Dance, Miss, Miss, Knockout

From the YouTube description:

In Game 7 of the Central Hockey League Semi-Finals, Fraser Filipic of the Colorado Eagles and Grahm Dearle of the Oklahoma City Blazers squared up at center ice.

Dearle was all right and came back later in the game. But wow, that was a wicked left hook.

Fight Night

Two fights from yesterday’s game against Boston. First up, Eric Boulton v. Jeremy Reich.
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Jimmy Slater v. Jeff Hoggan

Fedoruk Knocked Out

Seriously, can the NHL not go one week without a cheap hit, an ugly act of violence, or a guy being taken straight to the hospital?

I understand fighting is major part of hockey, and a fan favorite, but come on. I personally am getting tired of seeing this kind of stuff. Colton Orr v. Todd Fedoruk, less than a minute into the game:

From James Mirtle:

It’s generally when I see incidents like this that I ponder just what the value of fighting in the NHL is. Given the way public sentiment has slowly started to move that way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see scraps become a 10-minute or game misconduct in the future.

Would that eliminate fights and the injuries they cause? Hardly. But it might, at the very least, give poor Fedoruk’s face a rest for a while.

Fortunately, the early returns from the hospital say that Fedoruk will be all right.

Don’t get me wrong, I am the first one standing and yelling when the gloves are dropped. But at some point the league needs to figure out how to get rid of the hits to the head, the cheap shots, the late hits, guys getting knocked unconscious every week, etc…

Toronto vs. Janssen – Revenge

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Remember the hit by Cam Janssen on Tomas Kaberle from earlier in the month?

The Leafs and Devils faced off Tuesday night for the first time since the hit, and Wade Belak knew what he had to do. Here is the fight, Wade Belak v. Cam Janssen, probably one of the longer fights you will see this season.

The late hit on Kaberle showed the league that Cam Janssen can give a hit and doesn’t mind endangering someone, but yesterday showed everyone that he can be a man and take one right back.

Off Wing’s Opinion

Regardless of whether or not his “following through on a hit” was a cheap shot or not, you have to respect the man for actively working to continue a fight that he probably wasn’t going to win. But he stood his own and finished out what I thought was a draw. Anyone can dish it out, but it takes a man to hang in there and take some back.

Last Night’s Fight

Colton Orr vs. Eric Boulton

Tkachuk Fight

Keith Tkachuk’s fight from the other night finally made it up on YouTube.

Kovalchuk’s Fighting Ability

Last night’s game got me thinking. Kovy stood up for Hossa, and started to push around Francis Bouillon. I couldn’t remember a Kovalchuk fight off the top of my head, and so I did a classic YouTube search. He hasn’t been in many, but if he ever finds himself in another fight, I think he could take care of himself.

First up: Kovalchuk vs. Mike Comrie

Here’s a real whoopin’ from the WJC in 2001, Russia v. Switzerland.

Not too bad, is he? Don’t get my wrong, I never ever want to see Ilya endanger himself in a fight, but at the same time it would be amazing to see him kick someone’s butt.

Fight of the Year

As entertaining as the fight between the Caps and Thrashers was earlier in the year, this beats it by a long shot. Make sure to watch Ray Emery’s smile when he goes into his fight. Oh, and that was his first game back from a three game suspension.

The hit to Chris Drury left him cut and with a possible concussion. He is out indefinetly.