Nostalgia Time 1987

By Annie Detroit

You just don't see this anymore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOI3mwK5YLw

If you're thinking, "Well, Steve Yzerman is not a fighter and Kevin Maguire was cheap shooting and being a wuss!" That's not exactly what I'm talking about. Other than the obvious point of overall fighting being down all of the league, much to the dismay of many fans and players, you don't see guys stand up for themselves anymore! Jerk on Team A hits Lady Bing candidate on Team B. What should happen is either Lady Bing candidate from Team B defends himself and pops Jerk on Team A OR Jerk from Team B jumps off the bench and totally pummels Jerk from Team A. What we see now is Jerk from Team A cheap shots Lady Bing candidate from Team B and Lady Bing candidate from Team B lays on the ice until a penalty is called.

Lest we forget one of my favorite fights of all time and one that I've already linked on this blog, McCarty v. Lemieux 1997. That whole fight was that ideal scenario. McCarty didn't give Lemieux two shakes before that awful hit on Draper the previous playoff season. That whole rivalry was based on one incident and the retaliation. Where is that kind of heat and passion in the NHL? I mean, the worst we've seen in recent years was Sean Avery and the whole "Sloppy Seconds" thing. That didn't even happen on the ice! Then what happened? Avery was suspended. Where's the fun in that? They should've let him play and every player who was offended by that comment would have beat the living snot out of him. Now that's justice.

I've been noticing this lack of passion in the game over the last few seasons, not only because the Wings/Avs rivalry and simmered down exponentially, but because no new rivalries are cropping up. The only real rivalry I can think of right now is Montreal/Toronto, and that's been around for a century and it's pretty much tradition at this point. Rivalries in the NHL aren't created through winning and losing like Darth Bettman would like you to believe. Division rivalries are shallow, and even though you play a team 100 times a season doesn't mean they're going to learn to hate each other, they're just going to get sick of each other. Detroit and St. Louis have been in the same division since the Blues' birth and there's no rivalry there.

Let players get mad. Let them make it personal. Let them go out for revenge. That's what makes this sport exciting to watch. Maybe soap opera isn't the best analogy, but it kind of is. Let them jaw at each other and let them have at it. And to the players: Cause a little bit of trouble, please. It keeps things interesting.