My Top Ten Colorado Sports Events for 2019

The Avalanche and local football teams gave me the most thrills in 2019 for sports events of the year, with some baseball and basketball thrown in. My top 10 list:

Number 10:

12/21 University of Colorado Basketball: Colorado 78 Dayton 76.  The most recent entry on my list: De'Shawn Swartz sinks a 3 point basket at the buzzer to give the Buffs the win over 13th rank Dayton.  It was the highest ranked team CU had beaten on the road since 1990 when the Buffs beat 6th ranked Missouri.

Number 9:

9/28 Rockies 3 Brewers 2 In the second to last game of the season, the Rockies win a tight game all the way with some great plays on both sides.  The Rockies were one out away from a loss when rookie Sam Hilliard hits a game tying home run, then Trevor Story wins it with a walkoff in the bottom of the 10th.  It was a disappointing season for the Rockies but they ended in style with a 3 game sweep of the Brewers (the team they lost to in the 2018 playoffs) depriving Milwaukee a chance for first place in the NL Central Division.

Number 8:

11/3 Broncos 24 Browns 19 Free agent quarterback Brandon Allen, in his first start, leads the Broncos to the win.  Rookie tight end Noah Fant has a break out game including a 75 yard td (the longest bronco td of the season)

Number 7:

4/27 Nuggets 90 Spurs 86 - Nuggets win a game 7 playoff series at home, the first game 7 home game for the franchise in 41 years.

Number 6:

9/21 University of Colorado football: buffs beat arizona state on the road 34-31, their first road win over a nationally ranked top 25 team since 2002!  This despite losing their best offensive player (laviska shenault) and their best defensive player (Mustafa Johnson) early in the game due to injuries.

Number 5:

5/7 avs 4 sharks 3 game 6 of the series: avs on the brink of elimination win in OT to force game 7.  While the Avs ended up losing the series in game 7 the game 6 win was one of the best avalanche games in the last 10 years.  This would have been ranked #2 on this list had the Avs won game 7.

Number 4:

12/8 Broncos beat the Houston Texans 38-24 on the road with rookie quarterback Drew lock throwing for 3 tds and 309 yards. The Texans had defeated the New England Patriots the week before so this shaped up as a tough road game for the Broncos. Could the Broncos have their quarterback of the future?  This game showed Lock could be the man!

Number 3:

4/17 Avalanche 3 Flames 2 - trailing 2-0 in the 3rd period the Avs come back to win in overtime to take a 3-1 series lead! This game essentially clinched the series for the Avs as they won the next game easily to win the series.

Number 2:

4/13 Avalanche 3 Flames 2 - #8 seeded Avalanche tie the series 1-1 over #1 seed Calgary in Calgary with a thrilling overtime win after being down 1-0 with 7 minutes to go in the 3rd period.

Number 1:

9/7 University of Colorado football: Buffs beat rival Nebraska 34-31 in overtime after trailing 17-0 at halftime.  An incredible comeback highlighted by a 96 yard flea flicker TD from the shadow of their own end zone, and several clutch completions by QB Steven Montez towards the end of regulation to send the game to overtime.  The Buffs don't play the Huskers too often anymore.  It was great to sweep the 2 game series winning at Nebraska in 2018 and with this home win in 2019!