A deep look at how the Colorado Avalanche got their name

I’ll be honest when I say that I didn’t know a lot about the team name history of the Colorado Avalanche hockey team. It came as a surprise to me when I read it recently.

If you didn’t know—and there will be new NHL/Avalanche fans who might come across this—the Colorado Avalanche used to be the Quebec Nordiques back in the day. The Nordiques formed in 1972 in the WHL. They stayed there until 1995, and under new ownership,, were exploring a new location to call home. The new owner was Charlie Lyons.

Typically, when a team relocates to a different city, a new name and uniform comes into focus. That is exactly what happened with the organization. Did you know that the team was close to being named the Rocky Mountain Extreme? That was news to me, I must admit. I’m glad that they didn’t go through with that.

Reporter Adrian Dater got a scoop from somebody about this new team name. Upon hearing that the name had been leaked, ownership reversed course, deciding against the name due to outrage from fans. I’d say that worked out for the better. “Rocky Mountain Extreme” sounds somewhat like what some sports drink or XFL team would be called.

Well, as linked above, you can read the entire story from Dater. I found it quite interesting. The back and forth of “was it or was it not going to be called the Extreme?” It kind of just goes to show that they wanted to put that idea to bed pretty early on after it was leaked. I get it. It sounded like a bad idea. I’m glad they did not go through with it.

All that being said, there were several other name ideas for the new Colorado franchise, and fans got to vote on it. They were: Rapids, Wranglers, Cougars, Black Bears, Outlaws, Renegades and Storm. Of course, there are some different leagues in sports with some of these names, including the Denver Outlaws, which are a lacrosse team. The Wranglers are an AHL team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Colorado Rapids are a team in Major League Soccer.

This leads me to my last idea: If you were to rename the Colorado Avalanche, what name would you pick?