Chomping?

[djaye]

I was involved in a discussion with an old school Bruins fan this evening and he mentioned something I was unaware of or have forgotten about.

In the late 70's, one of the Bruins was in a fight and supposedly bit someone on their back?

Does anyone have any recollection of this?

Thanks.

[FitzG]

I'm putting my money on Wensink

[BaddaBing Badda Boom]

sounds like and fits Cashman's MO

[darius]

Only one I know of is the infamous finger chomp of Fernie Flaman here

[Howatt8]

Originally Posted by FitzG

I'm putting my money on Wensink

And you'd have won, lol.

There was a preseason game in 77 and Ric Seiling accused Wensink of biting him on the back during a brawl. Wasn't the first time Wensink was accused of biting either, lol.

[2,5,10GameMatch]

Jimmy Mann was the #1 biter of alltime, I saw him gnaw on Brubaker's face and he bit McGill in another fight.

[Blues 34]

Dave Manson bit Scott Stevens who was gouging he's eye. Or I could have it backward. I know there was a biting incident between the two

[Howatt8]

Another famous, or infamous, biting incident involved Paul Holmgren on Robert Picard.

Holmgren took a 20 foot run at Picard and missed. Seconds later, he jumped on Picard, threw him down on the ice, and while he laid on top of Picard bit him on the forehead.

After the game, Caps President Peter O'Malley went into the officials dressing room, dragged referee Bruce Hood to the Caps locker room and showed Hood a set of teeth marks on Picard's forehead.

[mikebflorida]

Biting is dirty, I hope they had neo sporin.

Hockey was pretty nasty in the 70's with the hair pulling and biting.

[Leaf2717]

It has probably been 20 years since I read Schulz's book [a good read for fans of this site], but I would bet that he mentions Tiger Williams biting him in a fight (think hair pulling by Tiger is also mentioned).

Think he also mentioned that he wanted no part of Nick Fotiu.

[BENNETTWOLF]

Suprised i hadn't responded yet. John Wensink, then with the devils bit bennett wolf in the face after wolf repeatedly hit him low.

[bigtoughguy]

Originally Posted by Howatt8

Another famous, or infamous, biting incident involved Paul Holmgren on Robert Picard.

Holmgren took a 20 foot run at Picard and missed. Seconds later, he jumped on Picard, threw him down on the ice, and while he laid on top of Picard bit him on the forehead.

After the game, Caps President Peter O'Malley went into the officials dressing room, dragged referee Bruce Hood to the Caps locker room and showed Hood a set of teeth marks on Picard's forehead.

Wow, Holmgren was a crazy mofo when he blew a gasket. Wonder what Picard did to evoke such a response.

[Howatt8]

Originally Posted by bigtoughguy

Wow, Holmgren was a crazy mofo when he blew a gasket. Wonder what Picard did to evoke such a response.

When I first started posting on these fight boards, one thing that shocked the hell out of me was the lack of respect shown for Paul Holmgren. I was stunned to see how maligned he was on these boards.

When talking about the Flyers, everyone holds Brown and Wilson in such high regard, but yet think so lowly of Holmgren. I really never understood this.

No, maybe Holmgren wasn't as good a fighter as Wilson or Brown, but if you were to ask me which one I'd rather have on my team, I'd take Holmgren every time. Holmgren was as mean, nasty, and unpredictible as they come. He was just a nasty, hard-nosed, MFer. Holgren was someone you had to be aware of each and everytime he was on the ice.

Holmgren could not only fight, but he was also a damn fine hockey player. He could flat out throw the body and he always came to play. Great team guy, knew his role, and did his job game in and game out. The guy flat out played his ass off for his team.

There is certainly a generational gap with many posters regarding Holmgren. Most posters here only recall Holmgren by his fights that are on tape, and they don't realize the type of game he played. He played an angry game and would run you through the boards if the opportunity presented itself. If your goalie dared step out of his crease, Holmgren wouldn't hesitate to run him. Hell, he could be in the crease and Holmgren would run him anyway, lol.

Posters always talk about how nasty a player Dave Brown was, but Holmgren could be every bit as nasty a player as Brown. If you're ever watching that tape of the Fotiu/Cunningham brawl and you wondered what happened to Mike McEwen that he needed help off the ice, it was because Holmgren dropped him. He also blasted Glen Goldup during the infamous Kings/Flyers brawl, he sucker punched and dropped Mike Palmateer, punched Andy Van Hellamond when he tried to stop him from getting to Paul Baxter, in addition to the previously mentioned biting of Robert Picard on the forehead. I remember a game where he ran Ranger goalie Wayne Thomas and Vadnais speared him. Holmgren retaliated with a two-hander to Vadnais head and ended up getting a 6 game suspension. Believe me, Brown had nothing over Holmgren in terms of meanness.

He never shied away from a fight and always gave it 100%. The guy came to play every day and gave it all he had on every shift. He skated a regular shift and even made an all-star squad. As far as physical presence on the ice, Holmgren had it.

I can remember going to the Garden for Ranger/Flyer games back in that era and the place was alive with anticipation, and one of the names generating that anticipation was Holmgren. I know that whenever I think of enforcers, certain names just pop into my head. Holmgren is usually one of them.

As a Ranger fan, I hated Holmgren when he played. But, over the years, I've come to greatly admire and respect what he brought to the ice and to his team. He was a pure heart and soul type player who laid it all on the line for his team.

I know we all love Behn Wilson, but if Wilson had half the heart, passion, and intensity of Paul Holmgren, he'd be in the hall of fame.

[bigtoughguy]

Beautifully written Howatt, Holmgren is the player who made me become a hockey fan, my favorite player of all time. Like you say he was a incredibly dedicated team player, would do anything for the team, always answered the call, ALWAYS. The ultimate competitor enforcer protector and also a former All Star Game participant. Could score goals too, the big one in the SCup and also I think he had 30 one year with Philly. Just a rock of a warrior. And always had a quiet dignity about him, never a loudmouth. Such an inspiring person in so many ways. #17. Still have that old white Holmgren Flyers jersey somewhere. And a super nice guy off the ice too.

Also in your list of incidents, I remember the gloved punch to Leafs Fred Boimistruck.

Holmgren is the ultimate Flyer IMO, along with Clarke. 16 and 17 they were the heart and soul of the Flyers.

Also, someone told me Holmgren is such a competitor, so ultra competitive, that he used to play racquetball and would get so fired up he would start to throw the body a lil during the game and use some R rated language too. lol Just the ultimate competitor. And still is too, had that bike crash last summer when his tire got caught in a crack in the road and he was peddling full throttle. Paul Holmgren is the personification of the ultimatet hockey player.

[BENNETTWOLF]

Originally Posted by Howatt8

When I first started posting on these fight boards, one thing that shocked the hell out of me was the lack of respect shown for Paul Holmgren. I was stunned to see how maligned he was on these boards.

When talking about the Flyers, everyone holds Brown and Wilson in such high regard, but yet think so lowly of Holmgren. I really never understood this.

No, maybe Holmgren wasn't as good a fighter as Wilson or Brown, but if you were to ask me which one I'd rather have on my team, I'd take Holmgren every time. Holmgren was as mean, nasty, and unpredictible as they come. He was just a nasty, hard-nosed, MFer. Holgren was someone you had to be aware of each and everytime he was on the ice.

Holmgren could not only fight, but he was also a damn fine hockey player. He could flat out throw the body and he always came to play. Great team guy, knew his role, and did his job game in and game out. The guy flat out played his ass off for his team.

There is certainly a generational gap with many posters regarding Holmgren. Most posters here only recall Holmgren by his fights that are on tape, and they don't realize the type of game he played. He played an angry game and would run you through the boards if the opportunity presented itself. If your goalie dared step out of his crease, Holmgren wouldn't hesitate to run him. Hell, he could be in the crease and Holmgren would run him anyway, lol.

Posters always talk about how nasty a player Dave Brown was, but Holmgren could be every bit as nasty a player as Brown. If you're ever watching that tape of the Fotiu/Cunningham brawl and you wondered what happened to Mike McEwen that he needed help off the ice, it was because Holmgren dropped him. He also blasted Glen Goldup during the infamous Kings/Flyers brawl, he sucker punched and dropped Mike Palmateer, punched Andy Van Hellamond when he tried to stop him from getting to Paul Baxter, in addition to the previously mentioned biting of Robert Picard on the forehead. I remember a game where he ran Ranger goalie Wayne Thomas and Vadnais speared him. Holmgren retaliated with a two-hander to Vadnais head and ended up getting a 6 game suspension. Believe me, Brown had nothing over Holmgren in terms of meanness.

He never shied away from a fight and always gave it 100%. The guy came to play every day and gave it all he had on every shift. He skated a regular shift and even made an all-star squad. As far as physical presence on the ice, Holmgren had it.

I can remember going to the Garden for Ranger/Flyer games back in that era and the place was alive with anticipation, and one of the names generating that anticipation was Holmgren. I know that whenever I think of enforcers, certain names just pop into my head. Holmgren is usually one of them.

As a Ranger fan, I hated Holmgren when he played. But, over the years, I've come to greatly admire and respect what he brought to the ice and to his team. He was a pure heart and soul type player who laid it all on the line for his team.

I know we all love Behn Wilson, but if Wilson had half the heart, passion, and intensity of Paul Holmgren, he'd be in the hall of fame.

Yes, holmgren is a subject we've agreed on in the past. A better fighter than some think as well. He could put his punches together and had some nice showings but that misses the point as you illustrated so well again.

I loved that gloves on dropping of the young (teenage?) boumistruck as well. It ended one of my earliest tapes. You almost had to feel sorry for him. He stood up for himself after a bump and got clocked.

A different era. Probably merit a short suspension today.