All Tied Up
George Parros finally ended Jared Boll‘s solo reign at the top of the fighting majors leaderboard (temporarily at least) last night after going after Ben Eager during Ducks–Blackhawks last night.
The chain of events started after Chris Pronger hit Craig Adams from behind. Eager came over and gave Pronger a few shoves but Pronger skated away as he was sporting a face guard courtesy of a broken jaw suffered the last time these two teams played. Thus Parros greeted Eager, who decided that he’d try to draw a for his team.
Sean O’Donnell and James Wisniewski had a secondary scrap after Parros was sent back to the locker room. Adams and Todd Bertuzzi went earlier in the first period.
Craig Weller and Brad Winchester had a go in Coyotes–Stars. Do fights between the two teams seem pretty common? They should. Since 1998-99, Dallas has gotten in more fights with Phoenix than any other NHL team. Only the Kings stand in the Stars’ way of achieving the same honor for the Yotes.
In case anyone is interested, they play back to back games in April.*
One less middleman
More and more players have their own websites and blogs. When the Wild traded for Chris Simon, the reaction from the media to the fans was far from positive. The Wild thought it’d be best for Simon to address the fans directly on their website. Simon didn’t shy away from it and blogged about some of his past mistakes. A rather open and appropriate response. It was told to Chris Snow, and it’s not as though it’s raw, but it’s certainly better than silence or your typical presser. Found via Damien Cox of The Star.
Around we go
Adam Proteau of The Hockey News answers an email (or snail mail) from a Canadian fan blaming the American market for fighting still being in the game. Proteau describes the mailing as the “best question” he’s received since starting his mailbag column. This is one of my favorites as well since fight fans in Canada generally blame the US market for the decline in fighting (generally with the words “family friendly” and “Gary Bettman”).
Before giving your own rant, give the comments a read, there are a lot of good points being made in there.
Newsday’s faves
Mike Casey of Newsday picked his top 10 bouts of the year so far. Here’s 6-10, then 1-5.
Videos added
Craig Weller vs Brad Winchester Mar 5, 2008
Sean O’Donnell vs James Wisniewski Mar 5, 2008
George Parros vs Ben Eager Mar 5, 2008
Jerred Smithson vs Steve Staios Mar 4, 2008
Darcy Hordichuk vs Zack Stortini Mar 4, 2008
Rick Rypien vs Cody McLeod Mar 4, 2008
Alexandre Burrows vs Scott Hannan Mar 4, 2008
Some reads
Glass acts tough
Return tolls for Bell
Ducks lose temper, game to Blackhawks
No-show Kilger is suspended
* Top blurb by John Chandler.
