By: Emily Chu

Game 4 of the National Hockey League (NHL) championships was played last Thursday, as the Colorado Avalanche scored a goal that would lead them to a 3-1 series lead.

The crowd at Amalie Arena gazed intensely as Nazam Kadri, an Avalanche player, scored the goal that propelled the Avalanche to a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. At first, the goal first confused the audience as the puck was nowhere to be seen. But a few seconds later, there was euphoria from the Avalanche supporters as the Tampa Bay Lightning team skated away in dismay.

“Just thinking I was done and then having a sliver of hope, sitting here right now, it’s kind of surreal,” Kadri said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life pretty much.”

Five years ago, the Avalanche was the worst team in the NHL. But the team underwent an impressive rebuild, which allowed them to win the 2022 Stanley Cup Sunday at Amalie Arena in Game 6 when they beat the Lighting 2 to 1. It was the team’s first Stanley Cup in 21 years.

The team’s newfound success is due in large part to the work of Nathan MacKinnon, one of Avalanche’s star players. While in 2013-14 he only tallied 24 goals and 63 points in 2013-14, by the 2019-2020 season he was one of the best players on the team, with 41 goals and 99 points. It’s undeniable that he made one of the biggest impacts on the Avalanche.

From being at the bottom of the NHL list to one of the best hockey teams currently, it took only a matter of five years, but with continuous effort from all the team members. Few teams can do as well as the Avalanche did in the past five years, but as long as there is a goal in mind, nothing can stop the team from performing its best.

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