DENVER — Let�s fight. But let�s set a few rules first. For starters, let me take away your heart. Then that overhand right you like to throw, your biggest weapon, let me take away that, too. How about your vision and your legs, too? You can�t use those either. You get none of that, yet I will show no mercy. Hardly sounds like a fair fight, right? Welcome to the world of the Colorado Avalanche. Joe Sakic�s hernia and Kurt Sauer�s injured neck have kept them out of 26 games each, and counting. Ryan Smyth has been out since the beginning of the new year. That�s 14 games, and counting. Paul Stastny, the team�s scoring leader, is out 2-3 weeks after surgery to remove his appendix. Combined, Avalanche players have missed more than 170 games because of injury. The injuries have beaten the Avalanche this year more than the opponents� sticks. The Avalanche has limped to fight after fight underpowered. Yet, coming out of the weekend�s All-Star break, the team sits three points out of first place in the Western Conference�s Northwest Division. Chicago visits Wednesday. Had the Avalanche beaten Minnesota on Friday at the Pepsi Center � instead of losing 3-2 � it would�ve been in a divisional tie for first with the Calgary Flames heading into the break. Instead Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville watched his team give all it had only to come up short again. It�s easy to blame the coach and general manager in these situations. But name another coach or team in any sport who has the team within whispering distance of first place with the kind of losses the Avalanche has had. Sometimes injuries are perfectly gift-wrapped excuses. Other times, they�re reasons. This is one of those other times. However, there are games remaining. The Northwest Division is a five-way log jam. Eight points separate first-place Minnesota from fifth-place Edmonton. Three points separate first and fourth. Edmonton sits five points behind the Avalanche, eight points behind the Wild. The division has been that way for several years. Quenneville doesn�t expect it to change between now and the playoffs either. So, there�s no time to lick fresh wounds, and there�s even less time to lament about an unfortunate situation. �It�s been tough, but everybody in this room has battled,� Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles said. �Look, our goaltending has stepped up. Everybody is working hard. It�s just a matter of continuing to work hard and trying to outwork the other teams. �We�ve got three of our big guys out, and quite a few of our other guys are injured. And every injury takes its toll. It�s never easy to build cohesion when you�ve got guys in and out of the lineup a lot. But still, guys are stepping up, and we�re finding ways to win.� The Avalanche was once a team of flash and dash. The team was deep with scorers. It wasn�t enough to score then. The goal had to have style points, too. Those days are long gone. Many of the players are, too. The ones who remain, sport suits and dress shoes instead hockey uniforms and skates. The Avalanche must grind out victories now. The players have to play with a nothing-to-lose mentality. They have to get dirty and to the little things � playing tight instead of wide open, relying on close-knit checking and physicality instead of speed and flare � that fans often find boring. And they have to do it with what appears to be a different set of players every other week. And disagreeing with his defenseman or simply putting on a positive face, Quenneville�s new players haven�t affected the team�s play too much. �With the change in personnel, one thing that has helped is having our own farm team,� Quenneville said. �It�s helped us as far as guys coming into our lineup knowing the system. … No matter who plays during the course of the game there�s a comparable system. … For the most part, guys should be comfortable playing.� The team remains in the race, for now. The biggest question is how long can the Avalanche put up a fight such as this?

Clothier and image consultant Jeffrey Landis, right, with tailor Frank Zaccaria at Montopoli Custom Clothiers in Chicago. Landis said sales dropped 10 percent in October and November from the year-ago period at the store. Photo by (AP)