Four hockey fights on Tuesday

On Tuesday there were four hockey fights but none were toe-to-toe slugfests. Boston Bruins' Wayne Primeau fought Buffalo Sabres' Adam Mair because Mair hit Brad Stuart after Stuart layed out a Sabres player. Not that great of a fight between Primeau and Mair as both didn't really land anything.

The Philadelphia Flyers' Todd Fedoruk got into his first fight since coming back from getting his face messed up by Derek Boogaard in a fight. Fedoruk fought Tampa Bay Lightnings' Andre Roy but it wasn't much of a fight at all as Fedoruk turned away from Roy and went down to the ice. Will we ever see the Fedoruk of before his facial injury from Boogaard? I guess time will tell.

The Dallas Stars' Krys Barch must have had a lot of energy left over after being thrown out of the game against the Anaheim Ducks, because he got into an ok fight with San Jose Sharks' Ryane Clowe. I would give their fight a draw.

The other fight from Tuesday was between Toronto Maple Leafs' Alexei Ponikarovsky and Carolina Hurricanes' David Tanabe. I did not see this fight yet so I can't comment on who got the decision.

Gary Bettman has ruined hockey

The NHL (National Hockey League) has been ruined by Gary Bettman in so many ways. An article on Yahoo.com named "Unhappy anniversary" by Dan Wetzel talks about Bettman's upcoming anniversary and what has happened to the NHL during his tenure. Bettman has really ruined the true game of hockey and fans are leaving as fast as penalties are called during games.

Some parts of the article that stand out to me and are very true:

"Bettman is set to begin his 15th year as commissioner Thursday, and like most hockey fans I feel the need to mark the occasion by popping a bottle of champagne, chugging the entire thing in an effort to drown my misery and then smashing the empty bottle over my temple to black out the memories."

"There has never been a commissioner of a major North American sports league this inept, yet the league's board of governors keeps employing him, keeps giving him another chance to sink this once-proud, once-vibrant league to new depths."

"I could write a book about Bettman's insulting and imbecilic moves through the years (Chapter 9, "The Glowing Puck") but the main problem has always been the same. He has shown no respect for the game, for its history, for its fans, for its unique qualities."

"Bettman might consider himself an astute sports marketer, but in practice he is arguably the worst of all-time. He has never figured out how to change his marketing plans to fit the product of hockey. Instead he changed the product to fit his marketing plans."

"The league is now overexpanded and overpriced, misplaced and misdirected. It is less exciting, less interesting, less traditional and more difficult to follow for the non-obsessive fan."

"And, since fighting has been curbed, the "new" rivalries haven't really taken because a hockey rivalry without fighting is like non-alcoholic beer."

"This is Bettman's NHL. Fourteen years, four bankruptcies, three franchise moves, two lockouts, one lost season and no effective leadership. The business is so sick that the Pittsburgh Penguins, despite a loyal fan base and the most promising talent since Gretzky, are 50-50 to move to that noted hockey hotbed of Kansas City."

Stars vs Ducks had three hockey fights

Yesterday there were three fights and they were all in the Dallas Stars vs Anaheim Ducks game. Stars' rookie Krys Barch first got into a pretty good fight with Ducks' defenseman Shane O'Brien. At the end of the first period Steve Ott and Corey Perry got into a little pile up. While that was going on, Barch pulled Chris Pronger away from the pile to get a piece of him. Pronger looked like he didn't want to go, that's until Barch threw a short jab at Pronger. Pronger then got his right hand going, and he wrestled Barch down to the ice. The third fight happened late in the third period after Steve Ott gave a Ducks player a good hit against the boards, Joe DiPenta came over and challenged him. They dropped the gloves and it was all DiPenta. Good game, I wish more game were like this one.

A sweet goal by Matt Lashoff

My buddy Adam over at Adam's Hockey Site posted a sweet goal on his hockey forum. The goal was by Providence Bruins' defenseman Matt Lashoff during the AHL All-Stars competition Sunday night. He pulled off a move like the New York Rangers' defenseman Marek Malik did last season during a shootout. But Lashoff had his stick behind both of his legs and was able to still shoot the puck and score. It was a beauty. You can view the YouTube video of the goal below. You can download a clip of the goal on Adam's Hockey Site Forum.

Penguins vs Coyotes, a few scraps

Well there wasn't much in terms of hockey fights last night. The only game that produced any was the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Phoenix Coyotes game, but even the fights in those games weren't ones you would say are a candidate for 'fight of the year.' The first fight was between Brooks Orpik and Ed Jovanovski. Jovanovski layed out Alain Nasreddine with a nice check behind the net. Orpik saw that and went right after Jovanovski, and they had an uneventful scrap. But good job by Orpik to stand up for a teammate.

The other fight was between Josh Gratton and Ronald Petrovicky. Petrovicky looked to be talking trash to the Coyotes bench and once he turned around to get back in the play Gratton was coming at him. Gratton dropped the gloves off and grabbed Petrovicky ready to give him a beatdown. Petrovicky then turtled and went down to the ice. Gratton threw some punches at the back of Petrovicky's helmet. Then linesmen and players started piling on top of them. Petrovicky then started throwing punches at Gratton when they were down in the pile and Gratton couldn't protect himself. What a chicken-shit move that was by Petrovicky, he turtles and then when Gratton can't protect himself he then throws punches. What a pussy.

Boogaard vs Godard, the rematch

The All-Star break ended and last night we had some good hockey action. The Flames recalled tough guy Eric Godard so you knew that the game against the Minnesota Wild was going to have the rematch, Derek Boogaard vs Eric Godard. Round 2 did take place and it was a good fight with both guys getting some shots in on each other. They both skated away from the fight with marks on their faces as Boogaard had a cut under his right eye and Godard had a bloody lip. I would give that fight a draw. Enjoy the YouTube video of the fight below.

Eric Godard vs Derek Boogaard - Round 2

There were three other fights with Sabres' Andrew Peters vs Blue Jackets' Jody Shelley, which I would give a draw because neither fighter landed much at all. The Capitals' Chris Clark and Hurricanes' Scott Walker had a spirited bout with the win going to Scott Walker. The other fight was between Stars' Stephane Robidas and Penguins' Jarkko Ruutu with Ruutu getting the win over Robidas.

A good night last night, I'm hoping for some more hockey fights today. Get ready, the first game today is about to start at 1pm with the New York Rangers at the Philadelphia Flyers.

Some classic Bruins clips

The Boston Bruins today are no way near what they once were, the Big Bad Bruins. Also with the new NHL we will probably never see them again (what a shame). But to remember them and bring back good old memories I added some video clips below of the classic Bruins.

The first clip below is of the Bruins going into the stands at MSG after a fan who took a stick from a Bruins player. You can see Terry O'Reilly wrestling with a fan and Mike Milbury hitting a fan with his own shoe (the best and funniest part).

The second clip below is of Terry O'Reilly and John Wensink fighting Hartford Whalers players. After Wensink is done with his opponent, he challenges the Whalers bench. That clip is just priceless. You gotta love those old-time Bruins clips.

Two P.J. Stock classic slugfests

With the All-Star break here I'm going to look back at some hockey fights that were classics. P.J. Stock was one of my favorites when he played for the Boston Bruins. His classics with Stephen Peat were awesome that I could watch them over and over again. It's too bad he had to retire to an eye injury. We sure do miss him in Boston. Below are two classic slugfests that P.J. Stock had while in a Bruins uniform.

P.J. Stock vs Stephen Peat


P.J. Stock vs Reed Low

The last fights before the break

Well the NHL All-Star break has hit us and we'll have to wait until Friday, January 26th to resume watching the regular season action. Last night though provided us with some action. In the Senators-Bruins game, Christoph Schubert hit Paul Mara head-first into the boards. Mara got up pissed off, dropped his gloves and chased him. When he got a hold of Schubert he pounded his ass to the ice. Schubert got 5, and Mara got 2, 5, 10. Later in the second period of the game, Bruins hard-hitting defenseman Andrew Alberts layed out Senators forward Chris Kelly with a hit into the boards behind the Bruins net. Alberts left his feet and looked to push Kelly's head into the boards. Alberts got 5 and a game misconduct for that hit. But why didn't Schubert get a game misconduct for his cheap hit earlier in the second period?

From BostonHerald.com, here are a few quotes from the Bruins' Paul Mara:

"It was a dirty hit," said Mara. "A player has to do what a player has to do. ... If it happened again, I'd probably do the same thing. If it happened to a teammate I'd jump in for him. That's part of the game."

"Alberts' hit was borderline," said Mara. "I think Schubert's was a lot worse, but that's the way things have been going for us. ... I think if Kelly didn't go down and pretend that he's injured, then I don't think you'd see a five-minute major. It might be two minutes for roughing or something, but other than that, it's a borderline call."

The best game of the night had to be the Calgary Flames vs the Edmonton Oilers, the "Battle of Alberta" continued on. With the Oilers calling up Zack Stortini I thought for sure he and Eric Godard would go at it, but I was wrong as they chatted a few times but nothing happened. Instead Marcus Nilson and Marty Reasoner had a go and so did Robyn Regehr and Jason Smith in an ok battle.

In other games, the Blackhawks Bryan Smolinski and Predators Marek Zidlicky had a short fight. In the Maple Leafs-Penguins game, the Maple Leafs were being blown out so that led to a few fights. There was Bryan McCabe vs Chris Thorburn, Hal Gill vs Chris Thorburn, and Travis Green vs Maxime Talbot.

One fight: Godard vs Parros

With the Flames recalling enforcer Eric Godard I thought that there would probably be some fisticuffs in the Flames game against the Ducks last night and I wasn't wrong. Eric Godard and George Parros dropped the gloves in a rather uneventful fight as Parros couldn't keep his balance, which he is known for, and went down to the ice as Godard didn't throw any late punches on Parros while he was down. Decision goes to Godard, and Godard is now 2-0 this season.

Later tonight the Flames play the Edmonton Oilers and Godard will probably be playing. The Oilers recently called up tough guy Zack Stortini because they have been getting roughed up by teams. I expect Godard and Stortini to have a "go" tonight. They have fought before, before this season started-in the pre-season.

A Shark putting down a Coyote

Last night had a few good hockey fights, the best one was with Phoenix Coyotes tough guy Josh Gratton vs San Jose Sharks Rob Davison. Davison layed a beating on Gratton landing almost every punch he threw while Gratton couldn't get going from the start. Watch the video below.

Also last night the Anaheim Ducks-Edmonton Oilers game had two fights. The Ducks now have 45 fighting majors, the most in the league. Behind the Ducks in fighting majors are the St. Louis Blues (28), the Washington Capitals (27), the Nashville Predators (26), and the Phoenix Coyotes (26). In the Ducks-Oilers game, it was Travis Moen vs Matt Greene and then Shawn Thornton vs Mathieu Roy. I would give Thornton the win in his fight with Roy, but I would give the other fight between Moen and Greene a draw. The other fight of the night was between Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Wade Belak and Florida Panthers defenseman Bryan Allen. I would also give that fight a draw.

Josh Gratton vs Mark Smith & Raitis Ivanans

Looking through YouTube I found a video clip of Josh Gratton fighting Mark Smith and Raitis Ivanans. As hockey fight fans know, the game that had Gratton and Smith going at it was not televised so there is rarely any clips of the fight around, but now there is. I added the video below into this post for you hockey fight fans that haven't seen it yet. That was a good fight and Gratton got the win in a slugfest.

Coyotes vs Sharks update

I was switching between the Phoenix Coyotes-San Jose Sharks game and the St. Louis Blues-Los Angeles Kings game and when I had the Coyotes-Sharks game on there was a faceoff and then Josh Gratton and Rob Davison dropped the gloves. What a fight for Davison because he absolutely dominated this fight which surprised me. Davison got some nice bombs on Gratton and one in when Gratton was falling to the ice. Win to Davison in this fight. I hope to see more fights in the games that are still going on.

After the fight there has been some good hits and a few scrums. That fight really got things going for both teams physically. Good to see hitting back in hockey.

Penguins vs Bruins update

I've been watching the Pittsburgh Penguins-Boston Bruins game tonight and it's been a good game, some rough stuff but no fights. A lot of scoring as the Penguins just scored again, it's now 4-3. In the first period Sydney Crosby was complaining to the referees because Zdeno Chara hit him with a clean check. Hey Sydney it's hockey, you're going to get hit, get used to it. In the second period there was a scrum in front of the net with Chara and Ryan Malone. Chara showed his strength by pushing Malone down to the ice and kept him there until the linesmen came in and broke things up. The third period should be good.

Update at 9:28PM
In the third period Chara and Malone had another scrum in front of the Bruins net. Just a lot of high sticks and talking going on there, no fighting.

Ice girls, every team should have some

Well I knew that the Carolina Hurricanes had ice girls but then I found the image to the left of an Atlanta Thrashers ice girl. Are there any other teams with ice girls? I say why not have every team have ice girls. I remember hearing that the Boston Bruins were having try-outs for ice girls, but I haven't noticed any when watching a Bruins game on television. You know it will bring more male fans to the game so why not have ice girls for every team. Sounds good to me.

Blues and Ducks go at it

Last night was a good night in the hockey fight department. With the St. Louis Blues recalling tough guy D.J. King once again and with the Blues facing the Anaheim Ducks we all knew that there had to be something in this game. And we were right because D.J. King dropped the gloves with Shawn Thornton and I would give King the win/edge in their fight. Later in the game Matt Walker and George Parros had a heavyweight bout. It wasn't much of a fight though because Walker lossed his balance and couldn't stay up. I would give it a draw/maybe an edge to Parros. Also yesterday Jeff Cowan and Aaron Downey fought.

In the Islanders-Penguins game, the Islanders tough defenseman Brendan Witt layed out Sydney Crosby with a huge hit. Then Ryan Whitney came over and went at Witt and also Ryan Malone came over. Witt and Malone got their gloves off and went at it in a not-so-interesting fight. Good to see Crosby's teammates standing up for him and a good hit by Witt.

Laperriere continuing to protect his teammates

A few posts ago I posted about Ian Laperriere in how he has all of Colorado's fighting majors this season, well he got another one last night. This time against San Jose Sharks' forward Ryane Clowe. I would give the fight a draw, maybe a slight edge to Clowe because it looked like Clowe landed more punches than Laperriere did.

The only other fight from yesterday was with Boston Bruins' defenseman Andrew Alberts and Buffalo Sabres' enforcer Andrew Peters. The fight happened because Alberts layed a good hit on a Buffalo forward and Peters came over and challenged Alberts. They dropped the gloves and it was all Peters at first, then Alberts got in a quick left, then Peters threw some more, and then Alberts slipped and went down to the ice. Even though Alberts looked to land the best punch of the fight, the win goes to Peters. You can view the Alberts-Peters fight below.

Andrew Peters vs Andrew Alberts

Three fights, one with a surprise fighter

Yesterday we had three fights, and in one of them you won't believe who dropped the gloves. The first fight was between Philadelphia Flyers' Ben Eager and Pittsburgh Penguins' Chris Thorburn. Eager got an instigator in this fight, and that was his third one this season so he gets the automatic one game suspension. Win goes to Eager as it looked like Thorburn didn't really throw any punches. Ben Eager is now tied with Ian Laperriere and Matthew Barnaby with 11 fighting majors to lead the NHL.

The second fight was between Nashville Predators' Scott Hartnell and Columbus Blue Jackets' Dan Fritsche. After a hit on Hartnell by Fritsche, Hartnell dropped the gloves and they went at it. Hartnell got instigating and a few other penalties because he instigated the fight with a shield on. I would give the edge to Hartnell in this fight as he landed more punches, but Fritsche did get the take down.

The third fight was the surprise fight of the night. San Jose's captain Patrick Marleau got into a fight with Phoenix Coyotes' Keith Ballard. Marleau did quite good for a guy who doesn't drop the gloves that often at all. I give the win to Marleau in their fight.

Rupp knocks down Coburn

Not much action last night as there was just one hockey fight with the New Jersey Devils' Mike Rupp going at it with the Atlanta Thrashers' Braydon Coburn. Earlier Coburn hit Parise into the boards hard, so later Rupp knew what he had to do, enforcing, and he did it perfectly. Rupp's second punch landed and down went Coburn. Coburn got up after the fight and was bleeding, check out the picture below. There are a lot of games tonight and I'm hoping for at least a few hockey fights.

A bloody Braydon Coburn

Ian Laperriere is the man!

Last night had a couple of hockey fights. We had Andrew Peters vs Wade Belak, Donald Brashear vs Andre Roy, Ryan Getzlaf vs Jeff Halpern, and Dion Phaneuf vs Ian Laperriere. How about Laperriere? He has all of Colorado's fighting majors. You can't ask anymore of him, he gives everything he has and he actually has skills. Laperriere is tied with Matthew Barnaby for the leader in fighting majors so far this season with 11. Colorado should get an enforcer to take care of the fisticuffs so Laperriere can score 20 goals. But I doubt that will happen with the new NHL.

The Brashear-Roy fight was a spirited one. Roy saw Brashear messing with a teammate of his at the faceoff so after the puck was dropped he challenged Brashear and they went at it. I would give it a draw/maybe slight edge to Brashear but Roy did good against Brashear (meaning he didn't get killed).

Two ok fights on Wednesday

Last night there were only two fights but there was nothing great about them. The first fight of the night was between New Jersey Devils' forward Michael Rupp and St. Louis Blues' defenseman Bryce Salvador, which was more of a wrestling match as both guys didn't throw many punches. The second fight of the night was between San Jose Sharks' forward Ryane Clowe and Edmonton Oilers' defenseman Matt Greene. Their fight was more spirited because of a hit by Clowe on Ryan Smyth. I would give the edge to Clowe in their fight. This was the second fight that Clowe and Greene have had against each other this season.

The Boogeyman goes down? For real?

What a night Tuesday night was for hockey fight fans. We had a heavyweight bout worth every bit, and a couple of middle/light weight bouts. I'll start off with the heavyweight bout that all hockey fight fans are talking about. With Eric Godard being called up by the Calgary Flames, many knew that there was a good possibility of seeing Derek Boogaard vs Eric Godard. And yes we had our dreams come true! Off a faceoff they drop the gloves and throw away. Boogaard had the edge early but Godard came back with a right that knocks Boogaard off balance and then another right that makes Boogaard off balance more and down to one knee. Then Boogaard gets back to his feet and Godard throws two more rights and Boogaard went down to the ice. What a win for Godard, in his first game from being called up by the Flames. Hopefully he stays up with the Flames and shows more of what he can do with his fists like last night. View the YouTube video below of the fight. You can download a clip of the fight on Adam's Hockey Site.

Eric Godard vs Derek Boogaard

The middle/light weight fights from last night were Josh Gratton vs Matthew Barnaby and it was all Gratton in that one. The Ducks-Predators game had two fights. The first one was between Shane O'Brien and Jordin Tootoo, in a good spirited bout with the edge going to Tootoo. The second fight was between Shawn Thornton and Darcy Hordichuk with the edge going to Thornton. What a night that was, I hope tonight is just as good.

Saturday night and one great fight

Usually on Saturdays there are a few hockey fights because almost every team plays on Saturdays, but there were only three hockey fights on Saturday. One of the fights though could be considered fight of the year, it was between St. Louis's Jamal Mayers and Nashville's Jordin Tootoo. If you watched the previous game between these two teams then you know why Tootoo was probably going to fight someone in this game. In their last game Tootoo was running around the whole game hitting anyone in sight and had a late hit as well which caused some fisticuffs. The fight between Mayers and Tootoo was a spirited one and before the fight happened Tootoo said something to the linesman which I'm assuming was "let us go." View the YouTube video below.

The other two fights had Buffalo's Adam Mair and Toronto's Ben Ondrus going at it, with a nice square off but both players didn't seem to land much in their scrap. And the third fight of the night was between Columbus's Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and San Jose's Christian Ehrhoff which also looked to have both players not landing much at all. I would give all three fights a draw.

Jody Shelley vs George Parros

There was only one hockey fight last night and it was a good one with the Columbus Blue Jackets' Jody Shelley vs the Anaheim Ducks' George Parros. You can view the YouTube video of it below. Shelley bloodied Parros's nose and sent him down to the ice with a huge punch.

Jody Shelley vs George Parros

Friday night at the fights, hockey fights that is

Last night there were three fights, nothing great but some spirited action. With the Boston Bruins getting killed by the Toronto Maple Leafs 10-2 you would expect more rough stuff that what happened last night. Brendan Bell and Shean Donovan dropped the gloves and had a little fight where it looked to be a draw. Donovan looked to have a bloody nose after the fight. Ben Eager and Ryan Hollweg went at it in the Flyers-Rangers game. That was probably the best fight of the night and I would give it a draw. And the Panthers-Flames game had All-Star sniper Jarome Iginla dropping the gloves with big defenseman Bryan Allen (who use to play with the Vancouver Canucks). I would give the edge to Iginla in that fight, but I don't any punches landed by both guys.

Bryan Allen vs Jarome Iginla

Mair vs Meszaros, Gaustad vs Neil, Tollefsen vs Kostopoulos

Last night there were three fights but they weren't slugfests that we all like to watch. In the Buffalo Sabres vs Ottawa Senators game there were two fights. The first fight was between Adam Mair and Andrej Meszaros. The camera got there a little late but it looked like Mair was in control of most of the fight and I would give him the win. The second fight was between Paul Gaustad and Chris Neil. At the faceoff they talked and after the puck dropped Neil slashed at Gaustad and challenged Gaustad and they dropped the gloves and went at it. Not much of a fight but the decision goes to Neil in that fight. See a picture below of Neil and Gaustad fighting.

Chris Neil vs Paul Gaustad

In the Columbus Blue Jackets vs Los Angeles Kings game, there was a fight between Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and Tom Kostopoulos. It was all Tollefsen in their fight. Hopefully we get more fights tonight.

Rangers vs Capitals, in case you missed it

In case you missed what happened between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals on December 30th, well you missed some good old-time hockey action. Donald Brashear and Colton Orr got into a fight with Brashear getting the win over Orr. Some think Brashear knocked down Orr with a punch but if you watch it again Orr falls down before Brashear's punch lands. I too thought it was a knockdown at first watch, but I re-watched it a few times.

Donald Brashear gave Jaromir Jagr a few shots and Brendan Shanahan didn't like it and yelled at Brashear from the bench. Later, after the puck dropped on a faceoff, Brashear and Shanahan dropped the gloves after Shanahan challenged Brashear. Their fight wasn't much, a lot of hugging and grappling (as we are use to with Brashear), but I would give the edge to Brashear as he threw more punches than Shanahan. After the fight, on his way to the penalty box, Brashear sucker punched Rangers defenseman Aaron Ward and Ward went down to the ice. Apparently he asked Brashear a question, according to Ward, Brashear has not said anything about the incident.

Later, Rangers tough guy Colton Orr gave Capitals All-Star Alexander Ovechkin a high cross-check on a late hit. Capitals defenseman Shaone Morrison went after Orr and they dropped the gloves. It was all Orr in this fight, as it wasn't much of a fight.

A day after this game, Rangers Colton Orr was suspended for 5 games and Capitals Donald Brashear was suspended for 1 game. You can watch a video of all of these incidents below. The video is courtesy of HockeyFights.com and YouTube.com.

Welcome to the NHL Hockey Fights blog

Welcome to the NHL Hockey Fights blog. We are going to use this blog to talk about recent hockey fights that just happened and past hockey fights that are some of our favorites and probably your favorites too.

It's now 2007 and this year has started out a little slow with hockey fights. Last night there was a pretty good spirited battle between Vancouver Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa and Calgary Flames defenseman Andrew Ference. I would give the win/edge to Kevin Bieksa in this fight. I don't think Bieksa has lost a fight yet in his NHL career. You can view a video of the hockey fight between Bieksa and Ference below, courtesy of HockeyFights.com and YouTube.com.