Sunday, February 18, 2007

Rivalries are building back up it seems

Last night we had some old-time hockey with passion and intensity in the games. Most of the games this season have lacked just that. With the playoffs coming teams are playing for their playoff lives.

I have only seen the Flyers-Rangers and Bruins-Sabres fights from last night so I can only comment on those bouts right now. In the Flyers-Rangers game, Mike Richards and Sean Avery went at it after Todd Fedoruk was nailing every Ranger in sight. I gave that one a draw. Later in the game Alexandre Picard fought Aaron Ward with Ward throwing most of the punches, if not all of them. Ward got the decision in that one, but he also hurt his hand in that fight.

In the Bruins-Sabres there were two fights with Jeremy Reich vs Adam Mair, and Andrew Ference vs Jochen Hecht. Both scraps were spirited and both looked to be draws. I might give an edge to Reich in his fight but Mair landed some at the end of the fight. Hecht landed one huge punch on Ference, but that was after Ference layed a bunch of consecutive punches on Hecht's noggin.

You can download fight clips of both of those fights here. You can watch the videos below:


Jeremy Reich vs Adam Mair


Andrew Ference vs Jochen Hecht


Update on 02/21/07 at 11:58 PM
I finally got to see the other hockey fights from Saturday night. There were quite a few. The Devils-Islanders game had three fights. First was Cam Janssen and Aaron Asham in a spirited punch-fest. I give that one a draw, watch the video below.


Cam Janssen vs Aaron Asham


Next in the Devils-Islanders game was Mike Rupp vs Drew Fata. Rupp didn't want to fight Chris Simon so he took on the smaller Fata and wailed away on him. Rupp gets the decision in this one, but loses respect by not going with Simon when Simon challenged him. Then there was Chris Simon taking out his frustration on Devils' defenseman Mark Fraser. Simon gets his left hand going and pounds Fraser.

In the chippy and feisty Kings-Ducks game there were a lot of scrums and pushes and shoves, and only one fight occurred in that game. Tom Kostopoulos and Shane O'Brien went at it in a quick bout which had no clear winner. The Lightning and Panthers have had some battles this season and it seems to be turning into a real rivalry. There were two ok fights in their game on Saturday. First there was Nick Tarnasky and Steve Montador going at it in not much of a fight as Montador lost his balance. Later in the game Andre Roy and Alexei Semenov dropped the gloves in a quick fight with Semenov getting in a few good shots on Roy. I would give the edge to Semenov, maybe a draw.

2 comments:

MadCamelJockey said...

I'm glad to see Ference is wasting no time making a name for himself in the East. Great bout, and he's a player I'm definitely going to miss here in Calgary.

Mike said...

I like the Bruins, and I've always liked Ference in Calgary as well, as he plays with intensity and sticks up for his teammates. I still remember the beating he gave Cory Stillman in the playoffs a few years back. I think he will be a good fit with Boston and he can show them how hockey should be played. I always like watching the Flames play as they always are physical. Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf are some of my favorites.