The NHL is getting an old-school matchup when the Hurricanes and Avalanche collide

For the average hockey fan, Thursday's battle between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Colorado Avalanche is just another hockey game. It's taking place in October, mere weeks into the new season, so there isn't much at stake this early in the year. Still, we're going to witness something very cool when two of the league's best come to blows.

The Avalanche were set to celebrate the days before Denver for the game, unveiling old-school Quebec sweaters to wear on Thursday night. In response, per Canes reporter Walt Ruff, the Hurricanes will respond by wearing their Whalers whites, a sentiment confirmed by the team's official social media sites, promoting a rivalry renewed.

While this decision is certain to upset a ton of people, it feels like the most logical decision. The Canes were initially going to wear their Whalers colors once for a home game against the Utah Mammoth in late January. Now, they're set to wear them twice more in both games against the Avalanche, on Thursday night and in early January.

There is plenty of history between Hartford and Quebec

Back before Denver and Raleigh called themselves NHL cities, the Hartford Whalers and the Quebec Nordiques were battling one another as division rivals. The franchises made the jump to the NHL from the WHA together in 1979, settling in the same division and squaring off several times a year for 16 years, 14 in the Adams Division and two more in the Northeast Division.

The Nordiques own the all-time series against the Whalers, leading Hartford 55 to 39 with 18 ties in 112 all-time meetings. The teams also met twice in the postseason after their move to the NHL. The Whalers won the first time around, sweeping Quebec in three games in the division semi-finals in 1986. The Nordiques responded by vanquishing the division champs the following season in six.

The last time Hartford and Quebec squared off was back in 1995

The last time these two teams faced off was in the regular-season finale of the 1994-95 season. The Nordiques had already locked up the top spot in the Northeast Division, while the Whalers were out of playoff contention. It would be the final meeting before the Nordiques were relocated to Colorado, a decision that wasn't made official until after the playoffs.

The puck dropped on May 3, 1995, in Quebec, but the Whalers would be first on the board when Darren Turcotte buried one midway through the second. The Nordiques rattled four unanswered goals from there, including a pair from future Hurricane Andrei Kovalenko and a power-play tally from Joe Sakic, who finished the night with three points. Quebec won, 4-1, for their 30th win of the season.

I'm a big fan of finding ways to make early-season games that should be meaningless fun. The Hurricanes and the Avalanche only meet two times a year, so having them re-brand for these two games is a good way to inject some energy into it. It's not like they needed much for that to happen. As just the Hurricanes and Avalanche, they were already two of the best.