Better Rivalry: MTL/QUE or DET/COL?

[HisIceness]

For me Det/Col for two reasons

1. It wasn't the sterotypical "geographic" rivalry, in fact both teams play in different time zones. So this one starts because of the play on the ice and not because of history or proximity.

2. The stakes were high during those years. 3 WCFs and a slew of other playoff meetings. 5 Cups combined between the two.

 

[notDatsyuk]

For me Det/Col for two reasons

1. It wasn't the sterotypical "geographic" rivalry, in fact both teams play in different time zones. So this one starts because of the play on the ice and not because of history or proximity.

2. The stakes were high during those years. 3 WCFs and a slew of other playoff meetings. 5 Cups combined between the two.

I'm not sure you can count the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons in with the 95-96, 96-97, and 97-98 seasons.

Colorado had only five skaters who played in both the '98 and '01 playoffs.

 

[Sergei Bure]

In terms of hockey tradition it was Montreal vs Quebec, because of the localization and based on what the province of Quebec means to hockey history. You could feel the hate just based on the fact that the teams were close to each other geographic. But Colorado vs Detroit it was better in terms of hockey quality and because of the fact that the Stanley Cup winner was decided a lot of times in those series.

The Canadiens-Nordiques was a rivalry based on pure tradition, the Avalanche-Red Wings was a rivalry born on blood spilled.

 

[Staniowski]

Detroit - Colorado were better hockey teams; Montreal - Quebec more intense and involved rivalry for the media and the fans. The rivalry between the players themselves was probably more similar.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

a little too young to be familiar with the Quebec-Montreal rivalry firsthand, but even as a very young fan, I remember being legitimately pumped whenever I got the chance to watch Avs-Wings. They were the two best teams in the league with FO’s desperate to outspend the other and players all wanting to kick the shit out of each other (reminiscent of Yankees-Red Sox for a few years in the early to mid 2000’s…far less violent of course…because it’s baseball). I really don’t think it’s possible to ever see anything like it again (just due to the implementation of a salary cap alone).

My extremely biased vote goes to Wings-Avs.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Voted Montréal/Québec but if the option "Too close to call" was available, I would have gone with that