The Colorado Eagles franchise announced this weekend the death of its founder and longtime hockey advocate.
Ralph Backstrom died on Sunday at age 83. He founded the Eagles in 2002 and served as the team president from 2003 to 2007 after years of playing and coaching experience.
“Ralph always told me he always wanted to be around the sport of hockey and owning a minor-league team would be a great way to keep him relevant, get to enjoy the game he loves and help incubate the superstars of tomorrow,” Eagles owner and CEO Martin Lind said in a statement.
The Eagles won the Central Hockey League Presidents Cup in 2005, just their second season, before adding another championship in 2007. Backstrom retired after the second title.
“Lots of wonderful times; lots of painful times, too,” Backstrom told The Denver Post at the time. “The six Cups are big, and I was very fortunate to win the Memorial Cup (with the Ottawa-Hull Junior Canadiens in 1958). I’d compare that to winning the Stanley Cup, and then we won a couple championships here in northern Colorado.”
The Eagles moved to the ECHL — previously known as the East Coast Hockey League — in 2011. They won the league title in 2017 and 2018.
Most recently, the franchise became a member of the American Hockey League and the top-level minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. The Eagles began their AHL stint for the 2018-19 season.
Backstrom, an Ontario-native, saw his playing career take off in the 1950s. He was the captain of the Ottawa-Hull Junior Canadiens, which won the 1958 Memorial Cup Championship team. Backstrom earned the title of the best junior player in the country, as voted on by media members.
In 1959, Backstrom joined the Montreal Canadiens. Not only did he win the Calder Trophy, which is given to the top rookie player, but he helped the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup. Backstrom earned five more Stanley Cup victories before being traded to Los Angeles in 1971.
According to NHL history, only nine players have won more than six Stanley Cups since 1893. He made two finals appearances with the Chicago Blackhawks after his stint in California.
In addition to Backstrom’s NHL career, he played for three teams in the World Hockey Association, where he played with Hall of Famers Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Frank Mahovlich.
Backstrom accounted for 378 goals, 514 assists and 892 points in his 1,336-game career.
After his playing days, Backstrom started his coaching career at the University of Denver as an assistant coach. He worked in Los Angeles for a short period, also as an assistant, before returning to Denver to lead the program.
He led Denver to a Western Collegiate Hockey Association title and NCAA Final Four appearance in 1986. That same year, the NCAA named him Division I Coach of the Year.
Backstrom made a brief coaching stop for the Phoenix Roadrunners before co-founding the now-disbanded Roller Hockey League, which developed rules that are still used to this day.
After his retirement, Backstrom was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 and received the ECHL’s Lifetime Achievement Award five years later for his work to grow the sport.
“Ralph Backstrom was the most honorable gentleman I’ve ever encountered in my professional life and he was single-handedly responsible for professional hockey in Northern Colorado,” Lind said in a release. “We all are forever indebted to this legacy of a gentleman and we pray his family has peace and comfort in this difficult time.”
He leaves behind his wife, Janet; daughter, Diana; and sons, Andrew and Martin.
The Eagles are expected to begin their 2020-21 season at 8 p.m. Saturday in San Diego.
