"Hockey is murder on ice." ~Jim Murray

December 16, 2010 2:23 PM

Mass Brawl on Ice! [SLYT] KHL teams fight 6 seconds into game.
posted by Fizz (83 comments total)

Seems like a good time to note that this was recently published.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 2:26 PM on December 16, 2010

Hockey's a weird sport. They should all be charged with assault or at least disorderly conduct.
posted by 2bucksplus at 2:27 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Actually, that's nothing. In the mid-80s me and my cousin showed up early for standing room only seats at the Chicago Stadium to watch the Hawks and the North Stars play. We were so early that the teams were still doing the skate-around, where they warm up on opposite sides of the ice. Well, somebody collided at center ice, both teams on the ice, no refs. The entire rosters were on there, no benches needed to be cleared. It took the coaches 20 minutes to pull the squads off the ice.

Not a minute of penalty time for a huge brawl.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:27 PM on December 16, 2010 [6 favorites]

Plus, the Russkies can't fight like Western Canadian boys can.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:28 PM on December 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

That's what I hate about hockey.
posted by mazola at 2:28 PM on December 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

I wish hockey was all this.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 2:30 PM on December 16, 2010 [6 favorites]

It's like Metatalk on skates.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:30 PM on December 16, 2010 [33 favorites]

It's like Metatalk on skates.

Nah, only one guy's crying and nobody's yelling about how last year's league standings determine who may and may not join the brawl.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 2:31 PM on December 16, 2010

That same cousin had a hockey fighting column in the Village Voice for years (yes that Village Voice)

A sample:

Every year a new crop of knuckle-chucking lads arrives in the NHL, wet behind the ears and anxious to let 'em fly. This season, an especially well-stocked batallion of youthful yahoos is making a strong statement to the league's established enforcers. Leading the way is Nashville grill-shaker Patrick Cote, whose 16 fighting majors ties him for the league lead with Colorado's diminutive Jeff Odgers. The 6-3 Cote has served up heaping doses of fistic frappé to whoever has placed an order. A quick peek at Cote's list of opponents reads like a roll call of the NHL's most feared fighters: Stu Grimson (three times), Bob Probert (twice), and Tony Twist (also three times), to name a ferocious few. Boffo brawler Peter Worrell of Florida is one more renegade rookie. Another tall drink of water at 6-6, Worrell has quickly earned a reputation around the league's locker rooms as a loose cannon who'll toe the line any time, any place, as his 12 fighting majors prove. Ultimately, the baddest of the bunch may prove to be Colorado crusher Scott Parker, a 20-year-young behemoth who, at 6-4, 220, resembles a human eclipse.

He said the hardest part was coming up with synonyms for "fighter," "fight," "punch" and the like. Saying guy 1 beat up guy 2 a lot is hard to do.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:33 PM on December 16, 2010 [5 favorites]

Idiots....

Many sport professionals no longer have any ethics or honor. I've pretty much stopped watching Hockey at all, Football is close behind (thanks Vick)...

My vote, let's not give these fools more airtime on Metafilter and delete the post.
posted by HuronBob at 2:33 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

mazola vs. coolxcool=rad

FIGHT!
posted by panaceanot at 2:35 PM on December 16, 2010

I don't general like hockey fights, but this isn't even a hockey fight - look how both guys in white (Vityaz?) assault their man at the same time. That's not one goon beating on another for encroaching on a goalie - that's just plain old assault.

I wish that at least the American minor leagues would ban fighting, but they'd probably lose ticket sales. I've noticed that refs are quicker to jump in recently, but that just gets the fans more riled up.
posted by muddgirl at 2:37 PM on December 16, 2010

Plus, the Russkies can't fight like Western Canadian boys can.

If I recall, at least one of these guys is a canuck they flew out specifically for the purpose of laying down some beats on this particular team. The team was on a road stretch and they actually had his return ticket bought for the next day. Pretty disgraceful
posted by Hoopo at 2:38 PM on December 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Many sport professionals no longer have any ethics or honor

Interestingly, there are unwritten rules about fighting in the NHL. For example, generally speaking, enforcers fight other enforcers and stay away from the talent. Once someone is down on the ice, the fight is over.

This league doesn't seem to have those rules, though.

In any case, the NHL has cracked down a lot on fighting in the last decade, focusing the game more on a showcase for skill, rather than brawn.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:41 PM on December 16, 2010 [6 favorites]

Entertainment for the whole family
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 2:41 PM on December 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Many sport professionals no longer have any ethics or honor.

You didn't watch much hockey in the 70s-80s did you, HBob?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:45 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

For example, generally speaking, enforcers fight other enforcers and stay away from the talent.

Wait -- there's the "talent" and then there are the "enforcers"? That is fucked up. Tell me more.
posted by eugenen at 2:45 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

Check out Wikipedia.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:47 PM on December 16, 2010

Wait -- there's the "talent" and then there are the "enforcers"?

Oh yes, it even has a Wikipedia article. I like to think that Warren Zevon's Hockey Song is a teachable moment about the role of a goon.
posted by muddgirl at 2:48 PM on December 16, 2010 [6 favorites]

Talent

Enforcer
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 2:49 PM on December 16, 2010

This is another thing a I hate about hockey.
posted by mazola at 2:50 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Put it this way. The NHL is vaguely medieval, with a mess of unspoken laws and rules about single combat. The KHL is more like the Wild West, where you do better with a posse.
posted by cmyk at 2:51 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

The NHL is vaguely medieval, with a mess of unspoken laws and rules about single combat. The KHL is more like the Wild West, where you do better with a posse.

Well, plus the NHL has explicit rules to prevent 2-on-1 fights and bench-clearing. It's like the difference between boxing and professional wrestling.
posted by muddgirl at 2:52 PM on December 16, 2010

Stu Grimson (three times), Bob Probert (twice), and Tony Twist (also three times), to name a ferocious few.

Wow, those names bring back some memories!

I actually thought this video was pretty bad. I love a good hockey fight, but I saw only one here. First, at 0:15, the scrums break out. One of the guys closest to the net turtles immediately, no fight there. #13 and #41 have the only thing that resembles a decent fight. #61 in the red and white drops his opponent almost immediately, and pummels him while he's down. That's a beating, not a fight. #58 (black jersey), better have gotten a talking to for leaving his buddy to get pummeled, that's just weak.

Then, Round 2- #13 (red jersey) squares off with the guy (black jersey) from the left corner's first fight. This looks like it could be something, until #92 (red jersey) rushes in as the third man and basically slams black jersey into the ice headfirst. I hope he got a game misconduct for that, at least.

After that, it's all just tears and crumpled heaps. Like I said, there's only one thing in there that actually looked like a good ole' hockey fight.
posted by rollbiz at 2:55 PM on December 16, 2010

I like to think that Warren Zevon's Hockey Song is a teachable moment about the role of a goon.

Not to mention one of the best rock songs about sports. Ever.
posted by Ber at 2:56 PM on December 16, 2010

Many sport professionals no longer have any ethics or honor

Interestingly, there are unwritten rules about fighting in the NHL. For example, generally speaking, enforcers fight other enforcers and stay away from the talent. Once someone is down on the ice, the fight is over.

This league doesn't seem to have those rules, though.

In any case, the NHL has cracked down a lot on fighting in the last decade, focusing the game more on a showcase for skill, rather than brawn.

The general public does not understand hockey fighting. Teams would get rid of fighting if chippy play designed to injure superstars did not occur. The purpose of the goon, or "ice cop" is to enforce a price for injuring a skill player.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:58 PM on December 16, 2010 [7 favorites]

Some context: This fight, which was between the Russian clubs Avangard and Vityaz, was a sequel to the original, which took place in January of this year, and which resulted in 691 penalty minutes.
posted by kosem at 2:59 PM on December 16, 2010

Actually, on rewatch, my "Round 2" features the same two guys as Round 1, #13 and #41, until #91 bombs in there as the third man.
posted by rollbiz at 2:59 PM on December 16, 2010

I could pick out Boehner and Pelosi, but who were the others?
posted by vverse23 at 3:00 PM on December 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

The general public does not understand hockey fighting. Teams would get rid of fighting if chippy play designed to injure superstars did not occur. The purpose of the goon, or "ice cop" is to enforce a price for injuring a skill player.

Precisely this. We discussed it at some length in a post I made a few years back.
posted by rollbiz at 3:01 PM on December 16, 2010

from Zevon's song:

Protection is what you're here for
Protection--it's the stars who score
Protection--go and kick somebody's ass
Protection--don't put the biscuit in the basket just
Hit some, Buddy! it rang in his ears
Blood on the ice ran down through the years
The king of the goons with a box for a throne
A thousand stitches and broken bones
He never lost a fight on his icy patrol
But deep inside, Buddy only dreamed of a goal
He just wanted one damn goal

the idea is to protect the better players from the lumber-wielders.

The man who protected the greatest ever?

Dave "Cement Head" Semenko.
posted by Ironmouth at 3:01 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

Hockey's a weird sport. They should all be charged with assault or at least disorderly conduct.

Try Canada's other official national sport: lacrosse. It's quite a bit more violent -- hockey meets kendo. In addition to body checks you get "stick checks." Things that would be considered slashing or spearing in hockey happen in every minute of play. Officially you're supposed to be aiming for the other guy's stick, but it seems to be understood that a bit of battering your opponent about the head and neck is all in good fun.

I've never seen a lacrosse fight. I suppose it's like soccer vs rugby: expect to see comparatively less dirty play in a game where extreme brutality is built into the rules.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:02 PM on December 16, 2010

Wow, Russia.

Plus, the Russkies can't fight like Western Canadian boys can.

I always thought crazy fights were a Quebec minor league thing. Oh yeah, goalies fighting.
posted by GuyZero at 3:02 PM on December 16, 2010

But in leagues that eject players who fight, we don't see any increased stickwork violence towards forwards. Quoting a wikipedia article

Opponents of fighting cite that international and college hockey, which both harshly penalize fighting with suspensions, lack the incidents or "stick work" violence proponents claim to fear, and questionwhat it is about North American professional ice hockey players — unique to major professional team sport — that renders them incapable of controlling themselves on the ice without fighting.

One could argue that without fights there would be more pressure on the forwards, which would result in lower-scoring games.
posted by muddgirl at 3:04 PM on December 16, 2010

The purpose of the goon, or "ice cop" is to enforce a price for injuring a skill player.

Except with the rassafrackin' instigator rule that's dying out. Instead what you get is your talent run into the boards by anyone who happens to be there, in hits that are just legal enough if you look the other way, and which it's impossible to retaliate for because your team will then be a man down, with five for the fight and if it's late enough in the game, a player out for the instigating.

I'd much prefer some theatrical fisticuffs between enforcers than what we have now, where the hockey goon's primary role is to paste everyone from Away into the boards as often as they can, preferably head-first.
posted by cmyk at 3:04 PM on December 16, 2010

Look who the Vityazes started: Chris Simon, Brandon Sugden, Darcy Verot, and Josh Gratton. That's one serious rogues' gallery right there (I'm a Caps fan, I recognize a few of those punks). I can't believe the Hawks coach didn't see the Chekov lineup and switch out their skill players for a fighting line (not that he should have to, just saying, those teams hate each other and that goon line just oozes trouble).

The fights between these teams are common, and nasty, and have a really awful origin. After the death of Avangard Omsk winger Alexei Cherepanov during a game in 2008, the teams blamed each other and the next time they met, a monster fight broke out four minutes in, and they had to call the game (on preview I see kosem mentioned this fight upthread). Even Jaromir Jagr gets in on it.

It's unfortunate that this fight is so unsurprising, but Avangard (big payroll, skilled players) vs. Vityaz (small payroll, goons and thugs) is one of the nastiest rivalries in any sport. From the sound of it, that's what the fans came to see.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:04 PM on December 16, 2010 [8 favorites]

I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I'd much rather watch amazing goals than fighting:

1 2 3

Just a few I've found recently while browsing through sports blogs.
posted by kmz at 3:10 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

Opponents of fighting cite that international and college hockey, which both harshly penalize fighting with suspensions, lack the incidents or "stick work" violence proponents claim to fear

Yes, but then, those leagues don't need fighting, then, do they?

The problem is the the refereeing in NHL hockey has always been shit. Refs will call "equalizer" penalties so that one team won't have to pay for their infractions. If they just called it like they see it, teams would not have goons at all--there would be no need and you would see fights at the frequency you see them in the NFL. Rare.
posted by Ironmouth at 3:22 PM on December 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I'd much rather watch amazing goals than fighting:

Here's Gretzky: breaking the supposedly unbreakable "50 goals in 50 games" record by scoring 5 goals in his 39th game of the season. He was only 20 years old. Talk about dominance! He scored 92 goals that season. Nobody has ever even touched that record. At 20!
posted by Ironmouth at 3:27 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Man, those were some awesome days in hockey. Thanks for the memories, Ironmouth!
posted by Go Banana at 3:42 PM on December 16, 2010

I was just disappointed by the lack of etiquette shown in the fights, including two-on-ones, that cheap shot on the goalie, hitting players once they're on the ice, goons fighting talent (in the 2 on 2 scuffle in the previous fight, #68 for the white and black team is Jaromir Jagr, who wasn't exactly looking for a fight) and so on.

Also disappointed that with all that scuffling, there wasn't even a goalie fight.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 3:45 PM on December 16, 2010

Try Canada's other official national sport: lacrosse. It's quite a bit more violent -- hockey meets kendo. In addition to body checks you get "stick checks." Things that would be considered slashing or spearing in hockey happen in every minute of play. Officially you're supposed to be aiming for the other guy's stick, but it seems to be understood that a bit of battering your opponent about the head and neck is all in good fun.

Well, no, hitting the head or neck would be a penalty. But yes, you can whack somebody all day long if you make it look like you're going for their stick and don't wind up too far. Most guys wear tons of arm padding, but there's plenty of seams in between the pads. In fact, if they try to block your stick checks, that's a penalty!

My favorite rule was that if you hit the ball carrier such that he goes out of bounds, you get the ball. I imagine hockey would be similar if there were an out of bounds.
posted by LionIndex at 3:46 PM on December 16, 2010

Entertainment for the whole family.


Oh this young man has had a very trying rookie season, with the litigation, the notoriety, his subsequent deportation to Canada and that country's refusal to accept him, well, I guess that's more than most 21-year-olds can handle... Ogie Ogilthorpe!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:48 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

Does anybody involved in hockey have a life?
posted by carping demon at 3:54 PM on December 16, 2010

I was at a curling match where a fight broke out. The players threw stones.

This joke took the bronze at the International Ice-Sport-Related Comedy Tournament three years ago, although not without a fight.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:55 PM on December 16, 2010 [2 favorites]

Hockey isn't always mayhem. Here's a video of 23,096 stuffed animals being tossed onto the ice at a Calgary Hitmen game. All of the animals were donated the following day to the Alberta Children's Hospital and hand-delivered by the players.
posted by tommasz at 3:56 PM on December 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

Does anybody involved in hockey have a life?

What does that mean?
posted by Hoopo at 4:08 PM on December 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Does anybody involved in hockey have a life?

What does that mean?

Troll: the internet's equivalent of a hockey goon, but lacking the respect of the unwritten rules.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:16 PM on December 16, 2010 [5 favorites]

Does anybody involved in hockey have a life?

wtf? of course. but into hockey and on MetaFilter? well....that's different.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:26 PM on December 16, 2010

speak for yourself.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2010

My brother has always been a huge hockey fan. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't convince our father that there was anything more to the game than fighting. Finally, after years of pressure my father agreed to attend a local amateur game featuring a collection of police and firefighter teams. What could go wrong?

So the entire family heads to this small rink to watch this game and we're sitting only a few rows back from the bench. For some reason or another a player gets ejected from the game. As the player is exiting the rink he get heckled by some guys a couple rows behind us. He didn't appreciate that too much so he responds by taking a couple steps into the crowd and whacking one of them with his stick.

At this point a full on brawl breaks out not two feet from us. I don't recall how long it lasted but needless to say my father was not pleased. The game was called off and my father never watched another hockey game again in his life.

I should totally send him this.
posted by Sandor Clegane at 4:32 PM on December 16, 2010

Troll: see Sean Avery.

The contrast between on-ice and off-ice behavior is something that surprises non-hockey people. All the players I've met, as gigantorific and scary-looking and completely goony when they've got skates strapped to their feet, are total teddybears when off the ice. They like to meet the fans, they like to hang out and say hi, they like to talk to kids, they make silly jokes. It's pretty rare that they get in trouble with the law -- far more often the hockeysphere raises its collective ire over a show-off move or a rumor that player X gets tetchy about meeting fans after games.
posted by cmyk at 4:34 PM on December 16, 2010

This is the hockey equivalent of a match between the Globetrotters and the Generals.
posted by chillmost at 4:43 PM on December 16, 2010

So, Bob Probert, one of the late-80s-early-90s goons for the Red Wings, wound up fourth all-time for penalty minutes, one of the all-time enforcers. Had massive fights against Tie Domi, enforcer for the Rangers, including a pretty infamous fight after which Domi makes a sign like "I've got the heavyweight belt". They went at it, so much, so hard, you thought that they really wanted to kill each other.

Fast-forward to August of this year. Probert died at age 45, and at his funeral, amongst other enforcers who show up to pay their respects, who shows up but Domi: "He was so likable. That's why I never tried to get to know him during our careers. I found it hard to do my job against guys once I got to know and like them. You couldn't help but like Probie. That's why I really wanted to do something to honor his legacy."
posted by mark242 at 4:49 PM on December 16, 2010 [6 favorites]

It's not a brawl unless the goalies fight.
posted by doublesix at 4:55 PM on December 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is why books like The Gate to Women's Country get written. Well, this and thousands of years of war.
posted by zzazazz at 4:56 PM on December 16, 2010

1. Check hated opponent into the corner boards so hard you both crash through the Zamboni door, ending up off the ice, in the arena hallway.
2. Slug it out in the hallway.

Jim Schoenfeld vs. Wayne Cashman, 1972.
posted by Eyebeams at 5:06 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

Fighters usually must keep one hand on their opponent's jersey since the ice surface makes maintaining balance very difficult. For this reason, the majority of a hockey fight consists of the players holding on with one hand and punching with the other.

So it's like that knife-fight sequence in "Beat It", only on ice skates? Rad.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:07 PM on December 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

Oh, you don't like hockey, eh?

Wanna go? WANNA GO?!
posted by bwg at 5:08 PM on December 16, 2010

...just putting on the foil, coach...
posted by panboi at 5:14 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

I read recently where star goon Tie Domi - as a little kid - intentionally smashed out his two front teeth just so he'd look like Bobby Orr.
posted by stinkycheese at 5:19 PM on December 16, 2010

Yeah you know, come to think of it, you don't hear much about hockey players getting in trouble off the ice.

Hey I gotta say though - a whole MeFi thread, and even this not-a-guy-who-watches-hockey wonders how it got this far and nobody has mentioned Marty McSorley?
posted by Xoebe at 6:43 PM on December 16, 2010

I've been going to watch live hockey since 1973 (check my profile to see how remarkable that is). I've seen my share of bench clearing brawls at the collegiate division 1 level. They eradicated that a long time ago. It's been gone from NHL for probably 20 years at this point.

I don't think most fighting adds anything to the sport, but at the NHL level it is a sort of kabuki ritual with a lot of unwritten rules. It can be a form of chivalrous contest. Not something I'm a fan of, but far, far less violent than boxing.

These videos are the sort of fighting that doesn't have any place in any league. I'm amazed by the utter lack of control the refs and linesman have of the games.
posted by meinvt at 6:50 PM on December 16, 2010

For all the hockey haters out there I invite you to watch the HBO 24/7 series on the Capitals and Penguins leading up to the annual winter classic.
The first episode was last night and very well done. It's a great first time ever look into the behind the scene operations of the team and players.

Hockey players are by in large one of the nicest, most charitable and community involved groups of people around.
I say that for the majority of everyone involved from the NHL level down to the mini-mites.
posted by zephyr_words at 6:52 PM on December 16, 2010

I'm sorry, this is huge heaps of crazy.

Seems to me that one of the "darker" players just leaps on a "red" player and starts punching him in the head, over and over, with no provocation - and keeps going even after his helmet comes off.

Why?! What's the fun in that? Why aren't there criminal charges? Why doesn't the ref do something?
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 6:56 PM on December 16, 2010

lupus_yonderboy: "Why?! What's the fun in that? Why aren't there criminal charges? Why doesn't the ref do something"

Because of the unwritten rules of fighting in hockey (that I didn't even know about until I looked them up on Wikipedia) apparently. There's a whole etiquette to when, where and how to and not to fight in hockey.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:58 PM on December 16, 2010

penal team in its
goal mouth off side
deke eh
posted by sockpup at 7:15 PM on December 16, 2010

with no provocation

You would have to be a fan and watch the team/league for months to know what the provocation is. Whether you agree with it or not, some of these grudges can go on for a very long while.

Why doesn't the ref do something?

In the NHL, they will intervene when someone falls to the ice. But this is the KHL, and the Russians have different standards.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 7:18 PM on December 16, 2010

> Because of the unwritten rules of fighting in hockey

I read that same article and no one is following those. That red guy is down on the ice almost instantly with his helmet off and the black guy keeps hitting him over and over in the head and no one does anything, not even other red guys.

> But this is the KHL, and the Russians have different standards.

As in none at all. Disgraceful.

(I should add that I lived in Canada for years. Fighting in the NHL is a whole different kettle of fish...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 7:26 PM on December 16, 2010

Jeez, guys. They're just puttin' on the foil.
posted by padraigin at 7:27 PM on December 16, 2010

Assault charges do get laid.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:47 PM on December 16, 2010

This is why books like The Gate to Women's Country get written. Well, this and thousands of years of war.--zzazazz

Because, you know, if women played hockey, they would be totally polite. "Did I bump into you? I'm sorry!"

Just like the fact that if women ruled countries, there would never be war.
posted by eye of newt at 7:48 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]

This is why books like The Gate to Women's Country get written.

Hah. The screenplay for Slap Shot was written by a woman, Nancy Dowd. I read a great interview with her some years back where she revealed that it wasn't really all THAT much of an exaggeration, either.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 8:03 PM on December 16, 2010

Are those staged fights between bad-ass hockey players still conducted?
the one minute events were not just about fighting, but the object was to move(by pushing and swinging fists)the other opponent outside of a small circle they were standing in. the last player(winning each level) walked away with a trophy, cash and title of the baddest-hockey player. the T.V. show lasted for years, then the show disappeared completely.
posted by tustinrick at 8:43 PM on December 16, 2010

I'm really hopin' that this show you've just described is some kind of conflation of a dystopian movie and an opium dream you once had, tustinrick.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:17 PM on December 16, 2010

Yeah you know, come to think of it, you don't hear much about hockey players getting in trouble off the ice.

Khabibulin could be wearing pink underwear
posted by mannequito at 10:21 PM on December 16, 2010

The contrast between on-ice and off-ice behavior is something that surprises non-hockey people. All the players I've met, as gigantorific and scary-looking and completely goony when they've got skates strapped to their feet, are total teddybears when off the ice.

My hometown has a USHL team, and when I was a kid, the next door neighbors were huge supporters of the local team. Every year, they rented a room to a hockey player, and to us kids, the neighborhood hockey player was the coolest guy ever. Usually it was a different player every year. Here was a pro athlete that lived on the block and that would come around and help us make our own ice rinks in our backyards. When he wasn't at practice or away at a game, he would be outside playing hockey with us and teaching us how to skate and play hockey. It was awesome. I've always hated the cold, but when I lived in that neighborhood, I always looked forward to winter....and when I got to high school, I was known as a small guy that didn't give a fuck about gym class.....until the hockey unit came around. I can remember the looks of shock on people's faces when I scored two goals in the first game and was soon ejected for checking people much larger than myself into a cement wall.
posted by TrialByMedia at 10:27 PM on December 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I'd much rather watch amazing goals than fighting:
1 2 3
Just a few I've found recently while browsing through sports blogs.

If you like #3, you'll probably like this goal.
posted by chndrcks at 6:33 AM on December 17, 2010

When are they gonna wise up and start using electric eels as referees?
posted by orme at 7:25 AM on December 17, 2010

While we're at it, let's replace the Zamboni with a giant slug.
posted by rollbiz at 8:03 AM on December 17, 2010

If you like #3, you'll probably like this goal .

I like the guy narrating it too--John Saunders. Saw him in a celebrity charity hockey game and he was literally skating circles around everyone and scoring left and right. I texted my cousin, who informed me Saunders was from Canada. Explained a lot.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:09 AM on December 17, 2010

Well, ey. At least you'll never see a -curling- brawl.
posted by Twang at 1:13 PM on December 17, 2010

That's not a brawl or a fight - it's a pathetic pre-meditated mugging that has no place in hockey and isn't representative of the modern NHL at all.
This post would have been half decent if some proper references to the history and politics between these two clubs in the KHL were included, but as it stands it just looks like another ignorant bashing of a sport that doesn't deserve it.
posted by Pseudonumb at 1:17 PM on December 17, 2010