Oh Jesus. I had 2 Friends back in those days, who were Red Wings Fans, so I've seen alot of the Rivalry with the Avalanche. Both Teams had alot of great players, but ontop Detroit had alot of Cheapshots. Major 455holes like McCarty and Kocur, some guys who often played dirty like Maltby, LaPointe, Draper, Pushor, A.Ward and even Shanahan, who was a skilled Player. Detroit played strong Teams always between hard and unfair. Thats why Colorado traded C.Lemieux from NJ. Then in the Playoffs 1996 C.Lemieux did a Check to Draper like 1,5 Yards away from the Bench and Draper fell odd and was injured severly (several Bones in his Face were broken). Iirc C.Lemieux didn't even got a Penalty. Its not clear, if it was intentional or an accident. (I heard former RedWings now saying it was more of an accident). , The next season both teams played against 3 times without any problems. But in the 4th game in March 1997 - 10 Months later - the Red Wings went for alot of Colorados Team. Pushor went for Severyn, later McCarty for C.Lemieux, Shanahan ran into P.Roy and checked him down (without getting penalized), Maltby went for Corbet, Vernon for the already injured P.Roy. And the Madness didn't stop. There were 8-10 different Times, where the Game was stopped for Fights. It is now known as "Brawl in Hockeytown". Even my Friends thought it was not ok, what Detroit did here, I think, they embarrassed themselves here. Some of the good guys from Detroit like S.Kozlov, Fetisov, Larionov, Fedorov, Lidstrom later said it was a bad thing and it lead to other Teams playing this Detroit Team way more physical.
Are they going to keep the pressure system in for NHL 25? I think the pressure system is stupid. I'd rather pressure my self and control the game myself.
Huge rivalry between the Red Wings and Avalanche Lemieux hit Kris Draper from behind - Lemieux's hit on Draper in Game 6 sent him 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 and numerous stitches. The following years, there were a ton of brawls and a massive hate for eachother
