Patrick and the Wah-Who’s against the St. Louis Blues?

Detroit is no longer the Avalanche’s archrival. To the Avs, the Red Wings are dead things. When Detroit changed conferences, Motown was No Mo’ to Denver. The Lug Nuts might as well be playing in the Eastern Hemisphere instead of in the Eastern Conference.

The Avs beat the Wings on Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena, and the earth didn’t shake, and the sky didn’t fall. So what? The enmity, and the enemy, are gone.

Even Patrick Roy has let go. He used to hate Detroit like Detroit hated Ralph Nader. However, when Roy took over as the Avalanche coach this season, he told me: “Detroit can’t be our arch- rival anymore. We only play them twice a year, and won’t play them in the playoffs unless we both make the Stanley Cup Finals. We got to find a new rival now.”

I think Roy and the Avs have made a Louis & Clark discovery.

Say hello to our little friends: The Arch Rival St. Louis Blues.

Think Coors vs. Budweiser. How about St. Patrick vs. St. Louie?

This potential rivalry has been brewing for a while. Don’t forget that the last time the Avs won the Stanley Cup title, with St. Patrick in goal and in control, they beat St. Louis in the Western Conference finals in five games. Three reached overtime.

And, on Saturday afternoon at The Can, the relevant-again Avalanche, the NHL’s ice, ice babies — five players on the team were born in the 1990s — played those Blues Bros. tight down to the end before losing 2-1.

That was a game of ice and men. No slippery slope Saturday.

There are no moral victories here in professional sports, but there can be feel-good losses, and this was one. “I know the fans are disappointed, but I know they were entertained,” Roy said. “We deserved a much better chance to win than they did. … We played good, very good. I’m very proud of our team. We showed a lot of good things. We played better in this loss than we did in the win against Detroit.”

Dissing the Red Wings, who have 16 fewer points than the Avalanche this season, isn’t out of style, but Roy admitted St. Louis is beginning to feel like a rival.

You can’t be a rival, Nebraska always declared to Colorado, until you win. Well, the Buffs began to win, and the Corn- huskers had to acknowledge they existed. And the Blues feel the Avalanche gaining on them, even though they have won all three meeting this season.

“It’s a lot different than last season,” St. Louis center Derek Roy said in the locker room Saturday. “They’re young, and they are tough, and this felt a lot like a playoff game.”

Colorado’s Roy certain agreed with the Blues’ Roy. He said the only difference was the Avs whacked the post on a power play, and the Blues scored moments afterward at the other end for a 1-0 lead. The Avs had five real scoring opportunities in the final minutes of the third period, and couldn’t covert one.

P.A. Parenteau was the most frustrated player. Even though he had the Avs’ only goal, he wasn’t able to score in separate point-blank situations. On the first, the puck slammed off his left skate; on the second, the puck skidded past him. I suggested to him later that he was denied a hat trick.

“I can’t believe what happened. The puck should have gone left skate, right skate, in. It usually does for me. The other, I couldn’t get a stick on it. We were right there.”

There was some old-time religion and old-time hockey in the building, with a screaming crowd of 18,137 getting into the mood as if this were 1996 or 2001. We had scuffling and body blocks, a check to Paul Stastny that forced him to leave after his first shift, and speedskating and bobsledding, and we had a smell of a rivalry.

Roy, by the way, is going to be the NHL’s coach of the year.

Get this: The Avs could have pulled to within one point of the division-leading Blues (16-0-1 in games against Central teams), but remained in third place behind Chicago. With 18 games to go, and a bunch against Canadian muffins on the schedule, the Avs are a lock to get into the playoffs.

But they could play St. Louis in the first round, or the second.

That’s kind of how a real rivalry gets rolling, Roy offered.

Beware the Ides of March and Arc, Avs.

But, be warned of Patrick and those Wah-Hoos.

Woody Paige: woody@woodypaige.com or twitter.com/woodypaige