Former UMD defenseman Mike Montgomery -- the captain of last season's national championship team -- has bounced between the ECHL and AHL this season. His time in the ECHL has been spent with the Ontario (Calif.) Reign, while he's had a couple cups of coffee in the AHL, including with the Wild affiliate in Houston.
Saturday night, Montgomery was involved in a line brawl that has gone viral on the YouTubes.
He's No. 6 in white, by the way.
Montgomery's Reign won 5-1. He had an assist on their last goal. By my count, the game featured close to 300 total penalty minutes.
Showing posts with label fights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fights. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Matt Niskanen Fights Brad Marchand
Former UMD defenseman Matt Niskanen is not known as a fighter. In fact, this is his fourth NHL season, and he has only fought five times, counting a good one he had Monday night in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins blue-liner was on the wrong end of a rather nasty-looking slew-foot from Boston forward and noted pest Brad Marchand.
Instead of looking for someone else to fight Marchand in his honor, Niskanen took it on himself. There aren't a lot of high points on Niskanen's NHL fight card, but this is clearly the best he's had as a professional.
The voters on HockeyFights are overwhelmingly in Niskanen's favor, by the way.
The Penguins blue-liner was on the wrong end of a rather nasty-looking slew-foot from Boston forward and noted pest Brad Marchand.
Instead of looking for someone else to fight Marchand in his honor, Niskanen took it on himself. There aren't a lot of high points on Niskanen's NHL fight card, but this is clearly the best he's had as a professional.
The voters on HockeyFights are overwhelmingly in Niskanen's favor, by the way.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The NHL's Combative Conundrum
For those who haven't heard, Winnipeg Jets center Rick Rypien was found dead Monday in Alberta.
While no one has said anything specific about the cause of death, we know it apparently isn't suspicious, and it was described in one report -- since edited -- as a suicide.
This isn't going to be a rant about the end of fighting in hockey. It's also not an indictment of the sport. Every sport has people who have struggled with addictions or other problems. For Rypien, depression was the real-life fight. For Derek Boogaard, it was addiction. That they died at a young age does not make hockey bad. It does not make hockey a sport that kills young people.
It makes hockey players human beings who are sometimes vulnerable to human tragedies.
However, there is a very real problem facing the NHL and the sport in general. It's a problem that I'm quite uncomfortable bringing up, when Rypien died just a day ago. It's a problem, however, that needs to be addressed soon, before it spirals out of control.
See, Boogaard and Rypien shared a common thread. They may have never fought one another, but they did take part in plenty of fights in pro hockey.
And it's that facet of the sport that is now under the greatest scrutiny.
It sounds crass to use the deaths of Rypien or Boogaard -- men whose families are grieving over their deaths -- as some sort of example as to why the NHL needs to ban fighting, however we have to talk about this, before someone on the outside makes us.
Peter Raaymakers of Silver Sevens -- a Senators blog on SB Nation -- wrote an incredibly compelling piece on fighting Monday, obviously unaware that another NHL enforcer-type player would end up dead later in the day.
There's a lot of good info in there about the toll that this job -- enforcer -- takes on the bodies of those who participate.
As Greg Wyshynski notes ...
The bottom line? The NHL could ban fighting, and this could still happen. We could still be looking at guys under 30 meeting an all-too-premature demise, and we'd still be sitting here wringing our hands, trying to figure out how to keep it from happening again.
It's just that we wouldn't have the ready-made fighting connection. We'd have to ban something else, like half-shields or whatever.
What would happen if the NHL banned fighting? Would people stop going to the games? Unlikely.
The end of the Minnesota Wild's sellout streak may have come in their first year post-Boogaard, but the two items are incredibly unrelated. The Wild's sellout streak ended because the economy tanked and the team sucked. If both of those things hadn't happened -- say, had the team been good or the economy stayed healthy -- the streak would probably still be alive. But people had to make tough decisions with their extra money, and "pay $75 a game to watch a bad team" wasn't too appealing to them. That's understandable.
Do you think the Florida Panthers struggle to sell tickets because their players don't get in enough fights? Or is it because the team hasn't made the playoffs in what feels like 100 years, and they don't have any real stars they can market?
However, what is the price the NHL pays by banning fighting?
Yeah, a guy like Boogaard -- whose only job was to protect his team's skill players with the occasional fight -- might not be able to find work, but someone will have to draw an NHL salary to replace that spot in the lineup. So that's not much different.
I don't care what team it is. Ticket sales will not noticeably suffer. Yeah, fans stand when the fight starts. I get that. But they aren't going to stop attending games because there isn't a fight to cheer for anymore. If that was the case, we wouldn't sell out as many playoff games as we do.
However, what is the on-ice effect? I mean, Matt Cooke is bad enough when he knows he might have to fight a tough guy to answer for the cheap shot he threw a month prior. Now, you're telling me that the NHL will be solely responsible for policing the sport. I know that Brendan Shanahan hasn't had a chance yet to show he can do the job better than Colin Campbell (well, let's set the bar higher than "does the job better than Colin Campbell"), but I'm not of the mind to automatically trust the NHL's discipline system because Campbell is no longer running it.
Cooke isn't going to just stop playing, so either the sport has to police itself in some way, or the league has to do a (much, much) better job of policing behavior like that which Matt Cooke is sometimes guilty of. It's that simple.
I hear the frustration over fighting, and the potential problems it can cause for its participants. But until someone answers the question of "What will we do with (fill in name of your least favorite pest, ala Cooke/Gillies/Lapierre/Torres/etc.)?," I just can't sit up here on my pedestal and say fighting has to go.
Is there a way for the NHL to eliminate gratuitous Colton Orr vs. Brian McGrattan bouts that only happen because the combatants are on opposing teams and the two guys are willing to fight? Or the goalie fights that somehow got back into style last season? Probably. And maybe that's the direction we go in.
But the league can't just ban it. Matt Cooke needs to be made to answer for that illegal hit he just threw, and it shouldn't be solely Brendan Shanahan's job to make sure that happens.
Should the deaths of Rypien and Boogaard change the way you view fighting? That's ultimately up to you, but just remember that it might not be as easy as it all looks. And banning fighting won't stop players from running into trouble off the ice that could ultimately lead to more tragedies like these.
While no one has said anything specific about the cause of death, we know it apparently isn't suspicious, and it was described in one report -- since edited -- as a suicide.
This isn't going to be a rant about the end of fighting in hockey. It's also not an indictment of the sport. Every sport has people who have struggled with addictions or other problems. For Rypien, depression was the real-life fight. For Derek Boogaard, it was addiction. That they died at a young age does not make hockey bad. It does not make hockey a sport that kills young people.
It makes hockey players human beings who are sometimes vulnerable to human tragedies.
However, there is a very real problem facing the NHL and the sport in general. It's a problem that I'm quite uncomfortable bringing up, when Rypien died just a day ago. It's a problem, however, that needs to be addressed soon, before it spirals out of control.
See, Boogaard and Rypien shared a common thread. They may have never fought one another, but they did take part in plenty of fights in pro hockey.
And it's that facet of the sport that is now under the greatest scrutiny.
It sounds crass to use the deaths of Rypien or Boogaard -- men whose families are grieving over their deaths -- as some sort of example as to why the NHL needs to ban fighting, however we have to talk about this, before someone on the outside makes us.
Peter Raaymakers of Silver Sevens -- a Senators blog on SB Nation -- wrote an incredibly compelling piece on fighting Monday, obviously unaware that another NHL enforcer-type player would end up dead later in the day.
Probert suffered a fatal heart attack at the young age of 45 after collapsing onboard a boat on Lake St. Clair. His brain was donated to science, and researchers at Boston University found that he suffered from a degenerative disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CTE isn't like, say, heart disease of cancer; it doesn't kill people directly. It's a bit more like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease), in that it's a degenerative disease that is believed by most (not all, I should note) to slowly take its toll on those affected by leading to depression, memory loss, and symptoms of dementia.
Probert's widow Dani doesn't think fighting is what cause Probert's CTE, but instead has suggested it's the many bodychecks that hockey players take during a career. It is true that there isn't a definitive causal link between fighting and CTE, but fighting definitely increases your chance of sustaining head injury, and the more head injuries you suffer, the more at risk you are for CTE.
There's a lot of good info in there about the toll that this job -- enforcer -- takes on the bodies of those who participate.
As Greg Wyshynski notes ...
If the NHL banned fighting tomorrow, would another player ever take a painkiller? Or a sleeping pill? Or both? Would another NHL player drink a bit much to calm his nerves while popping a pill? Would another NHLer succumb to depression given the agony and ecstasy of his profession and the excruciating time away from family that comes with the gig?
The bottom line? The NHL could ban fighting, and this could still happen. We could still be looking at guys under 30 meeting an all-too-premature demise, and we'd still be sitting here wringing our hands, trying to figure out how to keep it from happening again.
It's just that we wouldn't have the ready-made fighting connection. We'd have to ban something else, like half-shields or whatever.
What would happen if the NHL banned fighting? Would people stop going to the games? Unlikely.
The end of the Minnesota Wild's sellout streak may have come in their first year post-Boogaard, but the two items are incredibly unrelated. The Wild's sellout streak ended because the economy tanked and the team sucked. If both of those things hadn't happened -- say, had the team been good or the economy stayed healthy -- the streak would probably still be alive. But people had to make tough decisions with their extra money, and "pay $75 a game to watch a bad team" wasn't too appealing to them. That's understandable.
Do you think the Florida Panthers struggle to sell tickets because their players don't get in enough fights? Or is it because the team hasn't made the playoffs in what feels like 100 years, and they don't have any real stars they can market?
However, what is the price the NHL pays by banning fighting?
Yeah, a guy like Boogaard -- whose only job was to protect his team's skill players with the occasional fight -- might not be able to find work, but someone will have to draw an NHL salary to replace that spot in the lineup. So that's not much different.
I don't care what team it is. Ticket sales will not noticeably suffer. Yeah, fans stand when the fight starts. I get that. But they aren't going to stop attending games because there isn't a fight to cheer for anymore. If that was the case, we wouldn't sell out as many playoff games as we do.
However, what is the on-ice effect? I mean, Matt Cooke is bad enough when he knows he might have to fight a tough guy to answer for the cheap shot he threw a month prior. Now, you're telling me that the NHL will be solely responsible for policing the sport. I know that Brendan Shanahan hasn't had a chance yet to show he can do the job better than Colin Campbell (well, let's set the bar higher than "does the job better than Colin Campbell"), but I'm not of the mind to automatically trust the NHL's discipline system because Campbell is no longer running it.
Cooke isn't going to just stop playing, so either the sport has to police itself in some way, or the league has to do a (much, much) better job of policing behavior like that which Matt Cooke is sometimes guilty of. It's that simple.
I hear the frustration over fighting, and the potential problems it can cause for its participants. But until someone answers the question of "What will we do with (fill in name of your least favorite pest, ala Cooke/Gillies/Lapierre/Torres/etc.)?," I just can't sit up here on my pedestal and say fighting has to go.
Is there a way for the NHL to eliminate gratuitous Colton Orr vs. Brian McGrattan bouts that only happen because the combatants are on opposing teams and the two guys are willing to fight? Or the goalie fights that somehow got back into style last season? Probably. And maybe that's the direction we go in.
But the league can't just ban it. Matt Cooke needs to be made to answer for that illegal hit he just threw, and it shouldn't be solely Brendan Shanahan's job to make sure that happens.
Should the deaths of Rypien and Boogaard change the way you view fighting? That's ultimately up to you, but just remember that it might not be as easy as it all looks. And banning fighting won't stop players from running into trouble off the ice that could ultimately lead to more tragedies like these.
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Goalie Fight!
If you missed this in the NHL Wednesday night, it may be because you blinked.
At the end of Pittsburgh's 3-0 win over the New York Islanders, a frustrated Isles goalie Rick DiPietro took a poke at Pittsburgh agitator Matt Cooke. As the skaters converged in the corner for one of those post-whistle skirmishes, DiPietro and Pittsburgh goalie Brent Johnson exchanged words.
Johnson wanted a piece of DiPietro, and he got it.
The best part is probably Johnson checking on DiPietro after he went down. Looked like Johnson caught him pretty good.
DiPietro was given minor penalties for interference and leaving the crease (goalies are not allowed to leave the crease during any scrum that takes place outside of the goal area), along with a major for fighting and a game misconduct. Johnson was only given the major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct, which seems odd, since he skated some 150 for the opportunity to punch DiPietro.
For his efforts, Johnson lost the chance to be credited with a shutout. Since Marc-Andre Fleury had to finish the game, it goes into the books as a team shutout, not one credited to either goalie.
And, frankly, when you shut out the Islanders, you probably shouldn't get statistical credit for it.
At the end of Pittsburgh's 3-0 win over the New York Islanders, a frustrated Isles goalie Rick DiPietro took a poke at Pittsburgh agitator Matt Cooke. As the skaters converged in the corner for one of those post-whistle skirmishes, DiPietro and Pittsburgh goalie Brent Johnson exchanged words.
Johnson wanted a piece of DiPietro, and he got it.
The best part is probably Johnson checking on DiPietro after he went down. Looked like Johnson caught him pretty good.
DiPietro was given minor penalties for interference and leaving the crease (goalies are not allowed to leave the crease during any scrum that takes place outside of the goal area), along with a major for fighting and a game misconduct. Johnson was only given the major penalty for fighting and a game misconduct, which seems odd, since he skated some 150 for the opportunity to punch DiPietro.
For his efforts, Johnson lost the chance to be credited with a shutout. Since Marc-Andre Fleury had to finish the game, it goes into the books as a team shutout, not one credited to either goalie.
And, frankly, when you shut out the Islanders, you probably shouldn't get statistical credit for it.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Matt Niskanen Wins Fight
Wednesday night, he took a significant step toward changing that perception.
After missing a few games with a nasty cut on his left hand, Niskanen returned to the Stars lineup for their final game before the All-Star Break, at home against a pesky Edmonton outfit.
Early in the game, Krys Barch of the Stars got in a fight with Edmonton's Jim Vandermeer. Barch got knocked to the ice during the fight and bounced back to his skates quickly, only to have the linesmen step in. He wasn't happy about it, but the fight was over.
14 seconds later, Niskanen set out for revenge, as he dropped the gloves with Oiler center Colin Fraser, a member of last year's Cup-winning team in Chicago.
Let's go to the videotape.
Decisive win for the former UMD and Virginia/MIB star. Decisive.
Gotta love Fox Sports Southwest's Darryl Reaugh with the one-liners like "Down goes Fraser!," and "He grew the goatee back. He looks angrier." That's why he's one of the best.
They always say you remember your first NHL goal. I wonder if getting a win in an NHL fight for the first time is just as memorable.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Farewell, Bob Probert
On Monday, we lost longtime NHL enforcer Bob Probert, who collapsed and died while boating with his family. Probert will be remembered by many as one of the most feared players of his time.He was a rarity, a player who lasted 17 years, persevered through drug problems, was a consistently great fighter, and who was loved for a long time in both Detroit and Chicago.
As Red Wings and Blackhawks fans come together to remember their former player, the rest of the hockey world looks back on what made Probert great. While the big man scored nearly 400 points in his career -- not bad for a tough guy -- and he will always be the guy who scored the last NHL goal at Maple Leaf Gardens, Proberts fists were the stars of the show.
Here is a legendary fight he had with fellow fighter extraordinaire Tie Domi.
Probert was fishing with his four children, father-in-law, and mother-in-law when he was stricken by what his father-in-law called "severe chest pain."
Bob Probert was just 45 years old.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Video: Jason Garrison's First NHL Fight
I promise you, this isn't nearly as cool as when former Bulldog Jason Garrison scored his first NHL goal a week or so ago.However, the first NHL fight is an important moment in a hockey player's life. Its life equivalent is the first steps. You can be a well-developing baby without walking until you've reached a certain age. However, you have to eventually walk before you can develop past a certain point.
There is only so much you can do in the NHL without getting in a fight first.
Garrison has done some really good things for the Florida Panthers this season, and it's been fun to watch as he gets more and more ice time. I thought he played pretty well this week in a game against Minnesota, and it was nice to know that some of the people who got to know him really well when he was at UMD got to go to St. Paul and see him play in person.
(Having been in the XCel Energy Center to watch the Wild trample the Stars -- in a game Matt Niskanen scored in -- I know what it's like to have the best of both worlds.)
Anyway, Garrison planted Joe Pavelski into the boards during Florida's matinee at San Jose Saturday, and Shark Manny Malhotra took exception to the hit. Here is the video.
Not much of a fight, with Malhotra getting in the best shots. However, Garrison ended it with his takedown. That's two points in some worlds.
As a DECC staffer noted, he's not a fighter.
But I bet he's better at it than Max Talbot.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Why College Hockey Needs to Consider Changing Rules on Fighting
I know this is a taboo subject for the NCAA. They don't want anyone talking about the idea.
However, it's time for them to take a good, long, hard look at the world we're living in. Hockey is different than it used to be. Players are generally bigger, faster, stronger, and even dirtier. As we learn more about hits to the head and the impact they can have on people who get hit high, player safety is more important than ever.
Changing the strict rules on fighting certainly doesn't look like something that promotes better player safety.
In fairness, though, the fact that the NCAA strictly prohibits fighting and automatically suspends players who fight doesn't help. There's a fine line between promoting fighting and banning it altogether, and college hockey would be wise to find that happy medium.
After all, look at the downside to not having fighting in the college game.
The memories of this hit:
... spoil over into this incident.
Then, when the players aren't allowed to settle things on the ice, this happens:
You can blame Garrett Roe for diving around all you want, too. Roe is that kind of player, no matter what you may think of his scoring ability. It's totally understandable why he would be under the skin of opponents with his propensity for embellishment.
However, Darcy Zajac was out of line, and the WCHA was probably wrong not to consider supplemental discipline for his actions.
Anyway, perhaps this totally preventable sequence of events will give people a good idea why fighting in hockey is rarely a bad thing.
However, it's time for them to take a good, long, hard look at the world we're living in. Hockey is different than it used to be. Players are generally bigger, faster, stronger, and even dirtier. As we learn more about hits to the head and the impact they can have on people who get hit high, player safety is more important than ever.
Changing the strict rules on fighting certainly doesn't look like something that promotes better player safety.
In fairness, though, the fact that the NCAA strictly prohibits fighting and automatically suspends players who fight doesn't help. There's a fine line between promoting fighting and banning it altogether, and college hockey would be wise to find that happy medium.
After all, look at the downside to not having fighting in the college game.
The memories of this hit:
... spoil over into this incident.
Then, when the players aren't allowed to settle things on the ice, this happens:
You can blame Garrett Roe for diving around all you want, too. Roe is that kind of player, no matter what you may think of his scoring ability. It's totally understandable why he would be under the skin of opponents with his propensity for embellishment.
However, Darcy Zajac was out of line, and the WCHA was probably wrong not to consider supplemental discipline for his actions.
Anyway, perhaps this totally preventable sequence of events will give people a good idea why fighting in hockey is rarely a bad thing.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Jay Rosehill Fights in NHL Debut
Well, that didn't take long.
Former UMD Bulldog Jay Rosehill, making his NHL debut Thursday night, waited all of two shifts before dropping the gloves for the first time.
At 10:55 of the first period, the Maple Leafs left winger (a defenseman until a recent position change) got into it with Montreal veteran Travis Moen. Rosehill's first regular season fight was Moen's 47th, but it doesn't appear that experience was much of an advantage.
There may be bias here, but Rosehill is a clear winner. You can actually vote on the winner at the Hockey Fights website.
Former UMD Bulldog Jay Rosehill, making his NHL debut Thursday night, waited all of two shifts before dropping the gloves for the first time.
At 10:55 of the first period, the Maple Leafs left winger (a defenseman until a recent position change) got into it with Montreal veteran Travis Moen. Rosehill's first regular season fight was Moen's 47th, but it doesn't appear that experience was much of an advantage.
There may be bias here, but Rosehill is a clear winner. You can actually vote on the winner at the Hockey Fights website.
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