Avalanche Fans Ride Rocky Mountain High

There is a rumbling in the Rockies, a swell of support for Colorado’s newest major professional sports franchise that keeps snowballing.

Beginning their third NHL season, the Colorado Avalanche continue to gain in popularity - a development that shocks skeptics, who were certain the franchise would bury itself when it arrived in Denver in 1995.

Colorado sports history was littered with a trail of failed pro hockey teams. The Denver Falcons, Denver Mavericks, Denver Invaders, Denver Spurs, Colorado Rockies, Colorado Flames and Denver Rangers all tried and died in the previous 45 years.

Denver’s last NHL franchise was the Colorado Rockies (1976-82). Victims of lagging attendance and an unfavorable lease, they became the New Jersey Devils in 1982.

Despite all that, COMSAT Entertainment Group, now Ascent Entertainment Group, purchased the Quebec Nordiques and moved them to Denver, changing their name to the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avs’ success on the ice has been unwavering. Colorado posted the best record in the NHL last season (49-24-9).

Despite the stalled negotiations that have put the Pepsi Center two years behind schedule, the Avalanche have sold out 98 straight games in outdated McNichols Arena, the longest streak in the NHL.

This year, the Avalanche increased their season-ticket cap, from 12,000 to 12,500.

When individual-game tickets went on sale last month, the team sold more than 40,000 tickets in one day - more than double their sales in either 1995 or 1996.