I’ve told this story so many times that it feels cliche by now, but a quick reminder for those who haven’t been around for one of those:
If it weren’t for the Colorado Avalanche, I wouldn’t be the Detroit Red Wings fan I am today.
I don’t need to rehash the old rivalry here. There’s now more than one generation of Red Wings fans who are too young to truly appreciate what the old rivalry meant or too young to have even been alive for the thing to kick off. As is useful for every generation being peer pressured by their own culture’s past, the question of “why do we hate these guys again?