How one violent hit snowballed into years of championship-grade hockey beef | Red Wings vs Avalanche 

In my Michigan History class my senior year, we spent an entire day just discussing the red wings avalanche feud

Back in the good ole days where you could commit a literal felony on ice and the NHL would just put you in time-out for 120 seconds.

"This all could have been put away if he would have just said sorry (Canadian accent)" LOL!

7:44 I couldn’t stop laughing at the ref just standing there with his arms crossed

As a black kid from Detroit who didn't know much about any sport but basketball, this was the series to really introduce me to hockey. Loved hockey around this era.

Most underrated rivalry in sports

Patrick Roy Hat Trick: Fighting three different Wings goalies. Lol

The best thing about all this wasn't all the star power, amazing fights, incredible storylines, a trip to play for the cup each year; but it was some of the best DAMN HOCKEY in the history of the game. Watching these two play between '96 and '02 was magical. Even if you didn't like the Wings or Avs, you knew you were going to be watching some of the best damn hockey action in the history of the game. I still don't know of a more passionate hatred with the level of play being that high on both sides in the history of the game.

I never realized McCarty only received a double minor for what he did to Lemieux. That's funny as hell. Today that'd be a minimum 10 game suspension.

Now this is the kind of Beef I like, Righteous Beef. You smashed a dudes face in and you won't say sorry? We're fighting every night I see your face.

Literally the greatest rivalry in pro sports ever.

The true golden age of ice hockey. I feel very blessed to have grown up near Detroit and watched this develop as a child. Taught me to back up your boys no matter what, a team wins, fights, dies together.

Not even a hockey fan but this some wagyu-grade beef

7:44 That referee is my spirit animal

I moved to Denver the same year the Nordiques moved and became the Avalanche. This… this whole story was my introduction to hockey. This is what hockey was for me. In some corner of my heart, this rivalry will always be what hockey is.

As a Red Wings fan, this was the greatest rivalry any of my favorite teams have ever been involved with. I was 12 years old when it all started and 18 by the time it unofficially ended in 2002. It almost seemed like these two teams were destined to face each other in the playoffs every year and it got ugly, almost every year. I will never forget watching Roy and Vernon fight at center ice in '97 only to be followed by Roy and Osgood squaring off the very next year. This rivalry made Darren McCarty one of the most loved athletes in the history of Detroit sports. It was downright epic! I challenge anyone to find a more fierce sports rivalry than this one that went on for the better part of 6 years!

roy forcing a trade out of montreal is one of the most amazing stories i’ve ever heard

How has there not been a 30/30 made about this?

5:50 Mickey Redmond. One of the best commentators around. And that's saying a lot for commentary in this leauge.

I was 10 years old when I saw Claude Lemieux crush Kris Draper's face on live TV. I will never forget the bone-crunching sound that it made as they played the replay over and over, nor will I forget the passionate seething rage that it put in the hearts of the Detroit Red Wings fans and organization. The rivalry was so intense that even on School nights I was allowed to stay up as late as the games took to finish. I still vividly remember sitting in my bed and watching the huge team brawl unfold, and relishing in every moment of vengeance taken upon Lemieux and the Colorado Avalanche team. I remember talking about what happened at school the next day with my friends that were also allowed to stay up late to watch the games. The rivalry made for what was arguably the best hockey in history between two of the best put together teams of all time. The energy that was unleashed in each game has gone unmatched in any of the hockey that I have watched since. However, as I look back on it now as a guy in his 30's, I understand that Scotty Bowman was right about the brutality, it really didn't have to be like that. Lemieux should have apologized, and he should have been barred from ever playing in the NHL again. I honestly don't have any remaining animosity towards Lemieux. It's well in the past now, but he quite literally could have killed someone with the viciousness of that hit. It wasn't at all about what team either of them played for.... you just don't do something like that to someone. To this day the Draper hit and the Kozlov sucker punch were the two worst things I have ever seen a player do. Lemieux behaved like a coward, and the way he embarrassed himself by turtling on the ice was to the tremendous delight of all Red Wings fans. McCarty was our judge, jury, and executioner, and Detroit loved him for it. The reality of the situation was that it frustrated all of us to no end that no adequate responsibility was taken to address the hit on Draper. It wasn't just Red Wings fans that wanted Lemieux gone, and by failing to do anything significant about it the Red Wings organization itself was forced to take matter into their own hands by the only way that they could, out on the ice. It's a bummer to know that I will never see such great hockey played ever again, but even back then as a 10 year old I understood that what I was seeing was something truly special. The 42 year Stanley Cup drought coming to an end, winning back to back cups, and having a team that hardly ever lost... What a time it was to be a Red Wings fan! It's interesting how time changes people and things. These days I actually like the Colorado Avalanche team, and I haven't seen them in a negative light for quite some time now. When the rivalry was in full swing I could have never imagined that some 25 years later I would actually like the organization that I had once loathed above all else.

"But as they say in hockey, the regular season doesn't mean shit."

>Rockie Mountain Extreme God damn 90s

I will NEVER forget this hit. I was a huge Red Wings fan back then and my brother was pulling for the Avs. Lemieux smashed Draper and within seconds we were fighting hard and about 2 minutes later my dad was pulling us off each other. I literally remembered about 3 seconds after the hit and then it was just chaos in our house for a solid 2-3 minutes, and then we got banned from watching the game the rest of the night.

4:56 I love that open ice collision.

Lived through this era as a Detroit native. Without a doubt, this was the golden age of modern hockey.

The greatest rivalry in sports history, here. It propelled the NHL to heights it hasn't reached since. As an Avs fan who lived through it, amazing in every way.

This was a golden age for hockey. What a rivalry.

The most important thing about the games these two played between '96 and '02 was the level of hockey they provided the fans. It was just flat out damn good. Watching every playoff series between the two and regular season games. Also, the real reason there was ever a rivalry is because the Wings totally humiliated Roy in Montreal that night. He demanded that trade and the rivalry was set to happy. How fitting it was that it all came to an end in the same way, of game 7 in 2002.

When hockey was at its zenith. As a bias wings fan, this was the finest rivalry in hockey history. Trading cups back and forth for almost 10 years! My favorite time as a fan

The best rivalry of the 90s. No doubt about it.

I’m from Detroit I had to cry 😢 just looking at these memories hockey will never be the same 🗣💯

Saddest part is before this - Claude Lemieux was a damn good Hockey player , an absolute force when he came on the scene in the 85 playoffs for Montreal. But that hit tarnished his name for his whole career and nobody was sorry when McCarty roughed him up.

What made this rivalry so great wasn't just the nastiness of it and all the fights but all the skill/future hall of fame players both teams had...also the fact that they were battling for cup wins in the process.

I feel sorry for the American sports fan who doesn't watch Hockey because they will never know what a true rivalry looks like. This was like the Steelers vs the Ravens on steroids.

I’m an Avs fan from the jump, and I’ve grown to love The Red Wings. These were great times, with legendary players, and fantastic hockey.

It's weird looking back on this. I grew up as a kid in a family of Red Wings fans in Colorado in the early 2000s and I never knew the context of the rivalry until 20 years later. Love it.

Is it just me or is this the greatest rivalry in all of sports history?

One of the best rivalries of all time. Super underrated and we will never see another one like it!

This rivalry was a great when it's broken down. Both teams had an awesome mix of grit, toughness, and world class talent at pretty much every level of the roster and coaching staff.

I grew up in Detroit in the 60's watching Howe, Mahovolich and Delveccio. The glory days for those immortals was ending leading to 2 decades of truly sub par hockey. As they started to rise in the 90's it seemed that the only real thing to stand in their way was these never to be sufficiently damned Avalanche. Then the hit. With this rivalry the Red Wings (and the Avalanche) rose to heights they never would have scaled otherwise. It was a great time to be both a hockey fan and a Detroit fan. Possibly also a Colorado fan, tho' I couldn't say about that. Great video and thank you for posting.

Probably the greatest rivalry in sports during the 90's. Absolutely stunning to witness it as it happened. I remember them calling an Avs_Wings game a "BloodBath."

"Once everyone remembered there was a game going on.." lol

I have always believed that the rivalry more or less ended in '03 when Roy retired and there really hasn't been a rivalry quite like this in the NHL ever since. So much talent on both sides, so much bitterness, Stanley Cup implications every year...this one's gonna' be tough to top.

The late 80's through the early 2000's will always be the best/golden era of hockey. I'm a Detroit Red Wings fan from the west side of Michigan so that rivalry was simply amazing.

God, I had the best childhood being a wings fan!

Much respect for that Humboldt shirt

At 7:44 the ref was like "Ok, get it all out of your system."🤣

As a Red Wings fan, our rivalry with the Avalanche shall stay in our hearts throughout both of our histories. Thanks for the amazing memories and fights, even if you did push Kris Draper into the wall

One of the best hockey rivalries. I remeber it well. Still to this day, everytime they play one another, I can't help to get a little giddy for a split second. Then it's like, oh yeah, that was back in the 90's.

Don’t F with the Grind line! Those where great years in Hockeytown. I live in CO nowadays and ski in my Draper jersey every now and again, people still curse at me from the lift for wearing it all these years later.

I was a teenager living in Detroit then.., what a time! Always looked forward to hockey season 💪🏻👍🏼

Its been 20+ years since 97-98.... I still get an adrenaline rush whenever I hear the crowd when McCarty pumps Lemieux. That roar.... hot damn

4:50 Only a double minor for McCartney!!! My goodness the game has changed hahah

The wings ended the rivalry with that game seven win 7-0 win in 2002.. Colorado 2 cups , Detroit 3 cups . I believe we met once more after that with us winning a non competitive series but the 7-0 wings win was the climax to this storied rivalry ! Fun fact I believe a rookie pavel datsyuk scored the 7th and final goal in that game.

I’m a Wingnut living in Colorado , loving every minute of the rivalry

Every game between these two teams over almost a decade felt like Stanley Cup game 7. I’ll never forget the sustained intensity. These games are some of my favorite childhood memories.

Hockey is the best sport in the world. I said it. Also love that shirt.

Man, I miss these days of hockey, in way. Nothing will ever top Fight Night at the Joe.

I will never forget these games; as a fan who rarely watches hockey, there is simply nothing that compares in any sport, to what this rivalry offered.

I got "Blood Feud" for my 65th Birthday. Best read in a long time!

The next one should be the NFL VS Fun.

This was the greatest rivalry in North American sports. Made other rivalries in the big four sports look like tea time

Outstanding!! Thank you for posting this! Have been a Detroit fan since age 8 (I'm 57 now) after seeing that awesome winged wheel logo!! That's all it took, I suffered through the 70's & 80's but I never lost hope in the organization and was rewarded for my loyalty in the 90's into the new millenia and still to this day and even unto death!! A Detroit Red Wings fan for life 🏒

Such an underrated rivalry, love my avalanche and love hearing stories from my family watching those games in person!

A rivalry that's still regularly talked about in detroit, was an amazing thing.

God I miss those days. Hard core Wings fan myself, but I have mad respect for Colorado. The Wings needed them to strive to be a better team. Days like this will never come again.

this was a fun time ill never forget my dad taped it (The Brawl) and i'll never forget the ref using his skate to try n sweep a puddle of blood off the ice.. BEST ERA of hockey for me...

One of the best times in hockey history, loved every minute of it as a child.

As an interested party in said beef I'll say this was a well done episode

Just seeing those Nordiques jerseys even for a quick few seconds got me thinking about players like Bryan Fogarty's drinking, Ron Hextall's anger & Eric Lindros refusing to play for the team. There's probably a video about that team in Quebec to be made yet.

I remember this feud, you covered it well, brought back great memories of watching those games, thank you!

Oh my goodness, all the memories came flooding back. Great video, thank you

These videos are amazing! Don't stop doing them please!

Such a great rivalry. Watching them play in the alumni game in 16 really felt like we finally put all the bad blood to rest. So much fun and so much nostalgia. Go Avs

I lived in both Ann Arbor as well as Denver. This video is as spectacular and as real as it gets.

What a legend of a rivalry. Thankful I was able to witness it.

Thank you for illustrating the bovine nature of this relationship.

7:45 😂😂😂😂 the ref just standing there with his arms crossed is gold

Very well done! Enjoyed the flashbacks and history of the rivalry

I honestly think that this rivalry was one of the biggest in all of sports.

Buikema's best contribution so far. Really enjoyed it!

Being from Detroit I lived through that whole thing. Watched almost all of it live on TV including Lemieuxs hit on Drapes and the two goal fights. The memory of Lemieux doing the turtle while McCarty pounded on him still gives me chills.That rivalry defined the heyday of not only hockey, but Detroit at that time.

Best hockey rivalry I’ve witnessed. Both had a ridiculous amount of great players, hated each others guts, and each got good victories against the other. Hard to see a rivalry that will top these. I didnt have a hockey team back then, and was a casual fan but these games were must see TV

That was really good I remember seeing some of those fights. I was in Air Force basic training when Detroit won the cup in '97. It made my day when I saw the paper of their win.

Great episode man! I was just thinking how I'd love to see a Beef History on the Bruins and Habs, but this is such a great rivalry as well!

Fantastic video!!

This was truly the golden age in hockey, espn... an amazing class of talent. big name corner store teams who absolutely dominated every year true rivalry’s... anyways I’m a wings fan but it was such a blessing growing up with this legit I’m a 90s baby so basically my first memories were in 96-97 and that was at the very start of the greatest hockey rivals of all time & some of the Greatest hockey teams all time. Also as a wings fan he brought a point up , growing up I hated the avs & everything about them but as I got older I came to appreciate the rivalry for what it was and gained a a lot of respect for avs fans

Saw all of this live, it is what hockey legends are made of.

Lived through this amazing era, loved every damn minute of it. The feud only made the victories sweeter and the losses more sour. Either way, it was entertainment at its finest.

terrific video! I've been getting my 18 year old son into hockey and the history of the best rivalries and this one...this one I remember watching as it happened back then. A video cannot relay the pure, visceral hatred that existed between the Red Wings/Avalanche, and the hatred hockey fans had and continue to have towards Lemieux to this day. Thanks for the upload, subbed.

Good Video man! I will never forgot this rival and I watched it first hand!!! Good memories!!

So glad I was alive to witness all this go down live on my tv.

1:30 Ronald said something to him first before he came & said "I'm never playing for you again."

Thank you for making this for me !

Absolutely some of the best well timed sarcastic sound drops ever! Well done! Great footage to boot. Nicely done.

I remember seeing all those fights. People couldn't wait to see the Avs and the Red Wings go at it again.

Hands down, top five sports rivalry of all time.

7:45 "Aight bruh, tell me when y'all done."

THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS. AMAZING.