John N. Minton III and Mike Farrell directed "Unrivaled." It was 0: 30. The greatest rivalry in hockey history left a mark on Detroit and Colorado. Twenty-five years after the Wings and Avs were locked in a brutal winner-take-all battle for NHL supremacy, Claude Lemieux still likes to point out the injury he sustained to his left skull. There's a small mark on Adam Foote's forehead, a small mark on Patrick Roy's eyebrow, and a small mark on Kris Draper's cheek. The scars the two rivals inflicted upon each other serve as a road map to the epic stretch between 1996 and 2002 that resulted in three Stanley Cup for the Wings and two for the Avs. "Red Wings - Avalanche was just pure old-school, deep-seeded hatred between two teams and two cities," says McCarty, one of the rivalry's icons. It was the hate and what was at stake that made this so beautiful. There are two teams in the Stanley Cup final. All seven games can be watched on ABC, Disney+, and the app. The first game was a 4-3 overtime win by the Avs.
Game 2: Avalanche 7, Lightning 0
Game 3: Lightning 6, Avalanche 2
Game 4: Avalanche 3, Lightning 2 (OT)
Game 5: June 24, 8 p.m. ET (@ COL)
Game 6*: June 26, 8 p.m. ET (@ TB)
Game 7*: June 28, 8 p.m. ET (@ COL)
It's possible that it's necessary.
During that glorious seven-season run, the Wings and Avs met four times a year during the regular season and five more times during the post-season, and they brought out the best in each other. John Wharton, a former Red Wings trainer, said that he is a fan of the University of Michigan. I was like you're not serious. Nobody on Ohio State's team tried to kill my teammate.
Fight Night at the Joe was a game held in Detroit's old Joe Louis Arena that became known as the center of the rivalry. The high-stakes revenge game, featuring nine future Hall of Famers, had been simmering for nearly a year and had been ramping up by bus brawls, sucker punches, horrific injuries, heart-breaking losses, bomb-sniffing dogs and non-stop psychological warfare between the two fan The scale of the violence and chaos, 18 fighting majors, 148 total penalty minutes, the ice soaked with blood, and some of it from the goaltenders, was unlike anything the NHL had seen before or since. Significant changes have made the NHL safer, more entertaining and, at times, unrecognizably genteel to the players from Detroit and Colorado.
In conjunction with E60's presentation of "Unrivaled," we present the story of that epic night, through the voices of the key players, coaches, officials, and witnesses on and around the ice 25 years ago inside the Joe.
The year 1996 began on May 23, 1996. There is a sports arena in Denver. The third game of the conference finals. The Detroit Red Wings are a heavy favorite to win the Cup after winning a record 62 games in the regular season. It was an easy 62. The Wings run full force into the Avs who bully their way to a 2-0 lead in the conference finals. Adam Foote closes down a play in the corner in the first period of the third game of the series. A huge gash on Foote's forehead can be seen after the Detroit player slammed his face into theglass. Foote returns to the game and scores a goal, but he is not assessed a penalty for hitting Claude Lemieux.
Adam Foote is a defensive player for the Avs.
I'm always going when people talk about the Kris Draper hit because I think it's the beginning of everything. The rivalry began with the hit. The thing just happened. The only thing we talk about is Draper talking about it more.
Avs coach.
I was worried that Adam was so angry that he would hurt himself. I remember him bleeding profusely, but that didn't bother him. He was interested in getting even.
The Director of Hockey Operations is Brian Burke.
I didn't believe it was that bad. We used to call it a shaving cut if it was 10 stitches or less. It is very different now. You went get your stitches and got back out there.
Mike Ricci is a center.
The cut was very bad. There's blood all around. We wanted to die. It was thought to be the dirtiest thing on the planet. Things got better after that. After that, we had to give up for blood. They didn't go on a rampage. We had to respond after they wentoned us.
Claude Lemieux is a player for the Avs.
I went over to Footie and said I was going to get him. I sucker punched the guy. I walked out of the arena with my wife and father and our son, Brendan, who was just a few months old, because I thought I'd be suspended. I'm walking by the Red Wings team bus and the doors are open, and there is a man yelling at me from the back of the bus. It was a nice punch. I hope you are suspended, only with a lot of expletives mixed in.
The Wings' forward is namedDarren McCarty.
A lot.
The man is Lemieux.
I asked my father-in-law if he had a problem and he said he should have seen the bus.
There is a person named McCarty.
It was like the bus exploded, like it lifted off the ground, and we were all in the back.
The man is Lemieux.
The men sat at the back. The skill guys are at the front of the field, while the tough guys are in the back. I knew I had a short time before they got to me. I thought, "This coach is not going to chirp me in front of my family, and I'm not going to do anything about it"
We have a hearing the next day. I go in before the sun rises. There is a hallway in the arena that is five feet wide. There is only one person in this hallway, and he is going the other way. The two of us are the only ones. I asked him if he had anything else to say. He didn't say much.
Only one person in the entire sports world is not commenting on the Wings-Avs feud at this time. Lemieux was fined and suspended for Game 4 of the 1996 Conference Finals after being ranked the second most hated player in NHL history. He doesn't play well in the fifth game. With the Avs heading back to Denver with a chance to eliminate the best regular-season team in NHL history, Crawford told Lemieux to stop playing. With 5:53 left in the first period, Kris Draper collected the puck in front of the Avs bench to give Colorado a lead. Beloved in Detroit for his blue-collar approach, Draper, who the Wings acquired on waivers for $1, is the heart and soul of the team's notorious "Grind Line." On and off the ice, the two men are very close. After dumping the puck against the Avs, Draper moves back along the boards. Lemieux barreled into him from behind as he turned towards the Red Wings bench. The dasher is on top of the boards and there is no time to react. Everyone who witnessed the hit to this day is haunted by the sound of the dry-twig snapping.
Kris is a Wings center.
I knew I was struck. I didn't know how much my injuries were. I tried to get up but my legs weren't moving in the way I wanted them to. It was the look on John Wharton's face when he saw my face that stood out the most.
John Wharton worked for the Wings.
I was able to feel it. The boards were shaking. If you can't understand what Draper's injury was like, I would ask you to put your cheekbone and upper teeth against a hard 90 degree angle surface, be it a granite countertop or a wooden desk. Imagine being stomped on by someone from behind. He had a small scratch on his cheek and a bigger scratch on his front teeth. There was a mark on his face from the boards.
I rushed over the boards because I knew this could be a very tragic injury. Kris wants to know who the f--- was that. I toldKris this was not good. You have to backboard us. He said, "Like f--- you are." He left. Hockey players are shown. I was pretty sure that the spine was intact, but I didn't want to endanger it. I knew that shock was imminent. I could feel Kris's weight as I walked into the room. He was losing consciousness.
The man is Lemieux.
If someone is in front of you, you finish the hit. I am going on a line change on that play. I'm going to finish my hit instead of going to the other side because Kris is looking at me and he has the puck. I knew it was bad when I heard it.
The Avs center is named after Peter Forberg.
Claude played well. I played with him for a long time and I don't think he tried to break anyone's face, but he did cross-check and do some dirty stuff.
There is a person named Draper.
The hit was cheap and everyone was aware of it.
The Wharton School of Business.
You can't see how vicious it was until you slow it down.
Avs goalie Patrick Roy.
It's a hit that Claude doesn't want to make. Claude finished his check after Draper placed himself in a vulnerable position.
Burke is a character from the movie "Burke".
The man was turned towards the boards. The puck was not being used. That's a cheap shot to hit a defenseless man.
The Wharton School of Business.
He had a blow-inFracture, a zygomatic archFracture, a broken nose, a deviated nose, and a chipFracture of the jaw.
The dream season is over. The Wings were eliminated from the playoffs before any of the players knew the extent of Draper's injury. "I can't believe I shook Lemieux's hand after the game," said Wings forward Dino Ciccarelli. That makes me feel bad. Lemieux finishes a beer, crumples the can, and says he's tired of talking about the Red Wings after being asked about the injury. With Red Wings forward Kris Draper unconscious in the team's training room, Detroit owner Mike Ilitch demanded photos of his injury and a possible criminal prosecution against Lemieux. In case of an emergency, the pilots on Red Bird One are kept alert and ready to go. The Avs won their first title since relocating to Denver in 1995 despite Lemieux's suspension for two Stanley Cup Finals games. All Hockeytown can do is stew for the next nine months as Draper undergoes surgery to insert a titanium plate in his cheek. Lemieux never apologizes for the Red Wings.
There is a person named McCarty.
It was hard to understand. The season ending after winning 62 in the regular season and wondering, "Are we ever gonna win a Cup?" and then looking at Drape's face and saying, "They did this to us" You can't do anything because you can't do anything. "If he dies, he dies" was the attitude that Claude had. Getting through them was the first thing we had to do. They have a good sense of self-confidence. There have been other fights in hockey. What was at stake was the most important thing. This all became amplified because of that. It became so personal that the feelings became so personal.
Pat is the Avs trainer.
The rivalry was the epitome of dislike. We didn't like those guys very much. We didn't like them very much to the core. Everything about the city made us dislike it. Why were we so mean to one another? They're p---ks, that's why. The rivals were already at a 10. It went up to a 15 after that hit.
The man is Lemieux.
Things happen when we play hard. I would always leave it at the rink. I didn't allow it to get outside. Those were important for me. When it happened with Kris, I understood that the fans in Detroit were angry because they didn't win in the '90s.
There is a person named Draper.
No one knew who Kris Draper was until the hit. He was very proud of what he did and the injuries I had. When you knew the rivalry had begun, that's when things ended up elevating.
Burke is a character from the movie "Burke".
You have to pay your tab in the justice system of the NHL. It's the same today as it was this time last year. The league office is only one line of defense for players. The referee is the first point of contact. The league is a part of the defense. They are the third line of defense. The NHL has always had this. The league was keeping a close eye on it. The tab had to be paid.
There is a person named McCarty.
When I picked up Drapes from the hospital, the doctor gave me a pair of pliers because his jaw was wired shut in four places so he wouldn't choke or get sick. We didn't require them. Four hours is a long time to eat a plate of Gnocchi. When we got to the hospital, I turned to Kris and said one thing, and that was the only thing we had said about Lemieux.
There is a person named Draper.
He said that he had the item. I was able to get you.
There is a person named McCarty.
I was going to do everything in my power to win the fight.
Colorado and Detroit will play each other four times during the 1997 regular season. Lemieux is out of the lineup for the first two games with an abdominal injury, and the third game is in Denver, where the Avs seem to limit time Lemieux and McCarty spend on the ice together. The final game of the series is at Joe Louis Arena and Colorado won all three games.
Both sides have a lot of gamesmanship going on. Colorado is accused of shortening their bench. In Detroit, the Avs never eat anything that isn't prepared by their own chefs, be it a lack of hot water, noxious paint in the locker room or pre-game meals that don't show up. March 26, 1997 is a completely different level of intensity.
Detroit, a team known for being pretty but not tough, has been owned by Colorado for a long time. Realizing that his talented Red Wings roster still needs to gel and add a physical edge to their game, Detroit's brilliant Bowman, who would win nine Stanley Cups as a coach, seizes on Lemieux's hit on Draper, and his lack of remorse. They should eat it up. The Detroit News prints a poster of Lemieux with a prison number under his photo and compares him to a carjacker.
There is a person named Crawford.
In those days, I ran a lot. People in their cars yelled at me when I ran in Detroit. I was going to say "OK, I better reconsider when I'm running in these parts of Detroit" because people were yelling and screaming and swearing. Red Wings fans congregated a lot around Joe Louis. Around there, it used to be very intense.
Forberg.
The dressing room was painted at the Joe. The showers were not effective. The water was cold. There was tape that wasn't present. There was a lock on the door.
Ricci is one of the people.
When the bomb squad and the dogs are in there sniffing around our room, we joke around about it. When you walked in Detroit, the security guys looked at you with disdain.
The man is Lemieux.
It got much worse. There were a lot of death threats against us. I was paying attention to that. I wasn't concerned about what would happen on the ice. I was more concerned about what would happen off the ice. I was told that I wouldn't have a roommate in Detroit and that my roommate would be a police officer. The league sent us a memo telling us not to warm up without helmets. Everyone has to wear a helmet It was time to wake up. Being a husband and a father is something I really want. I didn't want to die.
There is a person named Draper.
The sounds I will never forget were the ones that I heard. The fans were in the dressing room. There were 20,000 fans in the building when the warm-ups began. Inside our locker room, there was no sound. There wasn't a lot to say. You knew this was going to be a long day.
There is a person named kerns.
Everybody knew that they were going to chase Claude. It was a sad room. Everyone was focused on the task at hand. Everyone was aware of what they had to do. I made sure that I had everything I needed for that game. There is a name for it, called Surgicel. I made sure that I had all of them. I usually only have two pairs of gloves in my bag. I had ten that night. Everything was prepared for trauma.
Brendan Shanahan is a player for the Wings.
If you're lucky enough to figure it out, you can start to turn your fear into a weapon. Two things weighed on us. We had yet to beat them. Lemieux was also one of the other two. Nothing had been done.
There was a head referee in Detroit.
You might be able to tell. It was a big eruption. It was going to happen soon. Everybody was talking about it when it was in the paper. There was nothing to erupt yet. Hockey players were waiting for it to erupt. There was a loud noise. The arena was humming and everyone was ready to leave. It was going to happen.
There is a person named kerns.
Claude was a wreck coming up to that game.
The man is Lemieux.
I wasn't ready for what was going to happen because I was so focused on the other stuff. It came quickly.
There is a person named kerns.
There was a lot of blood.
The puck dropped inside the Joe after Lemieux hit Draper. The fighting began less than five minutes after that.
Crawford describes it as the "undercard" at 1:45 in the first period, in which Colorado'sBrent Severyn battles Detroit's Jamie Pushor. Kirk Maltby dropped the Avs' Rene Corbet. The teams are on the verge of making it to the first half of the game without a hitch. Five of the 12 players on the ice for the donnybrook became Hall of Famers. A grand total of 26 penalty minutes have been accrued by the professor. But when Forsberg knocks him onto his backside away from the play and in front of the Red Wings bench, then punches him in the head as he tries to regain his footing, something just snaps. Until this writing, no one knew that a secret connection between Lemieux and Brendan was the cause of the historic melee.
There is a person named McCarty.
I did a loop to see what was happening, but my first thought was "Who are those two?". It's adorable on Christmas morning. How are they going to act? Pull each other's hair and hit each other. Gandhi was the world's second biggest samaritan.
It's foote.
Everyone is looking at each other and wondering what they are doing. It was hilarious. I grabbed him because he was the closest to me and he was going to act up.
There is a person named McCarty.
Sometimes it's not the biggest or the fastest, sometimes it's the wisest, and that's why we had a person like our Yoda in that instance. It was him. It had. It's time enough. The minute he did that, I knew he was done. Foote had me well. I was struggling to get out of the double arm bar that he had me in. If you want to break this down, you need to use Shanny. The choice was between bust me loose or chase Claude.
The man is called Shanahan.
Claude Lemieux was a friend and I had played with him. I didn't like Claude Lemieux on the ice. When I arrived in Detroit, I knew the history with Kris and Claude, and now these are my new brothers.
The man is Lemieux.
I loved playing with that child. I would name him Brendan if I had more children. When we had a child in 1995, I named him after Brendan.
The man is called Shanahan.
There was a moment in the game when I felt strange. I got into it with someone and Claude looked at me and said, "You're a loser." You have yet to win anything. I remember thinking that he had released me of any feelings of regret or apprehension of what I'm willing to do to win when I yelled at him.
Guys have done this in hockey before, especially in the '90's. You can see Lemieux on the ice and McCarty on the ice. I came over and grabbed Adam Foote so that he wouldn't get away. He was on Lemieux in less than a second.
There is a person named McCarty.
I'm not the first guy to attempt to take his head off on the ice. Claude was pretty much out of it that night. I thought it was premeditation. It was all about removing his head from his body. Claude was going back to the bench like Dopey the Dope Goat.
The man is Lemieux.
I was avoiding everything. I don't look good. I didn't want this to happen so I avoided contact. The thing is happening.
The events of March 26, 1997 are examined in E60's "Unrivaled"
Near center ice, with the help of Shanahan, McCarty is able to spin out of Foote's grasp and pounce on Lemieux. The weight of his hockey glove combined with his windup is devastating. Lemieux "turtles" for protection as the punch lands on his right temple, where he is the most feared player in hockey history. The thing doesn't work.
The man is Lemieux.
The man hit me with his glove. I don't remember much except that I'm getting hit. You know when someone has been hit or has played the game. I was aware of my situation. You hang on tight, right? You fight back. It will be what it's made out to be. I'm not sure where I'm at, and I'm just hanging on. There is no fight to be had when you are in that situation. You're finished.
There is a person named McCarty.
I had the power of the entire city of Detroit and the power of a million Red Wings fans in that fist. I didn't know what to think. It feels like butter when you hit someone on the button. I hit him, he goes down, then I get his helmet off and I pick him up, and that's the punch that cut him. I had a good relationship with that one. It felt great.
Bob Wojnowski is a columnist.
I have never heard the noise in that arena. It's a joy when a team wins a title. There was bloodcurdling. It was brutal.
Adrian Dater worked for the Denver Post.
The kid who had been bullied finally beat the bully up. Everyone was cheering for the Wings.
With the crowd on its feet and referees tied up elsewhere, McCarty continued to tee off on Lemieux, who was bleeding profusely. With an unimpeded view from the Avs' net, Patrick Roy holds back as long as he can before launching himself on a beeline to save Lemieux. This split-second decision leads to a spectacular, Matrix-like, midair collision between Roy and Shanahan, a devastating injury, and then, the greatest goaltender fight of all time between Roy and Mike Vernon.
There is a person named Roy.
I think I have no business in that place. It's terrible to see a teammate get creamed on the ice. I'm sure Claude would like to do things differently than he did, but if you see him being punched and no one does anything, it's probably a normal reaction.
The man is called Shanahan.
Any good teammate would do the same thing.
There is a person named kerns.
Everything blew up when Patrick came out of the crease, skating as hard as he could to center ice. The gloves were moving fast.
The man is called Shanahan.
Patrick Roy was about 15 feet out of the crease when I looked up, and he was on his way to Lemieux. I was aware that Roy was going to interrupt him. I charged at Patty after breaking loose of Foote.
I don't know what made Roy do this or what made me do it, but I knew he saw me. At the last second, I saw something in his body that made me think he was going to jump. I jumped at the same time and we hit each other.
There is a person named Roy.
It wasn't smart by me. She's a heavy hitter. I suppose I didn't have anything to do there.
There is a person named kerns.
Patrick's rotator cuff was damaged. During that collision, he jacked up his shoulder. It wasn't really gone away that year. The wind out of his sails was definitely taken out by it.
The Red Wings have a goaltender.
If Patrick leaves, that's my man. Now I have to get out of my net, so I went to myself, "Patrick, don't be doing that" The two people are going up and down together. This is insane. Two guys jump out of the air and fly at each other. I had Adam Foote's arm when I went out there. He looked at me and shook his head. After Patrick Roy jumps me, I square up at center ice and start throwing punches.
The person who wrote the letter to the president.
That roadblock that was thrown into Roy was incredible. I saw Vernon come out and I thought the goalies were going to go at it.
The man is called Shanahan.
I had a big smile on my face because I thought it was funny to see Mike Vernon, who is like one of the happiest non-confrontational goalies to ever play the game, throwing punches. I enjoyed the show for a short time.
It's foote.
We weren't mad at each other because we were tied up. We were just observing. Oh my God! We were more interested in watching the goalies fight than we were in fighting. The ref came over and tried to calm things down and he was yelling at us not to fight. You're both going to get kicked out if you go now. We agreed to fight at the beginning of the second period so we wouldn't be kicked out.
It's Vernon.
My brother told me not to stop throwing punches in a fight. I'm a right-handed person. I threw a left after trying to keep fighting. It was fortunate. It was trying to stay alive. I tried to hit someone. I didn't try to do anything else. I was able to land a few. Patrick hit the top of my head after landing a few. I almost had to hit him because he's a little taller and I'm a little smaller. The winner of the fight is the one who strikes blood. Patrick would not say that.
The man is Lemieux.
The best fight of them all was that one. Guys getting in fights all of a sudden want to fight. They're tossing everything.
There is a person named Roy.
It wasn't very good. I couldn't see anything after he punched me in the eyebrow. For the first time, I realized how tiring fighting is. I had trouble breathing after that one.
It's Vernon.
I wasn't playing well. It was good to be a part of it.
Lemieux's limp body is dragged to where Kris Draper is standing on the Wings' bench, like a big game hunter showing off his kill. A 3-foot section of ice is covered in blood. Lemieux's eyes are open, but he leans heavily on a referee. Lemieux came back to assist on the Avs' final goal, but up until recently he had no recollection of doing so.
The Wharton School of Business.
It was very close to a symphony. It's like, you have one thing going on and another thing going on, and then this and then that, and it's like, what a big deal. Is this going to happen? It was mind blowing. They have never seen anything like that in hockey or any other sport. We all loved it. It took every second of it.
The man is called Shanahan.
There is a time when Roy, Foote, Vernon and I are all rolling around the ice and Lemieux is on the other side. He doesn't know who's watching him or who's not watching him because he has his back to the man. There's a split second where Devorski looks over his shoulder to see what's happening with us and at the moment, Lemieux is in the middle of the ice.
The person who wrote the letter to the president.
I didn't see what happened. A person said he tried to knee him. That is definitely a match penalty.
There is a person named McCarty.
There's a bruise on Claude's head from my knee.
There is a person named Wojnowski.
The place is still insane after the fight. All the media is crammed into the press box typing away and I feel a bumping on my shoulder as the person goes past and I'm wondering what's happening. It was Pierre Lacroix, the Avs GM. He told me to get out of his way so I knew it wasn't an accident.
The rink at the Joe looks like a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie with bodies strewn around aimlessly. While one ref tries to get the blood off the ice with his skates, the players retrieve their gear and retreat to have their wounds dressed A member of the Red Wings' medical staff is in charge of Lemieux's stitches. The penalties begin to be calculated by the man. The video from the Joe still carries a "viewer discretion" warning, but it's not as bad as today's game, which is much more chaotic and violent. Roy and Vernon are allowed to stay in the game despite the Avs getting four minutes of power play time. The Wings' goaltender is so certain he's been kicked out he's slumped in his locker stall recovering when a team official tells Vernon to get in net.
The person who wrote the letter to the president.
Lemieux had it coming. Is he the one who deserved it? It's likely that he did. I remember seeing Kris Draper's head in 1996 and he looked terrible and I think that's what this was all about. It happened that night. They were upset that I didn't throw him out. I told Crawford that McCarty should have been thrown out. I should have given him thestigator. I made a huge mistake on that game. I said you know what. It's a bitch that payback is a bitch.
There is a person named McCarty.
The coaches room was filled with people watching a replay of the fight. We were amused that I didn't get kicked out and that I only got four minutes. We were able to get away with a lot on the ice. It was cool because we were able to enjoy it for a bit, but then we had to get back to work and win the game.
The man is called Shanahan.
He was shocked when he saw the replay of everything that was happening behind him. He didn't know he was focused on Lemieux.
The man is Lemieux.
I was bleeding quite a bit. I was getting stitches and one of our teammates walked in and said, "Everyone in here is going to fight!" All of us are going to fight until we die!
The Avs try to live up to their promise. There were five new fights and 78 penalty minutes in the second period. There is a lot of ice. The check is done. There are Elbows flying. There are sticks flying. Blood and fists are flying. There is a loud crowd. Every whistle has a nasty scrum that could lead to a bench clearing clash. The violence is cartoonish at this point. Between periods, Roy tries on teammates' shoulder braces because of his injury. He thinks he should have left the game. The back of Tomas Holmstrom's jersey is covered in blood. Fans wave "SCREW LEMIEUX" signs and "We don't have to take our clothes off" while fans wave "We don't have to take our clothes off" while fans wave "We don't have to take our clothes off" while fans wave "SCR Detroit is still behind Colorado by early in the third period. If the Wings lose for the fifth time in a row to the Avs, it will be for nothing.
There is a person named McCarty.
They had owned us up until that point, so we had to win the game and they had to lose the game.
The man is Lemieux.
It sends a message if the Wings don't win the game. It's not possible to beat those guys in a big game. It definitely turned the rivalry on its head.
The man is called Shanahan.
The game wasn't going well. They responded to us. There were more battles. They won some and we won others. They were beating us again. They went up by two goals halfway through the third quarter. "If we're not gonna win, we better really send a message," one of our coaches said on the bench. The players on the bench all said that the game was not over and that they were going to win.
In the third period, the Wings bombarded the net with 47 shots in their favor. Roy begins to show signs of being human. The Wings scored twice in 24 seconds midway through the period, tying the game on a wrap-around goal that went off the back of Roy's skate. Over time. Lemieux lost the puck in the neutral zone in the first minute of OT. Larionov picks up the puck and weaves through three defenders to get to the Avs' zone. The Professor drove towards the net instead of continuing across the ice. This sets a pick for McCarty, allowing him to shoot deep and cross to the left of the net, which will allow him to jump into the right side of the play.
When he was a kid, McCarty ran the classic three-man weave drill and recognized the play immediately. The situation is less than ideal. He hit his stick at the top of the face off circle. Roy was forced to overplay the shot after being pushed by Larionov. The crowd fell silent as the air left the Joe.
The man is called Shanahan.
I'm not sure if I passed it. I don't want to shoot him, but he was so wide open that I couldn't see him. I didn't think it was the man. The fight wasn't on my mind. When I slid it to him, it went in and there was this amazing relief that we had beaten Colorado.
There is a person named McCarty.
The dragon was killed by me. Everyone in the world who was a Red Wings fan got the same body shock after the goal was scored. The earth shifted and you could feel it. There was a shift in our confidence, a shift in our team, and a shift in our fans. We beat the shit out of them. You need that moment when you finally believe you can do it when you need a belief. It was the moment.
I put my hand up to the heavens and thanked God. The two of them hugged Drapes. The exhale moment was just that. It was done by us. We are going to be okay.
The Wharton School of Business.
A champion was born that day.
There is a person named Crawford.
The Red Wings gained a lot of strength from that game.
The dater is a person.
It was a total humiliation for the Colorado team. Everything was different because of it. They were not the same as before. After that night, the Avs lost their edge over Detroit.
There is a person named Wojnowski.
Even the NHL, from a distance, allowed justice to happen and condoned it, as evidenced by the fact that McCarty wasn't kicked out and was in there to score the winning goal.
The person who wrote the letter to the president.
I looked up to the gods and said that was not my night. The guy who scored the winning goal is the one who should have been thrown out of the game. It is similar to putting salt on a wound. I had a hard time sleeping that night. Brian Burke, who was our big boss back then, called me after the game at the airport. He asked if he could have called a couple more penalties. I said that I definitely could have.
It's Vernon.
That was a turning point for us as a team. It helped me move forward and know my teammates were behind me. We battled for each other.
The man is Lemieux.
It was a big statement by them. Everything was addressed by them. They won. They were given a boost by it. They were at their time.
It's foote.
The team needed to gel as we rolled. It's all from him and his thoughts. He was in need of this. This all happened thanks to him. He made it happen. We won a cup after gelling. His team had to do the same. It's crazy but in a way we both needed each other. Detroit owes a lot to Claude and other people. People have missed this rivalry for a long time. We were in need of each other.
The teams meet again a few months later in the 1997 conference finals, where the teams almost got into a fight. The Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 42 years after defeating the Avs in six games. The handshake line after the conference finals has a skater in it. There has never been an apology from the two at the NHL draft. Lemieux and McCarty fought to a draw. On April 1st of that year, Roy fights Chris Osgood, who has 218 penalty minutes.
The two captains from Fight Night are the general managers for their teams. A picture of the alumni game played between the Wings and Avs at the NHL Stadium Series is on the wall of the player. "If it was a tie game or a one- goal game, as embarrassing as it sounds, it could have gotten out of hand." The on-ice rivalry has waned a bit in recent years, especially with the Red Wings' struggles, but there is still a lot of animosity between the original players.
It's foote.
When I went to the Olympics in Nagano, I got on the elevator at the hotel and there was a Russian player dressed in his Olympic gear. It was the same person, as far as I could tell. We both saw a phantom. My eyes and his eyes both looked squirrely. I looked at the buttons and said, "No, you can't do that." There was a part of me that wanted to hit him.
The man is called Shanahan.
Patrick Roy is one of the people I like the most. At the Olympics I was sitting with Steve Yzerman and he sat down at our table and said, "My shoulder has been bothering me since we had that collision." I apologized and said I was really sorry. Steve leaned over to me and said, "You're not sorry." I said I wasn't sorry. Not at this time. Maybe when we stop working.
There is a person named Roy.
There's a winner and a loser in sports and you have to do everything you can to be on the winning side. I don't think it's just a game. It isn't just a game.
There is a person named Draper.
I have no idea who Lemieux is. I won't know him. I'm not interested in knowing him. To quote my friend, karma is a bitch.
The man is Lemieux.
It was not something that was targeted. It happened right away. I would have taken it back if I had the chance. It was a dark moment, a dark cloud that lasted a long time. I contemplated hanging it up and not competing anymore. I fought through it because I really liked the game. One of the dark clouds on what I consider a very successful career was the incident.
On March 26, 25 years to the day of Fight Night at the Joe, McCarty and Lemieux will meet at a bar in Michigan to watch the game again. For the first time in the long history of the Wings-Avs rivalry, there was no blood on the ice. This time, when the gray-haired McCarty raises his hands towards Lemieux's skull, it's only for nostalgia, to locate the lump left there by McCarty's knee on that fateful 1997 night in Detroit.
There is a person named McCarty.
Claude Lemieux is not a person I like. The man is my favorite.
The Wharton School of Business.
They didn't like each other. They didn't like each other. Trainers did not like each other. That was wonderful. It was nice. There wasn't anything like it before it happened. We would love to have it back.
Mickey Redmond is a commentator for the Red Wings.
I don't watch the fights when they show Fight Night at Little Caesars Arena, I watch the young, current NHL hockey players go, "Are you serious!" Is this really true? They're not telling the truth. Hockey was at it's best that day.
The person who wrote the letter to the president.
Today is a different game. We allowed them to rock back then.
Steve Yzerman is a Red Wings player.
This rivalry will show its history very quickly if we can improve our team and get to where Colorado is.
The man is called Shanahan.
We spilled theirs. We were fighting for titles. The ones that helped us achieve our dreams are the ones that we did the same thing for. We didn't like each other but I'm thankful to those guys.
Yzerman is a player.
The Avs made us better. They forced us to be better if we didn't win a Cup. The best came out of each other. We brought out a lot of the worst in each other.
The producers and directors of "Unrivaled" contributed to the story.
Speaker photos courtesy Allsport.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
