For being a fairly young team, the Colorado Avalanche, a professional hockey team in the National Hockey League, have been an impressive unit since their berth in Denver, Colorado in 1995. The team is a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference and has brought home eight division titles and earned a playoff spot in each of their first ten years. The Avalanche brought home the coveted Stanley Cup Championship in 1996 and 2001 defying all odds and becoming the only team in NHL history to win the title during their first year of play after a re-location. The Avalanche was founded in Quebec, Canada and played as the Quebec Nordiques before relocating to Denver in 1995. But Denver is where the heart is and they have had a committed fan base since the beginning. Up until 1999, the Avalanche played at McNichols Sports Arena but moved to play at the Pepsi Center since then.

The Colorado Avalanche started off with a bang in 1996 winning their very first game against the Detroit Red Wings, who would ultimately become their rivals due to the fact that they would play against them five times in seven years in the Western Conference playoffs. They went on to win the Stanley Cup that year defeating the Florida Panthers in a 4-0 sweep. Two years later, the Avalanche had the biggest representation in the 1998 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament with four of their players winning Olympic medals. Top players for the team during the 90s and on were Peter Forsberg, Valeri Kamensky and Alexei Gusarov, all members of the Triple Gold Club, which is a group of ice hockey players who have won the Stanley Cup title, and a World Championship and Olympic gold medal, a difficult feat and very rare.

The second Stanley Cup title came in 2001 when the Avalanche defeated the reigning champion New Jersey Devils in a 4-3 series. Avalanche top player Joe Sakic led in scoring and was the most valuable player. Sakic would go on to win a gold medal for Canada in the Winter Olympics that next year along with teammates Rob Blake and Adam Foote. With a few coaching changing throughout the 2000s and a NHL league wide lockout, which canceled the season in 2004-05, the Avalanche had a difficult time producing the same results as they once had in the 90s. Another change came when General Manager Pierre Lacroix resigned, although serving in that role since the Quebec days in 1994, and Francois Giguere was hired to help bring the Avalanche back on top of the leaderboard. But the 2006-07 season didn’t have the results Giguere was hoping for as the team missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1993-94 season, a big blow to players, fans, and the franchise. But Colorado rallied back and earned their playoff spot the following season although ultimately loosing to Detroit in the second round of playoffs.

The woes continued for the Avalanche amidst gaining a new head coach, Tony Granato, and an assistant coach, Dave Burr in 2008. They finished the season 13th in their division and 28th overall, a disappointing and embarrassing placement for the franchise. In 2009, the Colorado Avalanche performed a complete makeover firing Giguere, Granato, Burr and several others on the coaching staff. Greg Sherman stepped into the General Manager position while Joe Sacco is leading the team as head coach. Although team captain and hero Sakic, retired in 2009, the Colorado Avalanche are beginning to fuse as a new team and make plays for themselves. Colorado wants to be the powerhouse they once were in the 90s and with things shaken up a bit at the top, fans might just see their beloved Avalanche back in the playoffs and bringing home that Stanley Cup.