Raoul Duke*
Guest
There was a similar growth here when the Avalanche won their first Cup in 1996. And working with the local youth hockey organizations, the number of interested kids increased dramatically.
We also increased the number of ACHA club-level college teams in the region; if I recall correctly, when the Avs came here, it was just CU and CSU. Now it's the two of us (we've got three ACHA teams at CU alone!) plus maybe eight other Denver-area schools with teams.
But in all seriousness, Colorado is a completely different type of environment for hockey to grow. As opposed to a place where kids can play basketball, football and baseball all year round.