While Some People Complain About Violence In The NHL. . . The nastiest stuff usually happens in Canadian Junior Hockey -- the place where the vast majority of NHL "enforcers" really get their start:
The Halifax Mooseheads and Baie-Comeau Drakkar combined to get 23 players ejected and racked up 485 penalty minutes during a fight-filled Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game Wednesday night.
Halifax won the game 9-2, but there were so many skirmishes that Baie-Comeau had only five skaters left for the final 10:38.
"That's not hockey," Halifax coach Shawn MacKenzie said. "I'm all for tough, in-your-face hockey, but that's not hockey. Anytime the leaders in this league don't show professionalism, it has to be addressed by the people above us."
The Drakkar are known for their rough style of play, but coach Richard Martel was unapologetic, saying, "my players played with frustration, that's all."
The low point came with 9:22 left to play, when every player on the ice was involved in some sort of a brawl.
"It's the first time I hit somebody in my life," Halifax goalie Jonathan Boutin said.
But here's the dirty little secret that the people who run the NHL don't want to talk about: the fact is, some of the best games in the history of the sport have had some fisticuffs involved. The best example comes from the 1996-97 NHL season, where the Detroit Red Wings were looking for a way, any way at all, to undo the whammy the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche had over them.
They got their chance in March 1997:
March 26, 1997: Lemieux, playing his first game in Detroit since the hit on Draper, was hammered by Darren McCarty in a first-period brawl.
The trouble began with a collision between Detroit's Igor Larionov and Colorado's Peter Forsberg along the boards. McCarty then decked Lemieux with a straight right hand and hit him with several lefts after he went down.
The McCarty-Lemieux battle drew Roy out of the crease. Brendan Shanahan intercepted him at centre ice and knocked him down.
Detroit goalie Mike Vernon then entered the fray and easily got the best of Roy. Neither goalie was penalized for leaving the crease.
Lemieux, Roy and Forsberg were bloodied in the melee.
McCarty scored the winning goal 39 seconds into overtime of a 6-5 Detroit victory.
The Red Wings gained momentum from the game, ousting Colorado from the playoffs a few weeks later during their drive to the Stanley Cup championship.
People, I watched that game live, and to this day I site it as the greatest regular season game in the history of the game. And yes, fighting was an integral part of the game. And anyone who thinks that eliminating fighting completely from the game is what's needed for it to be a wider success, just doesn't know what they're talking about.
