Note: These moments will be presented in chronological order. Additionally, "memorable" does not, in this case, refer exclusively to positive and successful moments.
The 30 Most Memorable Moments from 30 Years in Denver — Part 1
11. June 12, 2003 — More Awards for the Avs
Just two seasons after the Avs players won a collective five awards, five more honors were bestowed on them. Most notably, Peter Forsberg claimed his first and only Hart Memorial Trophy, signaling his MVP status during the 2002-03 NHL season; additionally, Milan Hejduk was awarded the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy after his breakout 50-50-goal campaign that season. He is the only Avalanche player to win the scoring title in the NHL.
Alongside these two awards, Forsberg also claimed the Art Ross Trophy, which is given annually to the player who scores the most total points each season. "Foppa" registered 106 points (29 Goals, 77 Assists), which was good enough to beat out Marcus Näslund, who scored 104 points (48 Goals, 56 Assists) for the Vancouver Canucks. Lastly, Hejduk and Forsberg shared the NHL Plus/Minus Award (which was discontinued after the 2007-08 season) with their shared +52 statistic. It was a wonderful time to be an Avs fan; the trophies were piling up a mile high.
12. March 8, 2004 — The Bertuzzi-Moore Incident
This moment is certainly infamous, and it's not one that Avs fans look upon fondly; however, there's no denying its place in Avs' history and its impact on the NHL and the overall legacy of the more brutal era of hockey in the early aughts.
Contextually speaking, this moment first traces back to a hit Steve Moore, a relative unknown, delivered to the aforementioned 104-point-scorer Marcus Näslund on February 16 2004. Näslund was one of the best players in the league at the time. The Moore hit concussed Näslund, and took him out of the next three Canucks games. There was no call on the hit, attributed to the fact that it was "a hockey play." While many still bemoan the play as dirty (and, objectively, it being a borderline hit at best and a dangerous hit at worst), the league issued no fines or suspensions to Moore. This, at the heart of it all, is what led to the on-ice assault. There's no defending what happens next, but the league should've acted. Regardless, when next the Avs and Canucks met, on March 8, 2004, Moore answered the bell by fighting noted goon Matt Cooke, but it apparently wasn't enough retribution.
Accordingly, later on in the game, Todd Bertuzzi, known for his physical play but not for being a dirty player, crossed the line when he literally took matters into his own hands. He came up behind Moore — who was entirely unaware of any impending danger and who neither had possession of the puck nor had any reason to expect any sort of physicality — grabbed the back of Moore's jersey, pulled his hand back as if winding up, and sucker-punched Moore in the jaw, rendering him unconscious. The punch and the sheer shock of it all was obviously a contributor to the overall injuries he sustained, but the worst damage came when Moore's head slammed into the ice as Bertuzzi's body fell on top of Moore, driving his head onto the ice. Because he was already out cold, his body was unable to brace itself for the impact on the playing surface.
The damage was serious. Moore spent two weeks in the hospital, recovering from "cuts, a concussion, and two chip fractures in the C-3 and C-4 vertebrae in his neck."
Moore never played another game of professional hockey. Bertuzzi, as part of a suspension, legal ramifications, and the 2004-05 NHL Lockout, missed a combined 17 consecutive months of action. To his credit, he did seem genuinely apologetic, and he certainly wasn't the only person at fault. There were notable voices that either stayed silent or stoked the flames: Näslund, the captain, could've told his team not to headhunt on his behalf. Trevor Linden, a star in his own right for the Vancouver Canucks, was the head of the NHLPA; he lambasted Moore's hit on Näslund and ultimately blamed the league for what transpired after. Brian Burke, then-GM of the Canucks and former Director of the Department of Player Safety (notably running concurrent with the heyday of the Avs/Wings rivalry) did not intervene, and, former Avs head coach and then-Canucks head coach Marc Crawford, according to reports, called for the violence against Moore. Regardless of where the blame lies, the moment was one of the most brutal and cataclysmic in the last 20 years of NHL history.
13. October 1, 2009 — Joe Sakic Night
While "Super Joe" wasn't the first Avs player to have their number retired (both Ray Bourque's #77 and Patrick Roy's #33 were retired, on November 24, 2001 and October 28, 2003, respectively), his was arguably the most meaningful, given his two decades spent exclusively with the Avalanche franchise (not including the scare when he signed an offer sheet and almost went to play for the New York Rangers). The team was synonymous with Sakic, as his greatness had guided the franchise and, until his retirement, there had never been an Avs team devoid of his influence and talent.
October 1, 2009 was a day devoted to the man who helped Colorado establish itself as a legitimate NHL home and a serious championship contender. To allocate a single day for a player who had given this franchise over 7,500 hardly seems apt, but it was a day of remembrance and celebration of Sakic, who has since given almost as much time and dedication to the Avs in his post-playing days. Every player who dressed for the Avs wore a #19 Sakic jersey, and each one featured a custom, embroidered "C" that commemorated Sakic, who, up to that point, had served as the only captain in Avs history. After his retirement, Sakic served as the general manager of the Avalanche from 2014 through 2022, and, in the years since, he's been the team's President of Hockey Operations, assisting new GM Chris MacFarland with important decisions and general day-to-day operations.
14. September 4, 2012 — Gabriel Landeskog Named Captain
In a decision made with future success in mind, the Avs' front office elected to assign its captaincy to Gabriel Landeskog: a yet-unproven teenager who was entering his second professional season. "Landy" was 19 years and 286 days old when the decision was announced, which was 11 days younger than Sidney Crosby was when he was named the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins on May 31, 2007. While Landeskog initially felt the added pressure of the captaincy, he gradually grew into the role and is now one of the most beloved and respected captains in the league. His ownership of the "youngest ever captain" lasted for a little over four years until Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid was named captain on October 5, 2016 at 19 years and 266 days old.
Once Sakic retired, the team had given the honor to a few players who were also spending the twilight of their career in the Mile High City: Adam Foote for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons and Milan Hejduk for the 2011-12 season. Seeing the success that Sakic had brought after he was temporarily named the captain of the Quebec Nordiques at age 21 during the 1990-91 season (and after he fully assumed the captaincy at age 23 during the 1992-93 season), the front office decided to honor that tradition and give the 'C' to a player around whom they envisioned building the next great generation of Avs hockey. It wasn't always a linear path, and things had to get worse before they ultimately climbed Lord Stanley's ladder in 2022, but the plan did bear fruit.
15. February 18, 2013 — Matt Duchene Offside
This moment may not be as immediately recognizable as some of the others on this list, but the importance of the offside non-call in question cannot be understated. The sequence of events that followed Matt Duchene (much like the puck clearly followed him into the offensive zone) and the goal he scored went on to shape the NHL's usage of replay reviews and coach's challenges in the league today. Even the late, great Peter McNab, who provided color analysis for the game in which the missed call occurred, couldn't deny how egregious it was; during the broadcast, McNab, stunned by the play, stated, "it was so far offside, it's unbelievable... everybody in the building, and [Duchene, himself], knew it was offside."
The outcry was universal, the evidence was damning. In an effort to save face — and as a preventative measure to ensure something like that never happened in a playoff game — the league implemented coach's challenges before the 2014-15 season; the Duchene play, and a few others like it, were the obvious impetus for the rulebook revisions. Notably, the reviews have come back to bite the Avs twice — in the playoffs, no less (more on these later) — as the rule has largely been abused and misused to overturn goals based on the smallest of margins; completely unlike the Duchene moment, in which he was "a mile" offsides, the granular nature through which calls are analyzed is still hotly-debated.
16. October 2, 2013 — Roy v. Boudreau
There has perhaps never been a more memorable coaching debut than Patrick Roy's first game as the bench boss for the Avalanche to kick off the 2013-14 season, and there's certainly no introduction more appropriate for the ever-hot-headed Roy than his infamous war on bench stantions, as evidenced when he let the one separating him from Anaheim Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau feel his wrath.
As the final horn sounded the end of a 6-1 Avs victory over the Ducks, tensions flared, and punches were thrown directly in front of Roy and the Avs' bench. Roy, perhaps forgetting he wasn't still entrenched in a blood feud against the Detroit Red Wings, decided he wanted a piece of the action, and soon turned his ire toward Ducks forward Corey Perry, who was a willing combatant. Coming to Perry's defense was Boudreau, who was . The two were soon pointing fingers and exchanging barbs, pushing the wobbling partition that separated the two benches, as the players on the ice still sorted out their differences in the way hockey players do best.
For his part inciting the altercation and instigating the tensions (by playing the fourth line to end the game — an obvious attempt to stir the proverbial pot), Roy was given a $10,000 fine. When asked about it soon after, Roy indicated to the Denver Post that he wouldn't change his style just to avoid fines from the league: "This is the league policy and I understand it now, but at the same time I will always defend my players. Things happen. This is the way I dealt with this one. Would I deal with it differently next time? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know."
17. April 17, 2014 — Avs Lose Game Seven to Minnesota Wild
The 2013-14 Avs season was not supposed to be a good one for the Avalanche. To begin the year, they had the fifth-worst odds to win the Stanley Cup, and they were expected to miss the playoffs for the fourth-straight year. In fact, in the 2012-13 season, which was shortened by a partial lockout, they finished with the second-worst record in the NHL (they recorded 39 points; the Florida Panthers, with 36 points, were the only team to finish worse). And yet, as "Why Not Us" mania swept through the Centennial State, the Avs not only made the playoffs; they finished with the best record in the Central Division, and they finished third in the entire league in points with 112.
The hype was dampened when their first-round matchup against the division-rival Minnesota Wild went seven games, but, in front of the home crowd at the Pepsi Center, the Avs had a chance to keep the dream alive. The Avs scored first, but the two teams traded goals, resulting in a 4-4 tie after 60 minutes of play. Then, less than six minutes into overtime, in a moment that broke the collective hearts of Avs fans everywhere, Nino Niederreiter (a perpetual pain for the Avs as an opponent who has played for the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, and Winnipeg Jets — all divisional foes), ended the Avs' season and their hopes of making a deep push when everyone had counted them out.
The 2013-14 season is one still looked upon fondly by Avs fans. Nathan MacKinnon won the Calder Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year), Patrick Roy took home the Jack Adams Award (coach of the year), Adam Foote's number 52 was sent to the rafters of the Pepsi Center, and the playoff run, albeit cut short, injected some momentum into a stalled franchise in need of a resurgent season.
18. February 27, 2016 — Stadium Series at Coors Field
It’s fitting that the first outdoor game the Avs ever played in was against their former hated enemies from Hockeytown. The event garnered much fanfare, and a renewed bit of nostalgia for the aforementioned rivalry — which had largely fizzled out — was in the air as the two teams geared up for a weekend of outdoor hockey in Denver, Colorado; the alumni game was played on Friday, February 26, 2016, and the regular season matchup was played the following day, Saturday, February 27. Fans of both teams came in with a renewed appreciation of the rosters that comprised the two respective dynasties in the late-90s and early-00s, and the excitement to see the active rosters duel in the open air of Coors Field, home of the MLB's Colorado Rockies.
The alumni game was perhaps the highlight of the weekend for Avs fans; the Avs won the game 5-2, and it was certainly easier to look back on the successes of the past with a sense of longing to return to that era of Avs' hockey with the future looking comparatively dim. The rosters for both sides were littered with former one-ice combatants; Kris Draper shared the ice with Claude Lemieux, Patrick Roy managed not to fight either of the goalies for the Wings — Manny Legace and Ty Conklin — and Lemieux even "shook fricking hands" with Dino Ciccarelli. Darren McCarty and Lemieux also shared a nice moment in that handshake line, and the two have become friends in the years since. The entire game felt like a level-headed closing chapter to that era of hockey for both Colorado and Detroit.
The game between the Wings and Avs that mattered, statistically speaking, didn't go quite as well for the Avs. The matchup, itself, served as a microcosmic metaphor for each team's respective direction that season: the Wings snuck into the playoffs with 93 points — the worst record of any of the qualifying Eastern Conference teams — by claiming the third and final Atlantic Division spot. They were bounced in five games by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avs missed the playoffs; apart from the surprise berth in the previously-mentioned 2013-14 season, this was their sixth of seven consecutive season not playing past the month of April. They finished second-to-last in their division with 82 points.
19. November 5, 2017 — Duchene Dealt to the Sens
Almost as soon as Matt Duchene made it clear in late-December 2016 that he wanted to be traded out of the Mile High City, public pressure began mounting, directed at Avs' general manager Joe Sakic, to get a deal done and dusted. Many lamented his apparent inaction, with pundits going so far as to question his ability to lead the team's front office and to call for his resignation. When a trade was ultimately finalized, and Duchene exited a game-in-progress to catch the next flight out of town, the return package was instantly-impressive and worth the wait. In the years since, the trade has been praised near-unanimously; it's safe to say the Avs' meteoric rise from worst-to-best would not have been possible without it.
In exchange for Duchene, who was traded to the Ottawa Senators, the Avs received Kyle Turris, Shane Bowers, Andrew Hammond, a 2019 first-round pick (Bowen Byram), and a 2019 third-round pick (Matthew Stienburg). They then shipped Turris to the Nashville Predators for Samuel Girard, Vladislav Kamenev, and a 2018 second-round pick (Fillip Hallander). Girard is the only player still on the Avs, but Stienburg did spend last season with the Colorado Eagles and is under contract for the upcoming season. Through further trades, Scott Wedgewood, Gavin Brindley, and two upcoming draft picks all stem from Duchene's departure.
20. April 4, 2019 — Erik Johnson Clinches Avs’ Playoff Berth
By the start of the 2018-19 season, there was a legitimate, budding belief — in the front office, in the locker room, and in the minds of much of Avs Faithful — that, despite how miserably bad they had been just a few seasons prior, that the Avs were building a contender. MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Landeskog, Philipp Grubauer, and co. were pieces that any franchise would be lucky to have, and this would all be bolstered soon with the addition of a certain fourth-overall-pick defenseman waiting in the wings (more on him later).
Despite enduring both a seven-game and an eight-game losing streak at various points throughout the season, the Avs were in contention for a playoff spot, and, by game 81, they were just one win away — with just two games left — from punching their ticket to the playoffs. Naturally, it would be Erik Johnson, a defenseman not known for his exceptional offensive capabilities, a player who had played on some *rough* Avs teams, who would, in dramatic, overtime fashion, score the goal that sent them through.
As an eight-seed squaring off against the Calgary Flames, the statistical best time in the Western Conference, the Avs were not expected to put up much of a fight. With the help of Cale Makar, who debuted in game four against the team which he grew up following (being a native of Calgary), the Avs, in just five games, advanced to the second round. It was an electrifying series; the addition of Makar's immediate brilliance reshaped the trajectory of the franchise and put the Avalanche back on the map. The underdogs were making noise; while they ultimately lost in Game Seven of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals to the San Jose Sharks, it was a turning point for this current era of Avs hockey.
Honorable Mention: April 13, 2014 — Selanne and Giguere's Victory Lap
While both the Anaheim Ducks and the Colorado Avalanche were playoff-bound to end the 2013-14 regular season, two franchise icons for the Ducks — Teemu Selänne
and Jean-Sébastien Giguère —
took a moment after the end of game 82 to celebrate each other's successes and to salute the fans in Anaheim; it was the final time these long-time Anaheim teammates took the ice together, as both players were set to retire at season's end. Selänne was 43 years old, and Giguère was 36. The two spent the better part of a decade as teammates, apart from Selänne
's stops in Colorado and San Jose, and the laps they took, while embracing one another, around the rink, served as a wonderful moment of sportsmanship and class.
Why, then, is this moment included as an honorable mention in a list about the Colorado Avalanche? Well, notably, both players spent time in Colorado, so it was a special moment for Avs fans, too, even if on a smaller, less emotional scale. Giguère, who was on the Avs at the time, spent three seasons in Denver, playing in 72 games while backing up the starting netminder, Semyon Varlamov. Selänne spent a single season in Colorado, appearing in 78 games for the Avs during the 2003-04 season. Selänne's time in Colorado was largely forgettable; he registered 32 points (split evenly between goals and assists), which is the lowest total points he scored before entering his 40s.
Honorable Mention: March 4, 2017 — Comeau Giveaway
If one had to pick a single moment to sum up how miserable and embarrassing the 2016-17 season was, it would have to be this one. Coming into this game against the Winnipeg Jets, the Avs had a record of 17-43-3, and the overall vibes in the Mile High City were decidedly not good. As often happens when tensions are high and media scrutiny is higher, players make poor decisions, mistakes are made, and things seemingly continue to get worse before they begin to get better. Enter: Blake Comeau.
Comeau had a respectable NHL career (909 GP, 141 G, 193 A, 334 P), and he was generally a solid depth winger for the Avs during his three seasons in Denver. He put together some of his best statistical seasons as an Av, including his career-high 36 points in the 2015-16 season. Despite this, his time with the Avalanche will forever be associated with one of the most infamous giveaways in modern hockey history.
Down 5-0 with time remaining in the 2nd period, Comeau found himself uncontested and in possession of the puck, so he, naturally, made a beeline for Connor Hellebuyck, who was tending goal that night for the Jets. Perhaps struggling with confidence or confused about any assumed, oncoming pressure, Comeau, who was aware of a tailing Nathan MacKinnon on his left, then did the inexplicable: he turned around, head down, and passed the puck backwards, directly onto the stick of Patrik Laine
, who was a comfortable distance away. The puck was skated out of the zone, the scoring chance was over, and the Avs ultimately lost the game 6-1.
Just one week after this game was played, they lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-2, and this officially, mathematically, eliminated the Avs from playoff contention.
Statistics, data, and analytics provided by The Athletic, the Canadian Encyclopedia, CBS, Colorado Hockey Now, Complete Hockey News, The Denver Post, The Detroit News,
ESPN, The Hockey News, Hockey Reference, The Hockey Writers, HockeyDB, hockeyfights.com, Mile High Hockey, Mile High Sports, the Montreal Gazette, the NHL, NHL EDGE, the NHL Network, NHL Records, the NHLPA, PuckPedia, QuantHockey, SB Nation, Sports Illustrated, Sportsnet, Spotrac, StatMuse, theScore, TSN, Yahoo Sports.