Throwing in the Summer

Boxing has been a popular way for hockey players, enforcers or otherwise, to keep in shape during the summer.

Eric Boulton and Chris Thorbun are among those that toss punches along with their normal cardio workouts.

Ben Wright’s great Blueland Blog has some details:

Players like Eric Boulton and Chris Thorbun who have spent the last few summers doing some off-season work with a local boxing instructor named Amir Dodovic who has helped them their fitness as well as their “physical play”. Dodovic is a Muay Thai champion who is originally from Bosnia and Boulton gives him credit for helping him improve his punching speed, punching power, and overall fight defense. The improved cardio has been huge too. Boulton was involved in some extraordinarily long fights last season and he told me that he was more confident knowing he could outlast the other guy if an altercation went long. He didn’t mind taking some punches as much if he knew he’d tire the other guy out and get some solid shots in at the end. Spend a few minutes on hockeyfights.com and you’ll see a trend- Boulton almost always finished strong last season, and that’s thanks in part to Dodovic.

Thrashers TV has a short segment on their training.

Peters looking for a new home

Boulton’s former teammate Andrew Peters is most likely not returning to Buffalo:

“I don’t even know if there’s been a discussion with Buffalo and my agent at all,” Peters said by phone Monday. “I know that there wasn’t up until July 1, and I don’t think there has been one since.

“It’s unfortunate, but I’ve enjoyed my time here. I’ve loved my time here. I’ve been through good times and bad, with successful teams and not-so-much. I’ve made some lifelong friends and played with some unbelievable guys. If that’s what I come out of hockey with is great friendships and 200 games in the NHL — more than I ever thought I’d play — I did it with a great organization.”

McCarty’s finances in the news again

According to The Detroit News Darren McCarty owes the IRS $62,189 in federal taxes. I guess he should be glad he didn’t play in Canada long.

Laraque still jousting with Montreal media

Georges Laraque has some more words for the Montreal media: stop twisting my words.  Corus Sports has an article titled: Laraque : « Les médias inventent des conneries »  Loosely translated, The Media Invents Bullshit.
On the forums, discussion: English | Français

Videos added

Eric Boulton vs P.J. Stock Dec 8, 2001
Bob Probert vs Stu Grimson Nov 21, 2001
Kevin McClelland vs Basil McRae Dec 9, 1989
Ryan VandenBussche vs Jim Vandermeer Feb 27, 2003

Some reads

Chiefs Bredin rolls with the punches
Personal trainer: Big Georges
Getting To Know: Daniel Carcillo

Stu Grimson Headlines Enforcer Panel at LA Kings Hockey Fest

The Los Angeles Kings are hosting Hockey Fest ‘09 at the end of this month (Aug 28-30), and will have an enforcers panel headed by Stu Grimson.

Brad Norton and Marty McSorley are also participating in what should be a very interesting discussion about fighting in the NHL and what it’s like to be an NHL enforcer.  The panel is at 2PM PT that Saturday and hosted by Jim Fox.

Recently Grimson was interviewed on the KingsKast.  You can listen here or download the mp3.

Video game fans will be interested in knowing EA Sports will be debuting NHL 10 at the event.

Update Aug 17 2:25pm: I’ve just been informed McSorley is unable to attend.  A bummer, but I’m sure the panel will still be appealing.

Brandon Sugden Signs With Hershey

Brandon Sugden has signed with the Hershey Bears and has a camp invite with the Washington Capitals.  It is expected that he’ll appear in at least one preseason game.

Sugden, 31, played for the Hartford Wolf Pack last season. His season started off with some drama after the Wolf Pack’s parent club, the New York Rangers, were one of three teams that blocked Sugar from returning to the NHL when the rival New York Islanders invited him to Camp.  The teams were persuaded to lift their block by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly.  Sugden went on to attend Isles camp, but did not sign with the club.

The Capitals are currently without a heavyweight.  Donald Brashear, the team fight leader for 2008-09, signed with the Rangers this offseason.

Steve Ott Segment

This is a Fox Sports segment on Steve Ott from 2007-08. It was provided by Fox Sports to hockeyfights.com member yatyas.

Tough Guy Movement Summer 2009

To make things a little easier to follow, I’ve created a player movement table tracking most of the more popular tough guys.  It’s pretty simple, the table lists the top 50 fighting major leaders from the NHL and the top 10 from the AHL (in italics) along with last season’s and next season’s teams.

Continue reading: Tough Guy Movement Summer 2009

Summer Catch-Up

And how’s your summer been?

Taking a break from blogging around here, we’ve been able to focus on some other things around the site: logs, videos, news, new features and prepping for the 2009-10 season.

Just a couple of quick things that need to be mentioned:
- Robin Gomez was acquitted of assault for the Chris Ferraro punch.
- Mike Kole did a great interview with Craig Coxe.
- Gabriel Desjardins did an analysis of what a winning enforcer might bring to a team: Fighters Prosper, But Just Barely.  Tom Tango concludes a successful enforcer should earn about 100k more than the average guy [hat tip to Carl Bialik at the WSJ for finding that one].

I’m putting together a movement tracker to easily follow where your favorite tough guys have signed in the off-season (or find out who your new fave may be).

Videos added

Frank Mahovlich vs Ted Harris Apr 1, 1965
Pete Stemkowski vs Jim Roberts Apr 1, 1965
Troy Crowder vs Bob Probert Jan 28, 1991
Troy Crowder vs Bob Probert Jan 28, 1991
Bob Probert vs Troy Crowder Oct 4, 1990
Louie Debrusk vs Sami Helenius Oct 30, 1999
Troy Crowder vs Jeff Chychrun Oct 11, 1990

Some reads

Sean Avery on Donald Brashear, accountability, offense and the Olympics
Reaffirming the skill/sandpaper balance
Justin Bourne’s Blog: The summertime grind
Fighting for a Job: One of Five MSU Alumni in NHL
Fritz brothers go big