Denver is heating up

Denver has one of those weeks where every scoreboard in town seems to be glowing at once. By April 10, the Colorado Avalanche had locked up the top seed in the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets were on a nine-game winning streak at 52-28, the Colorado Rockies had pushed to 6-6 after beating Houston 9-1 on April 8, the University of Denver had reached the Frozen Four, and Denver Summit drew 63,004 for a scoreless home opener. (nhl.com) (nba.com) (mlb.com) (ncaa.com) (nwslsoccer.com) The strangest part of that pileup is the baseball line. Colorado opened April at 6-6 after a 9-1 win over the Astros on April 8, which put the Rockies in the middle of a stretch MLB itself flagged as part of an upside-down early National League picture. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) Basketball is the cleaner story because the numbers are blunt. Denver beat San Antonio 136-134 in overtime on April 4 for its eighth straight win, then NBA.com reported a ninth straight win on April 7, leaving the Nuggets at 52-28 with two regular-season games left. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (nba.com 3) Nikola Jokić has been driving that run like a one-man control tower. In the Spurs game alone, he posted 40 points and 13 assists with zero turnovers, and Denver’s own site said no center in National Basketball Association history had ever logged a 40-and-10 game without a giveaway. (nba.com) Hockey is where Denver moved from hot to officially dangerous. The Avalanche beat St. Louis 3-1 on April 7, and that one game clinched both the Central Division title and the top seed in the Western Conference. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) That matters because the Avalanche are not just another playoff team now. The top seed means Colorado finished above every other Western Conference club, which is the hockey version of entering the bracket from the penthouse instead of the loading dock. (nhl.com) College hockey adds another lane to the same citywide run. Denver beat Western Michigan 6-2 on March 29 to win its regional, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association bracket shows the Pioneers in the Frozen Four against Michigan in Las Vegas on April 9. (ncaa.com) (ncaa.com) The University of Denver is not some surprise guest here either. NCAA.com notes Denver already owns 10 national championships in Division One men’s hockey, which is the most in the sport, so another Frozen Four trip fits the school’s usual altitude. (ncaa.com) Then there is the newest team in town, and the loudest crowd. Denver Summit’s first home match ended 0-0 against the Washington Spirit on March 28, but the announced attendance of 63,004 was the largest in National Women’s Soccer League history and nearly double the 30,207 that Boston Legacy drew for its inaugural home opener two weeks earlier. (nwslsoccer.com) That crowd was not a one-off curiosity dropped into a dead market. The league said Denver Summit had already taken five points from matches against Gotham Football Club, Orlando Pride, and Washington, which meant the expansion club arrived with results first and then packed Empower Field behind them. (nwslsoccer.com) Put it together and Denver’s sports week looks less like one lucky streak and more like a city hitting every lane at once. One team owns the West in hockey, one is surging into the National Basketball Association postseason, one college program is still alive for a title, one expansion club just reset a league attendance record, and even the Rockies have stopped acting like background scenery. (nhl.com) (nba.com) (ncaa.com) (nwslsoccer.com) (mlb.com)