DETROIT — Pierre Lacroix was standing in the visiting bench at Joe Louis Arena, long after the Avalanche had lost 6-5 to Detroit in overtime. He said the National Hockey League officials wouldn’t have to wait to hear from him about the melee that unfolded late in the first period … because they already had.
“There was no doubt that it was handled in a poor fashion,” the Avalanche G.M. said of the calls made (and not made) by referee Paul Devorksi. “There were obvious things.”
Lacroix said he handed a tape to Jim Gregory, the league’s Toronto-based vice president, and others after the first period. He said it showed Detroit winger Darren McCarty sucker-punching the Avs’ Claude Lemieux and also kneeing him to the head.
“The guy gets out of there with four minutes!” Lacroix said. “If that’s not mishandled, I don’t know what is.”
Lacroix noted that McCarty had been quoted as saying the following in a Detroit News column on the morning of the game: “I was taught the best time to get revenge is when they’re not expecting it. He’s (Lemieux) played long enough, he knows eventually something will happen. The trump card is, he doesn’t know when.”
Lacroix said he would leave it up to the league about whether McCarty should be suspended.
At his locker, McCarty virtually scoffed when the subject of a possible suspension came up.
“I don’t see why,” he said. “It was boys having fun out there, that’s what it is. They started it, anyway.”
Told that the Avs were talking about the Red Wings lacking heart, McCarty said, “They can say whatever they want. They’re the Stanley Cup champions and they can say whatever they want until we dethrone them or somebody dethrones them.”
And from there, he delivered a filibuster about why fighting is the ultimate accountability.
“Hockey’s an emotional game. We’re not stupid in here. We’re not going out of our way. I don’t know what you expect. You want real retribution right away … Crack a stick across the face, is that it? No. You might knock his eye out. No matter how bad it was to Kris (Draper), he’s all right now.
“If you believe in the Bible, it’s an eye for an eye. Fist on fist. That’s another reason you have to keep that in the game … In this game, you have a long memory. We’ve played this game since we were 6 or 7 years old, and you remember things kids did to you when you were 8, and you don’t get them back until they’re 12.
“You have a long memory. He’s (Lemieux) not going to retire. That wasn’t the last game we’re going to play them.”
At that point, a Red Wings official called McCarty away from his locker for a conference, and it seemed to be a definite attempt to tell him to not be so frank. But he did have one more comment as he walked away as he was asked about getting the winning goal.
“That’s the best thing,” he said. “We won the game.”
