Even though the Roy/Vernon fights were good memories, I'll always remember Claude "The Turtle" Lemieux. He was public enemy # 1 in Detroit after he cheap hit Chris Draper face first into the glass during the play-offs in 1996. Draper suffered a broken jaw, shattered cheek and orbital bone and had to have reconstructive surgery. Lemieux got beat down the next season by Detroit forward Darren McCarty and earned the infamous title of "The Turtle" because of the way he tucked his head in and covered it with his hands. Revenge for Draper was almost achieved by McCarty that night but it wasn't finished yet. At the start of a game in November 1998 Lemieux and McCarty stood next to each other for the opening face-off. The puck dropped and so did the gloves! Less than 3 seconds into the game. Roy was bad but Lemieux was the worst.
By the way did anyone know that Roy's last game with Montreal was an 11-1 defeat by none other than the Wings. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this ...
"On December 2, 1995, Roy was in net against the Detroit Red Wings during Montreal's worst home game in franchise history, an 11-1 loss.[9] Roy allowed nine goals on 26 shots, and the crowd jeered him whenever he made an easy save. In response, Roy raised his arms in mock celebration. When coach Mario Tremblay finally pulled Roy in the middle of the second period, Roy stormed past him and told team president Ronald Corey "It's my last game in Montreal."[10] Roy later told the media that despite allowing five goals on 17 shots in the first, Tremblay kept him in net in order to humiliate him. He also said that he would not have demanded a trade if Tremblay had kept him on the bench in the second period. Roy and Tremblay reportedly had a lengthy, strained relationship; during his sports radio career, Tremblay often criticized Roy, and when they played together, they would argue during practice.[10] This began what would become a long history of problems between Roy and the Detroit Red Wings, which would reach their peak during his time with the Avalanche.
Three days after the incident, the Canadiens traded Roy and captain Mike Keane to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky, and Andrei Kovalenko, which is sometimes called "Le Trade" ("The Trade")."
Gotta love it.
