Terry Ruskowski 5’ 9 168lb Mystery Man

[BaddaBing Badda Boom]

Hard to get a read on this guy as there is very scant video available. I see an undersized Ruskowski taking it to the Philly version of Tocchet. For his stature he has some impressive names on his card but really no data/info/video. I see Gassoff, Holt, Mcilhargey, Jonathan, O’reilly, Gillies, Clackson, Durbano, Baxter, Semenko and, get this, TR getting the edge over the much bigger McSorely? – I mean this guy sounded like a ball of fire. Anybody have the much ballyhooed fight where Ruskowskij dispatches Jonathan? Anything?

Rick Tocchet vs Terry Ruskowski - YouTube

[Blues 34]

Brian Sutter was much like Terry Ruskowski and they had some battles

[Flyer_Frank]

An old WHA guy, won a couple title with the Aeroes and Jets. Centering a 3rd line with John Tonelli in Houston . . . . not such a bad league, that WHA, eh? That league would have toughened up anybody. Dropped them a lot for a center and was apparently very good when he did. Had a really solid NHL career. One of those guys you find room for on your team. Might be better remembered if he had played for better NHL teams that made playoff runs.

[BaddaBing Badda Boom]

Here is an amusing fight with Durbano

Terry Ruskowski vs Steve Durbano - YouTube

[Schultz]

His teammate, Rich Preston, whom he played with in the WHA and the NHL, says that he never saw Ruskowski lose a fight in the WHA. I have an audio of the untelevisioned fight he had with Jonathan and he really pounded Stan according to the announcers. Somebody on this site or maybe on FC claims to have been at that game and said the Ruskowski did beat Jonathan bad.

[battleship25]

Originally Posted by Schultz

His teammate, Rich Preston, whom he played with in the WHA and the NHL, says that he never saw Ruskowski lose a fight in the WHA. I have an audio of the untelevisioned fight he had with Jonathan and he really pounded Stan according to the announcers. Somebody on this site or maybe on FC claims to have been at that game and said the Ruskowski did beat Jonathan bad.

Right Schultz, it was Deadman that was at the gm in CHI. I heard both fights at the stadium on radio(CHI wcfl) , the announcer made it sound like Ruskowski won at least one of the fights...can't remember which one but the fans were going wild during both fights . Would love to have seen them in person (or on TV). Also correct about Preston, he said that in an int. for the Hockey News. I don't have much :

Bathe 2x
Tiger Williams 2x
Blomqvist (broke his thumb in a vicious beating to poor Timo)
R.Dunn
Durbano
Campbell
Dvorak
Ruff (HL)
Tocchet
B.Sutter 2x
Minor
Howatt
...........that I can remember off the top of my head

Supposedly had his jaw broken by Playfair . I read an interview with Roskow where he said he was always afraid during a fight, but because of his size he fought for his life....good attitude. It surprised me because he seemed fearless. He was loved in CHI, a real fan favorite...great playmaker (set up goals rather than score). Great top CHI line (the RPM line ) with Roskow centering Preston (LW) and G.Mulvey (RW). Was surprised how well he did vs Tocchet (he was waaay past his prime ). But he was quick off the draw and had very fast hands.

[bustoff]

Used to hate him with a passion when the Blues played the Hawks, much like Secord. I remember one night when he was coaching for Knoxville against the Riverotters, eight fights in that game and something set him off, went ape **** and started throwing all the sticks on the ice. Really was a competitor.

[mikebflorida]

Guy was a little buzzsaw, too bad there isn't more video of him.

[Flyer_Frank]

Originally Posted by mikebflorida

Guy was a little buzzsaw, too bad there isn't more video of him.

I popped over to youtube and there is a fair amount. A lot of fights back in the day just developed out of pileups, so there's the usual grab matches and I expect due to his size, Ruskowski also like to get in close for strategic purposes, but you can see enough there that when he got his hands loose he could throw good and quick punches, in particular using an uppercut to good effect, a punch not all that many fighters in hockey use.

[spiderarms]

Terry had alot of guts and detirmination. He feared no one, no matter how big.

He built up a pretty good rep from the WHA and I wish I could have seen more of his fights. There are some available but not as many as I wish there were.

I saw a game where he clobbers Mike Milbury, he kind of reminds me of a Gary Howatt type of fighter but a better hockey player for sure.

[I like Boobs]

Had to be one heck of a leader as well, the guy was named Captain of 3 NHL teams over a career that spanned 10 years. He reminds me more of Smyl than he does of Jonathan though... Only more vicious than Smyl in the fight department. Both small, fearless, talented players. I posted a pretty good article about him awhile back, I'll have to see if I can find it again.