27th Anniversary of “Fight Night at The Joe”
Today marks the 27th anniversary of what became known as Fight Night at The Joe.
I was in Middle School at the time and remember it well. Darren McCarty making Lemieux turtle like a coward and then Vernon going toe-to-toe with Roy are etched in my memory. This was payback for when Lemieux checked Draper from behind into the boards in the WCF the year before (which would be a penalty now for boarding) and F’d up his face (pretty sure fractured his orbital and broke his jaw). The rivalry was already the hottest in the league and this took it to its ultimate fever pitch. There was no going back after this night. It was war every time they played for the next several years.
Thanks for the anniversary reminder. Watching and reading about it never gets old.
Among the many extremely funny things that happened that night, one of my low-key favorites is the Michigan connection. That game was Mike Knuble's NHL debut. Imagine walking into the locker room full of stars, finally realizing your hockey dream, and it turns out to be WWIII. It's hilarious to me.
I was in the crowd ... section 202B, row 4. Utterly glorious.
I was there, too ... section 221 ... quite a few rows higher, but center ice at the Joe. I had season tickets for 20 years, and that was the best regular season game I ever attended.
One of the best parts about the Wings-Avs rivalry was that both rosters were littered with world-class players (Yzerman, Sakic, Lidstrom, Foote, Fedorov, Forsberg, Larionov, Roy, etc.). High-level skill combined with high-level hatred made for great hockey.
And The Professor started it all.
If there ever was a regular season Wings game, I wish I would have been able to attend, this is the game.
I met McCarty at a Wings game a few years ago and I asked if he gets tired of people talking to him about this, and he goes, "Fuck no!"
I still hate the Avs, now and forever.
March 26th, 2024 at 11:33 PM ^
1996-1998 was like the peak moment in time for sports in Ann Arbor/SE Michigan. Michigan Football, Michigan Hockey, Redwings x2, Barry Sanders 2k yards. I'm glad to have been there to live through it.
We used to order Mr. Spots hot wings every Redwings game for a Wings and Wings night. I went back recently and the prices are ridiculous. I still laid down 60 bucks just for some nostalgia.
March 26th, 2024 at 11:40 PM ^
As a 48 y/o, there have been two top catharses: 2021 tOSU and 1997 WCF
March 26th, 2024 at 11:41 PM ^
The algorithm just coughed up this ESPN retrospective of that night. Worth the 10 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UWPLUBuErM