Claude Lemieux sees Stanley Cup potential in Avalanche, much like his title team in '95-96

DENVER (AP) — The Stanley Cup was in the building Thursday night as part of the pregame celebration to honor the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche squad.

It could be in the building again later this season, too.

At least, longtime forward Claude Lemieux believes so. He's been on four Stanley Cup-winning teams, including the ‘95-96 Avalanche squad. This team, he surmised after watching a 6-2 win over the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers, has all the necessary ingredients.

“I love watching them play,” said Lemieux, whose squad back then won the Mile High City’s first major professional championship in their first season in town after relocating from Quebec. “They’re fun to watch.”

In a lot of ways, this version is built in the image of that squad. No real surprise there, given the architect of this team is Hall of Famer turned front office executive Joe Sakic.

Back then, Sakic, the captain, and fellow Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg helped provide the scoring punch in a season that ended with a Stanley Cup Final sweep over Florida. Colorado had a blue line that include a rugged defender in Adam Foote and a scoring defenseman in Sandis Ozolinsh. They also had another Hall of Famer in goaltender Patrick Roy.

This team has that same sort of makeup. They have an elite goal scorer (Nathan MacKinnon), leadership (captain Gabriel Landeskog), even more leadership (40-year-old Brent Burns), a scoring defenseman (Cale Makar) and reliable goaltending (Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood).

The current crew watched Thursday night as the players from the '95-96 squad were recognized. They heard the applause. They then went out and put on a show for them.

“This team knows what it takes,” Lemieux said. “They have players, quite a few of them, that were on the ‘22 Cup. I think it could be the ’26 Cup.”

The Avalanche (22-2-7) have a league-leading 51 points so far this season as they became the sixth team in the last 20 years to reach the 50-point plateau in 31 or fewer games. What's more, they still haven't lost a game at home in regulation (12-0-2).

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar thinks it was a valuable experience having the older players back in the building. The current roster briefly got to chat with them Thursday morning, and hear some stories.

“Obviously, they accomplished that two years before I was born,” Makar cracked. “But I've obviously heard a lot about it. It’s pretty cool they bring legends like that back.”

Some of the Avalanche players who made the trip to the rink for the ceremony from the 1995-96 squad included Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Valeri Kamensky, Lemieux, Ozolinsh, Mike Ricci and, of course, Sakic.

“For them to be able to come back and get together as a group and share their stories with our guys and amongst one another, I’m sure it’s been a great couple days for them,” Bednar said. “We’ve been really happy that they were able to come and visit us.”

It gave the old-timers a chance to stroll down memory lane.

“When it’s happening, when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t quite appreciate it as much as you should,” said Lemieux, who also won Stanley Cup titles with Montreal (1985-86) and two with the New Jersey Devils (1994-5, 1999-00). “So you get to relive it now.”

How has the game has changed?

“We think we’re better — no, we’re just kidding,” Lemieux said. “The game’s change. It’s not as physical as it was, but to counter that physicality they've got so much more skills. So we appreciate the game. We appreciate their skills and everything they bring.”

The get-together provided a chance to remember old teammates, too. The late Chris Simon was represented during the on-ice ceremony by his children. He died in 2024 at 52.

“It’s very difficult, and especially with Chris passing at such a young age,” Lemieux said. “We have to count our blessings — be grateful for the days that we have and enjoy and appreciate those times when we get together."

Lemieux certainly enjoyed being around this new cast of Avalanche.

“We hope we bring them good luck," Lemieux said, "and inspire them to win another Cup.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Members from the 1996 Stanley Cup Championship team of the Colorado Avalanche gather for a group shot during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of winning the Cup before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic and member of team that won the Stanley Cup in 1996, is introduced during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the win before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Peter Forsberg waves as he is introduced as one of the members from the Colorado Avalanche's 1996 Stanley Cup Championship team during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the victory before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Members of the 1996 Stanley Cup Championship team from the Colorado Avalanche are honored to mark the 30th anniversary of winning the Cup before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

NEW YORK (AP) — A little over a year ago, the New York City art dealer Robert Rogal received a visit to his private showroom from a young woman, who seemed eager to offload a family heirloom.

Introducing herself as Karolina Bankowska, she carried a framed painting signed by Andrew Wyeth, resembling the watercolor landscapes the celebrated artist had completed early in his career. Intrigued, Rogal accepted the piece on consignment, figuring it might fetch between $20,000 to $30,000 at auction.

“The provenance was a little fuzzy,” he said. “But she seemed credible. It wasn’t an obvious counterfeit.”

In fact, Rogal now believes the painting was a fake — one of at least 200 carefully designed imitations that federal prosecutors say Bankowska, 26, and her father Erwin Bankowski, 50, tried to pass off to unwitting buyers.

On Tuesday, the duo pleaded guilty to defrauding their victims — including some of New York City’s most prominent fine art auction houses — of at least $2 million.

The counterfeits, which were forged in Poland by an unnamed co-conspirator, were often reproductions of lesser-known works by prominent and prolific artists, like Banksy and Andy Warhol, prosecutors said. Their most profitable fake, purportedly by the artist Richard Mayhew, was sold by the auction house DuMouchelles last October for $160,000.

A representative for DuMouchelles said they had cooperated with federal authorities but were not authorized to discuss the sale further. Several other auction houses targeted in the scheme, including Bonhams, Phillips, Freeman’s and Antique Arena, either declined or did not respond to inquiries.

The father and daughter — Polish citizens living in New Jersey — face charges of wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods, a charge stemming from their duplication of the Luiseño artist, Fritz Scholder.

They face the possibility of more than three years in prison under federal guidelines, in addition to $1.9 million in restitution and possible deportation to Poland.

In court on Tuesday, Bankowska told a judge that her “conduct was wrong and I am guilty.” Her attorney, Todd Spodek, said his client had placed more than $1 million in an escrow account.

Through a Polish interpreter, Erwin Bankowski also apologized. His attorney, Jeffrey Chabrowe, added that his client had “regrettably made a terrible decision in an effort to support his family.”

As news of the fakes reverberated around the art world, experts described the scheme as a classic of the genre — one that is far more prevalent than some in the industry would like to admit.

“The only unusual thing about this case is that the forgers got caught,” said Erin Thompson, a professor of art crime at the City University of New York.

“People think of the art world as a genteel place full of cultured people who just want to share the wonder of beautiful art," she added. “You should assume there are a lot more fakes out there.”

Prosecutors said the father and daughter began commissioning a Polish artist in 2020 to create the fake artworks. Using antique paper, they also forged stamps to attach to the paintings, adopting the names of since-shuttered galleries where a given artist might have plausibly shown their work.

It wasn’t long before the sales began to draw scrutiny. In March 2023, representatives for the artist Raimonds Staprans caught wind of a forged painting, “Triple Boats,” for sale by an auction house. A few days after the reps contacted the auction house, the painting sold to a buyer for $60,000, prosecutors said.

Thompson, the professor of art crime, noticed other irregularities as well. The gallery stamp on the back of the faked Wyeth, for example, listed its year as 1976, but included a zoning address number that had been phased out in 1962.

Coincidentally, perhaps, the fake stamp bore the name and address for M. Knoedler & Co. One of New York’s oldest and most esteemed commercial galleries, Knoedler closed down in 2011 amid allegations of profiting from forgeries of paintings by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others.

Ultimately, Rogal said he never listed the Wyeth, in part because the stamp on the back was “too clean.” When he called Bankowska and told her to pick it up, she never responded.

On Tuesday, in a Queens warehouse brimming with consigned art pieces, Rogal reexamined the painting under the light.

"You try to do a service and provide it correctly," he said. “Can we be fooled? Absolutely.”

A suspected forgery of an Andrew Wyeth painting is seen at RoGallery in New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)