So who remembers the 85-86 season?

[Nev 1,085]

yep! that is why whenever a thread pops up asking our opionion on which Cup was the best, 1997 is ALWAYS us old-timer's answer! I actually had tears in my eyes when Stevie raised that Cup. I was at work and didn't want to leave until the final credits rolled! God Bless Hockeytown, we have certainly been blessed with this team! You kids don't know how good you've had it!

Well, I started supporting them in 92-93 when I was living in Toledo, and EVERYONE called them the DeadThings, and I was like "but they're really good, and they've got all these really good players". Then they choked in the playoffs against Toronto and everyone was like "see, same old DeadThings!"

[#19=Legend 29]

born in '90.. raised a wings fan and yzerman was my favorite player since i was 6 yrs old... guess im blessed....

[kook_10 1,705]

I was 10 too, but that was a year after my family moved to LA. We would go see the Wings play the Kings every time they came to town but there was no hope of seeing them on TV. It was quite the exhibition of awful hockey witnessed by about 5000 people at the Forum. Back then the fans in both the half empty Forum and the Joe too before that were a fun rowdy spectacle themselves though.

[ACallToArms 270]

Yeah, a little before my time. I was born in '81. I started watching the Wings in the early 90's because the elder ones in my family schooled me on the whole "dead wings" thing and how the team was really improving.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Yeah I wasn't even a zygote yet.

I was three when the season started and four when it ended. My memories are so vivid. I remember.........nothing, actually. I didn't even know what hockey was; I was more excited I got a big girl bed for Christmas that year.

[AtomicPunk 296]

I remember it well. You used to be able to walk up to the box office day of the game and the person would ask you where you wanted to sit.

It was tough being a Wings fan "way back then" (without sounding like a Grandpa) but like others have said...it made the first cup SOOO much sweeter. Especially after having seen Stevie struggle so much and go thru all those hard seasons, to finally have it pay off for him was the BEST.

[eva unit zero 271]

I remember it well. Actually Yzerman only had 42 points and was a -24. Fortunately the next season is when everything started turning around for us. Too bad our first overall pick in86 was wasted on Joe Murphy. Could've had Vinnie Damphousse or Brian Leetch. In the end it worked out though, because Murphy got us Carson, who got us Coffey, who got us Shanahan, so in a round-about way, that 40 point season was worth it!

The Wings drafted Murphy looking for that scoring winger to go with Yzerman. There were only maybe four or five other forwards who ended up with better careers than Murphy from that draft, and they were all centers. Murphy was never given a fair shot in Detroit; he only played in 90 games over 3 1/4 seasons.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

[Jesusberg 1,256]

The Wings sucked the year I was born (85)... uh oh, I must be a bad omen

I was born in June of 86, so I'll take some credit for the turnaround

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

The Wings drafted Murphy looking for that scoring winger to go with Yzerman. There were only maybe four or five other forwards who ended up with better careers than Murphy from that draft, and they were all centers. Murphy was never given a fair shot in Detroit; he only played in 90 games over 3 1/4 seasons.

My worst memory of Murphy was that we traded away Graves along with him. I was always a fan of Graves.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

I don't, but I was alive. I hadn't been turned on to the game yet.

[Yellowknife Redwing 57]

I didn't start watching the team until '88, so I missed out on the very worst of it but I feel like I've gotten the gist of it from the last several years of watching the Lions

[Buppy 1,720]

Don't remember the year exactly, but I remember watching tape-delay Wings games on channel 50 at 11 o'clock.

I guess nothing tells as much about the popularity of 80's NHL Hockey like being pre-empted on local non-network TV by Three's Company reruns.

[Barrie 900]

I didn't start watching the team until '88, so I missed out on the very worst of it

Same here, I've been a Tigers fan since 1983, but didn't become a Wings fan until about 1988-89, my first of 3 years living across the river in Windsor.

[joshy207 156]

A few interesting things from that season:

-Despite their brutal record, the Wings had five 20-goal scorers (John Ogrodnick, Kelly Kisio, Petr Klima, Warren Young, and Gerard Gallant). Yzerman had 14 goals in 50 games, he surely would have hit 20. And they also got 19 goals from both Reed Larson and Ron Duguay before trading them away late in the season. (Both would top 20 with their new teams.) So, they were one injury and two trades away from having EIGHT guys score 20 goals. No other player scored more than 9 goals.

-Danny Gare, Eddie Mio, and cup-of-coffee Wing Ed Johnstone were the oldest players on the roster. They were 31.

-The Wings used a total of 5 players in their 30s. They used 8 players under the age of 21, including Yzerman, Probert, Klima, Kocur, and Shawn Burr. It was definitely a young man's league back then!

[nate94gt 134]

That was before my time as a wings fan. I wasn't even in kindergarten then. However I wish I could have beeen. Ever since I got into hockey, the wings have been great (early nineties)

Being a spoiled fan sucks cuz everything is taken for granted

[Joey v3.4 45]

Unfortunately, I didn't start watching hockey until 95. I admit, I got caught up in the hype, and watched the Wings get swept by the Devils.

I kinda went back to my teenage life, and hockey took a back seat. It wasn't until the Colorado/Detroit playoff series of 96, that I genuinely started paying attention. I even watched two of the Finals games, even when the Wings weren't in it.

It was 97 that I started seriously paying attention. By mid-season I found myself sneaking out of work early to catch games. I decorated the hell out of my car with Redwings paraphernalia . I became a true hard core fair weather fan, since they were doing well that year. But it was that year of watching hockey that changed my perspective probably the most. Once I figured out all the rules, and started learning who some of these people were, I started paying a lot more attention to hockey in general.

Winning the cup in 97, was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. I stole my friends girlfriend, and highfived ten million people I'd never met before, in the middle of Wayne Road, Wayne Michigan. I recall during the game there was a microphone system set up in the garage, and I added "color commentary" throughout the game. After the game my friend cranked up his Smoke machine and we moshed, until a few of us were bleeding. Eventually we ended up in the road partying all night long.

Good times. I didn't even drink or smoke weed back then. Heh.

I think it was 98-2000 that I really truly learned "Hockey" though. It was one thing to jump on the winning bandwagon, and entirely another to follow a team strongly when they lose

It was the good years, that leave the lasting impression.

It's the bad years, that give you that feeling of "Earning" it".

Edited December 25, 2010 by Joey v3.4

[Ray Sheppard 1]

Yes, I remember..a young kid named Yzerman and a bunch of has beens and goons, including I think a very young pair of bruise brothers, and so many empty seats. That's around the time Yzerman took over the captaincy from an aging Danny Gare. I thought Greg Steffan was the goalie...but maybe my old memory is failing.

[BigWillieStyle 662]

Yes, I remember..a young kid named Yzerman and a bunch of has beens and goons, including I think a very young pair of bruise brothers, and so many empty seats. That's around the time Yzerman took over the captaincy from an aging Danny Gare. I thought Greg Steffan was the goalie...but maybe my old memory is failing.

Your memory isn't failing. Steffan was our go to guy in goal that year. Everything that would go to him, became a goal. Had a lot of pucks put behind him that year.

The team was in transition the whole year. From Harry Neale being fired half way through the season, to Brad Park taking over the job and completely losing control of the team, it was a great one. The only thing that kept me going to games was for the fighting, and, to see some of the other teams great players. After Neale got the door the attitude became if you can't beat them, Beat Them Up. Kocur had several multi-fight games and even a few "fight-tricks" if I recall. Probert got called up about half way through the season, and, well, the legend was born. Warren Young, Randy Ladouceur, Reed Larson, everyone got their hands dirty. The highlight had to be a bench clearer at Maple Leaf Gardens near the end of a game that probably had 8 fights to that point. I don't even remember if we won or lost, but it was a 4+ hour game. Probert received the first of his many suspensions for a headbutt on Bob McGill during the bench clearer. I don't know if it was his longest fight ever, but they danced for what seemed like 5 minutes or so before Bobby put him down with the headbutt. It made the trip to Toronto worth a million bucks. Thankfully the exchange rate was a little bit more friendly than that.

Other memories, The Boards were white, as was the ice. Unless blood was spilled that is. None of the over commercialization that litters the arenas today. The youth movement was on as we brought in all the youngsters that had been drafted over the past few years. We said good bye to Reed Larson, Our stud D man of the day. Ron Duguay, a much loved player at the time. Both were trade deadline aquisitions for playoff bound teams. At the end of the season, we lost our Captain, Danny Gare to free agency, and thus was born the legend of "The Captain". And attendance was all over the place, from a low of, I'm estimating, 6000, to sold out games. It all depended on who was on that nights fight card.

Oh yeah, one last transition to recall. Colin Campbell, (yeah that guy), made the transition from hard nosed blueliner to assistant coach. What a great year it was. I'm glad we've come a long way from there, I don't know if I could go back.

[paulwoodsfan 52]

\The highlight had to be a bench clearer at Maple Leaf Gardens near the end of a game that probably had 8 fights to that point. I don't even remember if we won or lost, but it was a 4+ hour game. Probert received the first of his many suspensions for a headbutt on Bob McGill during the bench clearer. I don't know if it was his longest fight ever, but they danced for what seemed like 5 minutes or so before Bobby put him down with the headbutt.

Excellent memory, BigWillieStyle. I was at that game as well. It was probably the most fight-filled game since the Broad Street Bullies era; in fact I think that game was the last bench-clearing brawl in the NHL.

I will never forget the look of agony on the face of Gary Nylund (a huge Leafs defenceman) while Probie or Kocur wailed away on him. If memory serves, both Kocur and Probert also scored nifty goals in that game. I would love to find a tape of it but I think the game might not have been shown on any network or channel in either country.

[Barrie 900]

Those are some ugly Leafs jerseys!

[pjgj13 30]

Joey Kocur: 377 PIM. That picture of Corrado Micalef is funny.

I like this guy's (John Craighead) stats for PIM. Had 285 PIM in 44 games. Went to a lot of Viper games and the only games he didn't get into a fight were the games he either didn't play or was suspended.

Edited December 28, 2010 by pjgj13

[BigWillieStyle 662]

Excellent memory, BigWillieStyle. I was at that game as well. It was probably the most fight-filled game since the Broad Street Bullies era; in fact I think that game was the last bench-clearing brawl in the NHL.

I will never forget the look of agony on the face of Gary Nylund (a huge Leafs defenceman) while Probie or Kocur wailed away on him. If memory serves, both Kocur and Probert also scored nifty goals in that game. I would love to find a tape of it but I think the game might not have been shown on any network or channel in either country.

I know it was televised somewhere in the Detroit area, because my father, who decided not to make the pilgrimage with 2 of my brothers and myself, stayed home and watched it. I'm wondering if it was on channel 50, or if maybe, it was on Pass Sports, or one of the other paid channels that televised some of the games that didn't get coverage back then. I will be seeing my father on Thursday, I will ask him if he remembers. I wouldn't be surprised if he has it recorded on Betamax in his collection. I've been saying it for years now, but some day I'm going to digitize his whole collection of recordings from the early 80's well into the late 90's. I think he has every HNIC episode on tape during that time. Or pretty close to every one at least. I'll dig around, because now that it has sparked my interest, I want to see that brawl again.

[BigWillieStyle 662]

I like this guy's (John Craighead) stats for PIM. Had 285 PIM in 44 games. Went to a lot of Viper games and the only games he didn't get into a fight were the games he either didn't play or was suspended.

Didn't he knock a linesman out cold when they jumped in to break up a fight? If my memory serves me right I remember that happening. The 2 linesman jumped in a little early and one got laid out by Craighead. Sound familiar?

[paulwoodsfan 52]

I know it was televised somewhere in the Detroit area, because my father, who decided not to make the pilgrimage with 2 of my brothers and myself, stayed home and watched it. I'm wondering if it was on channel 50, or if maybe, it was on Pass Sports, or one of the other paid channels that televised some of the games that didn't get coverage back then. I will be seeing my father on Thursday, I will ask him if he remembers. I wouldn't be surprised if he has it recorded on Betamax in his collection. I've been saying it for years now, but some day I'm going to digitize his whole collection of recordings from the early 80's well into the late 90's. I think he has every HNIC episode on tape during that time. Or pretty close to every one at least. I'll dig around, because now that it has sparked my interest, I want to see that brawl again.

If he does have that game and you are able to digitize it, I would love to get a copy and would happily offer in trade something from my own collection of digitized Wings games and highlights. The other game that is the Holy Grail for me is a game from early in the 1983-84 season: Wings were at home against Buffalo and rookie Steve Yzerman not only scored the GWG in OT (getting high-fived afterwards by "the Winger," earlier in the game he had an unbelievably great goal where he put the puck through Mike Ramsey's legs and busted in alone on Barasso. I had that game on tape (the Buffalo broadcast) but it was lost in a move a few years later. I would give a lot for that one.