Return of the Fridge

Todd Fedoruk has been playing for the Flyers for a while after some time off following his fight with Derek Boogaard at the end of October.  He has 7 points in 24 games so far.  While the Fridge has thrown a punch since he’s been back, last night he did so against the opposition when he squared off with Andre Roy.

That fight is on the videos page, as well as a Youtube vid after the jump.

Krys Barch remained active during his call-up, taking on Ryane Clowe.  That’s a new Youtube preview on the vids page.

Also from last night, Wayne Primeau-Adam Mair (after the jump) and Alexei Ponikarovsky-David Tanabe, which I’ll have posted late tomorrow.

Elsewhere:
- Karlis Skrastins is about to break Tim Horton’s record for consecutive games played by a defenseman.
- Chuck Carlton of the Dallas News relays the message that the Sharks broadcast team thought the Stars could be pushed around last night.

You can watch two of three games tonight free on Yahoo.  Leafs-Rangers, an Original Six matchup, will always get some eyes, but Ducks-Coyotes… well, I don’t want to jinx it as I know the superstitious crowd here, but it looks like a good game to me.

Update Feb 01 430am: Ponikarovsky-Tanabe added to the vids page.

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Some Love for the LNAH

Mark Keast takes a look at the world’s toughest hockey league, the LNAH, and how the fans love it.

As the NHL struggles with where to slot fighting in its game, the LNAH struggles with where to slot fighting during a game. It is becoming a balancing act—when to nail the tough guy to the bench, when to turn him loose for tactical purposes to turn the tide of a game, and when to throw him out there and slide in a fight for the sheer entertainment value for the fans who have come to expect it. Here, developing players for advancement is not in any business plan. Dollas said typically teams are made up of two lines of scorers, one line of grinders, and one line of fighters.

A couple of site mentions never hurts:

With little mainstream media attention to help spin the story Gaudette and others wants to tell, league stats bolster that reputation—eight teams, 50 games, 1,660 majors in 2005-06. With teams just passing the 30-game mark this season, the fighting major total eclipses 1,020, according to hockeyfights.com.

To check out all the LNAH fight stats, just visit the LNAH page.

I should be posting some LNAH video clips soon, but until then here’s a great mic’d up fight between Jon Mirasty and Jaques Dube from the 25th:

Vote!

Stars-Ducks Action

The Stars and Ducks always seem to come through.

It didn’t take Krys Barch long to make himself known going with both Shane O’Brien and Chris Pronger.  The clip that includes Barch-Pronger is a new Youtube preview on the videos page.  Barch-O’Brien and Steve Ott-Joe DiPenta are both also on Youtube after the jump.

The next Ducks-Stars game is Feb 10, 2007.

A legend to be missed:
Gump Worsley passes away

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Saturday Light

Not much action last night.  Two clips come from the Pens-Yotes game.  Jovanovski threw a big hit on Nasreddine prompting a quick scrap between Orpik and Jovocop; and Gratton then decided to jump Petrovicky after some words were exchanged earlier on.

Both clips are on the videos page and also as Youtube previews after the jump.

That’s it for the night.  Friday night’s Godard-Boogaard rematch is still getting a lot of eyes though.

The rumor mill says Wayne Gretzky is (still) unhappy with Georges Laraque, and there’s a good chance he could be moved.  Gretzky scratched BGL right before the All-Star break in an attempt to awaken him.

Kevin Dupont of the Boston Globe writes the Bruins are still looking to toughen up.

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The Rematch

The fight you were waiting for, the rematch between Eric Godard and Derek Boogaard.

Vote!

It’s really the first big rematch of the season, and it was pretty good scrap, you don’t always get that.

More to come later tonight…

Update 230am: The videos page has been updated with the Godard-Boogaard fight, along with Chris Clark-Scott Walker and Andrew Peters-Jody Shelley.  Jarkko Ruutu-Stephane Robidas should be added sometime this weekend (I’ll update here).  For those who like previews, all the vids have been Youtube’d.  Two are previewed on the vids page, and after the jump is a big hit that Dion Phaneuf threw on Boogaard.

Update Jan 28 340pm: Ruutu-Robidas has been added to the vids page, and is on Youtube as well.

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Starting Up Again

The All-Star break is coming to end.  I hope you enjoyed the festivities or just let it get you revved up for the rest of the season.

Some material to help you along:
- Todd Fedoruk talks about the Flyers’ losing their identity, and takes a swipe at Joni Pitkanen - video from Comcast SportsNet
- The Flames play the Wild tonight.  I’m sure you remember what happened last game, and I’m sure Derek Boogaard is looking forward to the game.  Eric Godard spent the All-Star break in Omaha and was recalled last night.
- Just in case you missed it, there was a college scrap from last weekend.
- Darren Langdon came up a little short trying to start his political career.

A Little College Action

I had a lot of requests for this one, J.P. Testwuide vs Ben Gordon from the Denver Pioneers at Minnesota Golden Gophers game played on Jan 20th.  Luckily, I was able to grab it the other day.

Halfway There

Today is the halfway mark of the All-Star break.  While there have been presentations and whatnot already, tonight is the skills competition

I’m using the time off to make some bug fixes around here, work on a few soon-to-be-released new features and also try to up my gamerscore.

I’ve been getting a lot of email asking about my opinions on this and that.  I figure it’s time to finally start that mailbog column I’ve been threatening to do.  If you’ve got something to say, send it over.  When doing so, please include your name and where you’re from (only first names will be published, no email addresses).

Some reads:
Eager fed up with instigator penalty rules
Bieksa has been a knockout for surging Canucks (starts half-way through)

Getting Ready for the Break

Ah, the All-Star break.  How bittersweet.  A few days off, but no hockey.  Just makes it all the better when play starts back up again.

There was some action last night, but it’s pretty late, so here’s the quick version: Schubert-Mara and Tor-Pit vids should be up tomorrow, Smolinski-Zidlicky and Cgy-Edm are currently up on the videos page.

The unpredictable Marcus Nilson-Marty Reasoner scrap is the newest Youtube preview.

Some reads:
Gretzky trying to awaken Laraque
Mara didn’t hesitate to retaliate, instigate
Ed Johnston and the leeches
‘Bully’ Domi back in court

Update 305pm: Schubert-Mara added to the vids page, and also to Youtube, which is viewable after the jump.  It’s not so much a fight, only Mara picked up a fighting major (and an instigator and misconduct).  Schubert did get a boarding major for his hit on Mara.  Mara had no regrets about picking up the full package:

“If it happened again, I’d do the same thing,” Mara, who called Schubert’s hit dirty, said of his response. “That’s part of the game. We killed the penalty off.”

Another read: Battle Royale? - about the build up for last night’s Battle of Alberta.

Update Jan 22 1255am: The Toronto-Pittsburgh clips are all on the videos page now.  I also made a compilation of all three and put it on Youtube.  It’s currently a preview on the vids page.

Continue reading "Getting Ready for the Break"

Sure Thing Done

Just one fight last night, George Parros-Eric Godard.

It was the fourth and final Ducks-Flames game of the season.  All four games saw at least one fight, and there were six total.  Doubt anyone would be complaining if these two played each other eight times per season.

Not one for the highlight reels, but for those interested it’s available on the videos page.  One thing to note about the commentary: the Ducks had 45 fighting majors before the bout, not 43 as was said during the replay (the AP report seems to use the same statistic as it’s also short 2 FMs).

Today’s viewing material:
Burnett’s Condition Improving
Brashear Keeps It Physical
Anaheim’s George Parros defends the role of the goon (video from Sportsnet)

A general hockey piece from me:
Expansion Possibilities

Burnett’s Condition Improving

Good news from the Burnett family: Garrett Burnett is no longer in a coma and has been taken off life support as of Jan 16.

Burnett is now medically stable and is able to eat and speak.

He does need some assistance walking at the moment, and is still recovering from various other injuries.

There is no time table for a full recovery.

Burnett was involved in an altercation when leaving a nightclub Dec 26.  He was attacked while being escorted out of the club and was restrained at the time.  There was no brawl, and while a weapon was used, it was not a gun or knife as some rumors have stated.

The Burnetts would like to thank all the well wishers and everyone who has expressed concern for Garrett.

We at the website wish Garrett and his family a full and speedy recovery.

Update Feb 7 340pm: Garrett Burnett Update

Ducks Won’t Sway

The Ducks are in a bit of a funk, but it hasn’t stopped them from dropping the gloves any.  With two last night they now have 45 fighting majors on the year.  That’s 17 more than the second place Blues.

The Ducks may be used to throwing down, but the Oilers aren’t and there are calls for the team to get tougher.

The Oilers stepped up tonight, beating the Ducks 4-1 and getting into two scraps: Travis Moen-Matt Greene and Shawn Thornton-Mathieu Roy.  Both fights had some action and the Moen-Greene bout is one of two new Youtube previews on the videos page.  Josh Gratton-Rob Davison is the other Youtuber.  You can always count on Gratton for an open, exciting fight, no matter what the outcome.

Some pointers:
Hockey night’s all right for fighting- Leafs TV’s Jody Vance declares her NHL includes fighting.
Best of 1st Half: Best Fighter - ESPN’s Barry Melrose and EJ Hradek pick their best fighters so far.  The link is to a video.  I’ll spoil it some, one picks Brashear, the other Boogaard.  Who’s your first half champ?

Oh Fer

Nothing to post from last night as there were no fights, but Cowan-Downey from Tuesday was posted to the videos page.

Ryan Vandenbussche has announced he’s retiring, at least from his playing career.  Good luck to him with whatever he chooses.

David Amber interviewed Matt Barnaby for espn.com.

Q: You have had more than 200 fights in your NHL career. Does any one battle stand out in your mind?

A: I always loved fighting guys like Adam Graves and Mike Keane. When I was young, I was just so excited to be here. They were emotional fights; they were toe-to-toe; and the buildings were jammed. It was great. I also liked fighting the heavyweights, too. I had a running feud with Lyle Odelein through the media, and I fought guys like Tie Domi. I didn’t always win, but it was always exciting to fight the super heavyweights I grew up watching, too.

Yesterday was a big sports birthday.  Muhammad Ali turned 65 and John at KO Corner has a massive round-up of articles, pictures and video.

Crowned

DJ King wasted no time before dropping the gloves this this call-up, his second within a week.

He dropped the gloves a little over five minutes into the game and squared off against Shawn Thornton.  It was a good bout and one of two new Youtube previews on the videos page.

The other is the Brendan Witt-Ryan Malone scrap.  The fight itself isn’t why interest will be there, but Witt’s big hit on Sidney Crosby that sparked the whole thing.  Crosby looked like he wanted to get into his first career fight tonight against Jason Blake.  Gloves stayed on, but it was good to see The Kid get that fire in him.

Other action from last night: Matt Walker took on George Parros and Jeff Cowan fought Aaron Downey.  Walker-Parros is on the vids page.  Cowan-Downey will be added sometime today, I’ll update here when it’s available.

Randomly: I was told Eishockey World likes hockeyfights.com.  Sweet.

Update Jan 18 1215am: Cowan-Downey is now available on the videos page.

Lappybot

Ian Laperriere just won’t quit, which is a good thing considering he’s still the only Av this season who’s dropped the gloves.  He’s on top of the FM leaders list again after his bout last night against Ryane Clowe.

If you look at the teams leaders list you’ll see Lappy has more FMs than the Boston Bruins (10), Montreal Canadiens (9), Minnesota Wild (7) and the Detroit Red Wings (6).

Lappy’s fight is on the videos page, and the Peters-Alberts scrap is the newest Youtube preview.

DJ King has been recalled again by the Blues.  The Blues also put Dan Hinote on IR, so King might get more than a game in this time.