Dissecting Jon Mirasty vs Trevor Gillies

Jon Mirasty squares off against Trevor Gillies

Dissecting Jon Mirasty vs Trevor Gillies

Oct 26, 2012 1:28 PM Matt Stopa

Hockey fans were treated on Monday to a marquee matchup in the KHL between Jon Mirasty and Trevor Gillies. The two longtime pugilists did not disappoint as they squared off at center ice early in the first period of the game between Vityaz Chekhov and Barys Astana.

When they finally came together, Mirasty missed with his initial jersey grab, giving Gillies a major advantage -- an advantage that Gillies would not let go to waste. Mirasty proceeded to eat a slew of left hooks from Gillies, with the final one sending Mirasty crashing to the ice.

It took Mirasty quite a few seconds to regain his senses and get back to his feet, and even then he almost fell again as he was skating to the penalty box.

The game in general was a lot closer than its lone scrap and it took a shootout to determine a winner as Vityaz came out on top by a 3-2 score.

The KHL today released a 13 minute-long video previewing the match up. The video includes interviews with both Mirasty and Gillies, as well as with Gillies' teammate Jeremy Yablonski. The commentary throughout is in Russian, but both combatants were mic’d up and many clips from warm-up and the game are featured.

The KHL’s video almost made sure to note that this was the fourth career matchup between the two combatants, but the first in almost four years. All three of their previous fights took place in the AHL between 2007 and 2008 when Gillies was on the Albany River Rats while Mirasty suited up for the Syracuse Crunch. It should be noted that all four of their scraps have been highly-entertaining contests, and all three of their previous fights are shown in full in the video and are linked individually below.

In the video you can hear Mirasty challenging Gillies, while the two are in their respective penalty boxes, to a rematch later in the game. However, Mirasty did not get any more ice time after serving the major, perhaps as a precautionary measure following the KO. Mirasty will have to wait until December 3rd to avenge his loss, when the two teams meet again, this time on Mirasty’s home ice.

Elsewhere in the KHL

On Monday, former NHL player Alexandre Giroux took on Georgi Misharin in a contest between Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Dinamo Riga. Giroux, who’s played parts of six seasons in the NHL with Columbus, Edmonton, Washington, and the New York Rangers, dominated the fight that was started by the Russian defenseman.

The fight began with the two tangled up by Metallurg’s goal crease. Misharin gave Giroux a stiff forearm shiver to the face which the latter did not appreciate; Giroux immediately dropped his gloves and began to pummel Misharin, first with the rights and then switching over to the lefts, before the linesmen broke it up.

Oddly enough, Misharin did not receive a fighting major for his troubles, even though he was the instigator of the altercation.

Although Dinamo Riga won the fight, they would succumb to Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the end by a score of 5-2.