June 10, 1996: Krupp for the Cup

Joe Sakic

June 11, 1996: The Stanley Cup is won by a team that, in a manner of speaking, didn't even exist the last time the Cup was awarded.

The Quebec Nordiques had won the World Hockey Association Championship in 1977, but after 16 seasons in the NHL, they never won the Stanley Cup. They moved to Denver, and in their 1st season as the Colorado Avalanche, they won it.

It helped that they had acquired 2 players that, as the Nordiques, they would never have been able to get: Goaltender Patrick Roy and right wing Mike Keane were traded by the Montreal Canadiens, who would never have sent them to their Provincial rivals before the move, even though Roy was from Quebec City.

Keane joined an attack led by team Captain Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Valery Kamensky, Adam Deadmarsh, and Claude Lemieux, who had won the Cup the year before with the New Jersey Devils, and in 1986 with the Canadiens. Roy was backed by a defense that included Sylvain Lefebvre, Uwe Krupp, Alexei Gusarov, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sandis Ozolinsh and Adam Foote. They survived a nasty Western Conference Finals with the Detroit Red Wings, which included an ugly brawl after Lemieux's excessive hit on Darren McCarty.

They would play the Florida Panthers, then playing in downtown Miami, but moving in 1998 to an arena closer to Fort Lauderdale. They had begun play in 1993, and had reached the Finals in only their 3rd season.

Earlier in the season, the Panthers' Scott Mellanby saw a rat in the locker room, and killed it with his stick. That night, he scored 2 goals. The story got out, and afterward, any time a Panther player scored 2 goals, it became known as "The Florida Rat Trick," and the fans threw rubber rats onto the ice. They began doing it after wins, too. They also began showing up in masks, not of panthers, but of rats. This was reminiscent of Washington Redskins fans showing up in pig masks, or at least rubber snouts on their noses, in honor of the team's offensive line, the Hogs.

In Game 1 at McNichols Arena in Denver, the Panthers scored first, but that would be the highlight of the Finals for them, as the Avs won, 3-1. It was a rough game, with 8 penalties assessed to the Panthers, 5 to the Avs.

The Avs unloaded in Game 2, winning 8-1. Forsberg had a hat trick, while Rene Corbet and Jon Klemm each scored 2 goals. This game was even rougher, with 9 penalties for Colorado, 7 for Florida.

The series moved to the Miami Arena for Game 3. The Panthers took a 2-1 lead halfway through the game, but the Avs won, 3-2. This game was much cleaner: The Avs only got 2 penalties, the Panthers 1.

Game 4 was tight, as the Panthers refused to simply pack it in. It was scoreless at the end of regulation, and remained so through 2 overtimes. Many more penalties: 8 for the Avs, 7 for the Panthers. At 4:31 of the 3rd overtime, Krupp, a "defensive defenseman" with only 69 goals in 15 NHL seasons, hit a long shot past John Vanbiesbrouck, to give the Avs the 1-0 win, and the sweep. Captain Sakic was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs.

Uwe Krupp

Since this was the Miami fans' last chance to do it -- they knew it would be banned in the off-season -- they unloaded with the rubber rats.

The Avs won the Cup again in 2001 and 2022 The Panthers mostly struggled over the next quarter-century.

UPDATE: The Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2023, and won them in 2024 and 2025.

The Avalanche don't have a team Hall of Fame, but they do retire uniform numbers. From their 1996 Stanley Cup winners: 19, center Joe Sakic; 21, center Peter Forsberg; 33, goaltender Patrick Roy; and 52, defenseman Adam Foote. From their 2001 Stanley Cup winners: Sakic, Roy, Foote; 23, right wing Milan Hejduk; and 77, defenseman Ray Bourque. (Forsberg was injured, and missed the Playoffs.) Sakic, Forsberg, Roy, Foote, Hejduk and general manager Pierre Lacroix have been elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

The Panthers don't have a team Hall of Fame, either, but they do retire numbers: 37, for founding owner Wayne Huizenga; 93, for founding general manager Bill Torrey; and 1, for 2000s and 2010s goaltender Roberto Luongo. So far, they have not retired any numbers for players from their 1996 Stanley Cup Finalists. Huizenga, Luongo, and 1996 goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck have been elected to the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.

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June 10, 1996 was a Monday. Football was out of season. The NBA Finals were between Games 3 and 4, and the Chicago Bulls went on to beat the Seattle SuperSonics in 6 games.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-3 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Tino Martinez hit a home run. Wade Boggs went 4-for-4 with a walk. Rookie Derek Jeter went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-3 at Shea Stadium. Todd Hundley hit 2 home runs in support of Bobby Jones.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Montreal Expos, 5-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Tony Clark hit a home run for the Tigers, Cal Ripken Jr. and Bobby Bonilla hit them for the O's.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-2 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners, 13-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The Twins got 2 home runs from Greg Myers, and also got homers from Ron Coomer, Scott Stahoviak, and Paul Molitor, a Hall-of-Famer-in-waiting from nearby St. Paul. For the M's, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez each went 1-for-4 with a walk, and Griffey had 2 RBIs.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-5 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The Angels scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th, thanks to home runs by Chili Davis and J.T. Snow. The Royals pulled 1 back in the bottom of the 10th, but it wasn't enough.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-3 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Astros beat the Colorado Rockies, 10-9 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 6-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn, surprisingly, went 0-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 3-for-4 against his former team.