. The team colors are steel blue, burgundy, silver, white and black. They have won two Stanley Cups, two Conference Championships and eight Division Championships.

A Brief History

The team was founded in 1972 in Quebec and was known as the Quebec Nordiques. They were part of the World Hockey Association (WHA) till 1979 after which they entered the NHL. The Nordiques had a few successful years and made the playoffs a number of times, but they had a few losing seasons as well. Finally, due to financial difficulties, owner Marcel Aubut sold the team to a group in Denver. In 1995, they were introduced as the Colorado Avalanche.

They played their early home games at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. They won their first game against the Detroit Red Wings. They went on to make the playoffs and went through to the Stanley Cup Finals. They defeated the Florida Panthers to win their first Stanley Cup. They are the only team in the NHL to have won the Stanley Cup in the first season after relocating. Three of their players became a part of the Triple Gold Club by winning the World Championship gold, Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup. They were Valeri Kamensky, Alexei Gusarov and Peter Forsberg.

The Colorado Avalanche moved to their new home arena, the Pepsi Center, in 1999. In 2000, the team along with the arena was bought by Stan Kroenke. That season was the club’s best so far. They won the Northwest division and the President’s Trophy for their winning season. They then beat the St. Louis Blues to take the Conference Championship and carried on to the Stanley Cup Finals to face the defending champions, the New Jersey Devils. The Avalanche defeated the Devils to lift their second Stanley Cup and their last so far.

Since then, the team has not reached the Finals again though they made the playoffs and have won the Division Championships a few times. They have acquired Scott Hannan and Ryan Smith who are expected to make a difference in the team in the next season. The Avalanche holds the NHL record for having the longest streak of sell out attendance with 487 games. They also hold the record for the most consecutive Division titles with nine titles between 1995 and 2003. They have retired the jersey numbers of two players, Ray Bourque 77 and Patrick Roy 33. They were both inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame as well along with Jari Kurri and Bryan Trottier.