Avalanche honor members of '01 Stanley Cup champions

The Colorado Avalanche said cheers to 25 years.

The team honored members of the 2001 Stanley Cup championship team on Friday before their game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Ball Arena.

The Avalanche hosted the day for fans, complete with legends of the past that helped them to their second Cup in seven seasons, defeating the New Jersey Devils in seven games. The Avalanche also won the Cup in 1996.

"It's great to be back," said Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque . "It's so hard, regardless if you're favored or not. It is so hard to win. I played 22 years. I got to the Final three times, and I realized that if you're not playing for that fourth win, you're really not playing for the Cup, and it was so much fun to be part of that game."

Bourque was the huge addition to the '01 squad, coming over from a histoic two decades with the Boston Bruins.

"I think it was a little more mature than the '96 team. '96 was a little more crazy," said Peter Forsberg , the third leading scorer on '01 team. "But I think this group, because when we got together after we lost to Dallas the year before, and we got together in training camp and we had one mission that was just to win the Stanley Cup, and then you do it in the end. It was a great feeling.”

The '01 Avalanche swept the Vancouver Canucks in Round 1, beat the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 in Round 2 and dumped the St. Louis Blues in five games in the Western Conference Final. Goalie Patrick Roy , currently the New York Islanders head coach, was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoffs MVP.

Forsberg sees some of the '01 champions in this season's Avalanche. Eight players from the 2022 Cup champion Avalanche, including leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon , Conn Smythe winner Cale Makar and captain Gabriel Landeskog , are still with the team.

"I think this team though, I think, is ready mentally to pay the price to go all the way. I think they had a couple of tough losses, like last couple of years," Forsberg said. "So I think they feel they have a good shot to go all the way this year. So it'd be very surprising if there was anything wrong with the motivation of this team, and I think they know they have a good shot at it."