Colorado Avalanche Team History

The roots of the Colorado Avalanche make their way back to the World Hockey Association (W.H.A.) as the Quebec Nordiques. The Nordiques played their first season in 1972 and would eventually join the National Hockey League in 1979.

The Nordiques’ original colours were red, blue, and white. The team jersey was simple; it was primarily a single colour with several Fleur-de-Lis across the bottom and the team logo. The team’s logo was a stylized Igloo that also depicted the letter “N” and a hockey stick and puck.

In 1995 the team was moved to Colorado and renamed the Avalanche. With the move came new uniforms and colours, the teams new colours became burgundy, blue and white; with silver and black accents.

The team’s new jerseys had several interesting features. The stripping pattern was a double bar, zigzagging on the sleeves from wrist to wrist on the front and back as well as a separate pattern that ran at the bottom of the torso. The front logo design was based around a large capital letter “A.” The design has a cascading avalanche, lead by a hockey puck, which wraps across it in the shape of a letter “C.” The secondary logo that is positioned on the shoulder of the jersey is the imprint of an abominable snowman’s foot.

In 2001, the team introduced their alternate jersey. The third jersey was primarily burgundy. There was a six band striping pattern that ran across the elbows and the bottom of the jersey. The front crest was a script logo that read “Colorado” diagonally cross the front, in white. The shoulder logo was a smaller version of the primary Avalanche logo.

In 2007, with the introduction of the Rebook Edge jersey, the team made a few minor changes. The stripping was dropped, leaving essentially a two tone appearance. The secondary colour panels ran along the top of the shoulder and on the side of the torso to the underarm. A small double stripe runs down from the neck to the bottom of the jersey along the outside of the chest, as well as on the outside of the side panels on the back.

With the new Edge designs they brought back their third jersey but instead of burgundy dominating the jersey, blue would be the focal point.

All Time Esteemed Avalanche and Nordiques
• # 4 Rob Blake 2000-2006
• # 4 John-Michael Liles 2005-Current
• # 19 Joe Sakic 1988-09*
• # 21 Peter Forsberg 1994-04, 08
• # 22 Scott Hannan 2007-Current
• # 23 Milan Hejduk 1998-Current
• # 24 Sandis Ozolins 1995-00
• # 26 Paul Stastny 2006-Current
• # 33 Patrick Roy 1995-03*
• # 40 Alex Tanguay 1999-06
• # 52 Adam Foote 1991-04, 07-Current
• # 77 Ray Bourque 2000-01*

Recent Top Draft Pick(s)
• 2009 Matt Duchene
• 2007 Kevin Shattenkirk

Affiliate Team(s)
• Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League (A.H.L.).
• Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League (E.C.H.L.).