Nolan Fills Up Scoresheet

Owen Nolan earned his first hat trick last night since Oct 4, 1999.  Over 8 years and 160 goals in between hat tricks.

Nolan was playing for the Sharks at the time, the Flames opponent last night.

A few minutes after his first goal, Nolan fed Mike Grier right hands.

Nolan finished the night with 3 goals on 4 shots, was a +3 and had his 5 PIMs from the fighting major in about 14 and a half minutes.

Ruutu takes out Kovalchuk

Jarkko Ruutu went to hit Ilya Kovalchuk along boards.  Kovalchuk went attempted to avoid it, but took a knee.  Before Kovalchuk limped off Steve McCarthy went after Ruutu, tossing punches at him until the linesmen intervened.

Kovalchuk returned shortly, before leaving the game again, this time for good.  The extent of Kovalchuk’s injury is currently unknown.

Thrashers coach (and GM) Don Waddell approved of McCarthy’s actions.  McCarthy had this to say:

“First of all, Ruutu’s running at your best player, whether it was a clean hit or not, and it wasn’t,” McCarthy said. “It hits knee on knee, hurts one of our best players, and that can’t happen.”

And did you think it was a cheap shot?

“Yeah, I did,” McCarthy said.

Ruutu disagreed.

“I barely hit him. I didn’t change direction. I just went for a hit,” Ruutu told reporters. “I got five minutes for fighting, and I didn’t even throw a punch.”

Videos added

Mike Grier vs Owen Nolan Jan 30, 2008
Jarkko Ruutu vs Steve McCarthy Jan 30, 2008
Brenden Morrow vs Nathan McIver Jan 29, 2008
Krys Barch vs Jeff Cowan Jan 29, 2008
Andrew Peters vs Krys Barch Jan 24, 2008

Some reads

It took a lot of fight for Burish to land letter
Sundin trade talk impossible to ignore
Five Islanders miss practice with flu
Hossa’s future may be decided soon

Restless

Things got a little rough in last night’s Rangers-Hurricanes game.  Perhaps too much time over the All-Star break to sit and think about what happened the last time these two teams played.

Sean Avery and Scott Walker received roughings even before the drop of the puck last night and then met up again after Walker hit Scott Gomez hard into the boards from behind. Colton Orr and Wade Brookbank also dropped the gloves twice in separate occasions during the first period.

A spirited scrap between Daniel Carcillo and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a toe-to-toe bout between Scott Nichol and Andrew Ference rounded out an eventful first night back since the All-Star break.

Shelley goes west

Jody Shelley has been traded to the San Jose Sharks.  Shelley has spent his entire NHL career in Columbus. Some media reaction: SJ | Columbus

No suspension for Laraque

Georges Laraque will not be suspended for his hit on Steve Downie last week. The Flyers were not pleased.

McCarty to move up to A

Ansar Khan is reporting that the Wings have offered Darren McCarty a tryout contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL.

Videos added

Daniel Carcillo vs Ole-Kristian Tollefsen Jan 29, 2008
Colton Orr vs Wade Brookbank Jan 29, 2008
Sean Avery vs Scott Walker Jan 29, 2008
Colton Orr vs Wade Brookbank Jan 29, 2008
Scott Nichol vs Andrew Ference Jan 29, 2008

The Stars-Canucks broadcast was frequently pixelated and choppy. Morrow-McIver was clear though, I’ll have that later on.

Some reads

Hurricanes winger adjusts to cage mask
Probert ready to go back to school
Lucic drawing comparisons to O’Reilly and Neely
Stevens’ coaching rates best thus far
‘Why don’t you try going to the front of the net, you Idiots?’
Bigger means better to Minnesota
Carcillo returns for Coyotes
Ference scores biggest hit
Senators start to lose patience with Emery’s act
Critics say Panthers too ‘soft’ for playoffs
Kings Sign Ivanans to Two-Year Extension

* John Chandler also contributed to this post

Staal Leads East All-Stars to 8-7 Win

Eric Staal scored a goal, had two assists, and won a brand new truck along with MVP honors as he helped lead the Eastern Conference over the Western Conference 8-7 in the 56th NHL All-Star Game last night.

Marc Savard scored the winning goal with only 20.9 seconds left in regulation in a game that saw the West come back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game in the third.

Rick Nash was impressive with a hat trick. Goalies Evgeni Nabokov and Tomas Vokoun stole the show in the second period with many a spectacular save.

No rough stuff in this one. There hasn’t been a penalty in an All-Star Game since 2000. However Dion Phaneuf did jokingly mention that he was considering throwing a big hit to try and spark the West while they were down early on.

Koci on waivers

TSN is reporting that the Chicago Blackhawks have put enforcer David Koci on waivers.

While it’s a huge blow in terms of overall team toughness, Koci was still finding it hard to get into the lineup even with injuries abound.

Videos added

Drew Fata vs Tim Conboy Jan 19, 2008
Micheal Haley vs Casey Borer Jan 19, 2008
Grant Marshall vs Triston Grant Jan 20, 2008
Stephen Gionta vs Alexandre Picard Jan 20, 2008
Derek Dorsett vs Pierre-Cédrick Labrie Jan 24, 2008
Frederik Cabana vs Micheal Haley Jan 23, 2008
David Bouchard vs Travis Stacey Jan 23, 2008
Mitch McColm vs Garet Hunt Jan 25, 2008

Some reads

Plenty of NHL stretch drive questions
McCarty’s sweetest fight with the Wings’ sweetest revenge
Atlanta fared well as hockey heaven
Will Hockey Ever Get Its Tiger Woods?
NHL all-stars to help celebrate Habs’ centennial

2008 All-Star Scrappers: The East

With All-Star weekend upon us, we here at hockeyfights.com thought it would be pretty sweet if we took a glance at some of the notable scraps this seasons’s participants have been in. We know that not every All-Star has been in a fight over the course of their career so we’ve done our homework and singled out some of the players that have received a fighting major.

Today we take a look at some of those representing the Eastern Conference. Each player is listed in alphabetical order. Along with a description of a fight they’ve been in, you can also find a link to a clip of that fight included as well. Yesterday we looked at the West.

The All-Star game will be shown on Versus and CBC, today at 6 PM EST. Versus is currently running an ad campaign on this site related to the broadcast.

Continue reading "2008 All-Star Scrappers: The East"

Only the Game Left

Yesterday featured a variety of events before the the Skills Competition and Young Stars game.  The SuperSkills event had mixed reviews this year, with many blog posts around that look similar the Yahoo!‘s Ross McKeon.

The East won, or if you’re in Atlanta, Kovalchuk, East win skills competition.

All-Star Weekend comes to a close today after the All-Star game is played at 6PM eastern.  On the front of Yahoo!‘s NHL page is a video with McKeon talking about how the NHL could possibly “fix” the game.  The game can be seen on Versus and CBC.  Versus is currently running an ad campaign on this site related to the All-Star Game.

Some All-Star stories:

Thrashers GM Waddell hears boos at Philips
Born Winner
All-Star Vokoun has made believers out of Panthers teammates, opponents alike
First All-Star MVP known for slap shots and slapstick
For Dallas Stars’ Ribeiro, getting here half the battle
He punched his ticket
Tim’s time to shine
Hard work pays off
Coyotes’ Jovanovski at top of game
Paddock takes a shine to stars
Skills event not a thrill for all
Crosby’s absence a downer

All-Star scrappers

John took a look at the Western Conference All-Stars and highlighted some players and some of their memorable fights.  A look at the Eastern Conference comes today.

Beech property

Kris Beech was claimed off of waivers again yesterday.  That’s technically his fourth NHL team within the past month, although he never played a game for the Capitals.

Videos added

Tie Domi vs Mike Peluso Oct 12, 1993
Claude Boivin vs Tony Twist Jan 25, 1994
Sandy McCarthy vs Alek Stojanov Apr 20, 1995
Reid Simpson vs Tie Domi Mar 6, 1996
Chris Gratton vs Evgeny Artyukhin Feb 28, 2006
Patrick Roy vs Chris Osgood Apr 1, 1998
Warren Rychel vs Kirk Maltby Apr 1, 1998
Adam Deadmarsh vs Brendan Shanahan Apr 1, 1998

Some reads

Maple Leafs have their own red-letter dates
Betting on black
Sound Bites
Players object to Europe games
Checking accounts for Jackets’ success
Oshawa player suspended 8 games for spear on Stamkos
Loonie Economics in the N.H.L.
NHL’s stars need some attention
Hockey still a tough sell in the South
Lucic makes most of fowl start
‘Not ready for prime-time consideration’
Status, looks elevate Staal

2008 All-Star Scrappers: The West

With All-Star weekend upon us, we here at hockeyfights.com thought it would be pretty sweet if we took a glance at some of the notable scraps this seasons’s participants have been in. We know that not every All-Star has been in a fight over the course of their career so we’ve done our homework and singled out the players that have received a fighting major.
 
Today we take a look at some of those representing the Western Conference. Each player is listed in alphabetical order. Along with a description of a fight they’ve been in, you can also find a link to a clip of that fight included as well. Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the East.
 
The All-Star game will be shown on Versus and CBC, Sunday at 6 PM EST. Versus is currently running an ad campaign on this site related to the broadcast.

Continue reading "2008 All-Star Scrappers: The West"

Lucic Part of Young Stars

The Young Stars Game & Superskills Competition is tonight at 700PM eastern.  Among the Young Stars will be Milan Lucic.  Lucic is 19-years old, has 11 pts in 44 games, and 9 FMs.

The future somehow-still-filling-out powerforward is already playing beyond his years and is quickly becoming beloved in Boston.  Every week the city’s media pumps out at least a story or two on the rookie.

Lucic’s Young Stars selection has produced these:
Boston Herald: B’s bruiser blooms
Boston Globe: Lucic is tough to ignore
From the Bruins official site: Lucic Ready for Atlanta

One of Lucic’s top-rated fights this season was against fellow rookie Jared Boll from Dec 15th.

Video of Lucic’s first NHL goal is on NHL.com.

NHL.com plans on having streaming video of morning practices, 930am eastern for the Wales Eastern Conference, 1030am for the Campbell Western Conference.

At night the game and skills competition can be seen on Versus and CBC. Versus is currently running an ad campaign on this site related to the All-Star Game.

Leetch night

Some articles about Brian Leetch, and the night the Rangers dedicated to him.

Classic class from Brian Leetch
Messages from Former Teammates
Rangers raise Leetch’s No. 2 to rafters of Madison Square Garden
Night 2 Remember!
2 the Rafters!

Videos added

Tomas Vokoun vs Miikka Kiprusoff Mar 20, 2004
Scott Hartnell vs Rhett Warrener Mar 20, 2004
Greg Johnson vs Robyn Regehr Mar 20, 2004
Brad Lukowich vs Arron Asham Dec 1, 1999
Ken Daneyko vs Mick Vukota Dec 12, 1989
Kelly Buchberger vs Grant Marshall Dec 3, 1997
Doug Zmolek vs Donald Brashear Jan 5, 1998
Ryan VandenBussche vs Louie Debrusk Nov 19, 1997
Dennis Bonvie vs Donald Brashear Oct 13, 1997
Jeff Halpern vs Eric Staal Apr 3, 2006

Listen up

Jared Boll Goal - Jan. 24, 2008

Some reads

Crawford to testify Bertuzzi ordered off ice before hit
Fraud case against former hockey agent David Frost put off to February
Burke: Ducks would find room for Selanne
Malik banished after Renney snub
Gretzky for GM
Lack of respect hurts players and the game
Forsberg making progress on the ice

Focus on the Champ

Just like in the last meeting between the Pens and Flyers, Georges Laraque caused a stir, this time in the form of a fight and a hit.

Laraque dispatched of Riley Cote rather easily in a first period fight and then hit Steve Downie from behind head-first into the boards in the second. The hit earned Laraque a game misconduct. Whether or not Laraque should earn a suspension will likely be determined by the league after the All-Star break.

Downie, who was suspended earlier this year as we all know, came away unscathed and even dropped the gloves with Ryan Stone later on in the game.

George Parros returned last night after missing three games due to a bruised knee and fought Raitis Ivanans. A bout between Andrew Peters and Krys Barch and veterans Luke Richardson and Andre Roy locking horns rounded out the night.

Crunching Numbers

FOX Sportsnet New York showed an interesting graphic during Tuesday’s Devils-Flyers game. Hey, what’s that at the top?

Welcome Versus

As we mentioned earlier, Versus will be running an ad campaign on hockeyfights.com starting today to help promote the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, which takes place this Sunday at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. For those of you in the U.S., the game will be airing live on Versus starting on Sunday at 6 PM EST.

Yesterday, I posted an interesting video involving Anaheim Ducks All-Stars Chris Pronger and Ryan Getzlaf talking about the game and the respect it generates among other things.

Server lovin’ had me a blast

We changed up our server setup last night. The new setup is bigger, badder and should help move things along a lot faster while letting us add some new features. Unfortunately as with every big change, a few bugs always come along. User fight reviews aren’t being displayed properly right now. It’s a display issue only. If you write a fight review, it is being saved and will display on the page properly after this issue is resolved.  Thanks for your patience.

Videos Added

George Parros vs Raitis Ivanans Jan 24, 2008
Luke Richardson vs Andre Roy Jan 24, 2008
Ryan Stone vs Steve Downie Jan 24, 2008
Georges Laraque vs Riley Cote Jan 24, 2008
Bill Guerin vs Dion Phaneuf Oct 13, 2005
Duncan Keith vs Alexander Svitov Dec 31, 2006

Some Reads

On Target
Capitals Re-Sign Donald Brashear for One Year
Coyotes Assign Carcillo to San Antonio
Rules to fighting have side effects
Hit on Downie shows hockey’s dark side

On Target

The Anaheim Ducks, who have become a favorite of many visitors over the past two seasons because of their willingness to drop the gloves, have two players going to this year’s All-Star Game: Chris Pronger and Ryan Getzlaf.
 
The above video talks with both players during the making of an ASG commercial. Pronger talks about his first All-Star Game and the bragging rights between the winning and losing conferences. Getzalf discusses how respect can be earned by a player being named an All-Star.
Versus will be running an ad campaign on hockeyfights.com starting tomorrow to help promote the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, which takes place this Sunday at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. For those of you in the U.S., the game will be airing live on Versus starting on Sunday at 6 PM EST.

Ducks Always Ready

The Ducks dropped the gloves twice with the Red Wings last night to tie the Flyers for the lead in team fighting majors.

With Ducks FM leader George Parros’ knee keeping him out of the lineup, the team toughness factor came into play with All-Star Chris Pronger taking on Daniel Cleary and Sean O’Donnell dropping the gloves with Aaron Downey.

Downey, the only tough guy to stick around this far into the season in Detroit in years, has helped the Wings almost double their FM total from last season already.

How to fight like a hockey player

AJC‘s Michael Benzie got a lesson from former NHLer Scott Pearson on how to drop the gloves and throw some punches on skates. Kinda.

Hat tip to Alanah at KK.

Big night

The last night of games before the All-Star break is a big one.  13 games scheduled, including Pens-Flyers, a rematch highlighted by the Post-Gazette.

Videos added

Aaron Downey vs Sean O’Donnell Jan 23, 2008
Daniel Cleary vs Chris Pronger Jan 23, 2008
David Clarkson vs Steve Downie Jan 22, 2008
Michael Rupp vs Riley Cote Jan 22, 2008
Jared Boll vs Krys Barch Jan 22, 2008
Shane Hnidy vs Tom Kostopoulos Jan 22, 2008
Chuck Kobasew vs Sergei Kostitsyn Jan 22, 2008

Some reads

Fear helps feed Devils’ dominance of Flyers
Leetch’s No. 2 to Assume a Lofty Perch at the Garden
Top 10 Brian Leetch moments
Pens’ nice surprises
Avs’ Sauer still having dizziness
Deal pleases Bryzgalov, Yotes

Anything You Can Do

A few minutes after Tanner Glass scored, Chris Neil scored his own.  Six seconds later they dropped the gloves and had a go.  They each took one successful shot, finished a +1 and had 5 PIMs from the fighting major.  The only real difference was ice time: Neil saw 13:50 of ice, Glass 6:42.  Glass’ Panthers took the game from the Sens 5-3.  Not exactly hockey’s version of horse, but it’s about as close as it can get for gritty players.  Congrats to Glass on that goal, his first in the NHL.

Stick around, all weekend long

NHL All-Star weekend is approaching and while there’s a break in regular season action, John and I will keep things flowing here with some extra stories and videos throughout the weekend.

Videos added

Oh no!  Five videos missing from last night’s NHL games!  Don’t worry, I should have them all within the next day.  In the mean time, we’ve added some OHL and ECHL action.

Chris Neil vs Tanner Glass Jan 22, 2008
Eric Boulton vs Colton Orr Jan 22, 2008
Matt Martin vs Tyler Taylor Jan 20, 2008 (OHL)
Ryan Wilson vs James DeLory Jan 20, 2008 (OHL)
(two videos above are the same clip)
Jordan Hill vs Ryan Baldwin Jan 20, 2008 (OHL)
Ryan Garlock vs Jim McKenzie Jan 11, 2008 (ECHL)
Brandon Straub vs Trevor Hendrikx Jan 11, 2008 (ECHL)
Patrick Levesque vs Joe Grimaldi Jan 11, 2008 (ECHL)
Tim Gleason vs Tim Jackman Jan 21, 2008

Some reads

Renney must consider rest for beat-up Shanahan
Here’s to the Flames who never left
John Ferguson timeline
Gaustad, Ballard get to know each other
Two-way streets
Dallas Stars’ Robidas has a nose for grit

Fedoruk, About-Face

The Star Tribunue’s Michael Russo profiles Todd Fedoruk, who’s had to improve his overall game ever since encountering his now-teammate, Derek Boogaard, last season.

“I’ve had to take a different road with my game,” said Fedoruk, 28. “When I came into the league, I did two things good—I fought well and I skated well. But my hockey was in development stage. I was on a learning curve, with fighting keeping me in the league.

“Now, the face won’t let me just go toe-to-toe and buck-wild with the fighting. I have to be smarter with it now and pick spots differently. I’ll still deal with guys when they need to be dealt with, but I’m not looking for it as much.”

With just two points (with the Wild, four overall), he’s not on a pace to match his personal best point total of 23 with the 2005-06 Ducks, but Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire must be impressed with Fedoruk’s improved skill set: in 23 games with the Wild, Fedoruk has averaged a career-high 10 minutes of ice time.

Keep the counter going

Boogaard almost broke a 103-game drought Saturday night.  He scored, but the goal was erroneously disallowed.

With about 7 minutes left in the period the Wild appeared to tie the game when Derek Boogaard redirected a shot from Kim Johnsson past Jonas Hiller. But the linesman whistled it offsides, saying Johnsson had carried the puck out of the zone, though replays showed he clearly did not.

Thanks to reader Brose for the tip.

Videos added

Brian McGrattan vs Riley Cote Jan 20, 2008
Shean Donovan vs Jim Vandermeer Jan 20, 2008
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen vs Cody McLeod Jan 20, 2008

Some reads

Flyers rough up slumping Senators
Hartnell brings on power
Avery plays through pain, and causes it
Leafs should rebuild from the ground up

Day gamin’

It’s Martin Luther King Day in the States and a few teams are playing day games or have earlier starting times.

Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders 2:00 PM ET
Buffalo Sabres vs Phoenix Coyotes 4:00 PM ET
St. Louis Blues vs Nashville Predators 6:00 PM ET
Washington Capitals vs Pittsburgh Penguins 7:00 PM ET
Minnesota Wild vs Vancouver Canucks 10:00 PM ET

Pennsylhateya

Rob Rossi and Joe Starkey of the Tribune-Review have a great write-up of the Penguins-Flyers rivalry, now more than 40-years old.

Although united by Commonwealth ties (and they have tied 31 times), the teams are divided in many ways. The Penguins, over the past three decades, have preferred a more stylistic brand of hockey. The Flyers spent their first decade establishing themselves as “bullies,” and much of the past three living up to that tag.

Boogaard ailing

After playing hsi first game in a month, Derek Boogaard left practice early yesterday due to his back.  He will make the Wild’s road trip.

Videos added

Jared Boll vs B.J. Crombeen Jan 19, 2008
Derian Hatcher vs Trent Hunter Jan 19, 2008
Shea Weber vs Mike Glumac Jan 19, 2008
Jesse Boulerice vs Paul Bissonnette Jan 12, 2008

Some reads

Confident Kobasew nets positive results
Julien leans on Chara
Flyers’ Hartnell flourishes with new line mates
O’Ree holds place in history
Willie O’Ree changed face of hockey
No conspiracy, but refs do seem to have it in for Rangers lately
Draper, Maltby embrace roles
Monsters defenseman relishes role as fighter

Boulton Racks Up 29

Eric Boulton picked up 29 PIMs in one shift last night.  Penalty minutes were just about the only thing the Thrashers accumulated during a 10-1 drubbing from the Sabres.  The Sabres, who had a ten-game winless streak going into last night, apparently decided to make up for it all in one night.

In the second period Chris Thorburn took on Nolan Pratt after a hit, the score 5-1 at the time.

In the third, about a minute after Buffalo made it 9-1, the former Sabre Boulton started swinging at anyone.  First Pratt, sending him to the ice, then Jason Pominville.  Brian Campbell came over, but Boulton was restrained before giving him a pop (although he tried).  Johan Hecht and Garnet Exelby got tangled up, but nothing much came out of that.

The teams play again in two weeks, on Feb 1st.

He’s back

Derek Boogaard played his first game last night since Dec 14th.  He’s been out for the past month with back problems.  He was in the middle of some action last night, although things never got rough enough to drop the gloves.  He registered a shot on goal and had a little over nine minutes of ice time.

Videos added

Adam Burish vs Ian Laperriere Jan 18, 2008
Eric Boulton vs Nolan Pratt Jan 18, 2008
Chris Thorburn vs Nolan Pratt Jan 18, 2008
Tanner Glass vs David Clarkson Jan 18, 2008
Trevor Daley vs Craig Rivet Jan 17, 2008

Some reads

Bergeron done for the season?
Can testing program catch cheaters?
Sutter’s son on track to be a Hurricane
Coyotes’ Weller making hits count
A little taste of stardom for rookie Lucic
Fight night ends on sour note as Olesz is injured
Hey, Tom: End Mr. Softy Act
Downie shows talent that packs a punch

May and Barch Highlight Night, Again

Brad May and Krys Barch know how to find each other, thankfully.

For the second time this season these two have dropped the gloves and made the highlight reel.

The first highly ranked fight between the two was back on Nov 21st.

Overall they’ve fought three times this season (and overall).  The first fight was earlier, on Nov 5th.

With the way this rivalry is progressing, it’s good to know the Ducks and Stars still play four more times this season.  The next game is this Sunday, Jan 20th.

Videos added

Krys Barch vs Brad May Jan 15, 2008
Ian Laperriere vs Shane O’Brien Jan 15, 2008
Cody McLeod vs Kyle Wanvig Jan 15, 2008

Some reads

A fighting chance: Downey finds his niche as an enforcer with Red Wings
Giving Euro Hockey a Chance
Flyers - Hartnell at home in Philly
Isles’ Meyer steps up his game in Witt’s absence
No big bucks for Panthers’ Booth, but plenty of big cheers
Bruins’ Lucic names to NHL YoungStars team
Doan finding offensive touch
Classic Clarke
Linesman injured trying to break up hockey fight