Wings make history en route to Cup final After watching Patrick Roy hand over Game 6 to the Detroit Red Wings, many hockey fans expected the Colorado Avalanche goaltender to bounce back with yet another remarkable performance. They were wrong. FULL STORY SERIES SO FAR: GAME 1: McCarty, Wings take Game 1 over Avs GAME 2: Drury, Avalanche defeat Red Wings in OT GAME 3: Olausson comes up big for Wings GAME 4: Drury pulls Avs even with Wings GAME 5: Forsberg, Avalanche edge Red Wings in OT GAME 6: Hasek, Red Wings force Game 7 GAME 7: Wings make history en route to Cup final RELATED: Game 7 is old hat for Avalanche, Red Wings Dan Hinote breaks left leg Red Wings determined, Avalanche desperate Avalanche speedier than Red Wings Red Wings - Blues Series Page Avalanche-Sharks Series Page

Some of the names have changed through the years, but the intense rivalry remains the same between the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings. There are many adjectives to describe the match-up between these two teams, but the best one that comes to mind is hatred. Whenever these two teams play, especially in the playoffs, it's guaranteed to be a hard-hitting game with a lot of emotion and ugliness involved. Six years is a long time to hold a grudge, especially in the National Hockey League, but the Red Wings and their fans still can't get the image of then-Colorado player Claude Lemieux hitting Detroit's Kris Draper from behind in Game 6 of the conference finals. Draper went face first into the boards and required extensive facial surgery. In return, Lemieux received only a two-game suspension and $1,000 fine. Ever since that incident, each meeting between the two teams results in a highly-entertaining game of hockey, with no player holding back his emotion or his fists. Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy has even involved himself in the bitterness over the years, skating to centre ice to fight former goaltender Mike Vernon. He then got involved with Chris Osgood in a similar incident one year later. While the Detroit Red Wings have won three of their four match-ups against the Avs during the 2001-02 regular season, it's Colorado that has held the trump card during the playoffs. In four meetings between the highly-successful franchises, the Avalanche have won three series. The only time the Red Wings managed to beat the Avs in the post-season (1997), they went on to win their first of back-to-back championships. In their four games together this season, Brendan Shanahan led all players in scoring with two goals and two assists. Milan Hejduk led the Avs with one goal and two assists. Despite losing two of his three games, Roy looked solid for Colorado, posting a goals-against average of 1.69 and a save percentage of .944. Not to be outdone, Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek was just as spectacular, shutting out the Avs once in putting up a 1.51 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.

COLORADO DETROIT KEY STATISTICS Playoff Record:  10-10 Power play:  14-84 Penalty kill:  53-62 KEY STATISTICS Playoff Record:  12-5 Power play:  16-74 Penalty kill:  68-80 KEY INJURIES F Dan Hinote - leg F Stephane Yelle - neck KEY INJURIES None

COLORADO AVALANCHE Ranked 2nd in the West Record: 45-28-8-1 99 points 212 GF 169 GA The Avalanche were a very mediocre 18th in goal-scoring this season but somehow still managed to capture their eighth straight division title and earn home-ice advantage for at least the first two rounds. The keys for Colorado were defence and goaltending. For while the Avs were sandwiched between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens in goal-scoring -- as well as being shut out a shocking 11 times -- when it came to keeping the puck out of the net, they were second to none. Patrick Roy was his usual brilliant self, posting a 1.94 GAA in 63 games this season. Of course it helped that he had two of the game's best defenders, Rob Blake and Adam Foote, playing in front of him. Plus, with the late-season acquisition of Darius Kasparaitis, the Avs enter the playoffs boasting the NHL's stingiest and hard-nosed defensive corps. Joe Sakic led his team in scoring again this season with 26 goals and 53 assists this season. But, that's a big comedown from the 118 points he scored in his Hart Trophy-winning 2000-2001 campaign. At one point the Avs' captain went 18 games without a goal. Sakic's problem was that with Peter Forsberg out for the season and Milan Hejduk out for 20 games, opposing teams keyed on stopping him. Forsberg may be back at some point during the playoffs. Whenever it is, it can't be soon enough for the Avs.

DETROIT RED WINGS Ranked 1st in the West Record: 51-17-10-4 116 points 251 GF 187 GA Normally, a team winless in seven games would be concerned entering the postseason. Not the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit -- despite its lackadaisical finish to the regular season -- is the best team in the NHL. The group of wily veterans breezed through the regular season with a 51-17-10-4 record for 116 points and secured the President's Trophy on March 28. Piloted by the NHL's most successful coach, Scotty Bowman, the Red Wings' roster is stacked with players that helped the squad win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997-98 and 1998-99, including forwards Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov and defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom (veteran blueliner Chris Chelios joined the team for its 1999 Cup victory). Determined to rebound from underachieving the past few playoff seasons, the Red Wings added three key players in the offseason: Dallas winger Brett Hull, Los Angeles forward Luc Robitaille and Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek. Just look down Detroit's roster and it's no wonder they are the league's best team. They don't have any real weakness. Solid from goal, through the blueline and up front, the only knock against the boys from Hockeytown might be their age. Detroit has the league's second-oldest team behind the Dallas Stars and also sent 10 players to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, the most of any NHL team. Age and fatigue aside, the Red Wings should be the team to beat for Lord Stanley's Cup.