MIght As Well Make The Avalanche/Red Wings Alumni Game an Entire Series Now That Claude Lemieux Is Participating

Kris Draper confirmed to play for Wings in Avs-Detroit Feb. 26 alumni game

— Adrian Dater (@adater) September 1, 2015

Claude Lemieux will play in Avs-Wings alumni game. "I'm looking forward to it," he told me

— Adrian Dater (@adater) September 2, 2015

I actually feel bad that some of the people reading this will have little recollection of the classic battles that took place between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings in the late 90's. For my money, one of the greatest, most heated rivalries of all time. Now, while that had a lot to do with how talented and well matched both teams were, it probably had a whole hell of a lot more to do with the antics of Claude Lemieux. When I say that he quite possibly could have ended Kris Draper's life with this hit from behind it is of no exaggeration...

Claude Lemieux is a dick. He was a dick then and, if his play in the Devils 1995 reunion game was any indication, he's still kind of a dick now. That should actually be pretty obvious. There has to be some reason why he's my favorite player of all time. So, the hit on Draper pretty clearly wasn't his finest moment, but as us dicks tend to do, he's certainly not going to apologize for it. Are we still going to call this an 'Alumni Game', or should we just give it the more appropriate title of a 'Beer League Brawl'? I can just see the snide, condescending smirk on Lemieux's face as he told this reporter "I am looking forward to it". As long ago as this was, when we are talking about a player as obnoxious as Claude, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Time does not heal all. The same reason I'll always love #22 is the same reason that Kris Draper still hates #22. Once you feel a certain way about a person with that type of personality, the only thing that can change your mind is playing on a team with him. Fuck laughs and reminiscing. I want hatred and bloodshed. If there was going to be two teams that ended up forgetting that they were playing in an alumni game for the fans and started taking things too seriously it would be these two. I don't expect to see a repeat of the Western Conference finals or anything, but a well timed slash or two could get things trending in the right direction. At the very least I just need someone to make sure Claude Lemieux is mic'd up. That should do a sufficient job of taking me back to the glory days...