Second Stanley Cup Title 2000-01
The 2000–01 season was the best season the team has ever had due to phenomenal play by all-time leading scorer in Avalanche history, Joe Sakic. The Avalanche won the Northwest Division and captured their second Presidents' Trophy after having finished the regular season with 52–16–10–4 for 118 points. Joe Sakic finished the regular season with 118 points (54 goals and 64 assists), only three behind Jaromir Jagr's 121 points. On February 4, 2001, the Colorado Avalanche hosted the 51st NHL All-Star Game. Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, and Joe Sakic played for the North America team, who won 14–12 against the World team, that featured Milan Hejduk and Peter Forsberg. All but Hejduk were part of the starting lineups. Before the playoffs, the Avalanche acquired star defenseman Rob Blake and center Steven Reinprecht from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller and their first-round 2001 Draft pick. In the playoffs, Colorado swept their Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks. In the Western Conference Semifinals, the Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings in seven games, after having wasted a 3–1 lead. After the last game of the series, Peter Forsberg underwent surgery to remove a ruptured spleen and it was announced that he would not play until the following season. The injury was a huge upset for the team; former NHL goaltender Darren Pang considered it "devastating... to the Colorado Avalanche." The team would overcome Forsberg's injury; in the Western Conference Finals, Colorado beat the St. Louis Blues 4–1 and progressed to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced the defending champion New Jersey Devils. The Avalanche came back from a 3-2 series deficit and won the series 4–3, marking the second year in a row that defending champions lost in the finals, as the Devils themselves defeated the Dallas Stars in the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. After being handed the Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, captain Joe Sakic immediately turned, and gave it to Ray Bourque, capping off Bourque's 22-year career with his only championship. Joe Sakic was the playoffs leading scorer with 26 points (13 goals and 13 assists). He won the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the league's most valuable player during the regular season, the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded to the player that has shown the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with performance in play, the Lester B. Pearson Award and shared the NHL Plus/Minus Award with Patrik Elias of the Devils. Patrick Roy won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. Shjon Podein was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for significant humanitarian contributions to his community, namely his work on charitable organizations and his own children foundation. Ray Bourque and Joe Sakic were elected to the league's first all-star team. Rob Blake was elected to the second all-star team.
Read more about this topic: Colorado Avalanche, Franchise History, Colorado Avalanche (since 1995)
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