Colorado Avalanche Hockey Team

Nothing against surfers, starlets or sunsets, but the Colorado Avalanche would rather not be in Los Angeles today. Nor do the defending Stanley Cup champions believe they should be. They believe they should not have to play the Kings in Game 6 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series today at Staples Center because they believe the goal that won Game 5 at Denver on Thursday night should not have counted.

Four days before the start of the NHL season, Colorado Coach Bob Hartley sounded like a man who knows his secret has been uncovered. Ray Bourque and Peter Forsberg weren't the only reasons the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup championship last season; they also won because of superior depth and a core of talented young players. Which makes the loss of Bourque and Forsberg a little easier to take as the Avalanche tries to defend the title.

Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy and Rob Blake--three stars who helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup--re-signed with the Avalanche. Avalanche General Manager Pierre Lacroix said the three signed multiyear contracts late Saturday night before the 9 p.m. PDT deadline that would have allowed them, as unrestricted free agents, to negotiate with any NHL team. Had the deadline passed without agreement, Sakic, Roy and Blake would have been among the most attractive players in the free-agent market.

Ray Bourque, his quest for the Stanley Cup realized, will retire today at a scheduled news conference. A source close to Bourque told the Associated Press on Monday that the Colorado Avalanche defenseman will announce his retirement after 22 NHL seasons. The Avalanche said only that Bourque will make an announcement about his hockey career. While the team would not reveal what Bourque, 40, planned to announce, the Denver Post said Bourque will retire, primarily for family reasons.

Ray Bourque finally got his hands on the Stanley Cup, accepting it from Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic a nanosecond after Sakic took it from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Bourque gave it a long, loving smooch at center ice, then set off on a victory skate that was 22 seasons in the making. At that electric moment, after the Avalanche had finally subdued the New Jersey Devils with a 3-1 victory in the deciding Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, there wasn't a dry eye on the ice.

The Stanley Cup was in the house Thursday night, polished and ready for collection by the New Jersey Devils. But the Devils were no-shows to their own party. Capitalizing on numerous boneheaded plays by the Devils, the Colorado Avalanche staved off elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, romping to a 4-0 victory before 19,040 disgruntled fans at Continental Airlines Arena. There was no late-night tailgate party in the Meadowlands parking lots.

To hear the Colorado Avalanche tell it, the only way to beat the New Jersey Devils and their suffocating defensive pressure is to take a lead and hold it in Game 6 tonight at Continental Airlines Arena. It could be the only way to force Game 7 Saturday in Denver. "If we can make some adjustments and get more pressure in their zone, we'll spend less time in our zone," Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. "The plan for us will be to score the first goal. I don't see any lineup changes.

Ray Bourque is 40 years old and he dreams he is skating with the Stanley Cup held firmly in his grasp. He stops to kiss it, raises it above his head and a roaring crowd celebrates his long-awaited, much-anticipated victory lap. In fact, Ray Bourque is 40 years old and he has never touched the Stanley Cup. He has seen it plenty of times, sure, but he has never laid a finger on it.

Gary Bettman, NHL commissioner, clearly did not like a question posed to him about the league's relatively tiny television ratings. He liked a comparison to the ratings of the late, lamentable XFL even less. "The XFL's deciding game did a 1.9 [rating]," Bettman said. "Our deciding game last year did a 4.2. So even on that standard, the comparison isn't accurate."