Colorado Rockies (NHL)

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Colorado Rockies
Founded	1976
Home ice	McNichols Sports Arena
Based in	Denver, Colorado
Colors	Red, white, blue and gold
League	National Hockey League

The Colorado Rockies were a team in the National Hockey League (NHL) established when the Kansas City Scouts moved to Denver for the 1976-77 season.

Founded: 1976

Relocated: following 1982 (to East Rutherford, New Jersey and renamed Devils)

Arena: McNichols Sports Arena

Uniform colors: red, white, blue and gold

Logo design: Colorado state flag inside a mountain range.

Stanley Cup Finals appearances: none

Stanley Cups won: none

Contents 1 Franchise history 2 Team captains 2.1 First round draft picks 3 Colorado Rockies Individual Records 4 See also 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] Franchise history

Denver and Seattle were to have been awarded franchises in an aborted 1976 NHL expansion. Denver was considered a good market for hockey, and the troubled California Golden Seals were reported on several occasions to be considering relocating there.

However, it was the Kansas City Scouts that moved to Denver for the 1976-77 NHL season and played there for six years as the Colorado Rockies. They made the playoffs only once, in the 1977-78 NHL season, losing 2 games to none to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round. One of the few bright spots in the franchise's history was during the 1979-80 NHL season when flamboyant Don Cherry served as head coach, having recently been fired by the Boston Bruins.

The Rockies motto was "Come to the fights and watch a Rockies game break out!" This could be seen on billboards all over Denver in the 1979-80 season.

The Rockies had a mediocre team during their existence, but did have some outstanding players for a short time. Barry Beck set a record in his rookie year for goals by a rookie defenceman, and Lanny McDonald was traded to the Rockies by Toronto and for a brief time, the Rockies had a sniper on the attack. But the team always had a lack of depth and traded such quality for quantity.

Although attendance in Denver was not bad, the team's financial situation was very unstable. Ownership changed hands twice in four years. Finally, in 1982, New Jersey shipping tycoon John McMullen bought the team. He announced that he had "big plans" for the franchise--but they involved playing in the then-new Brendan Byrne Arena (now the Continental Airlines Arena) in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The team was relocated for the 1982-83 NHL season, whereupon the name was changed to New Jersey Devils. The last active player who had played for the Rockies was Joe Cirella, who left the NHL in 1996, the year that the new NHL team in Colorado (the Colorado Avalanche) won their first Stanley Cup Championship, after playing 23 seasons as the Quebec Nordiques.

One of the highlights from the final game of the Colorado Rockies was watching Thomas Pieragostini, a student at the University of Denver, win a White 1981 Chevrolet Citation by successfully shooting a puck through a hole in a board placed in front of the goal. He was 1 of 3 selected to make the shot for the car between the 2nd and 3rd periods of the final game of the Colorado Rockies at McNichol's Arena. This was the 1st time a car had been won by shooting a puck in Coloado history. Pieragostini played youth hockey while growing up in Trumbull, CT, also the hometown of NHL star Chris Drury, & he played hockey at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, MA.

Perhaps the Rockies' most lasting contribution to the sports world is the use of Rock and Roll, Pt. 2 (AKA the Hey Song) as a sports celebration. It was first played in a sport setting at Colorado Rockies' hockey games in the late 1970s,^[1] and was later played in most North American sports venues to celebrate home team scores for the better part of 25 years.

The NHL Colorado Rockies should not be confused with the MLB team of the same name that began playing in the National League in 1993.

[edit] Team captains

• Simon Nolet 1976-77
• Wilf Paiement 1977-78
• Gary Croteau 1978-79
• Mike Christie; Rene Robert; Lanny McDonald, 1979-80
• Lanny McDonald 1980-81
• Rob Ramage 1981-82

[edit] First round draft picks

Note: This list does not include selections as the Kansas City Scouts.

• 1976: Paul Gardner (11th overall)
• 1977: Barry Beck (2nd overall)
• 1978: Mike Gillis (5th overall)
• 1979: Rob Ramage (1st overall)
• 1980: Paul Gagne (19th overall)
• 1981: Joe Cirella (5th overall)

[edit] Colorado Rockies Individual Records

• Most Goals in a season: Wilf Paiement, 41 (1976-77)
• Most Assists in a season: Wilf Paiement, 56 (1977-78)
• Most Points in a season: Wilf Paiement, 87 (1977-78)
• Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Rob Ramage, 201 (1981-82)
• Most Points in a season, defenseman: Barry Beck, 60 (1977-78)
• Most Points in a season, rookie: Barry Beck, 60 (1977-78)
• Most Wins in a season: Glenn Resch, 16 (1981-82)

[edit] See also

• List of Colorado Rockies players
• Head Coaches of the Colorado Rockies
• Kansas City Scouts
• New Jersey Devils
• Don Cherry
• Colorado Avalanche
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "Swimming Through History", Westword, 4 October 2001

[edit] External links

• year-by-year on hockeydb.com