rekrul said:
a good gauge would be the general interest in the two NCAA teams as they head into the touney, From what I have seen on TV at least at DU the crowds are full and pretty loud. Of course DU is the returning champ, on top of the NCAA's and Colorado College is also ranked very high, but from what I understand the area has allways had a pretty good following of both programs, and NCAA D1 hockey is very outside of the mainstream.
also Denver was also sighted as how the NHL can be very popular locally, even if not nationaly. FSN said the Avs ratings were allways higher than both the rockie and Nuggets games, one big reason the ave ownership really wanted to play this year.
True on all counts, and the strong tradition of college hockey in Colorado is just one example of how the strength of this market goes well beyond ties to specific successful seasons with the current NHL franchise. Obviously there are huge benefits to the Avs' sucess as well; that's undeniable (e.g. longest sellout streak in league history, stations enjoying hockey ratings that break records for all-time programming of any kind, too many examples to count of astronomical playoff ratings, etc.).
But it's broader than that too. Before the Avs even arrived in Denver, this market led all non-NHL markets in the nation in hockey TV ratings, by a mile... the NHL was thrilled to get back into this market. (And as a side note, any position using the former Rockies as some sort of critique of the Denver market is a horribly mis-informed position, given what really transpired with the ownership group at the time.) During the 2002 Winter Olympics, Denver led all US markets in TV ratings for the hockey portion of the Games, including a 46-share for the gold medal game (so nearly half of all television sets in use were tuned to that hockey game).
As was mentioned, the tradition of college hockey here is a long one, with both DU and CC. The Denver Post reported a while back that DU has the second best TV package deal in the nation, behind only Minnesota, which is pretty well-known for their incredible support for college hockey. It also goes beyond just watching hockey, though. Among all states with NHL teams, Colorado has the fourth highest per-capita participation rate in the sport of hockey (i.e., everyday people playing the game) behind only Minnesota, Massachussetts, and Michigan (in order).
It's a terrific hockey market and has been for a long time, with the sport pretty deeply ingrained in the mindset/culture of the city and the region.