NHL Team Guide: Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche franchise was founded in 1972 as the Quebec Nordiques, one of the founding franchises of the old World Hockey Association (WHA). The Nordiques joined the NHL in 1979 as a result of the merger of the WHA and NHL.
After the 1994-95 season, the franchise was sold and moved to Denver, Colorado, where it became the Avalanche. Fans of the Avalanche have access to the team’s full schedule on TV. Colorado fans can watch the Avalanche on TV on NBC and NBCSN when they are part of a national broadcast. The rest of the Colorado schedule can be watched on Altitude Sports. Avalanche games are available for live streaming on the AltitudeNOW app or by visiting AltitudeNOW.com.
NHL Standings
The Nordiques were an East Coast team entering the league in the Adams Division of the old Wales Conference. With the move to Colorado, it made more sense to change divisions. Currently, the Avalanche are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference.
Championship History
The franchise has won nine division championships, including its very first in the first year the team was in Colorado (1995-96). That is also the first year the franchise won a Stanley Cup becoming the first team to do so in the first year after a relocation.
The Avalanche also won division titles in 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, and 2013-14. Colorado won conference championships in 1995-96 and 2000-01, which are also the seasons in which the team won its Stanley Cups.
Home of the Avalanche
Colorado plays its home NHL schedule at the Pepsi Center, which is located in Denver. The arena opened in 1999 and has played host to numerous events including the NCAA’s Frozen Four in 2007, the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and more. The Pepsi Center seats 17,809 for hockey games.
Colorado's Best
The Avalanche has a handful of players represented in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The best of them all was Joe Sakic, who spent his entire 21-year career with the franchise. He started in 1988 as a member of the Nordiques and played for Colorado on both Stanley Cup winning teams. Sakic won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the 1996 playoffs. He also claimed a league MVP in 2000-01 when he scored a career-high 54 goals and 118 points. Sakic is the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer with 625 and point scorer with 1,641.
Patrick Roy is the only NHL player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy three times. He won two of those with Colorado leading the Avalanche to the 1996 and 2001 Stanley Cup titles. Roy won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender three times (1989, ’90, ’92) and won over 200 games with both Montreal and Colorado.
Peter Stastny is the franchise’s second-leading scorer with 1,048 career points. He played 10 years for the franchise all of which were in Quebec. In 1981, Stastny became the first player in NHL history to score over 100 points in his rookie season. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL Rookie of the Year.
Author: Dan Anderson