I'd like to meet:
The Colorado Avalanche are a professional men's ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1996 and 2001. The franchise was founded in Quebec and were the Quebec Nordiques until moving to Denver, Colorado in 1995. The Avalanche have won eight division titles and went to the playoffs in each of their first 10 seasons in Denver, with the streak ending in 2007.[1] The Avalanche are the only team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup their first season after a re-location.
From the time of their move to Denver in 1995, until the end of the 1998–99 season, the Avalanche played their home games at McNichols Arena. Since then, the Avalanche have played at the Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche have a notable rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings, partly due to having met each other five times in seven years in the Western Conference playoffs between 1996 and 2002.
Franchise history
The Quebec Nordiques were one of the World Hockey Association's (WHA) original teams when the league began play in 1972. Though first awarded to a group in San Francisco, the team quickly moved to Quebec City when the California deal soured because of financial and arena problems.[3] During their seven WHA seasons, the Nordiques won the Avco World Trophy once, in 1977 and lost the finals once, in 1975.[4] In 1979, the franchise entered the NHL, along with the WHA's Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, and Winnipeg Jets.[5]
After making the postseason for seven consecutive years, from 1981 to 1987, the Nordiques became one of the worst teams in the league: from 1987–88 to 1991–92, the team finished last in their division every season and three times had the worst record of the league.[6] As a result, the team earned three consecutive first overall draft picks, used to select Mats Sundin (1989), Owen Nolan (1990) and Eric Lindros (1991),[7][8] even though Lindros had made it clear he did not wish to play for the Nordiques.[9] Lindros did not wear the team's jersey for the press photographs, only holding it when it was presented to him[10] and, on advice from his mother, he refused to sign a contract and began a holdout that lasted over a year. On June 30, 1992, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for five players, the rights to Swedish prospect Peter Forsberg, two first-round draft picks, and US$15 million.[11] In hindsight, the Lindros trade is seen as one of the most one-sided deals in sports history,[12] and a major foundation for the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise successes over the next decade.[13] In the first season after the trade, the 1992–93 NHL season, the Nordiques reached the playoffs for the first time in six years. Two years later, they won the Northeast Division and had the second best regular season record of the league.
While the team experienced on-ice success, it struggled financially. Quebec City was the smallest market in the league[14] and in 1995, team owner Marcel Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec's provincial government[15] as well as a new publicly funded arena.[14] The bailout fell through and Aubut subsequently sold the team to a group of investors in Denver.[16] On May 1995, the COMSAT Entertainment Group, announced an agreement in principle to purchase the team.[17] The deal became official on July 1, 1995 and 12,000 season tickets were sold in the 37 days after the announcement of the move to Denver.[17] The franchise was presented as the Colorado Avalanche on August 10, 1995.[17] They became the second NHL franchise to play in the city: the Colorado Rockies played in town from 1976 to 1982 after which they moved to New Jersey to become the Devils.
39 Tyler Arnason
15 Andrew Brunette "A"
28 Ben Guite
23 Milan Hejduk
37 T.J. Hensick
17 Jaroslav Hlinka
14 Ian Laperriere "A"
11 Cody McCormick
27 Scott Parker
12 Brad Richardson
19 Joe Sakic "C"
94 Ryan Smyth
26 Paul Stastny
40 Marek Svatos
8 Wojtek Wolski
Defensemen
52 Adam Foote
24 Ruslan Salei
5 Brett Clark
48 Kyle Cumiskey
6 Jeff Finger
22 Scott Hannan
44 Jordan Leopold
4 John-Michael Liles
34 Kurt Sauer
Goalies
31 Peter Budaj
60 José ThéodoreAvalanche center Paul Stastny has been named to the 2008 NHL Western Conference All-Star roster, the league announced on Thursday. He will make his first career All-Star appearance in the 2008 NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta on Jan. 27
Following an injury-plagued 2006-07 campaign, Avalanche forward Marek Svatos has bounced back in a big way this season by displaying his goal-scoring touch.
Lake Erie Monsters center T.J. Hensick has been named to the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star roster for the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Reebok. The AHL All-Star Classic will be played Monday, Jan. 28 in Binghamton, N.Y.
Sat Jan 12, 2008 Avalanche Hurricanes 5:00 PM
Sun Jan 13, 2008 Avalanche Panthers 3:00 PM
Tue Jan 15, 2008 Avalanche Lightning 5:30 PM
Fri Jan 18, 2008 Blackhawks Avalanche 7:00 PM
Sun Jan 20, 2008 Blue Jackets Avalanche 6:00 PM
Tue Jan 22, 2008 Predators Avalanche 7:00 PM
Thu Jan 24, 2008 Wild Avalanche 7:00 PM
Wed Jan 30, 2008 Blackhawks Avalanche 7:30 PM
Fri Feb 1, 2008 Avalanche Red Wings 5:30 PM
Sat Feb 2, 2008 Avalanche Blues 6:30 PM
Mon Feb 4, 2008 Coyotes Avalanche 7:00 PM
Wed Feb 6, 2008 Avalanche Sharks 8:30 PM
Sat Feb 9, 2008 Avalanche Canucks 8:00 PM
Tue Feb 12, 2008 Ducks Avalanche 7:30 PM
Thu Feb 14, 2008 Blues Avalanche 7:00 PM
Sun Feb 17, 2008 Avalanche Blackhawks 11:00 AM
Mon Feb 18, 2008 Red Wings Avalanche 6:00 PM
Wed Feb 20, 2008 Avalanche Ducks 8:00 PM
Fri Feb 22, 2008 Avalanche Coyotes 7:00 PM
Sun Feb 24, 2008 Avalanche Oilers 6:00 PM
Tue Feb 26, 2008 Avalanche Flames 7:00 PM
Wed Feb 27, 2008 Avalanche Canucks 8:00 PM