Goalie Craig Anderson in the shutout game against Vancouver.

Many hockey fans had believed that the Colorado Avalanche would never be a hockey town again after the 2008-2009 season, but former General Manager Pierre Lacroix had promised to rebuild the team, and so far he has.

Many Avalanche fans had thought their home team had lost all hope after ending last in the Western Conference and Joe Sakic retiring. That was untill the Avalanche had made a few changes of course, and they worked. The Avs are off on their best start in franchise history with a record of 10-1-2, which had made many hockey fans surprised. What makes the Avalanche currently the best team in the West is goaltender Craig Anderson. With six stats ranked #1 in the league, including number of wins and minutes played, Craig Anderson has been voted the best goalie in the league. Other reasons why the Avalanche are the best are rookies Matt Duchene and Ryan O’ Reilly. Draft picks 1 and 2 have proven to be real contenders offensively and defensively, both scoring their first NHL goals within two games of each other and keeping the penalty kill up. Other than that, the only thing thats slowing down the Avs are injuries and defensive play. It may only be the start of the season, but Avs may not only make the playoffs, but win back the Northwest Division title.