Sometimes life just sucks. That's the unfortunate reality of sports. Whether your favorite team goes through a dry spell or the time comes to say goodbye to a legend of the game, it's just no fun. These are trying times for fans of the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are coming off of what was by far the franchise's worst season in 15 in Colorado. Fan favorite Ian Lapperriere had to be let go in free agency as a financial casualty. We thought that it couldn't get any worse. Then I saw this headline on 9NEWS.com a short while ago: Joe Sakic to retire from Avalanche.
That's right. Super Joe. Burnaby Joe. Our Captain. #19. After 20 seasons, 625 goals, 1016 assists, 614 penalties in minutes, 2 Stanley Cups, 1 Hart Trophy, and a Conn Smythe trophy on his resume, Joe Sakic is retiring from the NHL. Words cannot begin to express how tough that news is to take for this Avs die-hard.
I first fell in love with hockey in the 1994-1995 season. The International Hockey League gave Denver its first taste of professional hockey since the Colorado Rockies defected to New Jersey to become the Devils in the 1980's. That season, the Denver Grizzlies won the championship of the IHL, and everyone thought that McNichol's Sports Arena - "Big Mac", as it was known - would have a second winter tenant for years to come. That stay only lasted one year, though, as the National Hockey League announced that COMSAT Entertainment Group had purchased the Quebec Nordiques, and that the team would be moving to Denver in the following season. Just like that, it was on to Utah for the Grizzlies, and the team that would come to be known as the Colorado Avalanche rolled into town.
Every Avalanche fan - well, every hockey fan - has nothing but great memories from Super Joe. One that stands out in the minds of Avalanche fans is our first memory of Joe Sakic. Many hockey fans don't know that the Avalanche weren't supposed to be known as the Avalanche. Originally, the team was going to be named "Rocky Mountain Extreme". Denver hockey fans caught wind of this and made sure that it wouldn't happen. A fan contest was later held, and "Colorado Avalanche" was selected from the entrants. When the team was first introduced in Colorado, Avs players, including Sakic, wore generic t-shirts that said simply "Colorado Hockey" on the front of them, as the team didn't yet have a name. Colorado governor Roy Romer referred to Super Joe as "Joe Kasic". As he always has, Sakic just gave a little half-smile and laughed it off. All that can be said about it is, "That's Joe."
I've said before that Peter Forsberg was always my favorite player to watch. Sakic is close behind him, though, and Super Joe's legacy will always outshine Peter the Great's legacy. The two players were always such a treat to watch. Through the years, we've had some great athletes in Denver. John Elway will always rule this region. Todd Helton is close to the top. Alex English put the Nuggets on the NBA map. It's impossible to say that any of them are greater than Joe Sakic, though.
Never has there been another athlete that managed to conceal his own greatness, even though it played out every night while the game was going on. Part of the allure of Sakic is his down-to-earth nature (many media members came to know him as "Quoteless Joe"). Even by hockey standards, he never was an interesting interview. He would just go out and produce, and he would come through at the most opportune times. I would defy anyone to find a better offensive player in the clutch than Joe Sakic in the history of the NHL. His 8 overtime goals in the Playoffs are a record. Whenever the Avalanche have needed a goal over the years, it has been Joe Sakic that would put the puck in the net.
Not lost on Avalanche fans in Colorado is the fact that Joe and Debbie Sakic have donated countless hours and millions of dollars to local charities, as well as Children's Hospital in Denver. Sakic holds an annual charity golf tournament to benefit Food Bank of the Rockies. While Joe Sakic will be remembered as one of the greatest players that the NHL has ever seen, he should be remembered more for being one of the best people that the world has ever seen. He's always been just a class act, both on and off the ice.
News of Sakic's retirement hit hard today, and it will surely hit hard with the folks in Canada, as the 2010 Olympic Games are in Sakic's hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, and he was a virtual lock to captain Team Canada. Unfortunately, we won't get the opportunity to see that happen. We will always have the memories of #19 on the ice, and his legacy will always live on in Denver.
Thanks for giving us the best years of your life, Super Joe. We'll miss you.
Lucia Dvorska
Kayla Oberg
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Winter Olympics on the SI Cover
Comments (18) Add A Comment
Joe Sakic, the only reason i watched hockey this year.
I stopped midway through the season though when the Avs started sucking. Well, now I'm probably done with hockey. lol (not going to happen).
Kinardian
Fort Collins, CO
Total Comments (799)
Love the fight video.
Gilmour was no punk, but that just shows how great a Captain Sakic was.
Mac Brody-Out for a…
Sj, CA
Total Comments (10222)
Well, I've always had a profound distaste for the Avalanche... they were never my team, despite growing up just north of the team's home state in Wyoming. I was livid that a Canadian team was being relocated. I couldn't stand all the overnight fans who popped up as instant Avalanche supporters all around me. And then they went and got my team's goalie, the man who'd brought me countless moments of joy, rubbing in my face the ongoing downfall of hockey in the province of Quebec...
But I cannot speak an ill word of Sakic. Watching him play on that 2002 Winter Olympic team that broke Canada's 50-year gold medal drought was a blissful experience. And even as the Avalanche surged to two Stanley Cups under his captaincy, I couldn't help but revel in the man's talents. I'll never be an Avs fan, but you're right, WT... there's not a person who understands and appreciates the game of hockey that can disparage what Joe has brought to the game, both with his skill on the ice and his demeanor in all walks of life...
Bigalke
Springfield, OR
Total Comments (22418)
Joe Sakic.....pure class. We don't say that about too many athletes anymore. Great post!
Grobin87
Total Comments (152)
My favourite hockey player of all-time. I wanted him to play for Canada so badly. Is he still going to the Camp???
Toronto Maple Leafs
Total Comments (1859)
A nice touch of a blog,wt. Those of us who love the game, whether Avs fans or not, know what it means when a player of Sakic's stature retires.
Now he belongs with the other NHL greats. I'm sure other recent retirees like Gretzky, Messier, Yzerman, and the like will tell him, "Welcome to the real post-season, kid!"
Appleseed
Detroit, MI
Total Comments (947)
The classiest thing ever in sports was him giving Bourque the Cup, he handed it straight off to him.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Total Comments (1859)
Even as an ardent Wings fan, I couldn't not like Joe Sakic. Class act. Great career. First ballot Hall of Famer.
Roberts#1: Football…
Total Comments (32178)
Joe Sakic is one of the most respected players in the NHL, and deservedly so. The way he carried himself on and off the ice was absolutely remarkable. He is among the classiest players this game has ever seen and will go down as one of the greatest players of all time.
Burnaby Joe, you will be missed.
Class act.
Hockey_Fan19:…
Edmonton, AB
Total Comments (163)
Nice blog.
When guys leave, it's never fun. KG, Kirby Puckett, etc. It's always hard to deal with stuff like that, but you did a really good job with this. I don't know hardly anything about hockey, but Sakic was a great player, and he seems to be a really great guy.
And that video of the fight was awesome.
0x NBA/NFL Champion
Saint Paul, MN
Total Comments (5096)
Great blog wt. Joe is one of the greatest and probably most underappreciated players of all time.
Class act, great player.....and he was murder on my Blues. A friend of mine and I used to have a running joke every time we played Colorado. If the Blues were ahead by a goal, the question was always whether Sakic had scored a goal or not. If not, we knew the one goal lead wasn't safe because he would inevitably score. And he usually did. If I recall correctly, one of his OT goals in the playoffs was the goal that ended the Blues season in the Western Conference finals in 2001. Such memories stay with me.......
Even though he was a Blues-killer, I am sorry to see him retire. The NHL needs more players like Sakic.
TenRingsSTL
Total Comments (4754)
i rember he took the opeing face off and skated down the ice and beat the bruins netminder
i was a bruins fan but i liked it, i was a ray Bourque fan and i liked the avs at the time
Army of Adam
Total Comments (9809)
Sakic = class
FoosBall
Total Comments (3737)
I feel for you man. Never been an Avs fan, but Joe Sakic was in my opinion the classiest hockey player ever. And if you exclude Wayne Gretzky from the conversation, Sakic makes a case for being the best player of all time.
Could you read this article of mine about the San Jose Sharks....
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/414440?new=true
OM= Dany Heatley
San Jose, CA
Total Comments (3491)
Nice blog as always wt. Sakic has always been the epitome of class. He will be sorely missed.
LGP: Stanley Cup…
Six Burgh, PA
Total Comments (8952)
Great stuff, WT. Love that quote from the former Guvnah. Never knew that Sakic held the record for playoff goals in OT either. Great vids, too. "Joe Sakic just scored AND he beat up Gilmour"!!!!! Priceless.
Super Joe is legendary for his understatement and quiet class as one of the best in the game. It was nice you mentioned his and his wife's extensive charity work as well. It's easy to see why he's so universally admired.
Seabird 56
Total Comments (1820)
joe is the best class and skill
he has it all is wrist shot was the best ever
and my faviorite moment is when he scored a hat trick agianst the canuck 1995 playoff.
I love the colorado avalanche and i live in Vancouver and i go to all the avs games go joe go avs
avsdabestjoe's1#
Total Comments (2)
joe the best has so much skill and humbleness
my favourite moment of joe is when he scored a hatrick including the overtime winner in the playoffs against he boyhood team the canucks i live in vancouver and i all ways have like the avs and i will alll ways will cheer for them go avs go joe
avsdabestjoe's1#
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