Wednesday, April 20, 2011

27 years ago the Good Friday Massacre

The Good Friday Massacre, (French: la bataille du Vendredi saint), was a second-round playoff match-up during the 1984 NHL Playoffs. The game occurred on Good Friday, April 20, 1984 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens. After a number of fights, a bench-clearing brawl broke out at the end of the second period. When the teams returned to ice for the third period, a second brawl broke out between the teams, including players who had already been ejected from the game but had not been notified prior to their return to the ice. The officials had to be summoned to the rink to restore order.

A total of 252 penalty minutes were incurred and 10 players were ejected. The altercations included the Canadiens' Mario Tremblay smashing the nose of the Nordiques' Peter Stastny, and Louis Sleigher knocking Jean Hamel unconscious by hitting him in the eye. Hamel managed to return for training camp in the autumn of 1984, but sustained another eye injury in Montreal's last pre-season game, prompting him to retire.

Eventually, the Canadiens defeated the Nordiques that night by a score of 5 - 3, thereby winning the series 4 games to 2.

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