commentary...

going back to late 1990's,and early 2000's,"the Grind Line"(Kirt Maltby,Darren McCarty,Joe Kocur,and Kris Draper) was a key part of the Stanley Cup winning teams... the event that actually turned the Red Wings,from a high-scoring team who could score,and win games,5-4,into a powerhouse,to be feared,was a pummelling between Darren McCarty,and the Colorado Avalanche's Claude Lemieux,on March 26,1997,for Lemieux's devastating hit on Kris Draper,when Draper was driven into the boards,and into a post that bloodied Draper quite badly(a very cheap shot)during the 1996 playoffs... the hit on Draper actually started the really bad blood between the two teams,during that time era,and the reason that i despise the Avalanche,to this day... the pummelling of Lemieux solidified the Red Wings into a team who was not known to fight,but fought like dogs,when needed,and a team that refused to back down from a fight,if pushed... after that game in that 1997 season,Patrick Roy(Colorado Avalanche Hall of Fame goaltender)said that,in a confession,"Detroit won the (Stanley) Cup that night"... the reason that i bring up that fight was during an autograph session,with Lemieux,recently,McCarty said that he would do it again,if needed,because that 1997 team was also stricken too,by a limo crash that happened less a week after winning the 1997 Stanley Cup(Sergei Mnatsakanov(team massueur),and Vladimir Konstantinov,were injured,and Konstantinov never played again)... that incident inspired the 1998 Stanley Cup winning team,and during the Stanley Cup ceremony,in 1998,they wheeled Konstantinov onto the ice,and gave him the Stanley Cup... both were remembered by the Red Wings,by a well-known patch,on their sweaters,over the entire season,and the players wanted to win Stanley Cup,in 1998 for both of them... those two Stanley Cup winning teams were the closest,in the way they did business,and they stuck up for each other,and those two teams were the foundation,of the current Red Wings,because the people,and coaches,on those two teams taught the new players the way of the Winged Wheel,of winning and class,that goes throughout the NHL,to this day(Steve Yzerman-Tampa Bay general manager,and Todd McLellan-San Jose Sharks' coach,are two examples of the way of the Winged Wheel)... hate to admit it,but i am proud of their Red Wings' roots,but it does not mean that i do not want to see both teams get beat by the Red Wings... the way of the Winged Wheel was one of showing great joy,when winning,and a very great respect to the winning team,when beaten... they respected the Avalanche,but clearly had bad blood between the two teams... many fights,but both teams wanted to beat each other... to get to the Stanley Cup,during that time,Detroit had to go through Colorado,and Colorado had to go through Detroit... they played so often that they knew that Patrick Roy would be there at the end... the breaking point between Roy,and the Red Wings was in 2001-2002,when Colorado was up,3-2,in games,in Denver(Western Conference Finals),when Roy made a sweeping glove save,and did the Statue of Liberty pose,but unfortunately,the puck slipped out of the glove,as he made the pose,and was dropped into the goal(Colorado lost that game,2-0,and then were crushed,7-0,in game seven-Roy giving up eight of the nine goals,in the process)... it shook him up quite badly,that he actually was never the same goaltender,after that mistake,when he played Detroit,even in regular season...