Welcome to the inaugural Sports Baggery post. We are still getting some things on the site in order. We will be trying to bring you our ongoing perspective of major events in the world of sports and entertainment. Keep this in mind; we are not professional sports writers. We are not making money on this blog. Hence, we will do our best to deliver a quality product. Don’t expect Michael Wilbon, as we don’t solicit feedback from the editors of the Washington Post.
Last thing’s first, I will kick off this blog with a look at an old rivalry renewed in a reformed sport. Also known as “The history of one of the fiercest rivalries in sports and how it has been molded into something that most people could care less about.”
13 years ago, the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver. This was great news for a city which let the lesser known Colorado Rockies of the NHL leave town to become the much more successful New Jersey Devils in 1982. This pre-Devil team produced one playoff appearance in its illustrious 7 seasons in Denver. The great Don “Grapes” Cherry would only weather one season in Denver. Talents like Hardy Astrom went by the way as the team seemed destined to move. It appeared as though Hockey was destined to fail in Colorado.
12 Years later, a new opportunity presented itself. The Quebec Nordiques, an equally inept franchise seemed destined to perform this same shift in locales. Denver, on the promise that it was constructing a new arena for the team was able to claim the franchise on a huge upswing. Despite being on the lookout for a new home, Quebec was putting together some very solid drafts in the late 80s and early 90s. It had already drafted Joe Sakic, when the force known as Eric Lindros was available to Quebec at the top of the draft boards. The first person I think about holding a franchise hostage is John Elway (I’m sure it has happened before, this seemed like the first worthy instance of an athlete not appreciating the opportunity he had to play professional sports and instead acting like giant baby) and continues through today (way to go Eli Manning). The best turn around for one of these classy athletes was the saga of Eric Lindros. Tapped to play minor league hockey for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the likeable Lindros drew his line in the sand and said he wasn’t going to play hockey in the Sault. A couple of years later, he found himself saying the same thing to Quebec management and got Todd Bertuzzi’s great uncle (How ironic is that?) to arbitrate a deal with the Philidelphia Flyers for a few good players and a lot of number one draft picks. This trade brought Peter Forsberg (before his limbs started falling off at the joints) and Patrick Roy to the Nordiques organization (via the Jocelyn Thibault trade). These were great acquirements for a team with little financial support. Eric Lindros went on to make a Stanley Cup finals with Philly (the team who sacrificed all of that talent for one player) and use his size to be the biggest NHL bully of that time until getting laid out by Darius Kasparitus and playing very short stints (usually due to concussion related injuries) until formally bowing out of the league earlier this year. Lindros ended up signing with three different teams in his final three years in the league. Apparently, after all this time, he wasn’t too concerned about where he would be playing and with whom. Let’s just say the aspect of Lindros never achieving his potential is both unfortunate (for his injuries) and on some levels poetic justice (for his hard headedness).
The Colorado Avalanche were becoming contenders in the NHL West and the acquisition of New Jersey Devil Claude Lemieux sent the Avs to the second best record in the West in 1996.
Now, let it be noted before I begin this next part of Colorado hockey history, I am a Detroit Red Wings fan. I live in Colorado. I will try to make this a least biased as possible, but I’m sure some things will fall through the cracks.
On the strength of an ungodly cheap shot by Lemieux (this is not just my opinion, feel free to google Claude Lemieux cheap shot, I’m sure you will find some interesting results) and Avs fans everywhere chanting “Red Wings Suck”, the Avalanche beat the Red Wings in the conference finals and eventually won the Stanley Cup. It is my honest opinion that the Avalanche were playing better at the time of the conference finals and the entire series did not hinge on the Lemieux cheap shot. In fact, with the two game suspension that Lemieux endured, it was surprising that the Red Wings couldn’t capitalize on the short comings. Colorado was too fast in that series, Patrick Roy was outstanding in goal. Other than the Lemieux back door, the Avalanche deserved to win the series and the ensuing Stanley Cup. As much as I can’t stand the guy, you have to give Colorado coach Marc Crawford credit. He did what he had to do to beat a team that was superior to his throughout the regular season. (Interesting side note, while some Avalanche fans cheered the hit that knocked Draper out for the season and the taste out of his mouth, they weren’t as excited when Todd Bertuzzi executed a similar cheap shot on Avs player Steve Moore, a move purportedly ordered by ex-Avs all star coach Marc Crawford, or even as recently as this past week see http://www.twincities.com/ci_8953032. So what you’re telling me is its okay unless it happens to us. Solid.).
Everyone who knows this story should know what happens next. The Red Wings seethe about the hit. Revenge is on everyone’s mind. The Avs dominate the Red Wings for the 1997 regular season. The night before the March 26, 1997 showdown, Drapers grandfather dies and he doesn’t even say anything about it to the team. The Red Wings go out, get down early and the fans start to wonder if this is 1996 all over again. It wasn’t though. The Avalanche were the better team during the regular season that year. When the proverbial shit finally hit the fan at the end of the first period, Claude Lemieux’s productive years would effectively end as Darren McCarty absolutely destroyed Lemieux in a brawl reminiscent of the Hanson brothers going into the stands and the Red Wings had their revenge. Utter chaos was happening on the ice as more fights were taking place than the number of referees to break them up. Patrick Roy raced out of the net and was mowed down by a projectile Brendan Shanahan, then went around with Wings goal tender Mike Vernon. No matter who said and who did what, in the end Lemiuex was bloody, Roy was a mess and the Red Wings came back from down 2 goals and McCarty seals the deal with an overtime winner and the Wings take the momentum home for back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Time progresses, Scotty Bowman and Marc Crawford are both gone. The Avs win another Stanley Cup with Ray Borque. The Red Wings win another with Dominick Hasek. Detroit loses a first round series to Anaheim Ducks (after sporting the top seed in the west) and Avs fans everywhere laugh. So much so that they were so concentrated on chanting “Red Wings suck” during their 2003 playoff series against the Minnesota Wild that they forget the cheer for their own team (maybe)resulting in an even more embarrassing playoff series loss (only more embarrassing because Anaheim swept the Wild in the conference finals). The NHL owners then lockout the players over a new CBA and proceed to alienate fans everywhere. I personally performed a 2 year fan strike and did not attend any games or buy anything with an NHL logo on it. Scary thing is that Gary Bettman is still around.
This gets us to the newly revised rivalry of the Red Wings and Avalanche, the first time these two teams have met since the strike and the newly adopted rules. I have decided to take out the Red Wings jersey again this year and rejoin my brethren. I had been following the Red Wings this season and knew that they had swept the season series against the Avs and that most of the games weren’t even close. On a personal note, I hate the changes to the rules in Hockey since the strike. I was always a big fan of defense and it seems to be non-existent in today’s game. The added dimensions of the ice combined with the removal of the two line pass just make this game so wide open and the dumping the puck rules make everything very fast without much chance of slowing the pace down. The one rule change which I actually like which is the teams not being allowed to change on an icing, doesn’t actually make sense as television channels are allowed to take their timeouts. Hence, what’s the point?
So, defense doesn’t exist anymore, neither does Steve Yzerman. Federov left long ago. So did Patty Roy and Rob Blake. A mini-revival of “We’re putting the band back together” came when the Avs resigned Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote during the season. This combined with most of the hold over Red Wing holdovers makes for some familiar names with waning ability.
What I notice now is the new era of hockey has actually been embraced by these franchises. Fast skilled players are everywhere. Lidstrom is still fast and great with a stick. Johan Franzen, Hank Zetterberg, and Pavel Datsyuk are amazing on the attacking end. The move that Zetterberg put on the poor Colorado defender to make it 5 – 1 on Saturday was phenomenal. I know that Colorado was on the forecheck trying to score and only had one player back on defense, but that was skating at its finest, Dorothy Hamill.
It seems like a dominant series so far for the Wings, but that can always change on a dime (as Claude Lemieux would tell ya). It was funny watching Cody McCormick trying to spark his team by challenging Darren McCarty 12 years too late. I thought DMac handled himself pretty well considering the circumstances (I don’t think that either of the two landed a punch). Other than that, not much happening between the two teams. Maybe it’s because Bowman and Crawford aren’t around to push those buttons anymore. Roy, Shanahan, Lemieux and Marty LaPointe aren’t doing their best to get under the other teams skin.
So, we’ll see if this flame is dying. Do the new rules in hockey make these players unable to get physical and therefore deterring the fisticuffs? We’ll see. I’m sure that just like the fans of the Charlestown Chiefs, Avs fans will be ever present on Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center with the “We Want Blood!” type chants. Doubt that will help in this day and age. If you need it that bad, go to youtube. Type all of your favorites into the search and relive the glory days (I do have to say that the Konstantinov hit on Lemieux is pretty unbelievable).
That’s the extent of my hockey talk. The "other guy", who shall remain nameless, who has offered to contribute to this site is the real hockey guy. But, after clamoring to get this site going has seemingly disappeared in the face of banging out some content. Maybe he has some thoughts on the NFL draft. Hope to update again, soon.
- Wally Sobchak
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