Wednesday night, the second round of the NHL playoffs will come to an end with the Avalanche and Sharks battling in Game 7 for a spot in the Western Conference Final.  The Avs and Sharks have been evenly matched through six games and Game 7 truly is a toss up, flip of the coin, insert metaphor for "we have no clue what's going to happen" here.

What we do know, though, is that Colorado fans might feel a little more confident knowing there's a pretty crazy coincidence that could play out once again if they were to beat the Sharks in San Jose to advance to face the Blues.

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The last time the Avalanche made it to the Western Conference Final was the 2001/02 season and they did so by defeating the Sharks in 7 games.

Further to that, the series back in 2002 has gone exactly the same way as this series has gone.  Colorado won Game 6 and Game 7 almost 20 years ago and they'll have to do the same thing in order to move on.

The only difference is that Game 7 back in 2002 was in Colorado.  The Avalanche have struggled in San Jose in recent years, so the task is even taller this time around.

(H/T: /r/hockey)