Colorado Avalanche–Detroit Red Wings brawl
1997 NHL ice hockey brawl between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings
The Avalanche–Red Wings brawl was a large-scale on-ice melee that occurred on March 26, 1997, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, between two National Hockey League (NHL) rivals: the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings. The brawl, which has been nicknamed Bloody Wednesday, Fight Night at the Joe and the Brawl in Hockeytown, stemmed from a previous on-ice incident between the two teams during the 1996 Western Conference Finals. The game featured 18 fighting major penalties and 144 minutes in penalties. Both the game and brawl are considered a defining moment in modern hockey history.
Previous incident
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. While not a specific retaliation, earlier in Game 3 of the series, Avalanche defenceman Adam Foote had been hit from behind into the glass by Red Wings winger Vyacheslav Kozlov, resulting in Foote receiving a gash on his forehead. The Avalanche were enraged Kozlov had not been penalized. Lemieux later sucker punched Kozlov, which resulted in him being fined and suspended for the following game.
Lemieux's hit on Draper in Game 6 sent Draper out of the game and into the hospital with a concussion, broken nose, broken jaw, shattered cheek and orbital bone which required reconstructive surgery involving his jaw being wired shut and numerous stitches. The Avalanche went on to upset the Red Wings in six games, eventually winning the Stanley Cup.
“Colorado Avalanche–Detroit Red Wings brawl” enters the record as 1997 NHL ice hockey brawl between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Colorado, Avalanche and Detroit can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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