25 years ago today: “The Brawl in Hockeytown.”

It's hard to believe that this happened 25 years ago today, but believe it or not that is indeed the case.

For this throwback we are taking you back to the day the infamous rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche reached what was perhaps its ultimate boiling point, an incident that has come to be known simply as "The Brawl in Hockeytown."

For an entire generation of hockey fans it was one of the craziest, most intense, and most bitter rivalries that had ever been seen in the NHL and if there is one singular moment that encapsulates it all it is the moment that took place on March, 26th of 1997.

The incident was largely precipitated by a devastating hit from Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux during Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals, one in which he drilled Red Wings forward Kris Draper into the boards from behind. You knew coming into this one that the Red Wings would be looking for a measure of revenge, but I don't think anyone could have expected the madness and the chaos that would occur on the night.

It would be Darren McCarty who would get that measure of revenge for Draper when he pummeled Lemieux down to the ice and after he was down on the ice, while the National Hockey League officials looked on as if to signal that they felt Lemieux had earned the lumps he was getting from McCarty. That however was only just the beginning.

Perhaps the most famous moment in the brawl was the showdown between two beloved goaltenders in the form of Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon, one that would produce the iconic photograph featured on the cover of this article of Roy leaking after Vernon appeared to get the better of him.

NHL legends Brendan Shanahan and Adam Foote would also throw down during the brawl, going one on one near center ice.

Even 25 years later it is a moment that sticks out in the mind of hockey fans around the world, especially those in Denver and Detroit, and you can check out the video below to see why.