One of the greatest things about sports is rivalries. Some of the greatest moments in hockey history happened because of the rivalry between two teams. Whenever your team faces their rivals, there always seems to be a little extra juice in the arena. Since the Colorado Avalanche moved to Denver in 1995, they have had their fair share of bad blood with other teams. The only part that stinks is that the Avalanche do not seem to play their rivals enough.
With the way the NHL structures their divisions and its schedule, rivals are not the team priority.