In the first round of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the #3 seeded Minnesota Wild will face-off against the #6 seeded Colorado Avalanche in a Western Conference quarterfinal series. This page will provide information about this playoff series. 2008 marks the second straight and third overall post-season appearance for the Wild, after winning their first ever Northwest Division championship. This is the second incarnation of hockey in Minnesota, born in expansion in 2000 after a seven year absence of NHL hockey that came about following the move of their first franchise to Dallas in 1993. Though the Wild have a brief playoff history, it does include a victory over the Avalanche in the 2003 Western Conference Quarterfinals. That same playoff season the Wild also defeated Vancouver in the second round, before falling to Anaheim in the conference finals. As for the Avalanche, they have been one of the more successful teams of the last dozen years. Having relocated from Quebec in 1995, the Avs qualified for the post-season every season since until missing the playoffs last year. Colorado has won the Stanley Cup twice in franchise history. In 1996, they swept the Florida Panthers in the finals, and then in 2003, they defeated the New Jersey Devils in a thrilling series that went the full seven games.