That is how long it’s been since the Colorado Avalanche last hung a Stanley Cup banner in Denver. Wednesday brought an end to that drought, with the team raising the third championship banner in franchise history at Ball Arena ahead of the Avs’ 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Fans rose to their feet when Bernie, the Avalanche’s mascot, skated around the ice while waving a gigantic “Hockey is Back” flag like he has many times over the years. Players and coaches were introduced with all of them receiving strong ovations. The loudest were reserved for Pavel Francouz, Erik Johnson, MacKinnon, Makar and Mikko Rantanen.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who is on injured reserve, was introduced to the surprise of a number of fans. Landeskog received a standing ovation while skating onto the ice dressed in his full gear.
The players remained on the ice when Blink-182’s bassist and singer Mark Hoppus walked onto the ice to hype up the crowd. Hoppus led the crowd as it sang his band’s 2000 hit, “All The Small Things,” which has become an anthem among Avalanche fans. The crowd sang as the arena video board played a montage of fans celebrating the team’s championship.
Landeskog then grabbed the Stanley Cup, lifted it over his head and then received what might have been the loudest reaction of the evening. He then set the trophy down before joining his teammates so they could get in position to watch the banner go into the rafters.
One player who sat in the distance was Blackhawks defenseman Jack Johnson. He was a member of last year’s team that won the title. He remained on the bench for the majority of the ceremony before taking his place with his former teammates. They all stood arm in arm to watch the banner take its place next to the team’s previous titles from the 1995-96 and the 2000-01 seasons.
“It’s going to be cool to take it all in,” Newhook said before the game. “But we also know it is the end of celebrations and we know that we have to be ready.”
Every banner-raising ceremony comes with its own level of anticipation. For the Avalanche, it started at morning skate. Players walked into a new dressing room and were instantly met with questions about an evening that had been years in the making. It continued when the players arrived at the arena and then took part in a ceremony that saw them walk down a red carpet surrounded by fans.
That is also around the same time Hoppus arrived at Ball Arena. He drew a few double takes from arena workers and anyone else who was around when he walked throughout the hallways while wearing a blue Los Angeles Rams hoodie. Hoppus then met with the arena’s entertainment and production team, which walked him through his part in the ceremony.
Blink-182’s classic hit started becoming an in-game tradition early in the 2019-20 season. It would be played between sequences and eventually, the crowd kept singing long after the song ended and play continued.
Hoppus said he first became aware of it after seeing a tweet from a fan saying he should check out how the Avalanche was using Blink’s iconic song.
“It’s insane. We wrote that song in ’99 and here 23 years later, people are still singing it,” Hoppus said. “People imitate [guitarist/singer Tom DeLonge’s] voice. It’s a whole thing. It’s taken a life of its own beyond us and our band. It fills me with joy.”
Hoppus said he did not get a chance to watch the Avalanche’s entire playoff run. But he was able to watch Game 6 when they clinched the title against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“We tried to come out at one point during the Stanley Cup finals and our plane had mechanical issues and we weren’t able to take off,” said Hoppus, a day after the band announced it was reuniting and going to release a new album.
A few months later, it all worked out. NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer told ESPN on Wednesday that it was an easy decision for the league to reach out to Blink-182 after seeing how much of a connection that Avalanche fans had with the song. Mayer said the league had a previous relationship with the band, and that it was instantly on board until the travel issues paused the plans.
Originally, Travis Barker, DeLonge and Hoppus were to all fly to Denver for Game 5 and lead the crowd in singing the song — similar to what Hoppus did Wednesday.
“We then got a phone call that afternoon they were all on the plane, but the plane was having mechanical difficulties,” Mayer said. “We tried desperately to find another plane. As it turned out, we could not find one. We hadn’t announced it. But we were so bummed. We were so upset.”
There was a plan, however, to have Blink-182 try again if there was a Game 7. Once that wasn’t in the cards, the strategy turned to the opener. Mayer, in fact, said Blink-182 reached back out to see if there was a way it could do something in the fall.
“It turned out today not all the band members could be here,” Mayer said. “But Mark is the biggest advocate of the song. … When we reached out, he wanted to do it. It turned out to be a really cool moment.”
Planning the ceremony started shortly after the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, said Steve Johnston, the executive producer and executive for game presentation for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.
Johnston said his team immediately went to work after the Avs won the Stanley Cup. It started producing the videos that were played during the ceremony while also working on other details like getting a special winch that allowed them to raise the banner over the netting along the glass and into the rafters next to the other banners.
But there were some details that were sorted out much later. One of them being how active Landeskog would be in the ceremony given he is still recovering from an injury. Another detail was finding time to rehearse the ceremony. Johnston said Ball Arena had such a busy schedule that his team only had one banner-raising rehearsal. It was able to rehearse one more time Wednesday afternoon a few hours after the Blackhawks concluded their morning skate.
“We used the 2001 banner to raise because we didn’t want anyone taking pictures of the new banner just in case,” Johnston said. “The whole summer has gone into planning this special night.”
Why he could win: Olson is a late replacement for Acuna as the home team’s representative at this year’s Derby. Apart from being the Braves’ first baseman, however, Olson also was born in Atlanta and grew up a Braves fan, giving him some extra motivation. The left-handed slugger led the majors in home runs in 2023 — his 54 round-trippers that season also set a franchise record — and he remains among the best in the game when it comes to exit velo and hard-hit rate.
Why he might not: The home-field advantage can also be a detriment if a player gets too hyped up in the first round. See Julio Rodriguez in Seattle in 2023, when he had a monster first round, with 41 home runs, but then tired out in the second round.
2025 home runs: 36 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: It’s the season of Cal! The Mariners’ catcher is having one of the greatest slugging first halves in MLB history, as he’s been crushing mistakes all season . His easy raw power might be tailor-made for the Derby — he ranks in the 87th percentile in average exit velocity and delivers the ball, on average, at the optimal home run launch angle of 23 degrees. His calm demeanor might also be perfect for the contest as he won’t get too amped up.
Why he might not: He’s a catcher — and one who has carried a heavy workload, playing in all but one game this season. This contest is as much about stamina as anything, and whether Raleigh can carry his power through three rounds would be a concern. No catcher has ever won the Derby, with only Ivan Rodriguez back in 2005 even reaching the finals.
2025 home runs: 24 | Longest: 451 feet
Why he could win: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s young, he’s awesome, he might or might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This is the perfect opportunity for Wood to show his talent on the national stage, and he wouldn’t be the first young player to star in the Derby. He ranks in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 99th percentile in hard-hit rate, so he can still muscle the ball out in BP even if he slightly mishits it. His long arms might be viewed as a detriment, but remember the similarly tall Aaron Judge won in 2017.
Why he might not: His natural swing isn’t a pure uppercut — he has a pretty low average launch angle of just 6.2 degrees — so we’ll see how that plays in a rapid-fire session. In real games, his power is primarily to the opposite field, but in a Home Run Derby you can get more cheapies pulling the ball down the line.
2025 home runs: 20 | Longest: 479 feet
Why he could win: Buxton’s raw power remains as impressive as nearly any hitter in the game. He crushed a 479-foot home run earlier this season and has four others of at least 425 feet. Indeed, his “no doubter” percentage — home runs that would be out of all 30 parks based on distance — is 75%, the highest in the majors among players with more than a dozen home runs. His bat speed ranks in the 89th percentile. In other words, two tools that could translate to a BP lightning show.
Why he might not: Buxton is 31 and the Home Run Derby feels a little more like a younger man’s competition. Teoscar Hernandez did win last year at age 31, but before that, the last winner older than 29 was David Ortiz in 2010, and that was under much different rules than are used now.
2025 home runs: 16 | Longest: 463 feet
Why he could win: If you drew up a short list of players everyone wants to see in the Home Run Derby, Cruz would be near the top. He has the hardest-hit ball of the 2025 season, and the hardest ever tracked by Statcast, a 432-foot missile of a home run with an exit velocity of 122.9 mph. He also crushed a 463-foot home run in Anaheim that soared way beyond the trees in center field. With his elite bat speed — 100th percentile — Cruz has the ability to awe the crowd with a potentially all-time performance.
Why he might not: Like all first-time contestants, can he stay within himself and not get too caught up in the moment? He has a long swing, which will result in some huge blasts, but might not be the most efficient for a contest like this one, where the more swings a hitter can get in before the clock expires, the better.
2025 home runs: 23 | Longest: 425 feet
Why he could win: Although Caminero was one of the most hyped prospects entering 2024, everyone kind of forgot about him heading into this season since he didn’t immediately rip apart the majors as a rookie. In his first full season, however, he has showed off his big-time raw power — giving him a chance to become just the third player to reach 40 home runs in his age-21 season. He has perhaps the quickest bat in the majors, ranking in the 100th percentile in bat speed, and his top exit velocity ranks in the top 15. That could translate to a barrage of home runs.
Why he might not: In game action, Caminero does hit the ball on the ground quite often — in fact, he’s on pace to break Jim Rice’s record for double plays grounded into in a season. If he gets out of rhythm, that could lead to a lot of low line drives during the Derby instead of fly balls that clear the fences.
2025 home runs: 19 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: The Athletics slugger has been one of the top power hitters in the majors for three seasons now and is on his way to a third straight 30-homer season. Rooker has plus bat speed and raw power, but his biggest strength is an optimal average launch angle (19 degrees in 2024, 15 degrees this season) that translates to home runs in game action. That natural swing could be picture perfect for the Home Run Derby. He also wasn’t shy about saying he wanted to participate — and maybe that bodes well for his chances.
Why he might not: Rooker might not have quite the same raw power as some of the other competitors, as he has just one home run longer than 425 feet in 2025. But that’s a little nitpicky, as 11 of his home runs have still gone 400-plus feet. He competed in the college home run derby in Omaha while at Mississippi State in 2016 and finished fourth.
2025 home runs: 17 | Longest: 442 feet
Why he could win: Chisholm might not be the most obvious name to participate, given his career high of 24 home runs, but he has belted 17 already in 2025 in his first 61 games after missing some time with an injury. He ranks among the MLB leaders in a couple of home run-related categories, ranking in the 96th percentile in expected slugging percentage and 98th percentile in barrel rate. His raw power might not match that of the other participants, but he’s a dead-pull hitter who has increased his launch angle this season, which might translate well to the Derby, even if he won’t be the guy hitting the longest home runs.
Why he might not: Most of the guys who have won this have been big, powerful sluggers. Chisholm is listed at 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, and you have to go back to Miguel Tejada in 2004 to find the last player under 6 foot to win.
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Reds right fielder Jake Fraley was activated from the 10-day injured list on Saturday.
He had injured his right shoulder while trying to make a diving catch June 23 against the New York Yankees.
An MRI revealed a partially torn labrum that will eventually require surgery. Fraley received a cortisone shot and will try to play through it for the rest of the season.