The Frank "The Animal" Bialowas Tribute Thread

[I like Boobs]

The next guy I will focus on will be a minor league legend. I've never done a profile solely on a non NHL player and this was difficult because I had less information, footage and articles... But with the NHL not playing and my desire to see some lesser known guys get some much deserved accolades, here's my tribute to Frank "the Animal" Bialowas.

Bialowas was born September 25, 1970 in the tough guy producing city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Other than Saskatoon, Winnipeg may have produced the most tough guys. Frank Bialowas played his minor-league hockey in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with the Kildonan North Stars and the Winkler Flyers. Bialowas has always played an aggressive style when on the ice and he earned the nickname "Animal" from his fellow players for his antics on and off the ice. Here's a fight from that time period, watch a young Animal try to bash an opponents head off the glass:

Frank Bialowas fight ...kildonan northstars vs st...

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Like Darren Langdon, Bialowas went directly from tier two Junior to the East Coast Hockey League and played with Roanoke for part of a season. During this time period Bialowas had a wild swinging brawl of a fight against Richie Walcott that featured him headbutting Walcott:**

Walcott vs. Bialowas.avi - YouTube

1992-1993: During the off season, Bialowas joined the Richmond Renegades and played most of the season there. One of the major highlights of that time period was his rematch with Walcott. Was another wild fight with Walcott throwing a couple late shots and kicking at Bialowas. Video can be found here: http://www.nhlfightclub.com/videos/18142/frank-bi a...

Bialowas than signed with the St Johns Maple Leafs at the end of the season, playing In only 7 games, but in his first fight with St Johns, he took on Dale Kushner and they had a nice toe to toe battle... With one guy on the ice and one guy in the penalty box!!! Both guys were ejected on the play.

1993-1994: this would be a huge year for Bialowas as he would establish himself as one of the toughest players in the toughest leagues in the world. Here he is taking on Serge Roberge, basically jumping the Surgeon.
http://www.nhlfightclub.com/videos/21034/serge-ro b...

The Animal than took on another legend in Link Gaetz and the Missing Link took him apart, here's the clip:

Gaetz vs Bialowas - YouTube

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Bialowas went on to drop Ed Kastelic with some beauty rights that showed his power. Also knocked down Jeff Chychrun and wailed on him while he was down and compromised. Next up on the Animal's list would be Doug "the**Thug" Smith who wrote "Goon" and had this to say about their fight:

It wasn't until the 1993-94 season that Smith got his big break, with a call-up for his first game in the American Hockey League with the Moncton Hawks. There he took on the AHL's reigning heavyweight champ, Frank "The Animal" Bialowas, who was fresh off a stint in the NHL with Toronto, where he had fought Tony Twist and Tie Domi.

Smith readily admits he came in second in that bout with Bialowas, but it still represented the highpoint of his career.

"People always ask me what was the best fight you ever had and what was the worst fight you ever had, and I tell them it was the same fight," Smith said. "My best fight was against Frank Bialowas. He gave me the opportunity to fight in the American Hockey League when I got called up to Moncton.

"I started off pretty good, but he was a strong guy and I lost my grip on his right arm and he tagged me with two or three shots," Smith continued. "I think the thing I was most grateful for was that I was able to take a good punch. I definitely took four or five straight, hard shots, but I was happy I didn't go down. I took the punches and skated off. I went in for repairs and took eight or nine stitches over my eye, and it was glorious. It didn't matter that I lost the fight. I was there. I had made it to the American Hockey League, the second-best league in the world. And just a couple of years before that, I was skating on ponds."

Frank Bialowas vs Doug Smith St Johns Maple Leafs...

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Bialowas than took on a young Reid Simpson and really thumped him. The Animal hit Simpson with about half a dozen short rights and Simpson was clearly hurt. Bialowas' next victim would be Sean O'Donnell, and this was another fight where Bialowas clearly hurt an opponent. They had a fair square off at center ice, took off the helmets and went. Clear win Bialowas. Bialowas went on to have a three fight game in PEI and going by memory he beat up Kevin MacDonald badly. Took another win over a clearly overmatched Chris Rowland before having a nice fight with Darcy Simon. I called that one an edge for Bialowas. Bialowas would go on to have a two fight game against Fredericton where he destroyed Jason Downey, and had a wrestling match with who other than Brashear? Here's the Downey fight:

Frank Bialowas vs Jason Downey - YouTube

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Bialowas would finish his AHL season with a win over Frank Kovacs before being called up to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs and once he was up, fought two of the all time best in Tony Twist and Tie Domi, here are the clips:

Twist:

Tony Twist vs Frank Bialowas Mar 26, 1994 -...

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Domi:

Tie Domi vs Frank Bialowas Apr 10, 1994 - YouTube

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I've always read that Bialowas said that he caught Twist with a shot and that Twist didn't want to fight after that, I'd say he's right after watching the replay. Tough balance in the Domi fight.

1994-1995:
Frank "the Animal" Bialowas would start the season off with a win over another minor league legend, Dennis Bonvie. Two tough guys, who made it only on fighting, went at it hard with Bialowas taking the decision here's the fight:

Bialowas vs Bonvie - YouTube

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Bialowas went on to have a two fight game Against PEI, where he beat the piss out of Bruce Ramsay before losing a decision to the much bigger Frankie Leroux. Leroux just used his size effectively altough Bialowas certainly held his own, I remember Leroux was hurt on the play. The Animal than tried Chris Murray but I don't have the fight and I can't find it or any results on it anywhere. Any info on this would be appreciated!**Went on to have two uninspired fights with Brashear who didn't seem interested, before destroying poor Paxton Schulte in a linebrawl. Bialowas took his own helmet off, and went right after Schulte who was backing up as quick as he could. Bialowas landed a few punches before mercifully holding back. Could have really hurt him. Bialowas would beat Clayton Norris before finishing the season off with two absolutely fantastic fights with Gerry Fleming of the Fredericton Canadiens.

1995-1996:
Signed with Portland during the off season and opened the season up with a two fight game with Phil Crowe and Clayton Norris, no footage of this, any info would be appreciated. Went on to really work Eric Bertrand, knocking him down twice with big rights. Vicious power shown there. Went on to beat Mike Harding, Kevin Sawyer and Eric Montreuil before completely destroying Jason Marshall in a beat down. Marshall was getting the better of their exchange before Bialowas came on and landed right after right. Marshall had to be saved by a teammate and was in a bad spot hurt. Brutal beating. Went on to have a two fight game against McAllister and John Badduke. The Badduke fight was a beauty, nice even square off, both guys took off their helmets, and chucked bombs. Bialowas landed the better shots and looked to have Badduke on the ropes but Badduke came back and landed some big lefts. Good fight. Beat Denny Lambert before finishing the season with two draws against Kevin Sawyer.

[I like Boobs]

1996-1997: The Animal started the season off with a win over Steve Webb, before pounding out another decisive victory, this time over Mike Hartmann. They were lined up opposite of each other and they didn't even wait for the puck to drop before shedding the mitts. Borderline TKO win, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs ? - YouTube

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The Animal than took on Wade Belak (rip) and it was a short vicious wild swinging fight. I called it a draw, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs Wade Belak ROUND 1 - YouTube

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The next victim for Bialowas would be Justjn Hocking. Twice. They dropped the gloves and Hocking is clearly a little nervous and keeps backing away. Bialowas is moving forward stalking his prey and engages and just drops him with a short flurry of haymakers for the TKO win. Also fought a couple days later during a brawl with Bialowas taking the decision again. The Animal's next victim would be John Badduke and he just wailed on him. Punished him with rights till he went down. To give Badduke credit he got up but Bialowas fed him again. Another big beating, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowis vs Somebody - YouTube

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Bialowas was then involved in a two fight game against Carolina where he fought Gairin Smith twice. The first fight was pretty even but than Smith kind of threw/tackled Bialowas to the ice and threw some cheap shots while he was down. The Animal was pissed and went looking for revenge later and got it, beating Smith in a fight than pounding him while he was down and hurting Smith. This touched off a brawl. In yet another brawl, Bialowas started mixing it up in front of the net against Hershey and this brought in everyone. Bialowas got the better of someone although there was plenty of interference, than was later suckered by Cory Banika. Here's the clip, watch Banika hide after the sucker shot:

Frank Bialowas vs Steve Lindgren - YouTube

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Went on to have wins over Lance Brady, Mark D'Amour, and Trevor Doyle before fighting John Craighead. No info on that one, I'd appreciate anything results wise.

1997-1998:
The Animal started off the year with a nice fight Marc Moro, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs Marc Moro 10/14/97 - YouTube

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Went on to take wins over Barry Nieckar and Sasha Lakovic before trying to get some revenge on Cory Banika for his cheapshot last year and an elbow that Banika had caught him with.... Bialowas nailed him with a couple shots before Banika ran for cover again. Out of this Belak and Bialowas ended up fighting, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs Wade Belak 10/26/97 - YouTube

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Bialowas was than involved in a brawl filled game against Hershey - check out the boxscore!
------------------------- ---
Hershey 0 1 0--1
Philadelphia 2 5 2--9
------------------------- ----


FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Philadelphia, Forbes 7 (Heward, Healey),
4:18. 2, Philadelphia, Druce 1 (Coles), 18:18. Penalties: Coles, Phi
(slashing), 1:04; Heward, Phi (cross checking), 2:06; Sarault, Her
(interference), 2:15; Lingren, Her (roughing), 2:19; Montgomery, Phi
(elbowing major), 3:04; Mccosh, Phi (roughing), 4:19; Corcoran, Her
(misconduct), 8:26; Banika, Her (instigator, fighting major, misconduct,
game misconduct), 8:26; Mcdonald, Her (fighting major, game misconduct),
8:26; Richardson, Her (roughing, misconduct), 8:26; Simon, Her (fighting
major), 8:26; Delmore, Phi (misconduct), 8:26; Mccosh, Phi (fighting
major), 8:26; Bialowas, Phi (fighting major, game misconduct), 8:26;
Macisaac, Phi (fighting major), 8:26; Hallman, Her (slashing), 10:28;
Payette, Phi (hooking), 15:24; Montgomery, Phi ( double spearing minor),
19:36.


SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Philadelphia, Heward 3 (unassisted), 6:22.
4, Philadelphia, Montgomery 5 (Heward), 11:34. 5, Philadelphia, Healey 7
(Darby, Brimanis), 11:57. 6, Philadelphia, Delmore 4 (power play)
(Little), 17:25. 7, Hershey, Mchugh 4 (shorthanded) (unassisted), 17:43.
8, Philadelphia, Druce 2 (power play) (Maneluk, Darby), 18:25. Penalties:
Niemenen, Her (roughing), 10:53; Druce, Phi (roughing), 10:53; Richardson,
Her (roughing major, game misconduct), 13:30; Matte, Her (slashing),
17:00; Heward, Phi (roughing), 19:49.


THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 9, Philadelphia, Darby 6 (Montgomery, Maneluk),
3:59. 10, Philadelphia, Mccosh 7 (shorthanded) (Forbes), 6:05. Penalties:
Simon, Her (fighting major), 1:02; Macisaac, Phi (fighting major), 1:02;
Staples, Phi (roughing), 5:15; Macisaac, Phi (slashing), 6:33; Corcoran,
Her (hooking), 9:12; Payette, Phi (hooking), 9:22; Philadelphia bench,
served by Maneluk (too many men on the ice), 12:30; Matte, Her (roughing),
13:30; Veilleux, Her (game misconduct), 13:30; Stevens, Phi (roughing),
13:30; Healey, Phi (roughing), 13:30; Mchugh, Her (high sticking, fighting
major), 13:51; Lingren, Her (fighting major, game misconduct), 13:51;
Simon, Her (fighting major, double game misconduct), 13:51; Payette, Phi
(high sticking, fighting major, game misconduct), 13:51; Mccosh, Phi
(fighting major, game misconduct), 13:51; Staples, Phi (fighting major,
game misconduct), 13:51; Little, Phi (goalie leave crease), 13:52; Larsen,
Her (misconduct), 15:44.

Awesome!!! Would love to see the highlights of this one! What's crazy is that they played not long after and they had two linebrawls in the same game and Bialowas fought in both against the same guy! Martin Lamarche! I gave the decision to Bialowas in the first brawl and he was winning the second one before he ate two or three huge shots to take a rare loss. Entertaining games, I'd say the fans got their moneys worth!! The Animal would go on to beat Lamarche again. Take a decision over Him and than had wins over Nieckar, Jason Simon, and Mike Hulbert before fighting Aaron Downey and getting another solid win, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs Aaron Downey 1/16/98 - YouTube

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Bialowas than beat Hugues Gervais, Martin Laitre and fought Peter Worrell but I can't find that one. Beat Clint Collins twice in back to back weeks and than fought Sasha Lakovic in another linebrawl. Beat Cunnif but than took a loss to another minor league legend Rob Skrlac. Next up would be a two fight game against Marc Major, and one was a beauty, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs Mark Major 1/19/97 - YouTube

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Dody Wood found out the hard way you don't mess with The Animal, here's the clip:

Bialowas suckers Dody Wood - YouTube

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The Animal would end off the season with three great fights against another AHL legend in Rocky Thompson. Here are the 3 fights, enjoy:

1-

Bialowas vs Thompson - YouTube

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Round 2:

Bialowas vs Thompson 2 - YouTube

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Round 3:

Rd 3: Rocky Thompson vs Frank Bialowas 6/10/98 -...

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1998-1999:
This would be The Animal's last season in Philadelphia and he started off with a draw with**Terry Ryan in a good fight. Than beat Gordie Kinnear before taking on Skrlac. Again. In another beauty. Great toe to toe exchange and it seemed to last forever until Skrlac took over and landed a couple more shots.

1999-2000:
This would be the final season in the AHL for Bialowas and he to Philadelphia's arch rival, the Hershey Bears. Bialowas started off with a win over Trevor Doyle before popping and dropping Francis Lessard with a big right. One of the few fights that ever occurred while another player was scoring! Went on to beat John Jakopin and Darren Van Oene, before losing to Eric Boulton. Bialowas' second last fight as an AHL player was against Christian Gosselin. Bialowas actually tells his rookie teammate to move and switches wings to get at Gosselin. The puck drops and he
Bialowas dropped Gosselin hard, here's the clip:

Frank Bialowas vs Christian Gosselin - YouTube

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Funny Story:
Over the years I've always read that the night before his wedding Bialowas was out partying pretty hard and ended up in a wild brawl against some tough characters. Apparently Bialowas got whacked in the face with a Stop Sign. Apparently both of his eyes were black for his wedding.

Here's an article that talks about Bialowas days as a boxer and AHL enforcer:

There was no question that former hockey pro Frank Bialowas had the temperament--and perhaps, more importantly, the pain threshold--to be a professional boxer.

How could a man affectionately called "The Animal" not be at home in such brutal surroundings as a boxing ring? Yet, that didn't stop many from questioning Bialowas' ability to handle the squared circle. Jarad Vasquez, however, is no longer among those expressing any such reservations. In fact, Vasquez--the opponent in Bialowas' professional boxing debut--was in no condition to be asking questions of any kind after absorbing a knockout-inducing, three-punch barrage from Bialowas just 56 seconds into their scheduled four-round fight in the heavyweight division.

"I was surprised the guy came after me like that," said Bialowas, who played for the American Hockey League's Philadelphia Phantoms and settled in South Jersey after retiring from the sport. "I thought he would try to stay away from me and make me box. But, from what I could see, his corner wanted him on top of me. I guess they saw my hockey tapes and thought I couldn't fight going backward. That was a bad decision on their part."

And, their decision directly led to one of the high points of Bialowas' impressive sporting career. "I played professional hockey for a long time and had a lot of fun doing that, but [the debut boxing match] was one of the biggest thrills of my life," he said. "Your adrenaline's running so high and you hear the people screaming when you knock the guy down. It's just such a rush."

That punching power, displayed in a staccato burst of devastating hooks that sent Vasquez spiraling to the canvas and struggling to regain his feet well after being counted out by referee Shawn Clark, has been how Bialowas has made his living for nearly two decades. "I'm a hell of a fighter," says the 34-year-old, his matter-of-fact tone bereft of any bravado. "Street. Hockey. Whatever. Put me in a 10x10 room with anybody and I'll probably be the one walking out the other end."

His trainer, the legendary Augie Scimeca, has seen a number of boxers in his day. Still, Scimeca marvels at the punching power his pupil can generate from his 6-foot-2, 230-pound frame.

"He is a powerful puncher," says Scimeca. "He still has things he needs to improve, but he has the tools to get better." Generally, such an aptitude for mayhem is frowned upon by society. Unless, of course, you find an outlet for such naked aggression. Bialowas, being a good Canadian from Winnipeg, Manitoba, found such an outlet in professional hockey. There, rugged, fearless young men are always in demand to play the role of enforcer--a special breed of player who willingly uses his fists to protect teammates and dispense a form of frontier justice to opposing players.

That penchant for pugilism helped Bialowas make it to the National Hockey League for a bittersweet four-game tour of duty with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But, both before and after reaching the pinnacle of his profession, Bialowas spent years on the minor-league circuit, enduring long mind-numbing, body-breaking bus rides just to face the latest tough guy looking to make a name for himself.

It was that journey that eventually landed Bialowas in Philadelphia, hired on to ride shotgun for the AHL's Phantoms franchise during its inaugural season. A few "dust-ups" later, Bialowas was known simply as "The Animal" and had earned himself a place in the hearts of the city's demanding hockey fans who still pledge allegiance to the rough-and-tumble "Broad Street Bullies" editions of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers that terrorized the rest of the league with their rambunctious playing style in the 1970s.

It's a hard life, playing the game on the edge like Bialowas. You become a target of verbal abuse and worse, from fans in cities throughout North America. And, all the while, you wonder when it will end, when you will pick a fight you can't win--the beginning of the end for any enforcer.

"I have had so many young guns come after me and try to prove something," said Bialowas. "If you get hit, you get hit. You can't hurt me. I have a really hard head and my pain tolerance is ridiculous. I don't know where it comes from."

That hard head and immunity to pain served Bialowas well in his career with the Phantoms. In that first season, 1996-97, Bialowas played 67 games, racking up an astronomical 254 minutes in penalties, usually in the five-minute increments handed out for fighting. In one game, against arch-rival Hershey, Bialowas earned a whopping 36 penalty minutes. The next year, Bialowas was the team's main tough guy again--tallying 259 penalty minutes in 65 games--as the Phantoms won their only AHL title.

Not surprisingly, Bialowas was recently inducted into the Phantoms Hall of Fame and team jerseys with his name stenciled on the nameplate are still a staple at Phantoms' games despite the fact he left the team during the 1999 season.

"[Philadelphia] is my city," said Bialowas, who lives in nearby Williamstown, NJ with his wife and daughter. "I loved playing hockey here and I have a lot of fans here." Now, those fans can see him in a new venture. This boxing thing is no fly-by-night venture for Bialowas. He trains four times a week despite working at two physically demanding jobs. He is already looking forward to his next professional bout, maybe in June.

"Right now, it's in my trainer's hands as to when I fight again," said Bialowas. "He's going to make all the decisions with that. I'm still learning. We're back in the gym and working from the foundation up. When Augie says we're ready, he knows where I stand. I'll be ready. "We're going to move forward quickly--don't you worry about that."

I know I'm missing some fights, that I missed some other stuff too, but I had a lot of fun with this one. Fun watching those old fights, and seeing such great box scores. As always any fights, memories, thoughts, articles, clips and comments are appreciated.

[BENNETTWOLF]

Thanks boobs. I didn't realize this forum existed. I was familiar with the animal from srehm's outstanding minor lg thread and clips at the great site NHLfightclub. He earned his legendary status. One of the most noted AHL guys ever. Those fights with fellow superHW all timer Gerry Fleming were something. One of the very few to beat fleming who he rattled with a late punch. The only guy i recall who had his number was Rob Sklarc.

[Humpzilla]

Classic:

Over the years I've always read that the night before his wedding Bialowas was out partying pretty hard and ended up in a wild brawl against some tough characters. Apparently Bialowas got whacked in the face with a Stop Sign. Apparently both of his eyes were black for his wedding.

Great job once again Boobs. You're the best!

Now if only we could get Drunk 24/7's contributions from "else where"

[Phillyfan11]

It's worth noting that the best part about that 3 fight series with Thompson was that they were in the Calder Cup Finals.

I live near Hershey but am a Phantoms fan and it always added to the fun of being a Phantoms fan with the rivalry. In fact Cory Banika was my best friends favorite player haha. What a punk.

I remember when Frank ended up in Hershey and seeing the game where he dropped Lessard live. That was my first Phantoms/Bears game.

Also a note on Gosselin, Gosselin has to have nightmares about Hersheypark Arena to this day. He got smoked by Bialowas there and on top of that he then got absolutely murdered mercilessly by Scott Parker in that infamous bench clearing brawl in Hershey where Parker beat on him in response to Garret Burnett knocking out a Bear in a fight with a cheap punch or two while the guy was on the ice.

[zoli]

Originally Posted by Phillyfan11

Also a note on Gosselin, Gosselin has to have nightmares about Hersheypark Arena to this day. He got smoked by Bialowas there and on top of that he then got absolutely murdered mercilessly by Scott Parker in that infamous bench clearing brawl in Hershey where Parker beat on him in response to Garret Burnett knocking out a Bear in a fight with a cheap punch or two while the guy was on the ice.

The Bear who got knocked out by Burnett was none other than Troy Crowder. I think they had a rematch later that year but as far as i know no footage is avalaible.

Great job ILB, but i am pretty curious where did you see some of his fights? I am talking about the 95-96 ones with Denny Lambert, you also list two draws with Sawyer (and as far as i know there is only one out there), the Steve Webb fight, Trevor Doyle scrap etc. I have a 2 disc set of Bialowas from TGR32 from another site and none of these are there. I saw his boxing debut as well as his fights in the LNAH.

Any info would be much appreciated.

[D Y B FLYERS]

Nice thread ILB. I always remember Bialowas from his Phantoms days. I remember as a kid that the Bears/Phantoms games were always a blast at the Hersheypark Arena.

[Blues 34]

Great job on these threads ILB

[illukka]

nice read, thanks for posting

[Habs # 1]

Great thread Bull Tits... wish he was up with the Leafs more than he was. TANK!