Avalanche fans celebrate Stanley Cup win at Ball Arena watch party

DENVER --Most of the capacity crowd inside Ball Arena was on its feet chanting "We want the Cup" with three minutes left in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday, their eyes affixed to the massive video screen above center ice.

When the clock expired and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 to win the Stanley Cup at Amalie Arena in Tampa, fans inside Ball Arena unleashed a jubilation that had been pent up since Friday, when the Avalanche missed a chance to win at home in Game 5 on Friday.
"My heart rate! It is amazing," said Lisa Nguyen, who came to the watch party dressed as the Stanley Cup. "How crazy is this?"
Crazy enough that when Ismael Karidio heard that the Avalanche were hosting the watch party, he scooped up a pair of tickets, called a friend and hopped a flight from Canada to be there.
"I came in from Ottawa yesterday morning to be in Denver and hopefully watch the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup," said Karidio, whose family immigrated to Canada from West Africa. "Being an Avalanche fan since I was a kid, I wanted to be part of this experience."
RELATED: [Stanley Cup Final coverage]
So did thousands of other Avalanche fans. The home team was away, but you couldn't tell. The "We want the Cup" chants filled Ball Arena's corridors the moment the doors opened an hour before puck drop.
The atmosphere was loud and proud as fans -- most of them clad in Avalanche jerseys -- scurried to their seats and watched the usual pregame production, from the player introductions to the national anthem, on the video screen.
The party mood quickly gave way to agita when Lightning forward Steven Stamkos opened the scoring at 3:48 of the first period.
"I'm enjoying this experience," said Karidio, who convinced his friend, Selali Acolatse, to fly in from the San Jose area to join him. "I just wish it was still 0-0."
The crowd exhaled when Nathan MacKinnon tied the game 1-1 at 1:54 of the second period and exalted when Artturi Lehkonen scored at 12:28 of the second to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

John Foley decided to watch the game at Ball Arena with his family instead of viewing at his home outside of Denver because "I got tired of yelling at my TV."
"Good picture here," Foley said. "Better color too."
His wife, Joanne, said she didn't want to be anywhere but Ball Arena on Sunday night.
"We wanted to experience it with a lot of fans, not sit in the house," she said. "It's not the same."
Watching the Cup-clinching win was sweet for Larry Villinger, who had been a season ticket holder since the team moved from Quebec City in 1995.
He savored Colorado's Cup wins in 1996 and 2001 but gave up his tickets after the Avalanche's 48-point season in 2016-17.
"I lived through this a couple of times early on, with the drought in the middle," Villinger said. "It's so sweet now. It's unbelievable.
"Like I said, (I) was one of those (who) gave up on the team," he said. "I thought they wouldn't be competitive for a while… and now they won the Stanley Cup. It's amazing."
Roger Boyce came to the watch party alone after he couldn't find any available friends to join him.
"I said, 'For 20 bucks, I'll come down and watch it here instead of sitting in my living room,' you know?" he said.
Sporting an old Ray Bourque Avalanche jersey with a 2001 All-Star Game patch, Boyce entered the building expecting an Avalanche victory.
"I thought 'it is going to happen,'" he said. "Yeah. Oh, [heck] yeah."
NHL.com independent correspondent Ryan Boulding contributed to this report