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The Edmonton Oilers Dynasty Flames Out In The 1986 NHL Playoffs

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By the time the 1986 NHL playoffs rolled around, hockey fans were used to watching dynasties. The Montreal Canadiens won four straight from 1976-79. The New York Islanders did the same from 1980-83. So when the Edmonton Oilers broke through in 1984 and followed it up with a repeat Stanley Cup in 1985, one could be forgiven for the assumption that the Oilers would be next in line to win up to four in a row. Only it didn’t work out that wa

The 2002 Colorado Avalanche Push The Limits

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This post is part of a series of sports history articles commemorating under-the-radar teams and moments in a given year. This article about the 2002 Colorado Avalanche marks the last contending team of a seven-year franchise run that included two Stanley Cups. This year’s team didn’t win it all, but sent the fans with three straight Game 7 battles.

Rocky Mountain High: The 1996 Colorado Avalanche With Help From The Broncos & Buffs

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1996 was a great year to be a sports fan in the Denver area. To begin with, the city got the Quebec Nordiques to relocate and become the Colorado Avalanche, enabling Denver to join the ranks of cities with teams in all four major professional sports leagues—only four years earlier they’d had just the Broncos & Nuggets. Now, with the Rockies and Avalanche, Denver was better off in ’96 than they were four years earlier, an appropriate motto for what was a presidential election year. Things only got better when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup their first year in town. And football season provided a good dessert to the main course, as the Broncos and the University of Colorado each made spirited runs at the top. TheSportsNotebook looks back on ’96 in the Rockies…