Alright Colorado fans!  So Colorado Avalanche missed last year’s play-offs by just two points.  Don’t forget the team beat the Los Angeles Kings twice in the later part of the season: and that particular team took the Stanley Cup.  How many of you are sitting out there sighing, “that could have been us?”  You bet it could!

The Colorado Avalanche is sitting on a gold mine of top team players.  Gabriel Landeskog is the hot topic in this edge of your seat game, as the hands-down Rookie of the Yeah, sweeping the Calder Trophy with 382 votes over his leading contender.  He is the fourth player in the 32 year history of Avalanche/Nordiques franchise to capture rookie of the year honors, joining Peter Stastny (1980-81), Peter Forsberg (1994-95) and Drury.  Since the Quebec Nordiques entered the league in 1979-80, no other NHL franchise has had four Calder Trophy winners.  Now, that’s exciting.

Matt Duchene, 21, signed on to a seven million dollar contract on June 23.  He was the Avalanche’s first round pick, with a total of 65 goals and 85 assists in 219 games in three seasons.  A finalist for the Calder Trophy in 2010, Duchene was limited to 58 games because of injuries last season, polishing up with fourteen goals and 14 assists.

Head Coach, Joe Sacco, now has two assistants, David Quinn and Tim Army. Quinn spent the last three seasons as head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League.  He replaces Sylvain Lefebvre, who said his goodbyes to Avalanche and left for the head coaching position with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs.

A new season is just around the bend, and the lightning fast team is determined to be next year’s champions.  In the words of David Jones, Avalanche right wing, on the prospects of making the 2012-2013 play-offs by just falling short of the winning ticket two seasons in a row, “I think we have a lot of positives that we are going to build on. But with that being said, we need to make the playoffs.  We need to make a run at it. We can’t be satisfied with moving up a couple of spots.  I think everyone really feels like we have the personnel.  We have the team to do it. It’s time to do it now.”

What you can be sure of is some tight, fast action.  Colorado Avalanche is a team to contend with, making every game an edge of your seat experience.  You’re not going to want to miss a single moment as they gear into a new season as the hottest, ice-cracking team battle it out on the playing field.