We Want The Cup!

Hockey, and Avalanche Hockey in particular, are HUGE in our house. Larry has been an Avalanche fan since the first day of their Colorado debut, and he loved them even before, when they were still the Nordiques, up in Canada. Hockey is a big, big sport here in Colorado.

It is Stanley Cup time of year, and it was down to the last two teams – The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche. The games were Colorado 3 and Tampa Bay 2. The series goes until the best out of 7. It has been a LONG, LONG time since Lord Stanley (the Stanley Cup) has resided here in Colorado. There were chants all during this series “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!” Could we do it? Could we bring it home?

The actual game itself was played in Tampa, but Ball Arena hosted a big watch party, to a sold out, crowded, and very excited house. We were lucky enough to be there with our friends Janet and Bob, their son Brian and his son Peter.

We are all in our Avalanche colors. Yes, Larry and I both have a ton of signatures on our our jerseys. We have been Avalanche fans for a long time.

It was definitely a nail biter. Tampa Bay scored first and drew first blood. Tensions were high. Bernie, the team mascot, was banging the drum for all to hear the battle cries of the Avalanche. “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!”

We could win, and bring home the coveted Cup, or we could loose and it would be forced to go to a game 7. The Cup Keepers bring out the Cup just in case. Could tonight be the night? Could this be the Avalanche night we were all hoping for?

The long awaited answer to this question is …. YES! The final score was 2-1, Avalanche, and the game count was 4-2. Whoooo Hooooo!!!!! The Av’s did it! The Cup is home!

Our fearless Captain, Gabriel (Gabe) Landeskog holding the beloved CUP! I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures. They were taken from my cell phone, and were from the big jumbotron at the Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche. It has been a long dry spell of 21 years since we last had Lord Stanley stay in our house. We were long overdue. Tonight, the Av’s made Colorado very proud indeed.

Nathan MacKinnon, Assistant Captain, kissing the Cup.

The whole team got their chance to proudly skate around the ice holding the treasured trophy high above their heads. It was the first Cup for most of the team, however, it is Team General Manager Joe Sakic’s 3rd Cup, all with the Avalanche. He has two as a player, and now one as the GM.

All of Downtown was proudly showing their Avalanche support. Downtown Denver was a madhouse, and everything was proudly colored in burgundy and blue.

Let’s Go Avalanche!!!!! We won the Cup! We won the Cup! We won the Cup!

Dreams do come true. Never loose site of them. Never stop dreaming.