Colorado Rockies (NHL)
| Colorado Rockies | |
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| Founded | 1974 |
| History | Kansas City Scouts 1974 – 1976 Colorado Rockies 1976 – 1982 New Jersey Devils 1982 - present |
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| Home arena | McNichols Sports Arena |
| City | Denver, Colorado |
| Colors | Blue, red, white and yellow |
The Colorado Rockies were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) that played in Denver, Colorado from 1976 to 1982. They were a relocation of the Kansas City Scouts, a 1974 expansion team. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey in 1982 and was renamed the New Jersey Devils.
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Denver and Seattle were to have been awarded franchises in an aborted 1976 NHL expansion. Denver was considered a good market for hockey, and after the NHL expansion was cancelled, the World Hockey Association entered the market briefly with the Denver Spurs, but the franchise was moved after only a few months due to fan disinterest, which was compounded by ongoing rumors that an NHL team was planning to relocate there.
The long troubled California Golden Seals were reported on several occasions to have been considering a move to Denver before deciding on Cleveland, where they became the Barons. Ultimately, it was the Kansas City Scouts that moved to Denver for the 1976–77 NHL season, after selling only 2,000 season tickets for the following season and finding themselves nearly $1 million in debt.
Unfortunately, the situation did not improve significantly. They made the playoffs only once, in the 1977–78 NHL season. Even then, they finished with the fourth-worst record in the league, 21 games under .500. They went down rather meekly in the playoffs, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in a two-game sweep.
The Rockies 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. But the team always had a lack of depth and traded such quality for quantity.
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, a former Jack Adams Award winner who had been recently fired by the Boston Bruins. Under Cherry, the Rockies adopted the motto "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 and rejuvenated the ailing club.
However, as he later admitted, his outspokenness and feuding with Rockies general manager Ray Miron did not endear Cherry to management. While Cherry did much to motivate the players, goaltending was still the team's weakness as Miron refused to replace Hardy Astrom, whom Cherry dubbed the "The Swedish Sieve". Cherry recalled one game where his players had got ten shots on goal without scoring, but Astrom then conceded a goal from the opponent's first shot and so was yanked from net. The Rockies finished with 51 points, and it was apparent that management would scapegoat Cherry for not making the playoffs. In their final game, which was held at home, Cherry's team defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5–0. As it was already known that Cherry would not be back next season, he wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots for what would be his last NHL game coached, and after the final buzzer sounded his players formed two lines for him, with sticks raised to form an arch to walk between while he acknowledged the cheers of the crowd.
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 in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The Rockies had actually petitioned to move to New Jersey in 1978, but the NHL vetoed the move because the Byrne Arena was still under construction, and there was no suitable temporary facility in New Jersey at the time. The team was relocated for the 1982–83 NHL season and renamed the New Jersey Devils.
The last active NHL player who had played for the Rockies was Joe Cirella, who left the NHL in 1996, the year that the newly relocated NHL team, the Colorado Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup Championship. The Avalanche had played 23 seasons as the Quebec Nordiques. Two other former Rockies, Paul Gagne and Rick Chernomaz, played until 1999 in the Swiss and German leagues, respectively.
The Colorado Avalanche and the New Jersey Devils met each other in the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, with the Avalanche winning the series and the championship in seven games; the deciding game was in Denver. By this time, former Rockies head coach Don Cherry was now with Hockey Night in Canada.
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 Rockies 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 Major League Baseball team of the same name that began playing in the National League in 1993.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Season | GP | W | L | T | Pts | GF | GA | PIM | Finish | Playoffs |
| 1976–77 | 80 | 20 | 46 | 14 | 54 | 226 | 307 | 978 | 5th in Smythe Division | Out of playoffs |
| 1977–78 | 80 | 19 | 40 | 21 | 59 | 257 | 305 | 818 | 2nd in Smythe Division | Lost in Preliminary Round (PHI) |
| 1978–79 | 80 | 15 | 53 | 12 | 42 | 210 | 331 | 838 | 4th in Smythe Division | Out of playoffs |
| 1979–80 | 80 | 19 | 48 | 13 | 51 | 234 | 308 | 1020 | 6th in Smythe Division | Out of playoffs |
| 1980–81 | 80 | 22 | 45 | 13 | 57 | 258 | 344 | 1418 | 4th in Smythe Division | Out of playoffs |
| 1981–82 | 80 | 18 | 49 | 13 | 49 | 241 | 362 | 1138 | 5th in Smythe Division | Out of playoffs |
| Totals | 480 | 113 | 281 | 86 | 312 | 1426 | 1957 | 6210 |
- Simon Nolet 1976–77
- Wilf Paiement 1977–79
- Gary Croteau 1979–80
- Mike Christie 1980
- Rene Robert 1980–81
- Lanny McDonald 1981
- Rob Ramage 1981–82
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)
- 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, defenceman: 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)
- List of Colorado Rockies players
- List of Colorado Rockies draft picks
- Head Coaches of the Colorado Rockies
- Kansas City Scouts
- New Jersey Devils
- Don Cherry
- Colorado Avalanche
- List of NHL players
- List of NHL seasons
- ^ "Swimming Through History", Westword, 4 October 2001
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