The Detroit Red Wings have a long lineage of tough men, men who you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, men who shave with a rusty knife, you know the type. From Darren McCarty to Bob Probert, all the way back to Ted Lindsay and Gordie Howe. Well with it being the 2nd of November, we’ll take a trip down memory lane to November 2nd, 1985, featuring maybe the best puncher ever to don the winged wheel, Joe Kocur.
Joe Kocur set a Detroit record for most PIMs in one game with 42, as the Red Wings tied St. Louis, 5-5. 11.02.85 #HFH #3Fights1Maj1Minor1GM pic.twitter.com/oqaCzzTxdX
— Hockey Fight History (@HistoryOfFights) November 2, 2017
Forty-two minutes?! Over two-thirds of the game spent in the box! I hope they got him his own couch for that game. In case you’re of the younger Red Wing fan base and don’t know much about Joe Kocur, he started and finished his career in Detroit, with a few years in New York in between, and a pit stop in Vancouver. Speaking of Vancouver, Kocur was a busy man against the Canucks just nine days after that record for PIM.
That was against Dave Lowry, this one, same game, against Cam Neely.
To say Kocur enjoyed fighting might be an understatement. Here’s a classic Kocur beatdown just two weeks later.
In case you cannot get enough of Kocur, here’s a highlight with another former great Red Wing bruiser, Bob Probert. FYI, together in Detroit, they were known as the Bruise Brothers, as you can obviously see why.
And even better, here’s the Bruise Brothers squaring off!
Kocur’s second stint with the Wings helped them win their first Stanley Cup in 45 years, and then helped them defend that Cup the very next year and repeat as champs.
Kocur made quite the impact for the Detroit Red Wings!
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