Ah, the good old days, when gritty, competitive hockey was at its peak.

Even through these tough times during this pandemic, we deserve a good throwback. And here today on March 26th, one of biggest days for both the Detroit Red Wings and the National Hockey League happened.

Red Wings fans are celebrating Turtle Day or the day that the ‘Brawl in Hockeytown’ occurred when Detroit avenged their losses, literally fighting and defeated their archrival the Colorado Avalanche, 6-5 in overtime.

The day was marked almost ten months after infamous then-Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux delivered a cheap shot hit to the boards to Detroit forward Kris Draper in Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals. After the hit, Draper was sidelined with multiple facial injuries, fractures and a concussion.

Colorado Avalanche Claude Lemieux skates away from a sprawled out Detroit Red Wings’ Kris Draper on Wednesday, May 29, 1996 in Denver. Lemieux was given a two-game suspension and a fine for the hit. (AP Photo/Rocky Mountain News, Steve Dykes) ORG XMIT: DXR101

Well, Lemieux eventually got his punishment as he was bloodied by winger Darren McCarty and goaltenders Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon also fought in the brawl as well.

With a few more fights occurring in between, it was a very entertaining game all-around with McCarty eventually scoring the game-winner in overtime.

Go ahead and sit back and view the two highlight videos of the famous game down below that was played out 23 years ago today.

Video with ESPN 2 highlights
Video with PASS (now-Fox Sports Detroit) highlights
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