By: Brandon Rivera
While it took the Avalanche 27 years to win three Stanley Cups they have now tied the Denver Broncos for Championship wins. And while the Broncos still hold a good majority of space in Colorado fans’ hearts, the Avalanche are making a case for Colorado’s top team.
The Denver Broncos joined the American Football Conference (AFC) West (and NFL) in 1970 and have been a staple in many family households around Colorado and the country since 1959 when they joined the American Football League (AFL). Since joining the AFC West the Broncos have chalked up 3 Super Bowl championships, 8 conference championships and 15 divisional titles and appeared in 8 Super Bowl games.
The Colorado Avalanche on the other hand, have appeared in three championship games winning all championship games along with 11 division championship titles.
One clear indicator that has many believing that Colorado fans have accepted the Avalanche as one of the states most dominating professional sports teams was the parade that took place in downtown Denver last week where 500,000 fans showed up to support their team.
While the Denver Broncos had about double that turnout during their Super Bowl parade in 2015 it’s clear there is a shift, taking place.
Since 2015, the country has navigated a pandemic and is currently facing astronomical inflation with gas prices taking center stage. Despite all the fears many Americans face that tend to keep them at home out of fear of contracting COVID or just trying to save on gas, support for the Colorado Avalanche was apparent at last week’s parade.
Colorado Avalanche owner, Stan Kroenke became the first professional team owner to win two different championships in the same year after his L.A. Rams won Super Bowl LVI with the help of former Denver Bronco Von Miller.
Kroenke now the sole owner to hold such a significant accomplishment can only mean good things for Denver Nuggets fans.
Fans gathered along the parade routes, which begin at Union Station where thousands of fans gathered to kick off the acquisition of Sir Stanley Cup. If you traversed the parade route you likely came across a sea of Avalanche jersey’s vintage and new, with names like MacKinnon, Makar, Forsberg, and even Roy.
As the parade kicked off, fans begin chants of, “we won the cup,” and Blink-182’s lyrics to ‘All the Small Things,’ sang in unison as their three-time Stanley Cup Avalanche trekked the streets of downtown at a snail’s pace.
The atmosphere was most certainly electric with fans bringing the same intensity of whistling and cheers they’d bring to game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.
Although the Avalanche’s following is still far from its brother organization, the Denver Broncos, it’s clear that fans are excited for yet another Championship caliber team bringing the excitement back to the City of Denver.
Denver Nuggets, Denver Broncos, Colorado Rockies, Colorado Rapids, you now have a bar to reach. The fans are ready for this championship city to take off!
