John Kordic vs Jay Miller: A look at a great fight series!

[bigtufflarry]

Originally Posted by I like Boobs

Kind of another project I've been working on lately is watching the great series between John Kordic and Jay Miller. It's arguably the greatest fight series of all time in the greatest hockey rivalry of all time - The Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. Without further introduction:

April 10, 1986: Off a face off Jay Miller is attempting to get the Bruins going and initiates a scrap with Habs rookie John Kordic. The gloves come off and the fists start flying. Both guys are throwing hard and fast punches, Kordic with lefts and Miller switching hands. Kordic is landing better but Miller returns the shots, eventually Kordic lands a couple more lefts and Miller goes to the ice off balance. I had each guy throwing/landing over 20 punches. Miller with the extra penalties on the play for instigating, win to John Kordic. Here's the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfHIE9hqeQo&a

Kordic would go on to win the Stanley Cup that spring with the Canadiens.

Round 2: December 13, 1986

This one starts along the boards in the Boston zone, Miller is mixing it up and helping out defensively, while Kordic is looking for trouble on the forecheck. Kordic pushes Miller a couple of times and Miller looks tired, and doesn't respond. Kordic keeps up the prodding and eventually they drop the gloves and come together. This one is all Kordic, as he lands lefts quickly and often! Left after left comes down and Miller is only offering token resistance. Kordic tires visually and Miller responds with a couple weak punches but Kordic keeps going and the linesmen come in to stop the fight. Win Kordic! Clip is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eEchwyvhZA&a

Round 3; (Same game)
Miller goes looking for revenge and drops his mitts, and Kordic does the standing turtle and Miller skates away in disgust. No decision, Moral loss to Kordic for being a coward:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oveg8CoczaI&a

Here's an article on that game:



Round 4: January 12, 1987

Kordic throws a hit along the boards and Miller gets the gloves off quickly and the fight is on! Both guys are throwing hard, Miller is switching hands between lefts and rights, and Kordic exclusively left. Kordic lands a couple shots, and Miller nails him with a solid uppercut, and a couple minor shots before the linesmen get in quickly. Hilarious commentary during the fight as Sanderson gives the win to Miller halfway through the fight than says Kordic "isn't that talented." Edge/win to Miller, here's the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFiWoBXhDEI&a

Round 5: February 16, 1987

This one starts on an offside/delayed penalty call, and after the whistle both players get the gloves off quickly. Kordic gets a fast start and fires off half a dozen hard lefts that seem to land as Miller is off balance and struggling to get his footing. Miller recovers and they get in close and Miller's jersey comes off, and Kordic scores with a rare right. Miller comes on with a couple of nice right uppercuts in tight that score and the rest of the fight is inside work, with both players landing although Miller lands slightly better. I gave the win/decision to Kordic, here's the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPZkb9tiz_4&a

Round 6: November 16, 1987

This one starts off a face-off, both guys are staring at each other and the gloves come off and they square off... Both guys are shadow boxing and they get in close. Miller lands a couple of short rights and Kordic gets in some lefts. They grapple a bit and Kordic gets some separation and lands 4-5 hard lefts. They get back in close together and have a great back and forth exchange, Miller with rights and Kordic with lefts. Than they separate again and Kordic lands the best punch of the fight, a beauty left that snaps Miller's head back. They get back in tight and than they wrestle each other to the ground. Hilarious Bruin homer commentary of action that didn't happen in this one as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGhlFxR4VOo&a

Here's an article on the fight:


Round 7: February 17, 1988

This was the infamous end of the game brawl that took place. At the end of the game both teams were on the ice and the players were all milling about when Kordic and Miller found each other out of the pile. As usual Kordic starts off fast and lands a few but Miller weathers the storm, and quietly begins a comeback landing some inside shots. As the camera pans back and forth Miller keeps wearing down Kordic and eventually tosses him to the ice, and climbs on top of him. Miller could have really killed him but chose not to... Win Miller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z0j6JQITos&a

Here's an article on the fight:


Round 8: April 22, 1988

Maybe the most fun scrap of them all! It was a playoff fight which are always great and it was the second fight in the same stoppage of play. Started off as a typical Kordic/Miller fight, toe to toe in tight exchange, and going all over the ice. Both guys are throwing with mean intentions and than they grapple some more. Kordic gets Miller down in a very similar position as Miller was in their last fight, but he doesn't hit him. They get back up and Miller lands a couple and the linesmen come in to break up the fight while Kordic throws two more. Draw. Here's the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lRDFSFB-uw&a

Round 9: January 6, 1990
This would be the last fight in this tremendous series. Kordic was now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Miller was with the Los Angeles Kings, but the hatred was still there. This fight was discussed in the warm up, and carried over to the game. Just another classic - Kordic just dominated early, overwhelming Miller with left after left... But Miller has seen this show so many times and methodically begins his comeback, waiting for Kordic to tire. Miller than starts picking Kordic apart landing rights and imposing his will now. Kordic rallies slightly and eventually the linesmen come in and I Felt Kordic did enough early to hold on for the win. Clip is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5H-42KJ_kY&a mp

So there you have it folks! What an absolute bunch of wars between these two gladiators. Neither guy backing down, neither guy giving an inch. Giving hockey fans an intense rivalry within a rivalry. Maybe one of the all time greatest feuds between two players. Any thoughts, opinions, stories or memories would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Boobs, they also fought on September 30th, 1988 in an exhibition game, the last match I ever went to at the Fabled Forum in Montreal . Kordic beat the crap outa Miller in that one. Good/great post by the way.

[I like Boobs]

Hello Larry!

Thanks for the post, I appreciate the kind words and the information. I never counted any of their pre-season fights and I believe that there were at least two more other than the one you mentioned. I rarely include pre-season, just a thing of mine. Do you have any video of that fight? Anyway glad you stopped in, please stick around and post more often!

[vindigidy]

Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into this post!! Amazing effort. I was in 15-18 years old during their time fighting each other. Great memories of those Bruins/Habs games. I despised Montreal during this time as I was a huge Boston fan. Those games are forever going to be with me. Jay was my favorite fighter and Kordic, well, wasn't. Hated him. Interesting biography about him though. Thanks again.

[ewen21]

I can recall Mick32 (an oldtime poster) giving a brilliant breakdown of this series and the one Miller had against Brown. I will have to find that thread. I am sure it was made back in 2001 or 2002. This place was like the Wild West in those days

[thug29]

Great Job !! Thankx

[Uncle Argyle]

Great work, one of the main reasons I joined this site is to see the classic's. I lost all my vhs tapes. Thanks

[BENNETTWOLF]

Originally Posted by Uncle Argyle

Great work, one of the main reasons I joined this site is to see the classic's. I lost all my vhs tapes. Thanks

Welcome to the site. As far as tapes, the same thing happened to me as well. Never fear, between places like here, youtube, dropyourgloves. com, NHLfightclub and others, there's so much more video than what most of us grew up with that it's almost beyond words.

I figure most of us here in remember when are in the same approximate age range, somewhere between 30-60 or a median of the "forties". Why i mention it is interesting. We grew up on the same tapes, then came other public and free outlets. Instead of a few handfuls of Bob Nystrom, i've seen about half his fights , give or take.

The younger crew or new age crop is a different beast. Guys that follow boogaard are able to see probably every single of his NHL fights on video, in HD, no less.

No gaps in the resume. No blurry, out of focus "can't definitively tell what really happened stuff for them".

[Broons66]

Originally Posted by BENNETTWOLF

Welcome to the site. As far as tapes, the same thing happened to me as well. Never fear, between places like here, youtube, dropyourgloves. com, NHLfightclub and others, there's so much more video than what most of us grew up with that it's almost beyond words.

I figure most of us here in remember when are in the same approximate age range, somewhere between 30-60 or a median of the "forties". Why i mention it is interesting. We grew up on the same tapes, then came other public and free outlets. Instead of a few handfuls of Bob Nystrom, i've seen about half his fights , give or take.

The younger crew or new age crop is a different beast. Guys that follow boogaard are able to see probably every single of his NHL fights on video, in HD, no less.

No gaps in the resume. No blurry, out of focus "can't definitively tell what really happened stuff for them".

I still have all my tapes, but haven't watched them in years. I get the urge at times to hook up the 4 head vcr I have stored and break the 80 or so hours of tapes out. Sadly, seeing their 20+ years old, I'm doubting it would be worth it.

[mikebflorida]

Originally Posted by Broons66

I still have all my tapes, but haven't watched them in years. I get the urge at times to hook up the 4 head vcr I have stored and break the 80 or so hours of tapes out. Sadly, seeing their 20+ years old, I'm doubting it would be worth it.

I had some cool VCR tapes but our VCR is archives , I think I got $5 for it at a yard sale. VCR tapes went to the dump. Awww crap. Had one good stuff on em but YouTube is the cats ass.

[Uncle Argyle]

Originally Posted by BENNETTWOLF

Welcome to the site. As far as tapes, the same thing happened to me as well. Never fear, between places like here, youtube, dropyourgloves. com, NHLfightclub and others, there's so much more video than what most of us grew up with that it's almost beyond words.

I figure most of us here in remember when are in the same approximate age range, somewhere between 30-60 or a median of the "forties". Why i mention it is interesting. We grew up on the same tapes, then came other public and free outlets. Instead of a few handfuls of Bob Nystrom, i've seen about half his fights , give or take.

The younger crew or new age crop is a different beast. Guys that follow boogaard are able to see probably every single of his NHL fights on video, in HD, no less.

No gaps in the resume. No blurry, out of focus "can't definitively tell what really happened stuff for them".

Thanks Bennettwolf, I'm 43 and had about 100 tapes and spent a lot of money. I loved watching the fights in the 80's but I wish I grew up in 70's those were great times.