Avalanche vs. Devils: As Good as Cup Gets

After an interminable streak of disappointing Stanley Cup finals, the NHL might finally have a championship series worth embracing, with the Colorado Avalanche facing off against the New Jersey Devils for the right to hoist Lord Stanley’s mug.

In recent years, blowouts and letdowns have been more frequent than compelling finals. In fact, there hasn’t been a seven-game final since the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks went the distance in 1994.

What could be better than the best of the Western Conference battling the best of the Eastern Conference? There’s also the added bonus of Colorado’s ageless defenseman Ray Bourque going for his first Stanley Cup championship.

Game 1 is tonight at the Pepsi Center.

This might truly be a matchup for the ages if Colorado’s crafty center Peter Forsberg hadn’t had his spleen removed May 10 in an emergency procedure hours after leading the Avalanche to a 5-1 victory in Game 7 of its second-round series against the Kings.

Then again, Colorado hardly seemed to miss Forsberg in routing the undisciplined and overrated St. Louis Blues in five games in the Western Conference final.

Colorado, led by Forsberg and a deep cast of characters, was the league’s top overall team with 118 points during the regular season.

New Jersey, led by perhaps an even deeper cast of characters, was the league’s second overall team with 111 points. The Devils, who won the Cup last season, easily dispatched the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games in the Eastern Conference finals.

The similarities between the Avalanche and the Devils are numerous, including the fact that each franchise has called Denver home during its history.

The Avalanche has been in Denver since relocating from Quebec before the 1995-96 season, winning a Stanley Cup championship in its first season in Colorado.

The Devils were born in Kansas City, as the expansion Scouts in 1974, moved to Denver to become the Colorado Rockies in 1976, then were purchased by a group led by John McMullen and relocated in East Rutherford, N.J., in 1982.

Calling this a Colorado versus Colorado series isn’t quite right, however. Denver never embraced the Rockies the way it has the Avalanche, mainly because the Rockies were a horrible hockey team and the Avalanche arrived from Quebec as a ready-made Stanley Cup contender.

The Rockies never won more than 22 games. The Avalanche has never won fewer than 39.

The move to New Jersey didn’t immediately help the franchise’s fortunes. It took the guiding hand of Lou Lamoriello, general manager for the last 14 seasons, to lead the Devils from also-rans to league powers.

So much time has passed since “Rocky Hockey” in Denver that only Bourque, 40, can recall playing against the Rockies--as a Boston Bruin rookie in 1979.

“We kind of had a brawl here one game,” Bourque told reporters in Denver earlier this week. “Things kind of broke out. I think we beat them here, but they beat us in Boston. But it’s been a few years, so I don’t remember everything about it.”

Bourque’s memory is better than teammate Chris Drury’s. Asked if he remembered the Rockies, Drury said, “The baseball team? Sure.” Forgive Drury, 24. He was only 6 when the Rockies left Denver for the Meadowlands.

In the end, it’s probably better to focus on the present and a seemingly endless string of intriguing matchups in what promises to be a finals with few dull moments.

First, there is the battle between the French-Canadian goalies, Colorado’s Patrick Roy and New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur.

Next, there is Colorado’s swarm of skilled forwards, including Drury, Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk and Alex Tanguay battling New Jersey’s hard-nosed defensemen Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko and Sean O’Donnell.

Not to be forgotten is Bourque’s quest to win his first championship after 22 NHL seasons.

Bourque is part of a remarkable corps of Avalanche defensemen that includes Rob Blake, a former King, and Adam Foote. Those three helped to muzzle the Blues in the conference finals, making the Avalanche victory appear easy in the process.

The Devils, the league’s top offensive team with 295 goals in the regular season, will test Colorado’s defense the way no team has in the postseason.

As ever, the team with the better goaltending will have an advantage. Picking one goalie over the other before the series begins is simply one indication of how even this final is expected to be.