The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Ball Arena, which it shares with the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Denver Nuggets and Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).
Quebec Nordiques warm up for a game in the 1986–87 season. The Avalanche played as the Nordiques from 1972 to 1995.
Patrick Roy played for the Avalanche from 1995 to 2003.
In 1997, the Avalanche matched an offer sheet on Joe Sakic, instigating salary raises throughout the NHL.
The Pepsi Center opened as the Avalanche's new home arena in 1999.
Ball Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by two nearby exits off Interstate 25. A light rail station is on the western side of the complex. Opened in 1999, it is the home arena of the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).
Ball Arena in 2022
The inside of Ball Arena during a Colorado Avalanche game in 2023
The then-named Pepsi Center's interior during the 2008 Frozen Four hockey tournament, with the scoreboard used from 1999 to 2013.