Denver Honors Avalanche

Thu., June 13, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

Clad in burgundy and blue and waving white pompoms, 450,000 Colorado Avalanche fans lined downtown to honor the city’s first professional sports championship team.

Despite light rain and predictions of possible hail, the crowd did the wave and chanted and hollered as the Avalanche cruised the 15-block, 1-1/2-mile parade route.

The players rode atop 11 fire trucks armed with confetti cannons while playoff MVP Joe Sakic sat next to the Stanley Cup on the final truck. Colorado coach Marc Crawford also rode solo, and stood most of the way.

A rally at City Hall followed the parade, which honored the Avalanche’s run through the Stanley Cup playoffs that ended with a four-game sweep of the Florida Panthers. An estimated 200,000 people attended the rally, police said.

The police estimate of 450,000 gathered downtown represented close to one-quarter of the approximately 2 million people in Denver’s metropolitan area.

The parade was broadcast live in Quebec, where the team competed as the Nordiques for 16 years before moving to Colorado last May.

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Denver Honors Avalanche

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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