Eurolanche

Member story: Louis from Canada

There are many Eurolanche members, who started to follow Colorado Avalanche hockey since Day 1 in 1995, when the team was re-located from Canada. But there are not many of them, who were supporting the Quebec Nordiques before all that happened. And there are only a handful of them, who remember the WHL era of Nords hockey. This is a story about Louis Duchesne, 57, from Gatineau, Quebec, who has been an Avalanche/Nordiques fan since the real Day 1. 

“My favorite players back then were Peter Stastny and his brothers Anton and Marian. I remember very well, when Sakic, Sundin and Forsberg got drafted and this is the main reason I have never cheered for another team. Today, my favorite players are Duchene, Landeskog and MacKinnon,” said Louis, who regularly traveled from Quebec to Denver to attend Avalanche games. The last time he was in town was in October 2015, when he attended two games, including the home opener against the Dallas Stars. He and his son Derick were fortunate enough to meet a familiar face. “While we were at the Pepsi Center, we met Joe Sakic and it was a real pleasure chatting with him and getting to snap a picture with him,” said Louis, reliving the great moment.

Louis is an avid Colorado Avalanche collector. He has game used sticks, replica jerseys and signed pucks from all five Stastnys: of the Nordiques’ Peter, Anton, and Marian and of Peter’s sons Paul and Yan. “My main collections are bobble heads, starting with a 3-foot custom made Matt Duchene to over 90 other bobble heads. This collection is huge and took me over 10 years to collect and complete all of the available series,” said Louis, whose goal is to keep this collection, but if someone is really serious, he would entertain the idea of selling it. He may even offer it to the Avalanche organization for display at the Pepsi Center. 

Being one of the longest Avalanche supporters, Louis became an Eurolanche member after reading many articles about Avalanche players and especially stories about the Eurolanche Invasion project the Fan Club’s website. ”From that point, I knew I had something in common with Eurolanche members. I wanted to be part of this growing Fan Club and eventually join them on future Invasion trips to attend my all-time favorite hockey team,” said Louis. 

Louis is a retired veteran of the Canadian military, having served for 35 years in almost all provinces, while also serving abroad, specifically in Baden in Germany for five years. He has also travelled extensively all over the world and Europe. Today, he is still working for the Department of National Defense as a civilian. This is his 41^st year of working for the military and as a civilian worker.

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