The Colorado Rockies are the American professional ice hockey team at the National Hockey League (NHL) playing in Denver, Colorado, from 1976 to 1982. They were founded as a Kansas City Scout, an expansion team that began playing in NHL in season 1974-75. The Scouts moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Denver for the 1976-77 season. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, for the 1982-83 season and was renamed New Jersey Devils. NHL did not return to Denver until Quebec Nordiques moved there to become Colorado Avalanche after the 1994-95 season.
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Ivan Mullenix, owner of Central Hockey League, Denver Spurs, has been getting a "conditional" NHL franchise for the 1976-77 season. With the completed McNichols Sports Arena in 1975, he looked to enter the NHL a year early, and the league sought to mediate the arrangement with which he would acquire the struggling Golden Seals of California and move them to Denver in lieu of the expansion team. At the same time, the Pittsburgh Penguins will be sold to a Seattle-based group that has also won a conditional franchise for the city.
The proposed arrangement failed, and with sustained franchise difficulties, the NHL canceled the 1976-77 expansion. The Spurs were then selected to move to the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the 1975-76 season, but its presence was low. However, Denver fans do not regard the WHA as a major league, and stay away. In December, rumors that the NHL was preparing to move the Seal or Kansas City Cruisers to Denver made Mullenix conclude that he could not survive in Denver. Out of desperation, he moved Spurs to Ottawa almost in mid-season. However, the Ottawa Civics renamed only lasted two weeks before being folded. The seals moved to Cleveland for the 1976-77 season, where they played for two years as Barons before joining the Minnesota North Stars before the 1978-79 season. Of all the gossiped teams to be moved during this period, only Penguins will remain in their current city after sale, to the large shopping center Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr.; from time to time Pittsburgh will become one of the stronger NHL markets.
Meanwhile, the Scouts are on the verge of collapse despite having entered the NHL just two years earlier. Although they had a 12th winning season in 1975-76, they fared somewhat better on the ice during their first two years than their expansion cousins, the Washington Capitals. However, their ownership group lacks the resources and patience to handle the expansion team's distinctive struggle. In addition, the Scouts are hobbled by the economic downturn in the Midwest. Facing nearly $ 1 million in debt, Scout owners decided to sell the team after season tickets only sold 2,000 tickets. The team was sold to a Denver-based group led by Jack Vickers, who moved the team to Denver as the Rockies.
Continued struggle
The team situation did not improve significantly. In their six seasons in Denver, the Rockies made only Stanley Cup playoffs only once, in the 1977-78 season. Even then, they finished with the sixth worst record in the league, 21 games under 0,500. Smythe's division was so weak that year that the team finished second behind the Chicago Black Hawks, the only team in the division with a record of 0.500. It allowed them to subdue Vancouver Canucks for the final playoff spot with just two points (in those days, the runner-up division secured the playoff spot). The Rockies came down weakly in the first half, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in two games. They will not make another playoff until 1988 - their sixth year in New Jersey. Indeed, they have not even approached the 0.500 mark for their six years in Denver.
The Rockies did have some star players for a short time. Barry Beck set a record in his rookie year to score by defenseman newcomer, and Lanny McDonald was taken in trade with Toronto. In addition, teams at various times have players like Chico Resch, Wilf Paiement, Robert Rene, Rob Ramage, and Bobby Schmautz. The team suffers from a lack of depth and constant trading is inclined to trade quality for quantity. The team is also plagued by instability. In four years, the Rockies have seven coaches, none of which last more than a full season. Ownership changed hands twice in four years. His presence was quite respectable, considering the team was barely competitive on the ice and unstable from it.
Under Don Cherry
One of the few bright spots in franchise history was during the 1979-80 season when flamboyant Don Cherry, former Jack Adams Award winner, was named head coach after being fired by Boston Bruins. Under Cherry, the Rockies adopted the slogan "Come to the fight and watch the Rockies game!" This can be seen on billboards all over Denver during the 1979-1980 season.
As he admits, Cherry's brilliance and hostility to Rockies general manager, Ray Miron, does not make him cherished by him at the front office. While Cherry is adept at motivating the players, goaltending is still the team's weakness when Miron refuses to replace Hardy Astrom, nicknamed Cherry "The Swedish Sieve". Cherry recalled a match in which his players got ten shots on goal without scoring, but Astrom then conceded a goal from the opponent's first shot and so from the net.
The Rockies finished with 51 points, tied for the worst record in the league. In their last match, held at home, Cherry's team beat the Penguin 5-0. As is well known that Cherry will not return next season, he wears a cowboy hat and cowboy boots for what will be his last NHL match. After the final bell sounded, his players formed two lines for him, with the raised stick forming an arch to walk between as he admitted to the cheers of the audience. Cherry was hired as an analyst for the Hockey Night CBC program in Canada not too long thereafter.
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Move to New Jersey
In 1978, the king of New Jersey truck, Arthur Imperatore, Sr bought the Rockies in order to move it to northern New Jersey. The NHL vetoed the move because Brendan Byrne Arena, where Imperatore intends to play the team, is still in development stage, and no arena in New Jersey is suitable even for temporary use.
In early 1981, Imperatore sold the Rockies to Peter Gilbert from Buffalo. At that time, the NHL seemed committed to keeping the team in Denver. Gilbert has promised not to move the team, and league president John Ziegler says he wants to make the Rockies a franchise model.
Finally in 1982, after an unsuccessful bid by the Ottawa-based ownership group intending to move the Rockies to the Canadian capital, the team was sold to New Jersey shipping tycoon John McMullen (who, at the time, also owns the Houston Astros). He announced that he had a "big plan" for the franchise, but they were involved making the long-awaited move to New Jersey. The team moved for the 1982-83 season and renamed the New Jersey Devils.
Legacy
The last active NHL player to play for the Rockies is Joe Cirella, who retired from the NHL after the 1995-96 NHL season and played his last professional season for Cologne Sharks in Germany. That season, incidentally, Colorado saw the NHL return to Denver after 13 years, when Quebec Nordiques moved into the city and became known as the Colorado Avalanche. In addition, the Rockies draft chose Bruce Driver to play in the NHL until 1998, but did not join the team until 1983, after moving to New Jersey.
The other two Rockies, Paul Gagne and Rich Chernomaz, played until 1999 in the Swiss and German leagues, respectively.
The 2001 Stanley Cup final pits teams who call Colorado home in their history against each other. Landslide defeated the Devil in seven games. The Avalanche won seven games in Denver, and victory allowed Ray Bourque to retire as a Stanley Cup champion (until then, he has yet to win the Cup).
The Rockies is credited as the first team to use Gary Glitter's song "Rock and Roll, Part 2" at a sporting event. The team plays it after every goal scored by the Rockies players. Other NHL teams take this practice, as do teams in other leagues, until Glitter's child sex offenses cause teams to distance themselves from Glitter's music.
The NHL Colorado Rockies should not be confused with the Major League Baseball team of the same name who started playing in the National League in 1993.
season-by-season record
Note: GP = Game played, W = Win, L = Loss, T = Binding, Points = Points, GF = Goal for, GA = Goal against, PIM = Penalty minutes
Team captain
- Simon Nolet 1976-77
- Wilf Paiement 1977-79
- Gary Croteau 1979-80
- Mike Christie 1980
- Robert Rene 1980-81
- Lanny McDonald 1981
- Rob Ramage 1981-82
First round draft
Note: This list does not include options as a Kansas City Scout.
- 1976: Paul Gardner (overall 11)
- 1977: Barry Beck (2nd overall)
- 1978: Mike Gillis (5th overall)
- 1979: Rob Ramage (1st overall)
- 1980: Paul Gagne (19th overall)
- 1981: Joe Cirella (5th rank)
Individual Colorado Rockies Note
- Most goals in a season: Wilf Paiement, 41 (1976-77)
- Most assists in one season: Wilf Paiement, 56 (1977-78)
- Most points in a season: Wilf Paiement, 87 (1977-78)
- Most of the penalty in one 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 one season: Chico Resch, 16 (1981-82)
See also
- List of NHL players
- List of NHL seasons
References
External links
- Year after year at hockeydb.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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