Will there be blood?

Probably not.

As much as nostalgia-seeking Detroit Red Wings fans want to fantasize about Friday’s Stadium Series alumni game turning into another slugfest with the Colorado Avalanche, the reality is that ship has sailed.

“I highly doubt it,” former Wings tough guy Joe Kocur said of the possibility of fisticuffs between these two once hate-filled rivals, a sentiment that other participants in Friday’s game at Coors Field echoed.

“You know what, I don't think you can expect that,” Igor Larionov added. “Once again, it's a game of alumni, so it's all about to promote the hockey game.

“You don't want to see the kids around the country watching old men doing some fights. It's stupid.

“I don't think we're going to be doing that.”

Kocur can’t even say for certain that there remains bad blood between the two franchises.

“I can’t answer that, I haven’t seen any of those Avalanche in 15-16-17 years,” Kocur said. “Who knows what can get sparked in the game?

“I highly doubt it because none of us do this for a living anymore and we just want to get through the game.”

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect to be entertained, or that the Wings aren’t going to Denver in search of a W.

“It’ll be a competitive game for sure,” Kocur said. “I think after the first period it’ll probably be a little more competitive. I know playing against Toronto (in the Winter Classic alumni game) a few years ago, we really didn’t have a playoff rivalry so it wasn’t that competitive. But I’ve got a feeling with some of the guys – Cheli (Chris Chelios), (Kris) Draper, (Jiri) Fischer, (Darren) McCarty - it’ll be a little more competitive and we don’t want to lose.

“We’re going to Colorado and they definitely want to win, but we want to go in there and try to play hard.”

One interesting element with this game is that both sides have strived to focus on getting players who were involved in the Colorado-Detroit rivalry between 1996-2002, so there is a history between both teams, and it’s fairly recent history.

“The good thing is we’re all pretty close to the same age, between 40 and 50, so it shouldn’t be a big discrepancy in speed and talent out there,” Kocur said.

“They’ve done a great job of organizing this, to bring in the past Stanley Cup champions to be playing in this game. We had some heartaches playing them and they had some heartaches playing us.

“That’s why it’s going to be so special.”

They might not be spilling blood, but the competitive fire still pumps through their veins.

“You play at a high level and are very competitive,” Dino Ciccarelli said. “You just can’t quit doing it no matter how old you are and you’re still competitive and you still want to win, especially with this rivalry.

“They might think it’s in Colorado with their fans and maybe we should just let them win. But I don’t think any of our guys are feeling that way.”

So maybe, just maybe, someone’s blood might boil over in the heat of action?

“You wouldn’t think that’s going to happen, but then again boys will be boys,” Ciccarelli said. “We’re a little older and a little slower but again it’s still in our blood.”

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