DENVER, CO - JANUARY 10: Matt Duchene #9 of the Colorado Avalanche controls the puck as teammate Adam Foote #52 puts a hit on Todd Bertuzzi #44 of the Detroit Red Wings at the Pepsi Center on January 10, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

By: Evan Jankens

@kingofthekc

Friday night, the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche are ready to face off one more time in the Alumni game.

Former member of the 1996 Avalanche team Adam Foote did a radio interview with Schlereth and Evans on 104.3 The Fan in Denver. He was asked, “Out of all of those guys on Detroit who is the one guy you want to punch in the face?” “Draper for sure,” Foote said.

He didn’t stop there and elaborated on why he felt that way.

“Well you know, when that whole deal went down I think in game 6, we won the first series the first year we won the cup in 96 is when it all went down. Lemieux hit draper from behind, it was kind of an awkward position. Lemieux was frustrated simply because the way the game was going. Detroit knew they were going to lose that series. Bowman was setting the table for the following years, in my opinion. Earlier in that game I got hit from behind with [Vyacheslav] Kozlov and that took 20 stitches.”

“In my opinion, all we heard all summer was about Draper and how he wanted to get Lemieux out of the league. I think the real deal that started that rivalry, two great teams started the rivalry number one. Terry Gregson missing the call, letting things go at the end of the series escalated for the following season which that game started to get dirty in game 6 of 1996. So I’ll never forget that. I just didn’t like how Draper carried it, yeah you can be upset, it was a bad hit and it was a bad hit on myself. All we heard in the media for God over a year, was that hit. It’s hockey, it happens the emotions were up. It’s too bad that he got hurt that way but he was always just a little bit of a pest.

“There’s something about him that turns my stomach the wrong way,” Foote went on to say.

After all these years, can you believe that there is still so much bad blood?