfriend is from St. Louis and a Blues fan, Allen is hoping health and finances permit them to come to the Feb. 16 Avs game at the Pepsi Center against the Blues. If he were able to meet probably his biggest Avs hero, Sakic, well that wouldn’t suck either.

“I know it sounds corny, but that team has just meant so much to me. I’m not scared of death, but I’m scared of dying, if that makes any sense,” Allen said. “But I know that, no matter what, the ‘A’ will always have my back, and I’ll have theirs.”