Most Colorado Avalanche fans have attended a game at the Pepsi Center, seen highlights of a young Joe Sakic, and were thrilled by the team's run to the Stanley Cup in its inaugural season in Denver. But only real fans know how many players have had their numbers retired or why the team's name isn't the Rocky Mountain Extreme. 100 Things Avalanche Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource guide for true fans of Colorado hockey. Whether you're a die-hard fan from the days of Marc Crawford and Patrick Roy or a new supporter of Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, this book contains everything Avalanche fans should know, see, and do. Adrian Dater covered the Colorado Avalanche for 20 years for The Denver Post , before moving on to become the lead NHL columnist of Bleacher Report . Dater, who started out at the Concord Monitor  was also a lead NHL writer for Sports Illustrated  from 2011-13. He is the author of seven books. He lives in Thornton, Colorado.  Joe Sakic led the Colorado Avalanche to Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001. The team's long-time captain won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1996, the Art Ross Trophy in 2001, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012. His number was retired by the Avalanche in 2009. He is currently the team's executive vice president of hockey operations. He lives in Colorado 100 Things Avalanche Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die By Adrian Dater Triumph Books LLC Copyright © 2016 Adrian Dater All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62937-171-9 CHAPTER 1 May 24, 1995: The NHL Returns to Denver I still remember the phone call from Paul Jacobson, the media relations director for COMSAT Video Enterprises. It came at about 7:00 pm on May 24, 1995. "The team is ours," Jacobson told me. The team was the Quebec Nordiques, and it had just been sold to COMSAT, a company whose main business was the burgeoning advent of movies-on-demand, particularly in hotel rooms. COMSAT also owned the NBA's Denver Nuggets, and now they had another tenant to play at McNichols Sports Arena. I knew this wouldn't be a pure scoop for my newspaper, the Denver Post. While I got the original (front-page!) scoop on February 18 that COMSAT had put in a $75 million offer for the Quebec Nordiques, the actual sale went down on the night of the 24. With no viable Internet then, you had to hold on to any breaking news until the paper went to press in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, kids, that's how things used to be done. Jacobson said it was only fair that he also call reporter Curtis Eichelberger of the rival Rocky Mountain News, who had been my competitor on the story for the previous few months. I was a stringer for the Post, paid by the story (usually no more than $40, which is what I got for that front-page scoop in February), and Eichelberger was a full-time staffer at the News, but that was fine. I had a feeling I'd become a full-time staff writer myself soon, and thanks to the Post 's sports editor, Mike Connelly, that's exactly what happened on June 6, 1995. Connelly could have hired some experienced NHL beat writer and just told a part-time, no-benefits kid like me "Sorry, but you're not ready yet," but to my everlasting gratitude, he gave me the shot. For the next 19 years, I would cover the soon-to-be renamed Colorado Avalanche as the regular beat writer. More important, on May 24 the good citizens of Colorado got an NHL team again. The growing economy of Denver, the good geography of the state, and a league that had good momentum in the US all were big factors in the city getting a rare second chance at NHL hockey. From 1976 to 1982 the city had a team called the Colorado Rockies, but it was a tire fire from day one. Bad trades, bad draft picks, and short-pocketed ownership led to the sale of the team in 1982 to John J. McMullen, and a transfer to the New Jersey Meadowlands, where they were renamed the Devils. One of the first quotes I got from an anonymous NHL executive (and I don't even remember who it was now) after the sale was, "Denver is going to get itself one hell of a team." That would prove to be an understatement. The Colorado Avalanche was a juggernaut right away in the Mile High City. They (technically the Colorado Avalanche is an it, but this my book and I'm calling them a they from here on out, and wow, does that feel good) won the Stanley Cup their first season in town. They would go on to advance to the Western Conference Finals in five of the next six seasons, winning another Cup in 2001. They would win a division title in their first eight years in Denver and, combined with one in 1994 in Quebec, would establish a new NHL record. The next 10 years didn't go as well. As of 2016 no Avs team had reached the conference finals in 14 years. The great players either retired or left because the team could no longer afford them. Despite several high first-round draft picks, the team missed the playoffs several times and saw st