In better times for both franchises, Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena was the site of most of the notorious incidents in the Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry. Darren McCarthy going after Claude Lemieux. Patrick Roy fighting, first, Mike Vernon, and then Chris Osgood in the rare goaltenders’ bouts at center ice. Lemieux seeking validation by dropping the gloves with McCarthy at an opening faceoff. And…
And more.
With Little Caesars Arena expected to be ready for next season, the Avalanche’s Saturday morning game against the Detroit Red Wings scheduled to be demolished and replaced by a hotel and retail development along the Detroit River waterfront. Another Colorado team — the Don Cherry-coached Rockies — played in the third-ever NHL game in the building, on New Year’s Eve 1979, and the Wings will have seven more home games after the Avalanche’s Saturday appearance. The final Wings game in the arena will be April 9 against New Jersey, and that’s a bit unexpected, since Detroit’s playoff streak is coming to an end at 25 seasons.
Avalanche backup goalie Jeremy Smith, scheduled to be on the bench as Calvin Pickard starts Saturday, was born and raised in Dearborn, in suburban Detroit. He was seven when the most notorious game in the rivalry took place on March 26, 1997. An AHL journeyman, Smith finally made it to the NHL this season in the wake of Semyon Varlamov’s injury problems and got his first career win against Buffalo on Feb. 25.
“That arena has so much history, and growing up in Detroit, going to watch the Wings and seeing them win back-to-back championships, it’s pretty special to be going there,” Smith said after practice Friday. “Especially with the rivalry between these two teams and growing up, seeing Roy at center ice and the melee that happened. It’ll be pretty special to be a part of it.”
Did he hate the Avalanche?
“Hate is too strong a word,” Smith said, laughing. “I rooted for the Wings, no matter who they were playing because they’re your favorite team. But my brother’s favorite player was Joe Sakic, and I think you respect the good players and the whole game as a fan and even through there was a big rivalry, it fueled the fires for the cities, and especially for Detroit.”
Smith played youth hockey games in Joe Louis Arena. “That was pretty special and I played two preseason games with Boston there,” he said. “Every time I go into that arena, it’s something. Just the history. How old it is. And there’s nothing else like it, really.”
Pickard said playing in the final Colorado game in JLA is “cool.” He added, “It’s filled with a lot of history and I had a pretty memorable game there a couple of years ago (Dec. 21, 2014) when we went nine rounds in the shootout.”
(The Avalanche won that nine-round shootout 3-2 and the game 2-1.)
Avalanche rookie forward J.T. Compher, who was raised in the Chicago area, played several games in JLA in his three seasons at the University of Michigan.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “I got to play in that building in college a lot. We played Michigan State there every year, we had the Big Ten tournament there every other year, and we played the Great Lakes Invitational there after Christmas. I’m excited.”
