Glory Days Hockey has been a professional sport in North America since the early 1900s Over the years there have been several professional leagues Some were major leagues including the National Hockey League NHL and some were minor leagues As long as fans were willing to buy tickets there was always a chance to start a new team or a new league In 1972 the World Hockey Association WHA began One of the league’s 12 teams was the San Francisco Sharks Before their first season the owners of the Sharks decided to move the team to Quebec in Eastern Canada The club was renamed the Nordiques The move made a lot of sense Quebec had once been a powerhouse in pro hockey A team called the Bulldogs won the Stanley Cup twice in 1912 and again in 1913 Their leader was a legendary goal-scorer named Joe Malone The WHA was made up of hungry young players as well as a few stars who left the NHL to make more money The first 6
leader of the Nordiques was J C Tremblay He had played in the NHL All-Star Game seven times with the Montreal Canadiens Quebec filled out its lineup with emerging stars such as Rejean Houle Marc Tardif Serge Bernier Christian Bordeleau Richard Brodeur Jamie Hislop and Réal Cloutier All but Brodeur and Cloutier had seen ice time in the NHL The Nordiques played twice for the WHA championship They lost in 1975 and won in 1977 In 1979 the Nordiques were invited to join the NHL along with three other WHA teams Facing new competition a fresh group of stars led the Nords One of them was Michel Goulet who grew up in Quebec There was also Dale Hunter and the Stastny brothers Peter Marian and Anton They all helped the team reach the finals of the LEFT Joe Malone was one of the first major hockey stars in Quebec ABOVE J C Tremblay was a good leader and a great passer 7
Eastern Conference in 1984 85 and earn a division championship in 1985 86 Also during this time the Nordiques developed a fierce rivalry with the Canadiens who played just three hours away in Montreal In the early 1990s Quebec welcomed more young stars including Joe Sakic Adam Foote Owen Nolan Valeri Kamensky and Mats Sundin In 1991 the team drafted Eric Lindros who was expected to be hockey’s next superstar When Lindros made it clear that he did not want to play for the Nordiques they traded him for a package of talented players including Peter Forsberg and Mike Ricci In one year the team went from 20 wins to 47 Despite their success the Nordiques were forced to find a new home Quebec City simply wasn’t large enough to support the team After the 1994 95 season the club moved to Denver a city filled with fans who loved hockey and was renamed the Avalanche Many years earlier an NHL team called the Rockies had played there That team moved to New Jersey and became the Devils LEFT Joe Sakic spent his entire 21 year career with the Nordiques and the Avs ABOVE Peter Forsberg combined with Sakic to give Colorado a great one-two scoring punch 9
