OT: 23 Years Ago Yesterday: One of the Greatest Brawls in NHL History
All the fights! All the goals! All the blood! All the punches! All the revenge! McCarty vs. Lemieux! Vernon vs. Waaaaah! Ward vs. the shirtless goon! McCarty vs all the Avs!
At about the 10 minute mark, Michigan Man Mike Knuble is shown on the Detroit bench, as the PBP guy laughs about it being Knuble's first game after being called up to Detroit.
301 days after Kris Draper was mugged along the boards by Lemieux in the '96 playoffs, causing Drapes to need facial reconstruction surgery, the Red Wings get their revenge---and did they ever!!
I remember, as many of you also do, watching this live on PASS. Were any of you fortunate enough to have been there at The Joe for this one?
March 27th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
Happy Turtle Day!
Hopefully the NHL Network is replaying it tonight.
March 27th, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
So many great moments in this game:
- Igor Larionov gets into the one and only fight of his entire hockey career with noted ass-clown Peter Forsberg
- McCarty pummels Lemieux
- Shanahan lays a clothesline on Roy when he skated out to save Lemieux
- Vernon gives Roy a bloody eye
- Wings rally from two down with 11 minutes left to force OT
- McCarty wins it in OT
It might be the most memorable regular season Red Wings game ever.
March 27th, 2020 at 10:30 AM ^
McCarty pummels Lemieux is possibly my favorite hockey moment of all time. I have a McCarty jersey just because of that. At least once a year I sit down and watch this and it just brings me joy. That probably makes me a bad person to derive so much happiness from seeing someone get an ass whoopin' like that, but I don't care.
March 27th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
Easy to whip someone’s ass when you jump them from behind. Love Red Wing fans never mention the following year when Claude switched sides on the face off to be opposite McCarty and they have an even fight straight up. No one is tough when you jump them when they aren’t looking and start hitting them
March 27th, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^
Love Ave fans who never mention Claude deserved his ass beating. His cheap shot the year before caused Draper to need reconstructive surgery. Wings handed out more ass beating and won the game in OT. Then went on to win the next two Cups. Take your L.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
I feel like it's a special moment that should be savored when a piece of shit, who deserves a beating as much as any piece of shit ever deserved a beating, gets that beating.
Lemieux turtled like a little girl and quit.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
They were chirping before the whistle, everyone knew someone was going to fight Claude, McCarty gave him plenty of time to get ready, and Lemieux chose not to fight back.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
Yeah, I didn't think he was ready, and I don't give a fuck. Not even a little. Had it coming and I was glad to see it.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
Please. You must be an Avs fan. Watch the replay. You can see McCarty pull away from the refs, turn and skate directly toward Lemieux. Lemieux is facing McCarty, and you can tell Lemieux even turned his head to look directly at McCarty before the punch. They were face to face. McCarty talks about this in the Russian Five movie. He describes the difference between a sucker-punch and a cold-cock. Sucker punch is when the guy's not looking (like Lemieux's blind-side hit on Draper) whereas a cold-cock is when you're looking the guy right in the eyes. Lemieux and McCarty were looking right at each other before McCarty decked him.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^
Watch this replay starting at 5:20 and try telling me McCarty jumped him from behind. Lemieux was looking right at him.
Feel free to enjoy the rest of the Red Wings highlights as well.
you are correct. and mccarty barely grazed claude with the swing, no big deal.
Yeah it’s not like, prior to the Draper hit, that Lemieux already had a well established reputation throughout the NHL as a dirty cheap shot artist who ran away whenever he was challenged by the opponent’s enforcer.
Oh, wait, that exactly what it was like.
He’s an asshole and a disgrace and it’s a travesty he has the same last name as one of the league’s all time legends.
He didnt just whip his ass. Lemieux admitted he got knocked out cold. Anyway, the Wings went on to win 4 cups. Enjoy your bag of dicks guy.
March 27th, 2020 at 11:07 AM ^
That McCarty game winner was the icing on a spectacularly superb afternoon of hockey! It's the reason I always tell people that he was much more than just the best fighter in the game - he could actually play. Also witness his game winner against Philadelphia, where he zig-zagged through their entire team late in the third for an AWESOME goal. What a great player he was, in kind of a Bill Laimbeer sort of way...
March 27th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^
Shanny leveling Roy still makes me giddy like a schoolgirl every time see it.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
Good times
March 27th, 2020 at 10:25 AM ^
23 years ? What in the hell.
edit: just watched the entire video. Wow that was insane. How did Mccartey not get kicked out ? A bunch of the uncalled big hits would be major penalties today lol. And there was a ton of offense in the game as well. I never realized that. Roy and Vernon both made some incredible saves as well.
March 27th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
Hockey has completely changed in the last 20 years. Its still a fun game to watch, but nothing like it was 20 years ago...
March 27th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
Yes, but go back 20 years before that and you would not even recognize it. Bench clearing brawls were a regular occurrence. Every team had one guy on the roster who couldn't play for shit but was just there to handle the fighting.
Looking at you Dave “The Hammer” Schultz.
Dave Semenko
They were not called hockey players, they were called Enforcers!
March 27th, 2020 at 10:15 PM ^
I recall in the late 1980's the Wings had two enforcers on the team at one time -- Bob Probert and Joey Kocur. Those two were a couple bad ass dudes. If you messed with Steve Yzerman you'd pay the price. And Probert was a pretty decent hockey player too. Then McCarty came along later and he was a good fighter but also a skilled hockey player. The Grind Line was something to behold. McCarty, Draper and Maltby were so good at cycling the puck down low and just wearing out the other team's defense. They had such good control along the boards the Wings had time to change out guys during their shift and capitalize on the tired defense. The mid-90's to mid-2000's Wings teams were unbelievably good and well coached. I miss those days.
March 27th, 2020 at 10:25 AM ^
This was the second NHL game I had ever been too.
I remember feeling something brewing all night. The Joe was electric that night.
The greatest sporting event I have ever been too
March 27th, 2020 at 10:30 AM ^
I watched The Russian Five last week. They featured this revenge fight in the film. That's a great documentary.
Agree completely. Great documentary.
March 27th, 2020 at 10:31 AM ^
The Free Press headline was "Bloody Good" with a picture of Roy's beaten face. Just classic.
March 27th, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
I could've been at that game. Back then, my father-in-law had season tickets, and I joked that I should take the tickets to that game since it was on my birthday. My mother-in-law said to do it, but I said no way, how could he not go to such a big game?
Turns out he somehow forgot there was a game that night, so he never went. Unbelievable. It still confounds me to this day.
On the bright side, they are now my ex in-laws.
March 27th, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
Happy birthday ? yesterday!
March 27th, 2020 at 11:49 AM ^
Thanks!
March 27th, 2020 at 10:49 AM ^
Whenever this comes up, I have to share the best article on it ever written.
March 27th, 2020 at 11:07 AM ^
The piece says there was a total of 22 penalty minutes in the game ? WUT
March 27th, 2020 at 11:39 AM ^
Excellent read, had never seen that until now. Thanks for posting it ?.
March 27th, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
Thanks. Great article.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:14 PM ^
Thanks for sharing. I laughed my ass off at this. I especially liked this last point about Shanahan:
"Showing up in Detroit in 1996 and immediately corrupting a room full of kind and decent young gentlemen into brawling psychopaths."
Speaking as a man who remembers those games with affectionate blood-lust, and still hates the Avs (and Patrick Wahhh!) with a passion, just one note to the writer:
You say "brawling psychopaths" like it's a bad thing.
Since you all liked DGB so much, the 22nd anniversary of the sequel fight has it's own breakdown that I find even funnier. I still crack up at the line about the Undertaker's music coming on.
March 27th, 2020 at 10:49 AM ^
EDIT Sorry for the double post
March 27th, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^
Don't be sorry. It was a great article.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
Watching that again sure gets the blood going. Helluva game.
March 27th, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
Reminds me how much I hated Patrick Roy.
Funny, I know how it all turned out, but my heart sank a bit when the Avs scored, then I'm getting frustrated as Roy makes save after save, then heart sinking a bit more as the Avs extend their lead, spirits lifting when the Wings score, sinking again, lifting. Exultation at the end!
Man, I miss those days. I'm just waiting for another Redwings team to be great. That rivalry and that specific game had everything that a Detroit fan could hope for. From the multi-leveled fight to the McCarty curtain call, it is an amazing memory with emotions that you just can't appreciate unless you were a fan.
This is the earliest memory of my life time. I was 4 years old and my dad was at the game. Remember him calling my older brother and I asking if we were watching the game right after the brawl happened.
I watch this game at least once a year and am reading the book about the rivalry for the 2nd time right now.
These were certainly the good ole days for Red Wings fans.
that was 15 minutes at work that i should've been working, but it was worth it.
that is also some of the best hockey every played, up and down the entire roster of both teams, the style they played, and the rivalry. great stuff.
thank you for posting. This never gets old.
This was the best era of NHL hockey ever. There will never be a blood lust rivalry like that one.
Tremendous talent all over the ice. HOFers everywhere. Watching how fast and smooth Sergei was...ridiculous talent.
Mike Vernon was a tough little SOB. He deserves HOF consideration having won cups with 2 organizations.
23 years...where did the time go?
I miss that horn.
One of the games I would have loved to have gone to.
I love Gary Thorne on PBP
I was there on that glorious night. I was able to take my sons (13 and 10 at the time) to their FIRST hockey game.
They were amazed and wanted to know if all hockey games were like that. I hated to spoil their dreams but had to tell the truth.