Upon Further Fighting

Jeff Marek of CBC interviewed me for his blog on CBC’s website, Upon Further Review.

Part one consisted of a few fight and site-related questions, along with some younger and AHL players I think you could see make their mark on the NHL soon.

Part two is a couple of top tens: top ten fighters, and the top ten fights from last season.  My top tens are fairly flexible.  Everyone can be moved up or down two spots easily.  Anything can happen on any night which is what makes them fun to do.  I’ll try and highlight both of these lists more soon.

The 2007-08 hockeyfights.com Awards are coming soon, and you’ll be able to pick your top fighter and fight of the year.

On a related-note: I also had a few words with the owner of My Hero Of The Day where I was featured.  Fun, and flattering to say the least.

Lappy, Career Student

Ian Laperriere lands one on Mathieu Roy. AP Photo/John Ulan

We’ve always been fans of Ian Laperriere here.  Besides his willingness to drop the gloves, he just keeps going.  At 34, he’s currently tied for 8th on the fighting majors leaders list.  He also doesn’t have a case of NHL Oak, an affliction turning many a player into wood during interviews.

Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal profiles Lappy’s pugilistic studies.

His favourite website is hockeyfights.com. The site lists all the fights over an NHL year, describes them, and lets fans vote on who won or lost.

“We all look at it, even if guys say they don’t,” said Laperriere, who’s had 15 fights this year.

“I’m 34, that’s pretty good. More than I expected.”

He also rips on your fight reviews.  Yeah, you know who you are.

I suspend you, I suspend you not

The NHL handed suspensions out like candy this week as Andrew Peters, James Wisniewski, Steve Ott, and now Georges Laraque have all been given mandatory breaks. Peters (punching Colton Orr from the bench) and Wisniewski (cross-checking Mikael Samuelsson) received a game each while Ott and Laraque have both been tossed for three.

Ott was tossed for a high hit on Jordan Leopold Sunday night. Ott maintains that it was a legal hit and both of his feet didn’t leave the ice. Leopold remains out of action with concussion-like symptoms.

Meanwhile Laraque will sit because of an elbow to the head of Sabres’ winger Nathan Paetsch in what turned out to be a scary moment Wednesday night. After laying motionless on the ice for a few minutes, Paetsch left the ice on his own power. He too will be out indefinitely due to a concussion.

Buuuuut, if your name is Chris Pronger, don’t worry about it.

Suspension-related, but not Pronger-related as Anaheim’s pretty far from the border: Luke DeCock of The News & Observer took a look at how often suspensions are handed out and found Canadian teams get leniency from the league.

Last night

Chris Simon fought for the first time last night in a Wild jersey (or sweater, if you prefer).  He took on David Clarkson.

Eric Godard and Eric Boulton had a lengthy bout in Atlanta.  Darren Eliot declared it the best scrap in Atlanta this season.  Fan voting supports that statement.

Lastly, Alex Burrows and Daniel Carcillo got into it in the Canucks-Coyotes game.  It was a bit of a mess for a couple of minutes, but there were no further altercations in the end.  Although if Carcillo had his way, he might have had another.

Videos added

David Clarkson vs Chris Simon Mar 13, 2008
Alexandre Burrows vs Daniel Carcillo Mar 13, 2008
Eric Godard vs Eric Boulton Mar 13, 2008
Eric Godard vs John Erskine Mar 12, 2008
Rob Davison vs Nick Tarnasky Mar 11, 2008

Some reads

NHL’s Western Conference Brings Back Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Hockey
Breaking down the NHL’s oddest couples
Call it the injustice of justice
Draper out with slight groin tear; Helm recalled, McCarty skates
Time for Kyle Okposo era to begin
Giving Peca an ‘A’ could be letter of club’s intent
Hanson brothers hit home with Dallas Stars’ Matt Niskanen
Weller ‘a tremendous story’
“We Stand Ready to Help the Town of Hempstead”
O’Ree brings message to Nova Scotia
Rangers’ success attributed to the right balance

With April 15th quickly approaching (that’s tax deadline day here in the States), I can’t forget this Fortune Small Business article: Write-offs for your home business
Ok, ok, they link to hockeyfights.com and it is fun to see when unexpected.

* John Chandler contributed to this post.

Boulerice Still Suspended

TSN listed Jesse Boulerice‘s suspension as being finished on their set of transactions for December 12th. That is not the case.

To date, Boulerice has served 16 out of the 25 games on his current suspension according to Flyers beat writer Tim Panaccio. The Flyers have been shipping Boulerice back and forth from their AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms in order to create room for call-ups since his punishment began.

According to the AHL’s transactions page, Boulerice was not recalled for Philadelphia’s contests against Pittsburgh and Montreal this week so the number remains the same.

It seems that TSN might just be counting down the number of games that have taken place since Boulerice was suspended by the league. Yahoo! Sports and CBS Sportsline both made a similar mistake when they ended Steve Downie‘s suspension one game early.

Boulerice will be eligible to play in the AHL starting this Sunday. The Phantoms play the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins that afternoon.

Boogaard Fight Camp Still Debated

The Boogaards fight camp, which made news a month ago when it was announced they were going to teach kids how to fight on skates, is still getting ink.

CTV adds to the chatter about the camp with an article accompanied by a few videos.

It has the normal “it’s defensive” vs “it’s thuggery” quotes, plus a little something from the Great One:

“If they’re there teaching kids at the ages of 12, 13, 14 to defend themselves, that’s fine,” said Wayne Gretzky. “I took boxing classes when I was 10. It didn’t pay off for me.”

Sarah Schorno of The Huffington Post chimes in with a positive outlook:

The purpose of the camp is to teach the attendees, who range in age from 12 to 18, to learn how to effectively handle the inevitable on-ice fight. If the camp stays true to its cause, which is self defense, then it’s not entirely a bad idea.

Even on this site, where fighting is clearly not frowned upon, there was debate on whether or not the Boogaards should be teaching kids the ins and outs of on-ice fisticuffs.  One thing that is clear is that the controversy surrounding it generated enough publicity for them to easily fill-up next year’s camp.

Brawling With Boogaard for Beginners

The hockey Boogaards, Derek of the Minnesota Wild, and younger brother Aaron of the Pittsburgh Penguins, have their own hockey camp specializing in fighting:

“The main thing is I’m not teaching them how to hurt each other,” Derek insists. “I’m showing them how to protect themselves - where to hold, where to grab and, if you’re in trouble, what to do.

“I’m not saying they’re not going to get hurt if they fight. It’s just a little insurance to help them out.”

There are quotes from parents who enrolled their children in the camp, a mention of mostly negative local reaction, and Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press lets us know that the other Boogaard brother, forum regular Ryan, is the little one in the family, standing at “only” 6’2”.

Derek goes on to make a prediction about the direction of fighting in the NHL:

“The way the league’s going, they’re signing everyone back that fought before because they saw what Anaheim did all year long and in the playoffs,” Derek said. “They just pushed everyone around. Fans were excited after the lockout because it was such a fast game. It was, but then it got boring.

“(Fighting) is coming back. I’m excited for the season.”

Update: Michael Russo, of the Star Tribune, also has a piece on the Boogaards fight camp:

Two years into his NHL career, Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard is already a phenomenon.

Boogaard’s YouTube fight clips are legendary and have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Fans flock to hockeyfights.com to vote on the outcome of his brouhahas.

Getting Political

On page 2 of The Weekly Standard’s profile of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is this fun mention:

Growing up, Pawlenty played hockey. He is still a rabid NHL fan. The first website he visits each morning is hockeyfights.com, which shows combat highlights from the previous night’s games.

Very cool.  I don’t get political here, but I’ll have to decide what to start lobbying for…

Playoffs continue

As I type this the Rangers are taking on the Sabres in overtime on NBC.

I can’t wait for the Ducks and Canucks on Versus tonight.  I know it’s only been two games, but I wasn’t expecting this series to be tied after game one ended.

Both networks have done a great job so far during the playoffs.  When I get them, the HD picture and camera angles have been great.  Definitely an improvement over last season.

Videos added

Tie Domi vs Rob Ray Nov 21, 1996
Bob Probert vs Tie Domi Apr 3, 1996
Jim Cummins vs Shawn Heins Jan 17, 2002
Dennis Bonvie vs Patrick Cote Jan 15, 2000
Richard Scott vs Eric Cairns Dec 4, 2003

Today’s games

Buffalo Sabres vs New York Rangers 2:00 PM ET
Anaheim Ducks vs Vancouver Canucks 8:00 PM ET

Getting Ready

Tonight’s the night.  Playoff time, what you’ve waited the whole year for.

There are so many articles out there with season recaps, playoff previews, predictions, etc.  Here are a bunch I think might interest you.

Anaheim Has Gone From Warm and Fuzzy to Fiery and Nasty

The Anaheim Ducks used to have an animated Tinkerbell that fluttered across the scoreboard and sprinkled pixie dust onto pictures of players’ heads.

Tinkerbell cannot possibly recognize her team anymore. The Ducks have essentially traded pixie dust on the head for punches to the face.

“We fight,” Anaheim General Manager Brian Burke said. “It’s what we do. We put a premium on it.”

...snip…

Sitting in their dressing room, the Ducks are as likely to be talking about right hooks as wrist shots. They monitor the Web site hockeyfights.com, which features penalty statistics that the N.H.L. does not always publish. Parros and Thornton take boxing lessons in the summer to hone their craft.

Wild Head To Anaheim With Their ‘Enforcer’
From the toughest to the meekest
Emery’s play getting rave reviews this season
Which traded player will have the biggest postseason impact?
Another first for Crosby: playoffs
Wings ripe for the picking: Cherry
‘Tis season to dream
The Stanley Cup playoffs - Eh to Z
The Cup: Gotta love it

Non-playoff reads

McSorley isn’t bad for a rookie
Team could have interest in bringing back Forsberg

Fridge unplugged: LW Todd Fedoruk said he’d like to remain a Flyer, but believes that as a seven-year veteran he should earn more than the NHL minimum salary of $450,000.

Fedoruk will be a UFA on July 1. “With any job there’s an increase in pay,” he said.

“I feel I deserve to get off that hump and earn some money.

“I lose a fight and all of a sudden, peril.”

Fedoruk said he needs to overcome the tentativeness he’s had since sustaining facial fractures in an October fight with Minnesota’s Derek Boogaard.

“You try to ignore it, but it’s something I have to look at because it’s affecting the way I play and the way I fight,” he said. “The tentativeness of getting hit is what I have to release.

“Come September, I’ll be eating nails for breakfast.”

Update 415pm: Tonight’s Ducks-Wild game is being streamed live on Yahoo for free.

The Confirmation

Two games, one fight last night.

The official “second favorite team” of hockeyfights.com members, the Anaheim Ducks, were playing, so chances were decent for a throw down.

The Ducks took on the San Jose Sharks last night.  Ryane Clowe had a good tussle with Shawn Thornton in the second period.

Clowe won’t rack up any stats outside of PIMs, but he did score the game-winner in the shootout.

Last night’s fight

Ryane Clowe vs Shawn Thornton Apr 4, 2007

Fans like fighting

Hey, they’re figuring it out.

Poll: Majority of hockey fans like fights

The Decima survey found that a huge majority of people who call themselves avid fans - a whopping 76 per cent - oppose eliminating fights from NHL games.

Non-news here, but who doesn’t like survey results?

Francophones were eight per cent more supportive of a fighting ban than anglophones.

Alrighty, but what about the LNAH?

Alberta is the province most opposed to a ban.

I don’t know, I heard you literally have to fight your way across the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.  Little-known fact: I’m one of five Americans that doesn’t have to look up how to spell Saskatchewan.  Thank you hockey.

More on fighting

From Michael McCarthy of USA Today: The unwritten rules of NHL’s fight club

But the frontier justice strikes René Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation in Switzerland, as “Neanderthal” or even “criminal” behavior.

“One of the most cherished events in American sports history is the 1980 ‘Miracle On Ice,’ a game without even a hint of a fight. Did anyone miss fighting in that game?” he says. “Would the American victory had been more emphatic had Mike Eruzione scored a knockout decision over Sergei Makarov and sent him bloodied to the locker room?”

If they knew he was going to win NHL Rookie of the Year at the age of 31, probably.

I love any time someone makes the Olympics comparison.  A single-elimination all-star tournament and the long NHL season played by 30 teams.  Same thing.

Fighting is strongly penalized at other levels of hockey, from U.S. colleges to international and Olympic tournaments, Fasel points out. He predicts that the NHL would gain two fans for every die-hard it loses by eliminating fights.

But pro hockey fans are a different breed. Many watch the latest scraps on the website hockeyfights.com, which attracted about 800,000 visitors in March. Says site creator David Singer: “Fans like that part of the game. If nobody else is going to feature it, then I am.”

You can almost hear a little NY in there.  There were 800k uniques in March along with over 1 million visits and over 7.5 million page views.  Maybe it’s just me, or the logo, or you know, people like hockey played with passion.

Let me interrupt those numbers for some Chris Nilan:

“Every bleeding-ass liberal comes out and says how bad our game is. But the hockey fans don’t mind it at all,” he says.

I’ve heard Don Cherry collects royalties any time someone uses the phrase “bleeding-ass liberal” when talking hockey.  Just kidding, you know CBC has their hands on the Janet Jackson-button just in case that were to happen.

Sticky situation

Ice Girls want Ranger called for slashing, spitting

During commercial breaks, teams of three Ice Girls clean loose ice known as “snow” in the goal and the blue-painted goaltender’s crease in front of the goal line. But Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist declined to move and used his stick to whack the squeegee Kelli Higgins, 23, was using to push the snow into a pile during the first TV timeout, knocking the butt end of the squeegee stick into her stomach.

...

“All of a sudden, my back got wet,” said Benson, who was wearing a standard outfit of pants and top that leaves the midriff area exposed. “I believe one of the Rangers players who was sitting along the wall spit on my back. It had to be on purpose because I wasn’t directly in front of anyone to spit and not realize I was there.”

Not really much I have to add there.  When the Isles played the Capitals about a month ago, Brent Johnson didn’t move either.  No slashes involved.

One more read

Back on track

Huge night

Big night for games.  The Eastern Conference playoff race could become much clearer or stay just as muddied as it is now.  Either way, lots of important games on tap.

Chelios Talks Bertuzzi, Bruise Brothers, Respect

A few minutes ago I glanced over at my TV and noticed that Jim Rome was just starting to interview Chris Chelios. So I went ahead and watched. I’m glad I did too…

Rome busted out the obvious question to start things off, asking how Chelios is still playing at age 45.

Chelios said that he feels great and feels just as good as he did five years ago when the Detroit Red Wings last won the Cup. He thanked his doctors for the ability to continue playing as they successfully found ways for Chelios to play pain free even after multiple surgeries in the past.

So when will Chelios finally hang up the skates? It’s hard to say at this point isn’t it?

Things started to get interesting when Rome asked Chelios about the league itself. Chelios was quick to say that the dynamics have changed, especially the way guys handle themselves out there. He said that there is no respect in the league amongst players because of the new rules. Guys can take cheap shots at will and not have to answer for their actions.

Wait a second! Did Chelios just complain about cheap shot artists?

The subject of the Wings acquiring Todd Bertuzzi brought up mentions of Bob Probert and Joey Kocur.

Rome brought up the rivalry that Chelios has had with Bertuzzi for years now and Chelios jokingly said that because of Bert’s size, he would probably just let things go in terms of nasty feelings towards one another. Chelios also brought up the summer that the Chicago Blackhawks acquired Probert, who Chelios disliked very much. Two weeks before training camp was to start, Probert apparently came to Chelios’ house laughing and to break the ice.

When asked if the Wings thought about acquring an enforcer to go into the playoffs such as Georges Laraque, Chelios noted that the idea was tossed around but ultimately nothing happened in the end. He said that it would have been nice having a Kocur-type player on the ice to open up things for the top two lines.

It was an interesting interview to the say least and it reaffirms the notion that the media isn’t the only one who wants to see the league go back to its roots in one way or another…

Tune Up Tuesday

George Parros takes on Scott Parker from the Ducks at Sharks game on Feb 6, 2007. Photo: Jon Swenson / Sharkspage.com

Vote!

Nothing like some glove swapping and dropping.

The Sharks and Ducks play again tonight.

While that was the last fight of the night, it was far from the first.  Nine scraps altogether, here’s a the quick list of the rest: Jeremy Reich-Ben Clymer, Owen Nolan-Zenon Konopka, Raitis Ivanans-Andre Roy, Andrew Ladd-Craig Rivet, Darcy Hordichuk-Maxime Talbot, Jeff Cowan-Zack Stortini, Brent Seabrook-Dion Phaneuf and Steve Montador-Ian Laperriere.

The theme of the night was stepping up for a teammate.

You can watch almost all of the scraps on the videos page.  Besides Parros-Parker above, Seabrook-Phaneuf and Ladd-Rivet are both Youtube previews on the vids page and the rest are still all on Youtube.  Montador-Lappy is the lone missing scrap, I’ll try and get that soon.

With another fight last night, Lappy now leads the league by two FMs.

Michael Farber over at SI.com has a piece about the George Parros and the Ducks fighting ways, this site gets some love:

The 6’5”, 225-pound Parros tends to be a counterpuncher—last month the one time he was overly aggressive, he was bloodied by a blind swing from Columbus’s Jody Shelley—and has a 4-4-3 record in ‘06-07, at least according to voters on hockeyfights.com, The Ring magazine of hockey’s pugilistic subculture. That website, says Parros, “might as well be my home page.” He downloads fight clips on a PlayStation Portable and studies opponents, “just like getting ready for a test at school.”

From the Sidney’s getting beat up department: Al Strachan writes NHL rules make it hard for the Pens to protect Crosby.  Scott Morrison says Sid has to stand up for himself.

Another big site update coming soon, stay tuned.

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!

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"

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?

Linking Up

Not much to say about the one game last night (no need to update the videos page), but there are quite a few good things to point you towards.

First, there’s a new Original on the front page, Behind “The Code”, an interview with Ross Bernstein, author of The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL.

Win a copy of the book! Rules | Entries

Blog posts from yesterday:
* Garrett Burnett’s Status
* Grenier Caught With Pants Down

Looking at the MSM:
* Marleau’s fight inspires Sharks
* Enforcer role becoming endangered
* Franke wants UHL to focus on its fans
* Making a case for rivalries

Due to the holiday in the States, many of today’s games start early, wake up.

Big Pimpin’ Without Spendin’ G’s

I thought it wouldn’t be possible to cram any more pimpage today, but it turns out - I can.

You see, Sportsnet Connected pimped the site so much last night that I almost feel a little dirty.  Almost.  But not really.  Or at all.

And there we have it, big pimpin’ without spendin’ g’s.  I haven’t figured out if that gives me a leg up on Jay-Z or not.

Anyway, I’d like to thank Sportsnet, great spot, keep up the good work.

Quick edit: Youtube seems to be burping right now, and the video seems to be on and off.