Colorado Avalanche–Detroit Red Wings Brawl

**The Avalanche–Red Wings brawl** was a large-scale on-ice melee that occurred March 26, 1997 between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena (the Red Wings' home ice arena at the time).

The brawl (which has been nicknamed "Bloody Wednesday", "Fight Night at the Joe" and "Brawl in Hockeytown") stemmed from a previous on-ice incident between the two teams during the 1996 Western Conference Finals.

## Background

In Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals, Avalanche right winger Claude Lemieux checked Red Wings center Kris Draper from behind, driving Draper's face into the boards.

The hit sent Draper out of the game and into the hospital with a broken jaw, shattered cheek and orbital bone which required reconstructive surgery involving his jaw being wired shut & numerous stitches.

The Avalanche would upset the Red Wings in six games and eventually won the Stanley Cup.

After the traditional handshakes that take place after a playoff series, former Red Wings winger Dino Ciccarelli said of Lemieux, "*I can't believe I shook this guy's friggin' hand after the game; that pisses me right off*."

## Game Summary

In the next regular season (although the two teams had played each other three times without incident), this fourth meeting on the night of March 26th was different with nine fights in the game.

As tensions mounted early in the first period, defensemen Brent Severyn (Avalanche) and Jamie Pushor (Red Wings) fought at 4:45 of the first period, followed by a fight between forwards Kirk Maltby (Red Wings) and Rene Corbet (Avalanche) at 10:14.

The major melee ensued at the 18:22 mark, leading to the third fight.

Shortly after a collision between Red Wing center Igor Larionov and Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg, Wings enforcer Darren McCarty seized the chance to avenge his Grind Line teammate by escaping a linesman's grasp and hitting Lemieux with a right hook from the blindside.

McCarty laid many blows on Lemieux, who fell to the ice and covered his head; McCarty managed to land a few more punches, dragged Lemieux to the boards and kneed him in the head before the two of them were separated by officials.

Seeing what McCarty was doing to Lemieux, Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy skated out of his net to defend his teammate, but he was intercepted by Red Wing forward Brendan Shanahan who hit Roy with a vicious clothesline that sent him sprawling to the ice.

While Shanahan and defenseman Adam Foote tangled, Wings goalie Mike Vernon went out to center ice to try and grab Foote off of Shanahan.

Roy saw this going on and got Vernon's attention by pulling him off his teammate, which ended up escalating to a fight when Vernon and Roy dropped their masks, gloves, and blockers.

As a result of the third brawl of the first period, Forsberg and Larionov each received matching minor penalties for roughing; Roy and Vernon were each assessed minor penalties for roughing Shanahan and Foote, respectively, and major penalties for fighting each other, and McCarty received a double-minor for roughing Lemieux, giving Colorado a power play.

Forsberg aggravated an injury in the scrum with Larionov and would not return to the game.

The McCarty/Lemieux incident left patches of blood on the ice that were visible before the ice was resurfaced by the Zamboni; blood also ended up on the boards near the Red Wings bench. There was even more blood during this brawl when blood started to gush out from a cut on Roy's forehead.

Fifteen seconds after the Roy/Vernon fight, Avalanche winger Adam Deadmarsh and Red Wing defenceman Vladimir Konstantinov would drop the gloves in another fight for the final fight in the first period.

There would be five more fights (and four stoppages) in the second period:

A fight between Shanahan and Foote four seconds into the second period, simultaneous fights between Avalanche winger Mike Keane and Red Wing winger Tomas Holmstrom, which occurred for the most part on the ice, and between Severyn and Red Wing defenceman Aaron Ward at 3:34 in (Severyn and Ward were ejected for a secondary fight), McCarty and Deadmarsh at 7:24 (McCarty also received a roughing), and between Pushor and Avalanche defenceman Uwe Krupp at 11:26.

When the third period ended, the score was tied 5–5.

Incidentally, it was McCarty who scored the winner against Roy in overtime, assisted by Shanahan and Larionov.

## Aftermath

Mike Vernon (who won his 300th career game) believed the brawl-filled game "*brought the Red Wings together*" in time for the playoffs.

Red Wings broadcaster Ken Kal surmised that the game was a turning point as far as the team's success went.

Meanwhile, Colorado head coach Marc Crawford wondered why McCarty did not receive a game misconduct for his largely one-sided instigation and subsequent fight with Lemieux (McCarty received a double-minor for roughing for that incident, and also received a fighting major later in the game).

Subsequently, Avalanche right winger Mike Keane criticized Draper for having McCarty fight on his behalf.

A similar free-for-all between the teams took place on May 22nd during Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Joe Louis Arena when during a penalty-filled game, Crawford was seen screaming obscenities at Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman across the glass separating the two benches.

Bowman then told Crawford, "*I knew your father before you did, and I don't think he'd be very proud of how you're acting*."

The Wings won that game 6–0 and Crawford was fined $10,000 for the tirade.

The next season during a game on November 11, 1997 between the two teams, McCarty and Lemieux began to throw punches seconds after the opening faceoff, much to the delight of the Joe Louis Arena crowd.

On April 1, 1998, Joe Louis Arena was the site of another Avs-Wings brawl, but this time, Patrick Roy challenged and then squared off with Chris Osgood at center ice.

The referees called more severe penalties this time as Roy and Osgood both received minor, major, misconduct and game misconduct penalties.

The two teams combined for 46 penalties totaling 228 minutes.

The Wings won the game 2–0, and would go on to win the second of their consecutive Stanley Cups.

The game and brawl is considered a defining moment in modern hockey history, but as players began to leave each team through free agency, trades or retirements, the rivalry began to die down.

A game between the Red Wings and Avalanche on March 23, 2002 broke into a brawl (much smaller than the previous two) when Kirk Maltby came into Patrick Roy's net and Roy took exception.

The brawl continued when Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek skated down the length of the ice to confront Roy but tripped on a discarded stick, causing him to crash into and knock over Roy.

Infuriated, Roy threw off his gloves and mask to fight as Hašek did the same, but the two were restrained by the officials, thus preventing Roy from fighting a third Red Wing goalie since 1997.