April 1, 1998
We sit down to watch the game, not expecting anything, but hoping for a full scale Mickey Redmond style "Donny Brook" like the famous game on March 26 of last year. The two previous games this season had been bland, except for the McCarty-Lemieux fight.
But we got a different story. With about seven minutes left in the third, all hell broke loose once again, to provide Red Wing fans with the most entertaining game of the year. We can all chuckle at the bitter taste we know is in Colorado's mouths... because this one was a CLASSIC.
This was like a dream come true! Our beloved Ozzie fighting one of Hockeytown's biggest foes! Osgood had been criticized lately, by swine faced sports reporters, but he responded by saying everyone has bad streaks, the media is full of itself and that he'd be ready for the playoffs. On April 1st, Ozzie made a fool out of alot of people; Roy, the negative media, and the Avs and their fans; as he dominated the Colorado shooters, and then showed his heart and determination by whipping Roy. Ozzie's always been a Motown favourite. Remember when the tears rolled down after the loss to San Jose? His 39 win season in '96? His 7th game, triple OT shutout of St Louis that set up Yzerman's heroic slapper goal? This moment can be tacked on to that one as one of those that makes Ozzie Hockeytown's. Click on the picture to see a bit of the fight between Ozzie and Roy. Unfortunately, this segment shows the first 10 seconds of the fight, where Roy was landing some punches, but you can even see that they're barely connecting with The Wizard.
Woo hoo! The Wings season had been pretty good so far, but lately, things hadn't been so hot. Suddenly, there was a full scale brawl and Roy was signalling for OsGOD to go. Ozzie knew they were up in that game, and he remembered what his mentor Vernon's pasting of Roy had done for the Wingies last season... And Ozzie met the challenge. Was anyone sitting down when Osgood skated out to center and removed his blocker, trapper and helmet? No chance!
They went at it as Mickey and I screamed our heads off. At first, Roy seemed to get the better of Ozzie (who is about 60 lbs lighter), as the big fruit landed a few rights on his smaller opponent. Osgood held in there though, and with the crowd roaring, he got his jersey off while holding back "Waah" and then started laying in some hefty blows of his own. After that Roy could simply do nothing and Osgood whipped him down, fell on top of him and ground his face against the ice.
Bring on the playoffs...