Bryan "Bugsy" Watson Little Big Man

[hockey doc]

Originally Posted by Maggie3and Me

Doc,

Ran across this article and immediately thought of our earlier discussion of Shultz, Russell, and Manson.

Quote:Hockey Digest, Jan, 2002 by Adam Raider

That's a far cry from the NHL before the late 1980s. Even Dave Schultz, the leader of the Flyers' goon squad in the 1970s, was a useful defensive forward, had a 20-goal season, and generally took a regular turn on the ice when he wasn't sitting in the penalty box. Schultz never had more than 26 fighting majors in a season--he piled up a lot of his penalty minutes by being tagged for misconducts along with his fights.

An old time Sabres fan can back this up. I seem to remember when Schultz played with the Sabres (his last club) every time he got on the ice the refs would find some reason to call a penalty on him. It looked like the league was trying to run him out of the NHL. The Sabres had no choice but to let him go and he retired after that.

[Gunslinger]

These posts about "goons" reminded me about one of my all time , if not the all time fave of mine Dave"Tiger" Williams:

14 NHL seasons
3,966 regular season PIMS
455 playoff PIMS

Averaged almost 20 goals a season during his career.

In 1980-81 with the Canucks, he recorded 35 goals, 27 assists.
In 1985-86 with LA, he recorded 49 pts, 320 PIMS
In 1986-87 with LA, he recorded 34 pts,358 PIMS

Career totals: 962 regular season games played
241 goals scored
271 assists
513 pts
3,966 PIMS

Who says all "goons" can do is fight?

[Maggie3and Me]

Originally Posted by Gunslinger

These posts about "goons" reminded me about one of my all time , if not the all time fave of mine Dave"Tiger" Williams:

14 NHL seasons
3,966 regular season PIMS
455 playoff PIMS

Averaged almost 20 goals a season during his career.

In 1980-81 with the Canucks, he recorded 35 goals, 27 assists.
In 1985-86 with LA, he recorded 49 pts, 320 PIMS
In 1986-87 with LA, he recorded 34 pts,358 PIMS

Career totals: 962 regular season games played
241 goals scored
271 assists
513 pts
3,966 PIMS

Who says all "goons" can do is fight?

Gunslinger,

Guys like Lindsay and Watson were not called Goons. They were policemen and enforcers. There is a difference.

As far as Tiger Williams, he is in a class all his own. I don't know what kind of a label you could put on him. He was truly an individual. Maybe crazy, but, an individual.

[bradu]

Where did Bugsy fit in as a fighter? He didn't win too many, correct? I know he fought a ton over his career.

[JJR]

I still say Pelle crashed his porsche because Tiger scored on him a few nights before. As for Bugsy, I remember him draping Saleski over the boards during a fight when he was playing with Detroit, not bad considering the size difference.

[bigjack]

Originally Posted by bradu

Where did Bugsy fit in as a fighter? He didn't win too many, correct? I know he fought a ton over his career.

He was called Super Pest for a reason and Brad Park hated him. I remember in Washington in 1978 he went after Fotiu who kicked his ass and made a rag doll out of him! Watson comes up from the ice with no goddamn jersey on and was doing the Dave Schultz caveman act behind the linesman!
I just shook my head laughing!

[BruiseBroJim]

I don't remember much about Watsons first stint in Detroit, but his second one in the mid 70's was a whole lot of fun. Wings had some good brawling games during that time, including a bench clearing brawl with the Caps that Watson was in the middle of. Sure would like to see that one again. Didn't like it when the Wings traded him to the Caps for overrated Greg Joly. Wings lost alot of toughness in that deal.

[bigjack]

Originally Posted by BruiseBroJim

I don't remember much about Watsons first stint in Detroit, but his second one in the mid 70's was a whole lot of fun. Wings had some good brawling games during that time, including a bench clearing brawl with the Caps that Watson was in the middle of. Sure would like to see that one again. Didn't like it when the Wings traded him to the Caps for overrated Greg Joly. Wings lost alot of toughness in that deal.

Yeah he had guys like Larry Johnston with him and Jean Hamel and later Maloney, Polonich, Harper, and Hextall!
Guys like Watson, Harper, Polonich, and Hextall were all rat bastards!

[Pockmarx]

...I wrote a piece about Bryan Watson on dropyourgloves. When Watson was with Detroit in the Sixties the Red Wings used him as a foward to shadow Bobby Hull. A few teams in those days used a defensive forward to go step to step with Hull when he was on the ice. The Rangers used Ron Stewart and the Canadiens used Claude Provost for example. The difference was that Watson would constantly hit, foul and talk sh*t to Hull every chance he got. Eventually Hull had enough and one game he broke his stick over Watsons head. I believe the chronic thumb issues that Vic Hadfield suffered late in his career were caused by bouncing a right hand off of Watsons head during a fight. Watson was one of those guys who would forever be drifting on the waiver wire and Emile Francis would see his name and say to himself "Gotta give Gene Carr another chance".

[bigjack]

Originally Posted by Pockmarx

...I wrote a piece about Bryan Watson on dropyourgloves. When Watson was with Detroit in the Sixties the Red Wings used him as a foward to shadow Bobby Hull. A few teams in those days used a defensive forward to go step to step with Hull when he was on the ice. The Rangers used Ron Stewart and the Canadiens used Claude Provost for example. The difference was that Watson would constantly hit, foul and talk sh*t to Hull every chance he got. Eventually Hull had enough and one game he broke his stick over Watsons head. I believe the chronic thumb issues that Vic Hadfield suffered late in his career were caused by bouncing a right hand off of Watsons head during a fight. Watson was one of those guys who would forever be drifting on the waiver wire and Emile Francis would see his name and say to himself "Gotta give Gene Carr another chance".

Gene Carr, time to vomit!

The Late Bill Chadwick used to destroy Carr over the air and one time said if he was standing on a pier with the puck would shoot and miss the ocean that's how bad that Carr was!