As a Colorado College hockey player from 1983-87, Rick Boh awoke every winter morning admiring the snow-capped Rocky Mountains and the Colorado climate. It reminded him of the Canadian homes he was raised in at Dawson Creek, Chilliwack and Kamloops, British Columbia — except the closest NHL team to Colorado was a plane fight away.

Boh was keenly aware of the state’s deep history in NCAA hockey, the existing infrastructure of youth hockey from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins, and wondered if the NHL would someday replace the Colorado Rockies hockey team, whose six-year run ended in 1982.

Boh knew Colorado was a potential gold mine for anyone who tried hard enough to piggyback on the state’s next NHL team, and he jumped at the chance to do just that in 1995 when the Nordiques came to Colorado. Boh had just opened his first Players Bench store in Lethbridge, Alberta, and wanted to find an American base.

Boh opened his first Colorado store in Littleton, a 2,000-square-foot space on South Broadway. In 1996 his gross sales were $300,000. When he sold to Total Hockey last summer, he was grossing $12 million annually at four Colorado locations. He also had stores in Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Ohio, and used to have one in Phoenix. His $10,000 original investment was a giant success.

“In Canada I was a small fish in a big pond,” Boh said. “In Colorado we were a large piece of a small pie at the beginning, but that pie isn’t so small anymore.”

Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or @mikechambers