 The Avalanche sent 10 players representing seven countries and head coach Marc Crawford representing Canada to the 1998 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament in Nagano, Japan.Milan Hejduk won the gold medal for Czech Republic, Alexei Gusarov and Valeri Kamensky won the silver medal for Russia and Jari Kurri won the bronze medal for Finland.Colorado lost in the Western Conference Quarter-finals against the Edmonton Oilers in seven games, having led the series 3–1.