Founded in 1972, Colorado Avalanche is one of the big names in professional ice hockey and is based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They are among the 5 teams that play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of NHL. Their home is at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Their kit consists of colours blue, black, burgundy, white and silver. The name of this team was chosen through a poll by COMSAT Entertainment Group, who bought the club in 1995. It was originally called the Québec Nordiques.

Stanley Cup is the biggest competition in the United States in ice hockey and The Avalanche have won it two times, in 1995-96 and in 2000-01 season. Although, the birth place of this franchise was Quebec but in 1995 it moved to Colorado.  This is the 2^nd team who has played for the city of Colorado. Last team was called Colorado Rockies who played there from 1976 to 1982. After 1982 they moved to New Jersey and are called the Devils.

The Franchise is owned by Kroenke Sports Enterprises, whose chairman is billionaire businessman Stan Krenke.  The Teams head coach is Joe Sacco and their caption is Milan Hejduk.  The Avalanche have twice won the Stanley Cup, Conference championships two time, Presidents Trophies two time and the Division championship eight time. The last trophy they won was the Division championship in 2002-03 season which has been a long time. It’s a little bit disappointing to see such a team with lot of history, to not have won for so long now. Their first home was at McNichols Sports Arena when they were in Denver, from 1995-1999.

The Avalanche’s biggest rivals are Detroit Red Wings, mainly because they have faced each other so many times in the playoffs.  In seven years of Western Conference playoffs history, these two teams have faced each other 5 times in 7 years from 1996 to 2002. In 1996, Detroit Red Wings won 4-2. In that playoff, there was an unfortunate incident in game 6, where Detroit player, Kris Draper was seriously injured when Avalanche player Claude Lemieux, was checked into the boards. After that incident Facial reconstructive surgery was needed and Kris’s jaw was wired shut for next 5 weeks. That sparked the rivalry between the two teams, which is considered by many as most intense in NHL history.  Next year, even more drama erupted when in the last meeting of the season both teams ended up in huge brawl. That game finished with 9 fights and 39 penalties. There were 148 penalty minutes, 11 goals were scored and the Red Wings won in overtime with the score of 6-5. During these years the rivalry was intense and during playoffs the Avalanche won 3 times, while the Red Wings won twice the Stanley Cup.