In
1971, the former shareholders of the Quebec Remparts, Jean-Marc Bruneau, Marius Fortier and John Dacres bought the San Franciso's
World Hockey Association franchise for $215,000, moved it to
Quebec City and changed its name to
Quebec Nordiques.
Two years later, the future of the new franchise was already uncertain, until Carling O'Keefe, the owner of one of
Canada's largest brewery, purchased the majority of the team shares. Gaining popularity, the team won the Avco Cup in
1977 against the
Winnipeg Jets: Quebec City's populace is going crazy.
In
1978, the Nordiques hired Marcel Aubut as a juridical advisor. Aubut will quickly distinguish himself by joining the team to the
NHL on march 30th
1979.
A few years later, Aubut hired the famous Stastny brothers,
Peter and
Anton Stastny, who got love, respect and distinction from Quebec City's population.
But during the early
90's, many great player including Peter Stastny left the team and the Nordiques' popularity went down. New coaches and player succeeded, but the seat of the Quebec Coliseum were still getting empty.
Since the crowd was getting smaller and smaller, Marcel Aubut (who was now the president of the team) had to sell the Nordiques. The transaction was concluded with COMSAT Enterprises on may 25th
1995 and the team moved to
Denver, Colorado, becoming the
Colorado Avalanche.