The St. Patrick’s Day Massacre

St Louis at Chicago March 17, 1991

Adam Oates on the 2nd period brawl – “It was weird. I was pretty scared, I’ll tell you that. Let me rephrase that. Terrified. Grimson, Manson and Peluso and they had 10 bodies on the ice, too." Taken from The Hockey News.

This game is known in Chicago and St. Louis as the "St. Patrick's Day Massacre."
This was a classic Norris Division battle amongst two teams fighting for the President's Trophy. It was expected to be an intense game, but it quickly turned into a very chippy affair early.

A line brawl, started when Featherstone took exception to Jeremy Roenick's hard hit on Snepsts. Featherstone shoved Roenick, Keith Brown shoved Featherstone, and the fight was on.
With Featherstone and Brown fighting, another scuffle broke out when Roenick shoved Chase, called up from Peoria by the Blues in case something like this happened.
Goulet tackled Chase, then Kimble, acquired by the Blues to beef up the lineup, came into the fray, apparently leaving the bench to do so. Kimble yanked Roenick off the pile, and pummeled Roenick while Rod Brind'Amour held onto Roenick. Kimble broke Roenick's tooth and cut Roenick's lip.

''They had something against me and they wanted me to feel the pain,'' Roenick said. ''They did.''

The brawl started with Larmer high-sticking Gino Cavallini on the face, drawing a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct, then escalated into an ugly altercation in which the Blues had eight players on the ice and Chicago nine.
The Blues players, among them Brett Hull and Oates, were sent onto the ice for the power play, but hostilities increased and Keenan sent out the enforcers.
Featherstone got into a fight with Peluso, who received a double game misconduct, but the main attraction was Stevens and Manson, renewing acquaintances after an ugly incident last year in which both were suspended.
Stevens, the $1 million defenseman, and Manson skated away from the melee to get into a fight at center ice. Everyone else stopped fighting to watch the fight.

Melees in the first and second period resulted in 278 penalty minutes, including 24 minor, 12 major and 17 misconduct penalties.
The Hawks won 6-4 in the game that best defines the phrase, "That's hockey, baby."

Nov. 29

November 29, 1967
Scotty Bowman picked up the first coaching victory of his NHL career when the Blues beat the Kings 3-2 in St. Louis (to end a team-record 7 game losing streak). Jimmy Roberts led the scoring with two goals.

November 29, 1986
Flyers rookie goaltender Ron Hextall became the first goalie in Flyers' history to record two assists in a game, as the Flyers beat the Islanders, 6-5 at the Nassau Coliseum.

20 Years ago, Steve Thomas(Toronto) drops the gloves against Dirk Graham(Minnesota).

NOV. 28

November 28, 1925
Playing in his 328th straight game for Montreal, goaltender Georges Vezina collapsed during a game against Pittsburgh. Suffering from tuberculosis, he died four months later.

November 28, 1979
Billy Smith became the first goalie in NHL history to get credit for a goal. He was the last Islander to touch the puck before Rob Ramage of Colorado put it into his own net. But the Islanders lost 7-4 to the Rockies at Denver.

November 28, 1982
Ron Sutter made NHL history when he played in his first game, with the Flyers. It was the first time in league history that five brothers from the same family all played in the NHL. The Flyers tied the Canucks, 5-5 at Vancouver.

The fight of the day is from 1981, a toe to toe battle between Dave "Tiger" Williams(Vancouver) and Steve Jensen(Los Angeles)

NOV 26

   24 Years ago, Rangers vs. Hartford. Ed Hospodar(HTD) elbows Jan Erixon(NYR). Now Rangers go after Hospodar, Hartford stands up for his player and we a have a Brouhaha...Old time hockey, at his best.

    26 Nov 2007, Scott Hartnell(PHI) cheap shots Andrew Alberts(BOS). Bruins players just watch like a buch of pussies and do nothing. "New" NHL at his best.


   Also on November 26...82 years ago, NHL announced it's new "anti-defense" rule, which would prohibit teams from having more than two players in their own zone when the puck was not present. The NHL also upped the number of regular season games from 30 to 36 for the upcoming season.
And on November 26, 1983, Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky began an NHL-record 17 consecutive game assist streak, at St. Louis. It came in the midst of his NHL record 51-game point scoring streak (during which he scored 153 points). Oilers lost 8-6 to Blues.

NOV 25

November 25 was a good day to be a Red Wings fan:
24 Years ago...Detroit Red Wings beat Pittsburgh 5-2 before 21,019 fans at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, the largest crowd (up to that time) ever to see an NHL game. Rookie Kelly Kisio led the scoring with a goal and two assists.
20 Years Ago...Steve Yzerman began a team-record 22 game point scoring streak in the Detroit Red Wings' 10-8 win over the visiting Winnipeg Jets.
15 Years ago...Detroit Red Wings reached double figures in consecutive games for the first time in franchise history, as they won 11-6 over the Blues at the Joe Louis Arena. Dino Ciccarelli led the scoring with two goals and two assists.
Also, this was the day when Joe Kocur KO Jim Kyte, with three good rights.

24 NOV

Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers from 19 years ago...good times!

23 NOV

11 Years ago...one episode form "The Battle of Alberta" rivalry between Calgary Flames & Edmonton Oilers, didn't take place on the ice.

The first player who jumped over the glass, was Sasha Lakovic

22 NOV

21 Years ago...Wayne Gretzky scored his 39th career hat trick and added two assists, to give him 500 career NHL goals. The milestone came in a 5-2 Oilers' win over the Canucks in Edmonton. Gretzky's 500 goals came in just 575 games

NOV 21

65 years ago...The NHL Board of Governors announced that overtime would be discontinued in regular season games because of conflicts with train schedules. Overtime was finally reinstated in the 1983-84 season after a 41-year absence.

25 years ago...Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored his 17th career hat trick and added three assists, as the Oilers lost 9-7 to the Nordiques.

11 years ago...Tie Domi fought Rob Ray, for the 8th time in their long rivalry. I was a donnybrook :)

NOV 20

28 years ago, playing in his first NHL game, Quebec Nordiques' rookie Paul Stewart fought Boston's Terry O'Reilly, Stan Jonathan, and Al Secord. Stewart later became an NHL referee.