Fruitvale native Adam Deadmarsh was voted to the Colorado Avalanche’s 20th Anniversary Team as selected by the fans.
In celebration of its 20th Anniversary Season, over the past month fans went online to vote for the top 20 Avs players from the past 20 years. Players were named to the team according to the following criteria:
• Their jersey number was retired (Sakic 19; Forsberg 21; Roy 33; Foote 52; Bourque 77);
• They are a forward or defenseman who played at least 246 regular-season games in an Avalanche sweater (equivalent of three full seasons);
• They are a goaltender who played a minimum of 75 regular-season games in an Avalanche sweater.
Deadmarsh played six seasons with the Avs, that included 405 regular season games, 129 goals and 142 assists to go along with 667 penalty minutes.
The Quebec Nordiques drafted Deadmarsh in the first round, 14th overall, in the 1993 NHL entry draft. The franchise moved to Denver to become the Avalanche for the 1995-96 season, and in the club’s first season in Denver, Deadmarsh and the Avalanche won the Pacific Division and went on to sweep the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals, becoming the first NHL team to win the Stanley Cup in the season following a relocation. The Avs have won two Stanley Cups, the other in 2001, and nine division titles.
A total of 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders were named to the 20th Anniversary Team including forwards: Matt Duchene, Valeri Kamensky, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Claude Lemieux, Milan Hejduk, Stephane Yelle, Paul Stastny, Chris Drury, Alex Tanguay, and Gabriel Landeskog. Defensemen: Rob Blake, John-Michael Liles, Erik Johnson, Sandis Ozolinsh, Adam Foote, and Ray Bourque. Goaltenders: Semyon Varlamov and Patrick Roy.
The 20 players will be honoured in a special on-ice ceremony before Colorado’s contest against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 7.