As promised, here are the top five. If you liked yesterday's list, I guarantee you'll like these even more. You even get a bonus video (there are two No. 3 videos!)
And if you tuned in late and want to see yesterday's list of fights 6-10, click here.
5) December 29, 2007 Chris Neil vs. Donald Brashear -- Two of game's best-known heavyweights don't hear the buzzer ending the second period. Oh well. Chris Neil pays for it in bruises, eating about two dozen hard lefts from Brashear before regaining his dignity with a desperate final salvo.
4) November 8, 2007 Riley Cote vs. Arron Asham -- Asham may only be 5-11, but he's not intimidated by one of the game's most fearless scrappers. He trades punches feverishly with Cote before landing two critical blows at the end, including a decisive knockout punch.
3a) November 21, 2007 Krys Barch vs. Brad May, Round 1 -- The veteran Ducks tough guy and upstart Dallas brawler engage in a pair of preponderous performances of pugilistic precision.
3b) January 15, 2008 Krys Barch vs. Brad May, Round 2 -- This time, it's personal!
2) October 27, 2007 Riley Cote vs. Shawn Thornton -- NESN play-by-play man Jack Edwards nailed it: "It's Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots!"
1) January 3, 2008 Darcy Tucker vs. Jarkko Ruutu -- These two are a pair of the most well-known (and well-hated) agitators in the league. When they trade punches, you can feel the venom. Look at the expression on Tucker's face. Watch as Ruutu nearly gouges Tucker's eye at one point. I'm guessing no one was too upset to see these guys beat each other up.
Comments (10)
Whoo!
Fighting in hockey is one of the best parts of the sport. It lets the men be men and settle it fair and square. Its one of the few ways in sports that the fans of two teams can be brought to their feet.
I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.
Animals. Grow up.
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I was lucky to have found this blog. Newsgay buries all hockey-related writings.
love seeing tucket take a beating!!! leafs suck
great stuff
Your lack of Milan Lucic's standing KO is painful.
Also I highly question why you didnt put the Chara fight where Chara destroyed David Koci's face. It was so bad they delayed the game to scrape the blood off the ice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYch5rjNe6M
greg b, i agree with the milan lucic pounding of dave clarkson but not at all with the chara-koci fight. koci was fighting with a broken nose from a wade belak bout. chara got lucky on his shot and thats about it. his punch didn't do anything but reopen the wound. this list is pretty decent and definitely got it right with the #1 fight.
i am a die hard hockey fan and i'm completely agnostic about fighting - i would watch the game without it, but i love to see a rat fink like ruutu answer for his previous sins. that being said, 2 things:
1) enough with the boxing-like starts. what happened to the days where guys would be 24 inches away from each other, drop the gloves and start throwing? when guys drop their sticks and gloves and circle each other for 60+ seconds, i lose interest. it's a waste of time. drop em and throw down, or don't bother.
2) can we stop cheering when a player takes another player down to the ice to end a fight? this is not a move of aggression, but rather a last ditch effort to save one's orbital bones. video #5 is the best example of this. you call what neil does at the end a dignity-saving final salvo? give me a break. looks like he just got tired of getting punched in the face, so he ended it the only way he could.