Adam Foote News

Joe Sakic, along with his wife, Debbie, laugh during a question-and-answer session following his retirement announcement at the Inverness Hotel yesterday.

Stoic Joe Sakic finally cracked, allowing for a rare show of emotion. Delivering a speech that had kept him up most of the night fretting, the longtime Colorado Avalanche captain broke down, his voice betraying him as he stared into a room packed with family, friends and teammates - even the governor of the state.

Joe Sakic, the Colorado Avalanche's longtime captain who led the team to two Stanley Cup titles, will retire Thursday and end his 20-year NHL career, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The Colorado Avalanche are about to reap the only benefit from their worst season since moving from Quebec to Denver in 1995.

Since the NHL returned to Denver in 1995, it's been exceedingly easy to be a Colorado Avalanche fan.

The Colorado Avalanche will hold a press conference today at 2 p.m. to formally introduce the team's new head coach, Joe Sacco.

The Colorado Avalanche promoted Greg Sherman to general manager and fired coach Tony Granato and five others in a sweeping shakeup Wednesday.

In the nearly two weeks since being fired as general manager from the Avalanche, Francois Giguere has mostly stayed quiet.

Avalanche management didn't waste any time showing its displeasure with a disastrous last-place finish in the Western Conference.

The NHL's off-season game of musical chairs got under way in a hurry this year with most of the carnage centred on the once muscular Northwest Division, where the three teams that missed the playoffs began significant restructuring programs.

THE Colorado Avalanche fired General Manager Francois Giguere on Monday, saying fans and management "deserve better" than a last-place finish in the NHL Western Conference.

Colorado Avalanche on Monday announced that they have fired Vice President and General Manager Francois Giguere.

Usually, the bushy beard is a playoff thing. Yet with the St. Louis Blues fighting for their playoff lives as far back as February, goalie Chris Mason decided to start his early.

Ian Laperriere, who played in his 1,000th NHL game Saturday, stands with his sons during the national anthem.

The Avalanche's chances of landing the No. 1 pick in June's NHL draft went down 4.6 percent Thursday night.

Two out of three, in this case, is bad. The Avalanche will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years when its season ends next Sunday against St.

Avalanche rookie defenseman Derek Peltier is called for a penalty after hitting Anaheim's Andrew Ebbett during the Ducks' 7-2 win on March 25.

The Vancouver Canucks collected full points for beating half a team on Friday, scoring three times in the third period to defeat the seriously-depleted Colorado Avalanche 4-1. The victory, which followed Thursday's 4-2 loss in St.

The Colorado Avalanche dressing room was more crowded than usual following a recent practice, though not because of a surplus of media members, many of whom abandoned the struggling team weeks ago.

If there was ever a time to exploit the Colorado Avalanche this would be it. The Edmonton Oilers will be facing a banged up Avalanche club tonight at the Pepsi Center.