Archive for October 5th, 2009
A Heated Western Conference Rivalry
The Colorado Avalanche are just one of those teams that hockey fans either love or hate. They are the hockey equivalent of the New York Yankees in that they inspire a bitter polarization. You can find hundreds of Colorado Avalanche jerseys dotting the stands when they play an away game, and the Pepsi Center rocks hard when they have a home ice advantage.
Until their inaugural 1995 season in Colorado, the Avalanche competed as the Quebec Nordiques. The Avalanche have won two Stanley Cups in their brief history – one in 1996 and the other in 2001. During most of the late ’90s and early 2000s, the Avalanche engaged in a bitter rivalry with their hated Western Conference rivals the Detroit Red Wings. Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and goaltender Patrick Roy represented the core of the team in its glory days.