DENVER — Peter Forsberg needs pants.
He is checking golf clubs for the flight from Sweden, not hockey equipment. So a pair of breezers and some shoulder pads were his simple requests to play in the Colorado Faceoff — a benefit game pitting former Avalanche and Denver greats against each other Sunday at 5 p.m. at Magness Arena.
“I told him not to worry. We could get him some hockey pants,” said John-Michael Liles, president of the Colorado NHL Alumni Association. “And, honestly, most of our guys don’t wear shoulder pads anymore.”
This event represents the culmination — but not the end — of seven years of tireless work. There is nothing more abrupt in pro sports than retirement. With a nudge from team president Joe Sakic, Liles and Kyle Quincey were among the first former Avs to recognize a need for an alumni arm.
The creation of the Colorado NHL Alumni Association formed under strong pillars. The players want to give back to the sport that has given them so much. They aim to make hockey — expensive because of equipment, ice time and travel — accessible to as many kids as possible. And they need this structure to take care of one another.
There is a tendency to romanticize professional sports. But once the cheering stops, identities can get lost. To not understand why this alumni group is so important is to deny how the world really works. After all, life does not stop when the uniform comes off, which for 99% of players, is not by choice.
They are told they are not good enough. They get cut. Or their bodies betray them because of repeated injuries and surgeries.
The game will feature names that helped Colorado fall in love with the sport over the past three decades — names like Forsberg, Milan Hejduk, Adam Foote, Matt Davis, Troy Terry and Drew Shore. It will help benefit youth hockey in the Denver area (tickets can be purchased at coloradoalumnifaceoff.com). But it goes much deeper than charity.
This is not a high school reunion, which often serves as a strange barometer of success. This is a family reunion. A welcome back with a pat on the back.
“There’s no one out there taking care of us, so we need to take care of our own,” said Quincey, a former Avs defenseman. “In my opinion, it’s a human need. We are checking on guys and making sure they are good. A lot of guys struggle when they retire. We lose our purpose, our mission. That is why it is good to get guys back together.”
If the last five years have taught us anything, it’s that it is OK not to be OK. That is often an uncomfortable conversation for an athlete when the answers were always woven into results on the scoreboard. When a career ends, it can be scary. Issues develop. Problems surface.
Who better to understand them than former teammates? They know each other. They can recognize if someone is holding back, becoming isolated.
“Without these marquee events, we wouldn’t probably see each other. There’s no reason for a guy like Peter Forsberg to come into town. Without that, we lose our tribe. It’s vital we have these things. We can raise money for youth hockey. And that matters. But it’s about creating that locker room again,” Quincey said.
“… There are 700 guys that get to do what we get to do. You can’t buy your way into the Avalanche locker room. You have to earn it. And because of that, we are a very tight family.”
This game on Sunday is evidence of progress, of the work the alumni group has done. It is not easy to get former players to return. But the local Colorado chapter has been building toward this goal. They have been holding golf events in the mountains for years, keeping the lines of communication open. And they hold open skates three times a month at the Family Sports Center.
“That is over 40 and under 40 in that one,” Liles explained. “It gets competitive. There is a lot of chirping, and it wouldn’t surprise me if you see that on Sunday. So when we started putting out calls to guys, there was significant interest, and it gained a lot of steam quickly. Now that people realize it is happening, the fans have been great. It wouldn’t be a shock if it sells out.”
The alumni do not want the face-off to be a one-off. If all goes well, the players would like to see it land in Ball Arena in the future.
The game is serving as a bit of a soft launch for the Avs’ 30th anniversary season. Since arriving in 1995, the Avs have won three Stanley Cups and qualified for the playoffs 21 times. Andrew Cogliano, Dan Hinote, Darren Helm and Tyson Barrie will conjure those memories Sunday, and Mark Rycroft will inspire a few laughs.
“It is a battle whether he plays for the Avs alumni or the DU alumni. Neither team wants him,” deadpanned Liles of his broadcaster partner on Altitude Sports.
And the Avs will pay homage to the architect of their success, former general manager and Hall of Famer Pierre Lacroix. Lacroix passed away in 2020, but his son Eric will be on the Avs’ bench and his grandson Max, a goalie for Boston University, will get some time in between the pipes.
“It is really cool to have that tie to Pierre, given how much he meant for hockey in this region,” Liles said.
This game makes sense for so many reasons. It is about the past, the warm feelings the players create for all of us. But, more than anything, it is about what it does for all of them.
“Just having that locker room again is special,” Quincey said. “These guys will always be alumni. Nothing will ever change that.”
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