Blog

Ranking fighters is always a subjective undertaking with so many different factors involved. Some place more importance on things like fight card while others favor a fighter with a sparkling won-loss record. Some base their ranking on a fighter while he’s in his prime while others take their entire career into account. It goes on and on and there really isn’t one defining method for ranking fighters. Everyone breaks these fighters down differently and it’s good we can all disagree and learn from the experience. After all, if everyone ranked fighters the same way and agreed on everything, it would get pretty boring around here. I hope with my attempt at ranking some of the greatest fighters ever, I can whip up some all time discussion and provide some food for thought for those who might take up the argument elsewhere, with the guys at work or your buddies at the pub.

What makes a fighter great to me is the great fights, the great moments and his impact on his own era. The great fighters being considered for such a topic as this should have notable fights or big victories over other great fighters of the time. They should be renowned for their fighting skill and their ability to instill fear in the opposition. Your Top-10 All-Time should consist of fighters who were the elite of their time, the so called champs or top dogs who had dominant prime runs and vied for the Heavyweight throne. These fighters should have excellent resumes with big victories, notable fights and dominant displays against the best of their day. It’s these qualities that separate them from the next grouping that would include fighters who weren’t perhaps, champs, but were great in their own right. These fighters would have great careers with big victories over top competition and great prime runs. Some may have briefly vied for the title while others had superb careers as Top-10 level enforcers.

I’ve always looked at the rise of the Broad Street Bullies as a convenient starting point for me when ranking fighters. It has always been the era where more video became available to break down and study. It would be great to rank legends like John Ferguson or Orland Kurtenbach highly based off their reputations but they only have scant few fights on video which just isn’t enough for me to give them an accurate ranking. In the long history of hockey, we’ve only been able to cast our eyes upon the last 45-50 years with any kind of clarity. It is this portion of hockey fight history -the video age, if you will- that I will base my all time rankings on. In the ‘70’s we began to see more video become available but there were still numerous teams that didn’t get much general television exposure. So, some ‘70’s greats like Dan Maloney, Battleship Kelly, Bob Gassoff, Barry Beck in Colorado, Larry Playfair in Buffalo, etc. suffer from a lack of footage. Unfortunately some of these fighters get unfairly overlooked due to this critical lack of video. A young Dave Semenko, Curt Fraser in Vancouver, Randy Holt in Cleveland-a number of fighters from that time have major gaps in their careers that we were never able to fill. As the ‘70’s progressed into the ‘80’s, more and more footage became available and helped to give us a much clearer picture of the fighting scene at the time.

I think you first have to view these guys within the framework of their own time. How good were they during their own time? A guy like Gillies didn’t have a card that compares to his 80’s/90’s/00’s counterparts but he had a near decade long run as a top fighter in the league. In fact he was considered to be among the very best in the league by his peers during that time. Was he “champ”? You can certainly make a good case for him after he dethroned Dave Schultz on national TV in the ’75 playoffs. You can argue he was at the top or close to it right on up to his one sided loss to Behn Wilson in 1981. Gillies remained a fixture in the top-5 right up to about the mid 80’s when he simply faded out as a fighter. A new breed had taken over by then and Gillies had no desire to take on these guys night in and night out. So from about the mid 70’s to the early 80’s Gillies had the rep of a top fighter and even “champ”. To me this is an incredible accomplishment and something that goes beyond comparing a fighters “card” with fighters from another era. So while Gillies only had a small number of fights, he was able to score a number of key victories over top shelf competition and maintain his reputation over a long period of time. Gillies wasn’t some fringe contender on the bubble, he had a huge impact on fighting and enforcing during his time. So Gillies didn’t have the fight card of a Probert or McGrattan but in his own era he didn’t have to. 

The real tough part of ranking fighters comes when you begin to compare fighters from different eras. I’ve been in so many all time debates that get bogged down when we begin to compare fight cards –‘70’s fighters always take a huge hit in this area… But again, the guys in the 70’s didn’t have to fight every night and accumulate impressive fight cards like many of their 90’s counterparts. So trying to appreciate the differences from era to era is the key to putting together a balanced all time list. I’ve seen Top-20 all time lists that are almost too heavy on modern era fighters based simply on ‘fight card’. A fighter can only fight who’s around during his own time and, after all, it is an all time list and it should include fighters from all times.

Each era of this ‘video age’ is rather fuzzy and hard to define… The the Broad Street Bully era –for lack of a better term- ran from the early 70’s to the early 80’s. It was then followed by the Probert/Brown era, again for lack of a better term, that ran from the mid 80’s to the early 2000’s, followed by the Super Heavyweight era that ran through the second decade of the new millennium). The Broad Street Bully era was defined by the Philadelphia Flyers and the way they pushed the envelope of fighting and general on ice goonery in the ‘70’s. The Flyers helped spark an arms race in the NHL as teams saw the success Philly was having and toughened up in order to keep pace. This was a wild time with teams engaging in all out bench clearing brawls and other assorted on ice violence even at times taking the fight into the stands. It was a wild era and it produced some truly great fighters. During this time a fighter could carve a healthy reputation for himself off of only a few fights. Some fighters, like Battleship Kelly and Clark Gillies were so scary, they didn’t need many fights to gain major reputations, while others like Schultz and O’Reilly were simply hard wired differently and fought often. This era ran through the early 80’s as the league began cracking down on the all out battles and bench clearing brawls with stiffer penalties, suspensions and fines. 

The Probert/Brown era is named after the two greatest fighters of the time. Dave Brown retired in 1995 but Bob Probert continued on until 01-02. The marker is a convenient one as both Probert and Brown held sway over arguably the greatest time for fighting we ever saw. A time when teams were stacked with fighters-enforcers, pure Heavyweights, light heavyweights, Middleweight power forwards, rugged d-men and so on. This was the era of the volume fighter where the number of fights in a rivalry between two fighters could reach double digits. Probert’s career was so long, when he retired, while far removed from the great he once was in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, he still carried the rep of a living legend. With the new millennium, the Heavyweight scene became dominated by the Super Heavyweights, guys like Georges Laraque, Derek Boogaard, Donald Brashear, Eric Cairns, Peter Worrell, Eric Godard, Andrew Peters, Brian McGrattan, George Parros, Raitis Ivanans, etc. All were certified monsters not one smaller than 6’3 with Derek Boogarrd standing tall at 6’7 and a massive 250 lbs! This time frame would go on until the NHL began to phase out the enforcers around the 2013-14 season leaving us with a bare bones Heavyweight division with few holdovers. 

Now when you’re dealing with hockey fighting – it’s not like boxing where you have different weight classes and multiple championship belts. There were no three weight division champs and no Bert Sugar to break down the pound for pound king. So in hockey fighting achievement is based on things like noteworthy victories over top caliber opposition or even an extended run of greatness. To measure a fighters worth at the time we crazy fight fans across North America and Europe would scribble a top-10 list each year onto wrinkled notebook paper. Just as boxing had their own yearly “rankings”, so did we. The fighter at #1 became the quote/unquote “champ” and to become champ you had to beat some bad ass dudes. So, during our long all time journey, at times you’ll see me reference these subjective yearly Top-10 lists as a sort of barometer for where an individual fighter stood at that particular time.

As a fight fan I’ve come to favor certain factors in the ranking process while doing away with others. I’ve seen where people will use a “dream” fight hypothetical scenario to rank enforcers but I’ve always believed that styles make fights. Sometimes a fighters style just causes problems for a guy and it’s hard to rank them in this fashion. If I believe that John Kordic could beat Behn Wilson does that necessarily mean that Rambo should be ranked higher? No way. I’ve seen instances where some will attempt to use a hypothetical 10 fight series as a defining way of ranking fighters. To me this just muddies the all time waters even more. Everyone will have a different view of how a particular fight will go down. Ranking fighters is already subjective enough as it is.

While some might come down hard on a fighter for some early/end of career losses, I try to put more weight on a fighters prime years. Of course, looking at their overall career from beginning to end and witnessing the highs and lows is par for the course, but I think what they did in their primes is more important. We all saw guys like Rob Ray, Donald Brashear, and Stu Grimson have their share of struggles when they first broke into the league. It might’ve taken a few years but they all turned things around and went on to have great careers for themselves. So looking at these three all time candidates, I don’t completely dismiss those rough early years but I won’t kill them for it. I’m more likely to favor what they did in their prime time years when they were at their best for better or worse. And likewise, I don’t put their feet to the fire over some tough losses late in their careers. 

It is through this myriad of completely subjective criteria that I was able to create this all time pecking order. And while it’s interesting to note who ranks #5 or #12, the difference between them is razor thin. All of these fighters are tremendous and through their accomplishments will be forever linked as the greatest fighters of all time regardless of where they end up on Joe Schmo’s all time list. So, now, without further preamble, we begin our journey to discover who the Top-25 greatest fighters of All-Time are. I’m sure I’m likely to rankle a few of those sitting at the break table at work and my pals at the pub may lament over my choices but I’m game for any all time discussion. So I hope this sparks some debate among my fellow niche hobbyists as we continue our quest to shed light on some of the greatest fighters of all time.

The following is a fight fans take…

By 1985 most of the classic 70’s era fighters like Dave Schultz, Bobby Nystrom, Terry O’Reilly, Stan Jonathan, John Wensink, etc. were retired and out of the NHL altogether. Guys like Clark Gillies, Nick Fotiu, Curt Fraser, Behn Wilson, Larry Playfair, and Dave Semenko were now entering their twilight years as a new generation of fighters was slowly but surely trickling into the league. It began with guys like Tim Hunter and Marty McSorley around ‘82 or ‘83 and you could see them begin to come into the league and fill rosters and by the mid-80’s you start to see names like Dave Richter and Jim Kyte in the game summaries of your local newspaper picking up fighting majors on the regular. Before you knew it, it was 1985 and a tall lad from Windsor, Ontario was breaking into the NHL with a rep for having soft hands in front of the net and hands of stone when it came to a fight. Bob Probert was destined to leave his mark on the role of enforcer in ways no one could have possibly imagined back in the Fall of 1985.

Drafted in the third round of the 1983 NHL entry draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Bob Probert had size and skill and he had that X- factor GM’s loved: Toughness. It was once a highly prized commodity in the NHL back in those days but at the time I don’t think the Red Wings or Bob Probert knew exactly how tough he would prove to be. He was 6’3 and tipped the scales at over 200 pounds. He was primarily a right hander but could switch to his left. He had size and reach and tremendous stamina and slowly began building a reputation as a tough but also skilled player. As a fighter he was raw and unpolished given to brawling and wildness but his size and skill made him someone to watch out for on the ice. Probert played the game with an edge and he wasn’t afraid to go over it at times and it lent an air of unpredictability to his game. He was a big mean SOB who had the potential to be an all star and Heavyweight champ-dual roles he’d have to learn to balance in these formative years.

Sometimes it takes a few fights to see what a fighter is made of. After seeing them run through a few opponents you can see their strengths and weaknesses begin to show. You see them engaged in critical situations in a fight and you gauge how they react. How they respond can tell you a lot about a fighter. With Probert we got a glimpse of what to expect from him in his first NHL fight on November 11, 1985, when the Red Wings and Canucks battled it out at the Pacific Coliseum. It was here that the tall, lanky Probert, recently called up from the farm in Adirondack, took on young Canucks gunslinger, Craig Coxe. The American born Coxe was an all offense-no defense style of fighter who, like Probert, was also trying to make a name for himself. 

When these two young lions met they engaged in an instant classic. They came together and began throwing furiously right out of the gate. At the outset it was even with both giving and taking savage blows. After a time, Coxe began to take over as Probert had trouble keeping pace with the California Kid. For a time it looked like Probert was going to be swamped as it was all Coxe, who landed solid right after solid right. Then, in one of those moments where everything seemed to teeter on the brink, Probert righted himself, got set and began to trade punches with renewed determination. Probert had weathered the storm and got back in the fight. First he responded by matching Coxe blow for blow and then began unloading some heavy long range rights as the fight wore on to the latter stages. By the end, both were completely gassed trading rights before, finally, Coxe’s legs gave out from under him, more so from exhaustion than anything else. 

The fight was a true test for the young Probert who had to battle back from near oblivion to pull even. The fight in the end was very close but with a fight this great, both of these fine warriors came out on top. The fight would earn Fight of The Year honors and set the tone for Probert’s career as a fighter. You could see he was raw and needed to develop more but there are subtle qualities like heart and desire that were on display here for the young Probert. He could’ve ‘slipped’ when Coxe took over the fight or seatbelted him and played it safe, but he came roaring right back in a fight that would go on to become an all time classic. 

Probert was now off and running with the big club and in the following weeks would take on tall, rangy southpaw Dave Richter and fast throwing Rick Tocchet of the Flyers in a good two fight game. Soon after, he would get into a hard bitten, down and dirty scrap with Maple Leafs Defenseman, Gary Nylund. The fight featured headbutting, hair pulling and using a helmet like a weapon. These two looked like there was some serious bad blood there and you had to believe there would be more coming on the horizon. Already proving to be good with his fists, Probert gained notoriety throughout the league for headbutting Maple Leafs tough guy Bob “Big Daddy” McGill. There is only newsclip footage of the fight available although I believe the full bench clearing brawl from this game exists somewhere in some collectors vault. On January 13, 1986, the Red Wings and Maple Leafs engaged in a major league bench clearing brawl that included a number of fights. One of the feature bouts that evening was a long drawn out affair between Probert and McGill. At the conclusion of the fight, when everything had seemed to settle down, Probert headbutted McGill, knocking him out cold to the ice. It was as vicious a headbutt as I had ever seen. Probert would be suspended four games for the misdeed. He would have a good go with Boston’s Gord Kluzak and a few nondescript fights with Brian Curran, Chris Nilan and Lee Norwood before being sent back to Adirondack to help them in their playoff bid. While with the Red Wings AHL affiliate, Probert got into some great battles with minor league Musclemen, Archie Henderson, Steve Martinson, Don Nachbaur and Mike Stothers.

Probert made some noise in the Heavyweight division as a rookie getting everyone’s attention for his fights and his over the edge antics. He was an up and coming Heavyweight star but there would be some growing pains in his sophomore season. The first of those growing pains would come in the form of Curt Fraser who was at this point playing for the Blackhawks. Fraser was a veteran tough guy with some major battles under his belt and he wasted no time giving, the young Probert a quick beat down, putting the kid on notice. Probert moved on with nice wins against Washington’s Scott Stevens and Bob McGill in the return match for Probert’s brutal headbutt the previous year. He would also get into a great slug fest with Maple Leafs power forward, Wendel Clark, in one of the best fights of the year. It was a real punch up with Clark taking the edge and setting the tone for a bitter Norris Division feud. Probert would go on to best Calgary’s technical Wizard, Tim Hunter, before finally getting his chance at Gary Nylund again. This time Nylund would be wearing the Indian Head of the Chicago Blackhawks, having moved on from the Toronto Maple Leafs. These two would meet up during a nasty linebrawl. At first Nylund had the upper hand,using his strength to control and tie up Probert, while getting off some solid right hands of his own. Before long though, Probert was able to get free and began to put his offense together, throwing a number of right crosses and uppercuts. In the late stages of the fight, a winded Nylund inexplicably put his head down giving Probert all the opening he needed. Probert landed a flush uppercut sending Nylund to the ice in a heap. A few days later Probert would hammer Maple Leafs gun hand, Kevin Maguire, in a great punch out. The fight would be payback for Maguire sucker punching Probert a few weeks before. 

Probert’s star was on the rise but there would be a cost. It went hand in hand with being considered one of the best fighters in the league. That cost would be handling the challenges of every rookie scrapper looking to make a name for themselves. Probert had set himself up as the new man to beat and it wouldn’t be long before the young hungry heavyweights came calling. One of those newcomers to the field would be St. Louis Blues Strongman, Todd “The Animal” Ewen. Probert and Ewen met up on January 24, 1987 at St. Louis Arena. The Animal, as he was so dubbed, wasted little time getting Probie’s attention, flattening him with a single jolting right hand. Probert crumpled to the ice, suffering his worst loss as a pro. The fight didn’t sit well with Probie so, astonishingly, he went after Ewen again in the same game. I can’t recall a single instance where a fighter was absolutely KO’d and returned to try and avenge it in the same game. Such was Probert -who wasn’t leaving St. Louis without another shot at The Animal. In the rematch, Ewen got the better of the early going before Probert began taking over in the late stages. Probert would also go after Ewen again later that year in another long bout with the Animal doing a lot of wrestling. Hell hath no fury like Probert losing a fight.

Probert continued on that season getting into a great bout with Vancouver’s Michel Petit and bundling the Islanders Brian Curran. He would then meet up with Philadelphia’s newly minted heavyweight henchman, Craig Berube. The Chief had made some noise in the AHL early in the year and was now getting his shot in the show. He had a machine gun right hand and it gave Probert all sorts of problems. In their first battle, Berube scored a nice win by outpunching and breaking Probie’s nose. It was tough seeing Probert on his knees holding a towel over his face, his nose pouring. They would meet up again a few days later in an April Fools Day showdown, with Probert sporting raccoon eyes, a gift from Berube in their first bout. Round two was a nothing draw but Round three featured Berube again getting the better of Probie with that machine gun right. There is an old boxing adage: Speed kills. So it did. 

There are times when you see a great fighter put everything together in what can only be described as a season for the ages. That’s what Probert did in 1987-88. All the potential had finally been realized. Not only as a fighter but as a player as well. Probert would go on a tour de force in 1987-88 amassing 398 penalty minutes and putting his name right up there in the champ discussion. Probert also would make his one and only all star appearance scoring 29 goals for the Red Wings and breaking Gordi Howe’s Red Wing record for most points in the playoffs. It was like the perfect season for a player who also carried the reputation of a top Heavyweight.

The year started off with a big game against the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens on October, 17, 1987. Probert and Wendel Clark would renew acquaintances with Probert really handing it to the Maple Leafs power forward. This one sided beatdown set the scene for a showdown with newly signed Maple Leafs policeman, Dave Semenko. Semenko had made a reputation as a feared enforcer who was once the game’s greatest intimidator. He was known for sucker punching, headbutting, kneeing, hair pulling, elbowing-basically any kind of cheap or underhanded tactics in a fight. This one would be no different as Sammy mugged Probert, jumping him from behind and whaling away on him. At first Probert took the beating but then had no choice but to fight back. Then teammate Gerard Gallant rushed to Probert’s aid, perhaps spoiling a comeback from Probert. Very rarely did you see Probert in such a rage as he tried to get free from the linesmen, while Sammy still tried to throw right hands. You could tell there would be more coming from this-it was the late ‘80’s, Norris Division, Maple Leafs and Red Wings-it was just a matter of when and where. 

Before that nasty bit of business could be settled, there was a season to play and other enforcers to deal with. On November 19, 1987, Probert would have another two fight affair, this time against the Vancouver Canucks at Joe Louis Arena. Probert would meet up with old foe Craig Coxe for round 2 and one would think the bar was already set too high after their first tilt which was already a certified classic. Probert and Coxe did their best to outdo that effort with another war that saw both fighters eschew defense and go all out for the win. After both began wearing down in an epic battle, Probert found himself in a great position to strike Coxe with two head snapping uppercuts to tilt the scales in his favor. The fight was another beauty, a perfect companion piece to their first epic encounter. It also would be the front runner for Fight of the Year that season and another instant classic. Later in the same game, Probert would take on Coxe’s partner in crime, Daryl Stanley. He doesn’t get a lot of press but Stanley was a very tough fighter in his own right who made his bones with the Flyers fighting wars against Jack Carlson, Scott Stevens and Marty McSorley. In this fight against Probert, he tried to get some offense going initially but Probert’s reach was too great and his punches fell short. Probert then began mounting an offensive and cracked Stanley with a right hand that sent his helmet flying into the organists booth. Stanley must’ve had the CCM on the front of his helmet imprinted onto his forehead after that shot.The bomb felled Stanley and Probie had another big win under his belt.

There would be other great fights that year against Boston’s Jay Miller and young Mark Tinordi of the New York Rangers. Probert would get into a wild incident with Buffalo Sabres antagonist, Kevin Maguire. Probert and Maguire had met before in a fantastic fight the previous year and he had no fear of Probert-or anyone for that matter. After Probert dumped Sabres Goaltender, Tom Barrasso on his arse, Maguire would return the favor nailing Red Wings Goaltender, Greg Stefan. Maguire would then go after Red Wings star center, Steve Yzerman, and his fate was sealed. As everyone jumped in and piled on Maguire, Probert circled the action like a great white shark hunting for prey. When Buffalo Goaltender, Tom Barrasso got too close, Probert punched him, knocking his face mask off. Probie would move on looking for a better angle to get at Maguire while Gallant and co. continued to push and pull. Finally an opening presented itself and Probert fired a missile at a downed and prone Maguire, covered by an official. Probie had to bounce that shot off the ice to hit Maguire and you can see the Sabres tough guy sag to the ice. Just another one of those “incidents” of enforcing that sometimes goes unnoticed when all we’re looking to see or hear about are “the fights”.

Probert would finally get his chance at Dave Semenko on January 28, 1988 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The much ballyhooed rematch between these two titans was finally here and in typical Probie fashion, he would not disappoint. Semenko made a fight of it at first as he was able to wrestle with the younger Red Wings Heavyweight. At one point, Semenko was able to pull Probert’s jersey over his head blinding him. Probert was able to get his head free but found his arms still wrapped in his jersey. As Semenko began to force the issue, Probert freed himself of his jersey and landed three bombs-each one like an exclamation point proclaiming himself the new Heavyweight power in the land.

Probert’s march would continue with victories over Calgary’s Jim Peplinski and former Memorial Cup foe Ken Baumgartner, before coming to grips with Chicago’s tough blueliner, Glen Cochrane. Glen Cochrane was one of the league’s best fighters in the early to mid-80’s with the Philadelphia Flyers. Yup, the Flyers once again returned from their lab having invented a caveman like creature who threw wildly and loved to strip free of his jersey. You can count Cochrane as another in a great line of home grown Flyers enforcers. After he left Philly in ’85, Cochrane went to Vancouver for a few seasons before settling in Chicago. In Vancouver, Cochrane slowed down as a fighter, not nearly as active-or effective-as he was in Philly. In Chicago Cochrane seemed to be rejuvenated. He fought a ton and was beginning to reassert himself in the Heavyweight Division until he ran into Detroit’s own “Wild Thing” on a frigid night in early March. I remember first seeing this fight on the Bruise Brothers tape. The way the fight was edited onto the tape-basically with both guys squaring off about to come to grips. It must have happened right after a commercial or interview because Red Wings color guy, Mickey Redmond is heard exclaiming “We’re back live! We’re back live and everything has broken loose here…” then Probert and Cochrane engage and Probie overwhelms Cochrane with the opening salvo-very Fotiu-esque- firing shots right when they came together. Cochrane went down but got back up and made a fight out of it-for at least a while.

The replay shows the fight in its entirety and I always enjoyed the lead up to it. Behind the play Probert and Cochrane are having words. At first a linesman is there as they talk. It begins to get heated as they are face to face, nose to nose. Then the linesman steps aside and you can see both fighters basically telling each other “Lets go!”. They step aside a bit, drop their sticks, then gloves and it was on. The square off was great. It was probably Probie’s best square off- in this one, he had the right up, fist clenched just under his chin in a good position to block any punches or go on the attack. He had that left out there sort of parrying Cochrane’s attempts to come to grips. It started right in front of the Blackhawk bench and this point wasn’t lost on Redmond. I still remember him saying, “You talk about a square off that meant something to both teams and more than a victory or points or anything else.” Redmond was one of those announcers that enjoyed a good fight and loved it when Probert and Kocur dropped the gloves. He was also a knowledgeable guy when it came to the fighters. He knew who was legit and who wasn’t. In this case, he gave Cochrane a lot of respect.  He mentioned how Probert and Cochrane were two of the toughest in the NHL. He remarked how Cochrane was “tough and he’s coming back.” Redmond also noted how the Red Wings bench was “absolutely up!” after Probert put the finishing touches on Cochrane.

Probert would have further memorable bouts that year against Marty McSorley and Brian Curran to finish out a season that was out of this world. He made a huge statement with victories over Wendel Clark, Dave Semenko and Glen Cochrane. The two victories over Semenko and Cochrane would serve as a sort of passing of the torch moment as Semenko would retire at year’s end and Cochrane was effectively done as a legitimate force, retiring the following year. Probert at this point claimed at least a piece of the Heavyweight title. He was no longer an up and coming contender or a Heavyweight on the rise. Probert was for real. 

The following year Probert would be arrested for drug possession and drug trafficking. He would be sentenced to three months in jail and three months in a rehabilitation facility. He was also banned from playing in Canada as well. These off ice issues robbed Probert of a huge part of the 1988-89 season and most of the 1989-90 season as well. When Probert returned for the 1990-91 campaign, he was eager to reassert his dominance over the Heavyweight field. His preseason went well with victories over Jay Caufield, Mark Kachowski and a green Tony Twist. At the outset of the season he would perform a demo job on New Jersey Devils forward, Allan Stewart which would serve as a tune up for the main event that night. New Jersey had a young up and coming Heavyweight contender named Troy Crowder and he was looking to make a name for himself. It wouldn’t take long as he and Probert dropped the gloves later that same game. Crowder wound up beating Probert, bloodying him in the process. The fight sent shockwaves throughout the NHL and would serve as a prelude to one of the great rookie campaigns for a fighter ever seen to that point in the NHL’s long and storied history. It would also be the first in a trilogy of EPIC encounters between these two highly touted Heavyweights.  

Almost immediately after that fight, the hype began to build for the rematch as fans, the media and the players themselves circled the date for the next big showdown. In the meanwhile, Troy Crowder began lighting up the league with big victories smashing the likes of Tony Horacek, Jeff Chychrun and Craig Coxe.  Probert remained busy himself while on this collision course, dispatching of Shane Churla, Jay Miller, Bob McGill, and Stu Grimson in the lead up to the great rematch with Crowder. Overshadowed in all the hype and hoopla surrounding the return bout with Crowder, would be a true Clash of the Titans between Bob Probert and Dave Brown on January 9, 1991 in Detroit. For the previous few years, many believed Probert and Brown to be the two biggest fighters in the league. While both engaged in an inconclusive fight in 1987-88, this fight would be much more decisive and, for some, would settle the question of who was truly #1 in the NHL. Brown attempted to get his patented fast start in this one but Probie shed his gear and thrashed the feared southpaw in what was fast becoming an all time season for Probert.

On January 28, 1991 Bob Probert and Troy Crowder would engage in two fights. The first bout, the rematch we’d been waiting for- “for fifty games” as Mickey Redmond so gloriously proclaimed at the bouts conclusion, got underway with both fighters getting set, throwing some preliminary blows before Probert was able to get his right free and land some power punches, one of which caught Crowder and sent him to the ice. The Joe Louis crowd was ecstatic –the roar deafening- as their hero skated to the box victorious. Probert got his revenge but Crowder was not finished yet. Having lost in dramatic fashion, Crowder wanted another go. This time Crowder took a page out of Dave Brown’s playbook, going after Probert, firing off a fusillade of punches before Probert even doffed the gloves to respond. Probert clearly didn’t want to fight but left with no choice, got it on. It turned out to be a long bout with Probert, seething and with that rare look of total rage on his face as he shed his jersey, then his gear and finally his undershirt in his attempt to get free and unload on Crowder. At one point, Crowder landed a Big Boy of a bomb that Probert, in his near deranged state, walked through without flinching. The fight ended with Crowder falling to the ice more so from having nothing of Probert to anchor himself to. 

That third fight between Probert and Crowder was the subject of much discussion in its aftermath. I always felt the fight had a taint to it due to Crowder’s mugging tactics at its start. Crowder would later assert that he felt Probert caught him at the “end of his shift” in the first go that night and his coach sent him out to deliberately do the same to Probert for the next round. Either way, the fans got a wild trilogy of fights that helped tell the tale of the 1990-91 season. If fans looked for a fourth installment of the Probert-Crowder series, they’d have to wait as Crowder would become a member of the Red Wings the following year before back injuries derailed what might’ve been a true all-time career as a fighter. When he returned with the Vancouver Canucks he wasn’t the same fighter and was missing that explosive power that made him seem like a right handed version of Dave Brown in his prime. Probert would finish out the 1990-91 campaign with one sided victories over Darin Kimble, Neil Wilkinson and Kevin Maguire in what would go down as one of the greatest single seasons ever for a fighter.

Every year had its own challenges for Probert. At this point Probert was viewed as THE man, the undisputed champ. And just as 1990-91 had the scintillating trilogy with The young upstart, Crowder, 1991-92 had more young guns looking to make a name for themselves by taking on Probert. The first would be Link Gaetz who had finally settled in with the expansion San Jose Sharks after having a few brief cups of coffee with the Minnesota North Stars. The “Missing Link” was tough but wild on AND off the ice leading former North Stars GM Lou Nanne to remark: “We drafted Mike Modano in the first round and we drafted Link in the second.” Gaetz met with the Minnesota staff after he was drafted sporting two black eyes he received in a brawl which led Nanne to conclude, “I need to draft a lawyer in the third round.”. Link was no joke as a fighter, he was big-6’3 and spanned 235 pounds and he threw from both sides. He was a mean SOB who was like a modern Dave Semenko in terms of general nastiness and willingness to go over the edge. As a fighter he had the goods and he was another young scrapper looking to make his mark taking on Probert. 

When he and Probert met up on November 14, 1991, Gaetz was in the midst of his first full season in the show and he was making the most of it. Having already scored some big wins to this point, he took his shot at the best. Without much preamble or introduction, these two sluggers began to throw hammers at each other. Probert actually attempted to throw lefts at the onrushing Gaetz, but switched back to his right once Gaetz began to find the range. Gaetz went all out firing away-defense be damned. Probert began to shed his gear and the final part of this fight featured Probert getting loose from his rigging and scoring the odd right while Gaetz held on, more from exhaustion than anything else. The fight was a close one and most at the time viewed it as a draw. Like a number of fighters before him, Gaetz gained in stature with this fight having proved he could hang with the best in the business. Sadly, this would prove to be Gaetz’ last year in the NHL. He was involved in a car accident during the off season and would spend the rest of his career playing in the minors and later being paid per fight in the Quebec senior league. Gaetz was a great fighter in his limited time in the NHL and there’s no doubt he would’ve had a big impact had he been able to put a few more years together in the NHL. Gaetz is one of those great ‘what if’ stories we see from time to time in the fight game.

Another challenge loomed on the horizon for Probert that season as a young brash scrapper in New York City had been throwing the dukes and making noise-mostly making noise. Tie Domi was a real runt of a fighter standing barely 5’10 with squat features, squat arms, squat legs and a bowling ball for a head that looked extremely unappealing to punch. Domi kept his hair buzzed close to get that full hand breaking effect. Domi had won a few fights but was mostly known for his post fight antics. He would taunt his opponents, talk trash and he’d do a speed bag routine with his hands, twirl his finger in the air and the whole time he’d have an ear to ear grin on his face. Domi was up and coming but when he and Probert linked up nobody viewed him as a threat. All that was about to change.

When Probert and Domi squared off on February 9, 1992, most thought Probert would have his way with the diminutive Domi. The Albanian Aggressor was looking to make a real go of it as he went right at Probert with a barrage of lefts and rights. Probert tried to use his great reach advantage but found himself being outpunched by the scrappy Domi and at one point was forced to throw his right arm up to block and deflect Domi’s lefts. When Probert finally got into the fight it was a tale of too little too late. After trying to use his reach, he tried to shrug off his jersey but the whole process took too long and by the time he was free, he was cut over the right eye and losing on the judges scorecards. Probert skated to the box bloodied and disheveled. Domi skated away with a huge grin on his face while mimicking a heavyweight championship belt gesture, declaring himself the new Heavyweight champ.

Probert hated to lose but he seethed over Domi’s post fight showboating. Probert was generally all business when he fought so Domi’s act didn’t sit well with him and since the next match up would not happen until the following year, he was left to stew over it. Meanwhile just like any other time Probert suffered a defeat, it was big news. The hype machine was already abuzz with talk of a rematch. The media, naturally, ran with it, building the fight up to epic proportions. The players themselves even got into the act, talking their share of trash before the league called both players in to shut it all down. Probert must’ve laughed at the league’s attempts at decorum, nothing was going to stop him from another go at Domi.

Probert and Domi would have to wait until the following season to settle the issue. Probert once again was in fine feather in the lead up to the rematch with Domi beating guys like Stu Grimson, Stephane Quintal, and Kelly Chase. When the two hounds were unleashed, it would be a much different affair than their first go round. This time Probert didn’t waste time trying to use his reach and he didn’t screw around with his gear. This time he got right down to business and got the right going right away, cranking Domi with a series of unanswered right hands. Domi was game and he attempted to get on track but he was being swamped by Probert’s barrage. Tiring of throwing rights, Probert switched to his left and continued the assault. Domi tried to get in the fight but Probert was relentless, switching back to his right and firing off a series of unanswered blows. In the end, Probert landed a sneaky right hand to Domi’s temple, knocking him down. Probert was the “champ” again and all was right with the world.

The fight itself received more attention and more hype than any fight before or after. Newscasts and sports highlight shows ran with it providing their own tale of the tape and detailed final punch count stats, declaring Probert the unanimous winner. There was so much going on in these two fights but the lasting image for me has always been Captain Stevie Y standing on the Detroit bench doing his own heavyweight championship belt gesture. Rubbing a little salt in the wound and giving Domi a dose of his own medicine. Payback’s a bitch.

Probert entered the 1993-94 season as the undisputed champ. I personally thought Probert came into the season heavy and sluggish. His hand speed seemed slow and he loaded up too much on his punches. Nevertheless, Probert went on a nice run beating guys like the ever pugnacious Jeff Odgers, Greg “Bird Dog” Smyth, and a young Donald Brashear. The highlight fight of the year was an epic on February 4th, 1994-the fabled ‘War in ‘94’-against veteran enforcer Marty McSorley. The fight itself pitted two experts in their field, two men who had the experience of hundreds of fights under their belts. The fight was a true slugfest with both going to war. Part way through the fight, McSorley was dropped to the ice but courageously got back to his feet in a true all time classic.This fight was a real beauty with both fighters going all out, using all their experience to put together one of the greatest fights of all time. By the standards of hockey fighting, this battle was a marathon clocking in at well over a minute. This fight was like a work of art between two all time greats-a true fistic masterpiece.

Probert seemed to be on the verge of another championship caliber year until he ran into a young enforcer from out west. Sandy McCarthy had quickly made a name for himself in his rookie year tearing up the heavyweight division and getting into some of the year’s best fights. This rookie phenom was a big hulking 6’3 and 225 pounds with long arms he used to fend off opponents or pick them apart with toe to toe punches. McCarthy was the latest young gun taking a run at Probert and he was a legitimate threat indeed having already put together one of the best rookie campaigns we ever saw to that point. When the Calgary Flames invaded JLA that night in April 1994, McCarthy was looking for the cherry on top of an all time season. He wanted Probert. 

The fight started off in a strange fashion as Probert skated up to McCarthy full bore. McCarthy seemed ready for a go and Probert dropped the mitts and began firing away, but McCarthy appeared to be playing possum. He kept his gloves on while Probert wailed away with some solid blows. No linesmen appeared to take McCarthy’s bait-they had seen him do this too many times that season and let the fight go on. Probert had stopped punching, feeling duped by McCarthy, but with no rush from the officials to intervene, we had ourselves a fight. With Probert’s pause, the “Sandman” got himself in good position and began to land punches on the suddenly sluggish champion. McCarthy had a good grip on Probert’s right and thoroughly shut him down. McCarthy picked Probert apart and he was so frustrated he resorted to head butting at the end of the fight. The KING had been dethroned and a new young star was on the rise.

Probert entered free agency that off season and on July 23, 1994, signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. Probert’s off ice problems immediately came to the forefront. This time Probert was charged with OUI and disorderly conduct for crashing his motorcycle. The League banned the troubled winger for the entire 1994-95 season. After missing the entire lockout shortened 1994-95 campaign, Probert would now don the Indian head of the Chicago Blackhawks, and would set his sights on his former team. For a Probert fan like myself it was tough to see Probert in anything but a Red Wings jersey. I had adopted the Red Wings as a sort of second favorite team behind my beloved Bruins. Now seeing him in the colors of the Wings arch rival was like a shock to the system. It was akin to Hulk Hogan joining the NWO and becoming “Hollywood” Hogan or the Rocket pitching for the dreaded Yankees… It was Probert’s turn to play heel. Dutifully, loyally, I followed suit. I turned my back on the Red Wings and sold my soul to the dark side as well. 

There was hope at the outset that Probert would return to form. In the 1995-96 preseason Probert, donning a 95 jersey, perhaps signifying a rebirth of sorts in the Windy City, took on one of the AHL’s best in Dennis Bonvie. Probert looked good against the youngster in the limited news clip footage that was available at the time and he seemed to be raring to go in his return from his suspension. However, it became clear early on that this was a different Probert. For one thing, Probert suffered an early season set back-a shocking TKO loss at the hands of Pittsburgh’s Chris Tamer. Tamer was nowhere near the fighter Probert was and if there were cracks in Probert’s vaunted rep, they were fissures now. Tamer was a second tier style of fighter, added toughness for a team. By all accounts a tough and willing guy but not the kind of guy people flocked to arenas to see. Seeing Probert get stunned by a quick left hand from Tamer made it all too plain that Probert had lost something on his fastball. Tamer never did anything like that again and was a fairly mediocre back up style of fighter the rest of his career. What made matters worse and all too strange, there was no rush to avenge the loss or set things aright. A young, hungry Probert would have tripped over himself in his rush to settle the score. This version of Probert didn’t sweat a loss like he once did and wasn’t gunning for anyone unless someone stepped over the line or the situation called for it. 

Probert would also suffer a tough loss to Tony “TNT” Twist. Twister’s star was on the rise and he was a power punching machine during the 1995-96 season and made a serious run at a title and that run would not be complete without beating the “man”. Probert started off well, landing a bomb that cut his hand badly, before Twist got loose from his gear and pounded out a victory over the former champ. If anyone made any excuses for Probert after cutting his hand in the Twist fight, there could be none made for his final fight of the year in the playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche’s fearsome brawler, Chris Simon. Simon was another heavyweight on the rise and put together what would be arguably his finest year in 1995-96 with some big time fights and none bigger than this bout vs. Probert. Simon wound up giving Probert a thorough thrashing, landing a series of unanswered lefts to finish off the bout and end Probert’s hopes of recovering his lost title.

It was clear at this time that the winds of change were blowing in the heavyweight division. No longer were the Probert’s and Brown’s the top dogs any longer. That post would be filled by guys like Sandy McCarthy, Tony Twist or even Chris Simon in the upcoming years and Probert would now find himself on the outside looking in of this new heavyweight hierarchy. It would get no easier for Probert in 1996-97 as Probie would suffer another couple of tough losses to Twist. By the end of the 1997-98 season, if anyone had any doubts that Probert was a changed fighter, they were finally put to rest. Probert failed in his bid to avenge losses to both Twist and McCarthy. Probert didn’t have that same kind of fire and while he still gave us some great fights at this time vs. notable tough guys like Reid Simpson, Bryan Marchment, Darren Langdon, Stu Grimson and Tie Domi, he was outside of the new crop of elite heavyweight‘s.

Things really came to a head during the 1998-99 season. Probert had arguably his worst season as a fighter, suffering a handful of bad losses. He would lose badly to Boston Bruins bad boy, Ken Belanger. Belanger worked Probert with a confusing array of lefts and rights and Probert was done before he even had a chance to get going. He would get beaten soundly twice by Donald Brashear, the same Brashear who once looked scared to death of coming to grips with a prime Probert had finally gotten over the proverbial hump. Probert would drop a decision to old foe Tie Domi and would get smoked by a beauty right hand from Dave “Moose” Morissette, a minor league gun hand who was the latest in a long line of young scrappers who broke into the NHL with dreams of fighting Probert on their minds. Probert was able to salvage what was left of the year with a big TKO victory over the much hyped young strong man Scott Parker. Parker came into the year with a great deal of hype and buzz from the AHL and juniors where he was a virtual man child. Probert’s victory helped show he still had it during what was a dark year for him as a fighter.

For as far as Probert fell in 1998-99, he was resurgent in 1999-00. I don’t know if Probie did some soul searching or if he went through his off season training regiment with renewed vigor, but Probert gave us one last great year to remember him by. It was one last grasp at a title and some, depending on who you ask, believe he did indeed claim a piece of it as his own once more. Probie started off the year with a bang taking on one of the minor league’s best fighters in Mad Mel Angelstad. It was a great fight with Probert being stunned part way through by a Mad Mel right but Probie took over in the later stages taking the victory. Once again Probert took the best shot from another young lion looking to prove himself against a legend. Probert would go on to have notable fights against Stu Grimson, Eric Cairns, George Laraque, Grant Marshall, Wade Belak and Donald Brashear, scoring decisions over each. Guys like Grimson, Laraque, Brashear and Cairns were amongst the best in the league while Angelstad was one of the best in the minors and Belak would go on to become one of the best in his own right. It was a fantastic come back season for Probert who surely looked done by the end of the previous year. 

On September 20, 2000, Probert would fight a war with Buffalo Sabres newly made soldato, Eric Boulton. The fight would prove to be Probert’s last “great” fight. Probert would play two more seasons but would never have another truly memorable fight. Of course he would win some and lose some in that time and he would have the famed three fight game vs. Jody Shelley, but he was no longer the force he once was as a heavyweight. He still accepted the challenges of all the rookie ruffians who grew up watching the old Bruise Brothers tapes and forever since dreamed of fighting The KING but his turn as champ was over. 

When Probert retired he left behind a career like no other. A fighting champion who actively sought to be the absolute best fighter in the game. His desire to be the best pushed him to heights unmatched. His accomplishments as a fighter stand unrivaled in the long history of fighting. He spent sixteen seasons fighting the biggest and baddest the league had to offer and fought his way to the very top. Probert’s amazing body of work consists of extended rivalries with all time candidates like Wendel Clark, Stu Grimson, Tony Twist, Craig Berube, Ken Baumgartner, Troy Crowder, Tie Domi, Marty McSorley, and Donald Brashear. He had a fight card like few others and as I mentioned previously, was taking on every young tough guys best shot as his legend grew. 

His fantastic run in Detroit spoiled us fight fans as we expected Probert to be the champ every year and avenge every loss over the course of sixteen long and grueling seasons. I think we’ve been overly harsh to Probert in critiquing his more “lean” years Chicago. While not the Probert we became accustomed to seeing, he was still a very good fighter. No longer the champ, Probert was a solid top-5 heavyweight at this time and of course held that strange exalted status of a living legend. After a dreadful year in 1998-99, Probert rebounded to take a shot at another title-in his fourteenth season, no less. As a member of the blackhawks, Probert defeated guys like Scott Parker, Reid Simpson, Stu Grimson, Patrick Cote, Mel Angelstad, George’s Laraque, Donald Brashear, Wade Belak, Eric Cairns, Tie Domi and Matt Johnson… those were some very tough men. His final two years featured a clearly faded and disinterested Probert who was no longer a title threat but of course he was Probert so he continued taking on every stone cold killer coming out of the minors. 

In the end Probert left no stone unturned in his quest for fighting immortality. Having taken on the best of the best of his own time as well as most of the guys featured in this all time project. He checks off in a number of key areas for me in terms of his all time worth. He had a great overall career punctuated by a great championship run in Detroit. He had numerous big victories over the top fighters of his time. Probert can legitimately claim victories -in some cases one sided demolishings-over some all time monsters. One immediately thinks of his wins over Dave Brown, Donald Brashear, Craig Berube, Tie Domi, Stu Grimson, Marty McSorley, Wendel Clark, Dave Semenko, Glen Cochrane-all of them legitimate all time candidates and a few are top-3 all time. I give him credit for engaging in some of the greatest fights of his time as well. His battles with Coxe and McSorley immediately stand out as some of the best fights of that era. Probert also had what I like to call big fights. This was a guy who was tested routinely as champ and a loss was big news throughout the league. His fights with Semenko, Brown, The Crowder trilogy, the second fight vs. Domi were all huge fights -championship fights with everything riding on the line. Few fought under that kind of pressure against that kind of opposition. It’s the reason Probert’s the All Time King. 

When the Flyers brought in Dave Brown in the early/mid ‘80’s I was convinced there was a factory on the outskirts of Philly owned and operated by Ed Snider that created and assembled Terminator enforcers. How else do you explain the line of legitimate top shelf home grown fighters they rolled out from 72-73 onward. They had a Murderers Row of Dave Schultz, Mel Bridgman, Paul Holmgren, Dave Hoyda, Behn Wilson, and Glen Cochrane. That’s an incredible near decade long run of Heavyweight thunder coming at you game in, game out. They made the Spectrum a virtual House of Horrors for weak kneed hockey clubs throughout the NHL. Now it was like they discovered some breakthrough technology and created this new and improved enforcer. This one’s ID was ‘#21, Dave Brown’ and he was a 6’5 southpaw monster. He was mean and nasty, he would jump you, sucker you, cheap shot you and also just straight up beat the bag out of you. He was a lethal lefty whose soul mission was to fight and maintain decorum among Flyer opposition. He became a scary presence on the ice as he would outright attack you whether you were ready or not. It didn’t matter if you were a top shelf enforcer or lowly non fighter-Brown showed no mercy to anyone. 

Right off the bat Dave Brown was a wrecking machine. Once he unleashed that left hand on the NHL he was almost unstoppable. He had quite a run as a young fighter with the Philadelphia Flyers. Breaking in during the 83-84 season, Brown had risen the ranks quickly, devastating a slew of opponents and by the mid 80’s many believed Brown to be the man having supplanted the older era fighters like Behn Wilson, Larry Playfair, and Dave Semenko. He mauled an assortment of ne’er do wells like Dwight Schofield, Brian “The Colonel” Curran, Jim Kyte, Chris “Knuckles” Nilan, Don Jackson, Jay Wells, Scott Stevens, and Tim Hunter, among others. Brown’s combination of fighting ability and willingness to go over the line to enforce the action made him one of the most feared fighters of his time. A young Brown cut a swath through the NHL in those early years. He didn’t suffer a major loss until his knockdown loss to Winnipeg’s Jim Kyte on December 1, 1985. Kyte was one of the league’s best fighters at that time and he would also score notable victories over future legends Marty McSorley and Joey Kocur that season as well. Brown would finish the year with victories over Tim Hunter, Craig Coxe, Jim Peplinski, and Gord Dineen. At this point he was one of the NHL’s elite fighters with the deadliest left hand in the game.

Brown would develop fierce rivalries with Boston Bruins tough man Jay Miller and Montreal Canadiens gunslinger Chris Nilan during this time. Some of Brown’s biggest highlights in the mid-80’s would be his battles with both of these fine scrappers. One of Brown’s more infamous fights at this time would be against Nilan during the ’87 playoffs. On May 14, 1987, a pregame brawl broke out between the Flyers and the Montreal Canadiens. With no officials on the ice, things turned ugly quick and players streamed out of the dressing rooms in various states of undress. Brown came out of the locker room without a jersey or pads on and went right at Montreal’s Chris Nilan. The two engaged in an extended battle, giving a good account of themselves. Miller and Nilan were smaller than Brown and had developed into virtuoso technical fighters. It was always interesting to me watching these two technicians attempt to slow down and keep Brown at bay. On a few occasions both were able to score decisions over Brown but for the most part, Brown got the better of their match ups.

Brown would continue his victorious ways defeating the likes of Scott Stevens, rugged runt George McPhee, Jay Caufield, and Terry Carkner. The following year, despite a minor set back to New York’s Larry Melnyk, Brown would lay waste to Chris Nilan, Jay Miller, Wayne Van Dorp and Kevin McClelland. He even managed to get into a mediocre bout with fellow Heavyweight title claimant, Bob Probert. The fight was a disappointment for fight fans looking for a true Heavyweight showdown. Both Brown and Probert were wary of each other at this time and the fight seemed like more of a feeling out style bout with a more decisive scrap looming down the line at some point. Brown was sitting atop the Heavyweight division and having another stellar season when the Flyers traded him to the Edmonton Oilers near the end of the year. It was hard to imagine Brown in any other uniform but the O and B of the Flyers but he took his nasty demeanor and vicious left and set out to tame the wild wild west. 

While Brown was awesome as a Flyer, I always loved the Edmonton Oilers version. Traded at the end of the 1988-89 season, Brown would be just as vicious and brutal with the Oil as he was in Philly. Brown would be tested right away out west as a number of young up and coming fighters looked to make their mark. Brown would go on to have one of the best single seasons ever for a fighter in 1989-90. The entire year was one big highlight reel for Brown. He broke Stu Grimson’s orbital bone, knocked out Cam Russell, TKO’d Jay Miller and Shawn Cronin and thrashed Darin Kimble. He also gave one sided bashings to Mick Vukota, Jeff Parker, Ronnie Stern, and old foe, Tim Hunter. He did suffer tough losses to both Stu Grimson and Darin Kimble but in true Brownie fashion at this time, both would be avenged quickly and decisively. With Bob Probert missing time due to off ice issues, Brown ascended to the Heavyweight throne that season.

Not being one to rest on his laurels or ride his hard earned reputation, Brownie took the fight to the Smythe Division with renewed vigor the following year. He would score some great wins over a young Jim McKenzie, Tie Domi, and Gino Odjick. All three were young gunslingers who would go on to have great careers for themselves in their own right. Brown would also finally avenge that tough loss to Jim Kyte from four years before with a vicious one sided beating that had Kyte skating off the ice on wobbly legs saying “Brutal” over and over. Yup, that was Brownie-brutal. Brown was also involved in one of the pivotal moments of the 1990-91 season and, some believe, even hockey fight history, when he battled Bob Probert for a second time. Lost amid the hoopla and hype of the Probert-Crowder series was this truly monumental happening in the Heavyweight Division. Both Dave Brown and Bob Probert, hockey’s two biggest Heavyweight’s, locked horns once again and this time there was nothing mediocre about it. This one would have major repercussions not only for the Heavyweight picture at the time but All-time as well. Brown went down in defeat, getting thoroughly dominated by Probert who was in the midst of one of the greatest seasons ever for a fighter. 

Brown would return to Philly and it was almost like he picked right up where he left off. He reasserted himself with the Flyers, crushing Tie Domi, pitching a shutout vs. John Kordic and breaking Ken Baumgartner’s orbital bone. He seemed like his old self again, brimming with a confidence that carried him through the entire 1991-92 season. Then in 1992-93 the first real cracks began to appear. He lost a wild fight to Buffalo Sabres ruffian, Rob Ray, being stunned by one of Ray’s “heavy cylinders”. Seeing Brown essentially out on his feet against Ray-who to that point had never really made any noise in the Heavyweight rankings-was almost like that turning point where you can pinpoint when things began to go south for Brown and his career. It wasn’t long after the stunning loss to Ray that Brown suffered another major defeat, this time at the hands of New Jersey’s Randy McKay. Brown would avenge the McKay loss but never was able to even the score with Ray despite two more fights against the Sabres policeman. The losses began to come faster now. He struggled mightily with Montreal’s Lyle Odelein, got smashed by Ottowa’s Billy Huard in the ’94 preaseason and then had the changing of the guard bouts with Quebec Nordiques bodyguard, Chris Simon. Simon was almost like a new age Dave Brown-a big badass southpaw who demolished opponents. Seeing him edge out Brownie in good scraps was impressive but was also another sign that Brown was fading.

Brown would retire the following season as a member of the San Jose Sharks. Brown had a remarkable career as a Heavyweight and I was always impressed by the kind of aura that he had about him. He was so intimidating, so vicious during his career. He would stop at nothing to settle a score or right a perceived wrong, hence the nickname, “Terminator”. Brown’s was basically an elite fighter from 85-92 where he was either champ or in the champ mix. Only in his last few seasons did Brown really fade out and fall out of the Heavyweight scene. I love Brown’s mix of won-loss, lethal beat downs and signature victories. For a time in the late ‘80’s and into the early ‘90’s if you asked an NHL player who the best fighter it was, they’d say either Dave Brown or Bob Probert.

If ever there was a fighter that personified perfection, it was Behn Bevan Wilson. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Big Behn, as he would become known, was drafted in the first round, sixth overall, by the Philadelphia Flyers in the ’78 NHL amateur draft. He came into the NHL with a lot of upside – he was a young, physical, puck moving defenseman who could clear things out in front of the net. What certainly added to this overall package was just how great a fighter Wilson was as a rookie even at the tender age of 19. He was big, 6’3, well over two hundred pounds and had a nasty disposition when it came to handling business on the ice. The Flyers now had this young upstart heavyweight contender to go along with the toughness they already had with the likes of Paul Holmgren, Mel Bridgman and Dave Hoyda on the roster. If any teams were close to matching the kind of pure toughness the Flyers had, Wilson certainly put them over the top. He was a first-round draft pick who had all the potential in the world and he could take on the NHL’s best fighters. The Flyers were sitting pretty with Big Behn.

He was big and he was almost exclusively a right hander. Very rarely did Behn punch with his left. Instead, he used his left like a vice grip, locking down the right arms of his opponents. So adept was he at tying up adversaries that he would often make them appear nearly paralyzed and incapable of mounting any kind of attack. I always felt that Behn was very underrated in this category. I think it gets lost in the shuffle with all of his great slugfests and classic battles. Behn also had good power and a chin made of pure granite. He featured a unique uppercut laden style that more often than not overwhelmed his soon to be broken down an beaten opponents. He came into the league in 1978 and as a nineteen-year-old rookie showed great poise and experience beyond his years as a fighter. His balance was impeccable, he almost never overthrew his punches or flailed wildly, and always seemed to be in control. Even as a rookie you could see Behn Wilson was destined for great things.

Behn broke into the NHL with a bang getting into a great swing out with tough Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Tiger Williams. It was a great dust up with Tiger getting the edge early before Behn landed some solid shots late in a fight that ended in a standstill. After that, Big Behn was off and running getting into a couple of great fights with Atlanta’s Willi Plett, a solid bout with former Flyer Bad Boy, Dave Schultz, now plying his trade in Pittsburgh, and demolished the oft-demolished Keith Magnuson. He even looked great in his losses. His fight with Boston Bruins Bad Boy, John “Wire” Wensink was an absolute slugfest with both fighters taking some serious punishment. His battle with New York Rangers strongman, Nick Fotiu was another dandy with Wilson learning a lesson at the hands of the former WHA assassin. Behn’s third loss this season would come at the hands of veteran Los Angeles Kings scrapper, Bert Wilson, in a close battle featuring a vicious exchange. That fight was the undercard to the Holmgren-Holt main event during Randy Holt’s record setting brawl game against the Flyers. I do have to note that in Wilson’s career, he only suffered a handful of close losses, three of them coming as a rookie against some of the best fighters in the game. Big Behn looked like an absolute stud as a young Heavyweight and he’d only get better and better.

Wilson followed up his breakout rookie year with a fine sophomore campaign that was highlighted by a great bout against Boston Bruins “Bulldog” Stan Jonathan. The fight was an excellent one between two of the toughest in the league as Jonathan had been on fire since breaking into the NHL during the 1976-77 season. After a great exchange of punches, Jonathan just stood there smiling in Wilson’s face. Jonathan sure had some serious cajones slugging it out like that with Big Behn and skating away smiling. You had to love the way Jonathan carried himself, a pint sized pug with the rep of a top Heavy. Behn followed up that effort with one of the most brutal knockouts of the era. The Flyers had descended upon Joe Louis Arena and the Wings made sure to dress up and coming slugger, John Hilworth. These two bad hombres met up in the corner in the Philadelphia end. They dropped the gloves and Behn smoked Hilworth with a single deadly right hand. What’s more is Behn began drilling Hilworth with flush punches while Hilworth was out cold on the ice. Seeing Hilworth go down that way, like someone had flicked a switch was a shock but the added visual of Hilworth’s head being dribbled off the ice by Behn’s extracurricular blows was truly an eye opener. If anyone had any doubts about Behn Wilson’s power-or nastiness- they were dispelled with this fight.

The 1980-81 season would see Big Behn at his absolute best. He reached his peak with one of the greatest single seasons we would see from a fighter. He vaulted himself into the champ discussion and scored some serious wins as he continued to roll along. He started the year off in the preseason by giving Montreal forward Chris Nilan a sound whooping. He then continued his run with one of his greatest victories to date, a one-sided beatdown of New York Islanders big man, Clark Gillies. At this time, “Jethro” had a reputation that was through the roof. He was considered to be among the best fighters in the game and the way Wilson just pounded him in such one-sided fashion really made a statement. Wilson would follow this effort up with a big win over Curt “Lights Out” Fraser. The Vancouver Canucks power puncher got the early edge with a flurry of solid right hands but Wilson came storming back with vicious rights and uppercuts to take the W. There isn’t a lot of video from Fraser during his Vancouver days but he was fast becoming one of the league’s most lethal punchers at this point.

One of the fights from this season I like to point out is the first fight between Behn Wilson and Archie Henderson of the Washington Capitals. Henderson was a minor league mad man that was huge at 6’6 and well over two hundred pounds and had a reputation for toughness and general nastiness in the minor leagues. The Caps were giving him a shot to help counter the Flyers murderers row of maulers. When he and Wilson collided, you could see that Big Behn was ready for it and was chomping at the bit for some action. He locked down Henderson’s right arm so well that Henderson could barely bring his arm up enough to hold onto Behn, looking very much like t-rex trying to scratch his nose. Then came the wonderfully crafted offense with the overhand rights and precision uppercuts. When it came to uppercuts, Behn was the best in the business. Henderson got a thorough working over from Wilson and things went equally as bad for him in their second encounter that night. Henderson was game but he got roughed up and picked apart by peak level Wilson.

The cherry on top of an already fantastic year for the de facto champ was a two-fight game against Boston Bruins heart and soul warrior, Terry O’Reilly. Their first go that evening would be precipitated by a good hard hit by O’Reilly in the corner that flattened Wilson. That was all it took and both doffed the mitts and began firing away. O’Reilly fired furiously with the lefts while Wilson fed Taz a steady diet of crunching right hands. After a furious exchange, O’Reilly began to flounder and typically, fell to the ice. The fight was a fairly close one that I gave the edge to Wilson in. O’Reilly got up from the ice smiling at Wilson and you just had a feeling there would be more from these two. It wouldn’t take long. Later that same game these two willing combatants dropped the gloves once more. This time they were behind the play with O’Reilly once again forcing the issue with one of the game’s best fighters. They got right down to business, O’Reilly firing those furious lefts and Wilson coming on methodically with right hands. At one point, like clockwork, O’Reilly began to lose balance and he flopped at one point being literally swung by Wilson like an older brother swinging his younger sibling. In the end a few solid blows had O’Reilly back down on the ice. Still, he got up smiling and jawing at Wilson. You had to give it to the Bruins at that time. Those Lunch Pail AC version of the Bruins in the late 70’s were a hardcore bunch and feared no one, not even Big Behn who was arguably the best fighter in the league.

Behn followed up his biggest year to date with a quiet one by his standards. The main highlight being a wild game at the Spectrum against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October, 29, 1981. In this game a scrum broke out and Wilson wound up paired with Penguins miscreant Paul Baxter. It’s a shame Baxter was such a dirty player and overall cheap shot artist. When he wanted to, he could actually hold his own and then some in a scrape but he chose a different path. He had a face that should’ve been on a Wanted Poster rather than in the pages of a hockey program. While holding onto Wilson away from the action, Baxter belted him with a flush sucker punch to the jaw. Wilson went down, covering up. It’s the only time I saw Wilson get dropped by a punch. Total cheap shot on Baxter’s behalf and one he would pay for again and again.

Wilson got back up dazed and still reeling from Baxter’s bomb. Steadily though you could see the absolute rage setting in. He collected himself and then wanted him some Paul Baxter. He pushed and prodded his way towards Baxter who had picked up his glove and pretended to just blend into his surroundings, ignoring the holy hell that he had just called forth. Finally, the officials decided to let the boys settle things themselves and Wilson tore into Baxter like a wild animal does to prey. Wilson pounded Baxter mercilessly as he cowered in a self-made human shell in an attempt to ward off the blows. The linesmen were able to separate them but it was with great effort as Behn still raged. Wilson wasn’t done and went after Baxter again tearing into him viciously while he performed what could only be called a standing turtle, taking everything Wilson dished out.

The following season would be Big Behn’s last with the Philadelphia Flyers. He had a very quiet year in the fight department but still gave us another highlight with his destruction of St. Louis Blues forward, Wayne Babych. Wilson landed a number of flush shots on Babych and broke his face in another example of his punching power. The Flyers then dished Wilson to the Chicago Blackhawks for Doug Crossman. Doug Crossman? Really, Philadelphia? Wilson had all kinds of potential as a player but he was inconsistent, at times showing flashes of greatness like his great all-star season in 1980-81 but other times made lazy mistakes on the ice and would disappear for stretches. He could be selfish, aloof and at times distant. Wilson never seemed to feel the brotherly love in Philly and was something of a lone wolf. The Flyers at this point were going to roll with Glen Cochrane and a young, up and coming kid from the Springfield Indians, named Dave Brown as their chief on ice deterrents.

Wilson’s first year with the Hawks was a rather quiet one in terms of fighting. One noteworthy bout that has to be touched upon is one of the more controversial fights of the time in fight fan circles. Even with good footage of the fight, its ending has been the subject of much discussion over the years. Gillies still fumed over the tough one-sided loss he suffered to Wilson back in ’81. While, no longer the threat he once was, Gillies was still plenty dangerous when the gloves were off. He got right to business during a minor scrum between the Isles and Hawks at the old Chicago Stadium on January 18, 1984. After exchanging pleasantries, they dropped the mitts and we had a fight on our hands featuring two of the best of their time. During the square off, Gillies was highly active throwing feints and quick jabs at Wilson, perhaps recalling Nick Fotiu’s tactics against a young Wilson in 1979. When the two finally came to grips, Gillies got the right going right away, throwing a barrage of overhands and uppercuts, landing a few solidly. Wilson seemed to weather the storm and kept himself in good position and began to return fire. Gillies went down from what appeared to be a Wilson right hand. Even with video it’s always been difficult to see if the punch truly landed. Gillies himself has come out in recent years and mentioned this fight as being a big win for him considering how badly he lost in the first fight. He mentioned being hesitant to square off with Big Behn again but a nice talk with Bobby Nystrom gave him the confidence to give it another try.

As we cruise into the 1984-85 season we see a somewhat rejuvenated Wilson who was active as a fighter and gave us some more notable moments to add to his already considerable reputation as one of the game’s best. He would have a good battle with Edmonton Oilers policeman, Kevin McClelland. McClelland was a good southpaw at this point in his career and a Top-10 fighter. He was part of a trio of Heavyweights that the Oilers boasted at this time and you can see in this fight his southpaw style gave Wilson some problems. McClelland seemed to get the better of their quick righty-lefty exchanges skating away with a razor thin decision over the veteran Heavyweight. Wilson would go on to give us a twofer against the Maple Leafs at Chicago Stadium on December 9, 1984. Wilson would take on Maple Leafs desperado Bob “Big Daddy” McGill in two great bouts. The first bout was an excellent scrap with McGill getting the early edge before Wilson came storming back. I always loved Rick Foley’s call on this fight. “Oh, Wilson is taking over! Behn Wilson!” Foley always showed genuine emotion when a fight was on. Wilson would also get a hold of Edmonton Intimidator, Dave “Cement Head” Semenko in the playoffs. A couple of quick uppercuts had Sammy holding on and waiting it out.

Wilson would miss the entire 1985-86 season with a bad back. When he returned you could see the years and injuries were beginning to catch up with him. He was far less active than he once was and he began to fade from the Heavyweight rankings. It was not due to any real losses-Wilson was always the picture of perfection-but a whole new generation of fighters was making their way up the ladder like Bob Probert, Joey Kocur, Dave Brown, Marty McSorley and Dave Richter. These guys were part of a new breed of scrappers who were hard wired to fight- and fight they did in numbers unheard of, before or since. Wilson was rather quiet at this point in his career but still gave us a show with a total war against a young explosive puncher in Wendel Clark of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Clark got the rights and lefts going right away and and Wilson slowly and steadily came back and the fight became a back and forth Fight of the Year candidate and one of Big Behn’s best fights. So even while struggling with back issues and knowing his best kick ass years were behind him, he still gave us this gem. Wilson would play one more year with the Hawks before calling it a career. In his final season he once again finished with no blemishes and even took a crack at the next great one, Bob Probert, but the fight turned out to be a dud. What a shame.

Behn Wilson put together a fantastic career for a fighter. His record of only a handful of close decision losses is unmatched especially when you take into consideration the kind of competition he was taking on. He fought the best there was throughout the league and to finish with so few blemishes is quite an accomplishment. He took on the best of each team in turn it seemed, taking on the big bruisers on the Rangers in Nick Fotiu and Barry Beck and battling all three of the Big Bad Bruins in Terry O’Reilly, Stan Jonathan and John Wensink. He fought Clark Gillies, one of the best of his time twice. He also took on Bob Probert, Wendel Clark, Dave Schultz, Willi Plett, Paul Mulvey, Tiger Williams, Garry Howatt and other assorted ne’er do wells in a career that saw him rise to the highest heights of NHL pugilism. Wilson was arguably the best fighter in the league from 80-85 while giving us one of the best single seasons for a fighter ever (1980-81). He also had those clear-cut wins and dominating displays you like to see in an all time great. His flawless technique and near flawless record keep him in the Top-3 all-time discussion.

Never be too quick to judge a fighter. We’ve seen a number of examples over the years where a fighter might come into the NHL and need a few years of experience taking on NHL Heavyweights before finally hitting his stride. Some fighters break into the NHL and start off poorly. I recall Rob Ray struggling in his first few years in the NHL. He was more apt to get five for receiving as he usually wound up on the losing end of things in his scraps. Stu Grimson came into the NHL with Bambi legs and struggled mightily with his balance in his first few seasons. Then of course there was Donald Brashear. While Ray struggled with his confidence and Grimson struggled with his balance, Brashear struggled with his nerves. He was noted for his wrestling and grappling tactics in the AHL before the Canadiens brought him in during the 1993-94 season. He was quick to seat belt his opponents and land rabbit punches to the back of the head. This made for some poor looking fights as Brashear didn’t care much for opening up and preferred to keep his opponents in tight. So much so that Brashear became known as Huggy Bear for his hugging tactics in fights. 

Brashear must’ve looked like the anti-fighter to all those wide open brawlers of the time. Even when he did attempt to trade punches it was awkward looking with him almost looking away during the exchange. Shortly after being called up to give the smaller Habs some much needed muscle, the 6’3, 230 pound Brashear dropped the gloves with Heavyweight champ, Bob Probert. Typically when most young toughs came into the league they looked to make a splash by giving the champ their best shot. Brashear looked hesitant to even come to grips with Probert. He had scared eyes and Brashear’s first bout with the King was an odd affair looking more like a professional boxing match on ice than a true hockey fight. Brashear pawed and jabbed at Probie trying to  keep his distance. He would retreat hastily whenever Probert tried to close the distance and lock horns. Probert did his best to make a real fight of it but looked pissed for wasting his time with the gunshy grappler. To many at the time, Probert was the measuring stick. If you could do well against him, you could hang with most anyone in the NHL. It was Brashear’s first real test in the NHL and it was a total mess. Instead of giving his best shot, Brashear came away looking weak and scared. I’m sure many wrote him off right then and there.

As he went from year one to year two, you could see signs of improvement. They were fleeting glimpses-flashes really-that showed that there was some potential there. On March 4, 1995, he squeaked out a decision over veteran machine gunner, Craig Berube. The following year in the preseason, on September 23, 1995, Brashear scored an upset victory over Tie Domi. A perfectly placed uppercut dropped Domi who was able to quickly get to his feet and try to get at Brashear. Domi was more embarrassed than anything else but you could see the seeds of a heated rivalry were sewn that night. These two would battle it out numerous times in a rivalry that had some legitimate hate to it. Sadly, these flashes of potential, were lost in all of the wrestling and hugging he was doing in his fights making him seem more like Torrie Robertson reborn rather than any kind of legitimate contender. After the upset victory over Domi, Brashear would go on to score wins against Vancouver’s Shawn Antoski and New Jersey’s Randy McKay. He was more competitive in his fights and his confidence was growing even if his style was as fun as watching the ice melt at the old Montreal Forum.

Brashear’s baby steps to success became great strides producing a breakout year in 1996-97. He started the year with the Montreal Canadiens where he first began to show signs of putting it all together. The Habs then traded Brashear part way through the year to the Vancouver Canucks. It was here that Brashear truly blossomed and became a force to be reckoned with. He would go on to best minor league bad boy, John Craighead, Sabres tough guy, Rob Ray, he’d earn a decision against the ever tough Jim Mckenzie, dropped long time technical great Tim Hunter, and began his one sided rivalry with Marty McSorley with two solid victories over the veteran policeman. This was a new Brashear, a more confident Brashear. He was using his strength to his advantage and imposing his will on his opponents, squeezing the life out of them with his hugging tactics before demolishing them with a bevvy of lefts and rights. He was also showcasing a mean streak that didn’t seem evident before but was now part and parcel of what Brashear brought to the ice.

Brashear’s run in Vancouver was fantastic. From 96-01, he rocketed up the Heavyweight ladder, and put himself very much in the champ discussion. He would impose his style on such noteworthy fighters as Eric Cairns, Georges Laraque, Jim McKenzie, Tie Domi, Brantt Myhres, Rudy Poeschek, Bob Probert, Wade Belak, and Scott Parker. During this time he lost rarely and when he did they were usually slight losses in minor bouts. He confounded men with his style-using his great strength to stay in close before he began to push and pull them off balance and finishing them off with a flurry. As his stature as a fighter increased, so to did the enmity some had for him. He was fast becoming the most hated Heavyweight in the league for his huggy bear tactics and unwillingness to open up in fights. He also developed a penchant for picking his spots and turning down scraps if it didn’t suit him to fight at that moment. He also would turn down bouts with legit Heavies and take on their smaller underlings. His great fighting ability and the way he frustrated his opponents -whether fighting or not-made Brashear a kind of villain throughout the league.

One such incident proved just how frustrating Brashear could be. On February 21, 2000, the Canucks were at Pacific Coast Coliseum taking on the visiting Boston Bruins. Early in the game, Brashear and Bruins enforcer, Marty McSorley, dropped the gloves. It was a one sided affair in Brashear’s favor which was typical of his fights with McSorley. Few could say they owned McSorley but Brashear was one of them. Later in that same game Brashear fell on Bruins goaltender John Blue, injuring him. The Bruins were incensed and McSorley went looking for Brashear to settle the score. Brashear refused to fight McSorley and even began taunting him, flexing his muscles and trash talking any Bruin that was close by. Still later, with emotions running high, Marty McSorley whacked Brashaer off the side of the head with his stick, knocking the big Vancouver winger to the ice. Brashear went down hard smacking his head off the ice. He suffered a grade 3 concussion and would miss some time but he would eventually recover. McSorley would earn a year suspension for the misdeed and never play in the NHL again.

In 2001, the Canucks traded Brashear to the Flyers but it didn’t seem to matter to Brashear. Wherever he went he was this unstoppable force and among the very best fighters in the NHL. Brashear would play all or parts of four seasons with the Flyers. From 02-06, Brashear was still one of the league’s top dogs. He was a total powerhouse and ranked as a 1(a)/1(b) alongside Georges Laraque during this time. There were two sides to the Donald Brashear coin and to witness it as it played out, look no further than the 2002-03 season. On October 1, 2002, Donald Brashear won a decisive victory over New York Rangers top gun, Sandy McCarthy. The fight turned into a one sided whoopin’ with Brashear smashing McCarthy repeatedly with lefts. Brashear beat McCarthy so bad he stole his soul as he would never be the same fighter again. The Sandman officially entered his Sandra period. The “Don” went on a dominating run that season with victories over Stephen Peat, Reed Low and Eric Boulton before a postseason bout with old foe, Tie Domi. In the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, these two bitter rivals dropped the gloves at center ice. Brashear per usual got the left hand cranking on Domi and was cruising in the fight when Domi was able to shake his left arm free. As he reared back to fire a left hand bomb, Brashear inexplicably hit the deck and turtled in the face of Domi’s onslaught. The “Bail”, as it has become known, became another stain on his record and was another example of why there was so much dislike at times for the Don despite his obvious fighting skill. On the one hand he could be dominating and a total force, but on the other he could be underhanded and villainous with his tactics.

Truth be told, Brashear’s time in Philly was great overall. He was still a top shelf Heavyweight and he was still dominant. He had some noteworthy moments like his trouncing of veteran enforcer Rob Ray, who was at the end of his career with the Ottawa Senators. He scored a solid decision over newcomer Eric Godard and he had a memorable preseason beat down of New Jersey’s Grant Marshall. Brashear was such a powerhouse at this time that when the NHL went through another painful lockout in 2004-05, Brashear went up to Quebec and played in the LNAH. He thoroughly destroyed everything in his path and the all-fighting Quebec league was only too happy to give him back up to the NHL after some of his maulings. But even with everything going so smooth at a time when his victories could not easily be counted, did the first thin spider cracks begin to appear. With a new crop of young hungry Heavyweights came new challenges. Brasher seemed to handle them well at first but then he lost a decision to journeyman enforcer Doug Doull.It was not a major loss, mind you, but even a close loss was almost unheard of at this time. Later that same year he lost a tough bout to up and coming Brian McGrattan. The young, brawling McGrattan was part of a fresh crop of young Heavyweight recruits who set the league on fire with their action packed fights. McGrattan earned a clear decision against the veteran enforcer. There was also a rather controversial bout at the end of the season with Pittsburgh Penguin enforcer Eric Cairns that many viewed as a victory for Cairns. 

Brashear would then sign with the Washington Capitals where he would still serve as one of the premier Heavyweights in the game. In his first season in Washington he put together a solid year where he continued his domination of Colton Orr, bested Andre Roy as well as tough veteran power forward Brendan Shanahan. His only snag being two tough back to back losses to Wade Belak and Andrew Peters.He cruised on into the 2007-08 season where he would engage in one of the most unusual and controversial Heavyweight Championship bouts of them all. On October 20, 2007, the Washington Capitals played host to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was here that these two Heavyweight honchos dropped the gloves in what became an oddity in terms of fight scoring and controversial in the sense that it was hard to find a consensus on who won this bout. After a near picture perfect square off these two Heavyweight DemiGods came to grips. Laraque took control early, landing some thunderous lefts and knocking Brashear down three times. Each time Brashear got back to his feet only to be knocked down by another BGL air raid. Strangely enough the linesmen seemed to let things play out and didn’t rush in when Brasher was in trouble. After knocking Brashear down a third time, Laraque allowed Brashear to get to his feet rather than put the finishing touches on him. Brashear jump at the opportunity and fired off a few quick lefts, one of which appeared to put Laraque down, ending the fight. The fight became a hotly debated one in fight circles with some believing Laraque to have prevailed based on the strength of that barrage that knocked Brashear down three times. Some believed Brashear scored a TKO victory since his knockdown ended the fight. The bout certainly gave us fight fans something to talk about and I have to admit to being impressed with Brashear being able to withstand that kind of assault and come back swinging. You very rarely saw anything like that from Brasher during his career. He’d be quick to take a knee in a struggle in years past but he got back up from a brutalizing and went on the attack in this fight against the Heavyweight Champ. Stick tap to that.

Brashear would basically cruise through the rest of the year and most of the next as well. In this time he feasted on an assortment of battlers like Colton Orr, Shawn Thornton, Chris Neil, Pierr-Luc Leblonde, Riley Cote and Jody Shelley. He seemed like his usual dominating self, pounding away on the Heavyweight field until one night in Nashville. It was here on March 10, 2009 that Brashear would drop the gloves with old foe, Wade Belak. The Albino Assassin had made some noise earlier that season getting into three battles with Super Heavyweight monster, Derek Boogaard but Brasher was undaunted having gone on quite a run this season himself. These two came together and got into an exchange of lefts. In the midst of this exchange, Belak landed one flush on Brashear’s jaw, dropping the long time Heavyweight kingpin. “The Left” as it has become known over the years, sent shockwaves throughout the NHL and signaled the end of Brashear’s dominating run as one of the game’s elite Heavyweights. Belak’s grip on the title was tenuous at this point and he would follow up his greatest season with a mediocre year before dying tragically in 2011.

Brashear would leave Washington for the bright lights of the big city, signing that offseason with the New York Rangers. Victories over Colton Orr and Eric Boulton were nice but most remember him that year for being knocked down by Steve MacIntyre with a rare body blow and his tough knockdown loss to newcomer Matt Carkner. It was strange to see Brashear appear “mortal” after so many years as a dominating force. At this point the years and fights seemed to be catching up to him like with most scrappers. The Don would play the next few seasons sporadically in the LNAH before calling it a career. Many still fret about his style and his tactics but it’s hard to deny the absolute mountain of accomplishments he had as a fighter. With his great strength and grappling style, Brashear was incredibly hard to beat cleanly. He finished with a great won-loss record and could claim victories over such noteworthy fighters as Bob Probert, Sandy McCarthy, Jim McKenzie, Colton Orr, Derek Boogaard, Tie Domi, Marty McSorley, Georges Laraque, Tim Hunter, Eric Cairns, Wade Belak, Eric Godard, Rob Ray, among others-in fact his win column looked like a who’s who of most all time lists. In a number of cases he beat some of these great fighters badly multiple times. 

From 1996 to 2009, Brashear was a force in the NHL and a few of those years in the early 2000’s, he was the champ. From the time he entered his prime in Vancouver to his TKO loss at the hands of Wade Belak in 2009, Brasher was among the best fighters in the game. Because he was feared by some and hated by others he was often overshadowed in the champ discussion. In the late 90’s when he was with Vancouver and morphing into a certified beast, the spotlight was on guys like Tony Twist, Sandy McCarthy, or Stu Grimson. In the early 2000’s it was the affable Georges Laraque that took center stage, after the lockout it was the monstrous Derek Boogaard, but always there was Brashear. Feared and reviled throughout the league, there was no doubting how great a fighter he was during his career. When you break it all down and put everything under the all time microscope- almost too good of a case can be made for Brashear not just for Top-10 all time status, but Top-5 as well. 

Georges Laraque was one of those fighters that had the kind of attitude and general disposition that was at odds with his chosen profession. The amiable Laraque was the true gentleman enforcer of his era. His adherence to hockey fighting’s code as well as his easy going personality made him one of the game’s most respected tough guys. He was even known to wish his opponents good luck before he thoroughly mangled them and left them writhing in pain on the ice. He was the embodiment of Ross Bernsteins’ ‘The Code’ – a fighter who played and fought under certain unwritten rules of fairplay. These somewhat vague and unwritten rules seemed to fall in line with the NHL’s generally stricter rules for fighting around this time. The 17 minute “Bettman Package” was doled out to fighters who were judged to be the instigator of a fight. This led to a much more sterilized version of fighting and enforcing with fighters very much aware of what might happen if they stepped over the line. This was all just fine for Laraque who was only mean and nasty out of necessity and his enforcing generally relegated to taking on the other teams resident enforcer if things got out of hand.

Laraque broke into the NHL in the late 90’s after a much hyped run in juniors and the AHL. He was a 6’3, 245 pound southpaw that laid waste to anything he encountered. Being a big southpaw was one thing but Laraque was incredibly strong and if you did happen to survive his onslaught, he would grapple and wrestle you into submission. He had a picture perfect square off and he loved to reach in deftly with his right hand and get a hold on the collar of his opponents jersey and yank it as he stepped back. This would invariably pull his opponent off balance and the slaughter would begin. Laraque would rain down crushing left after crushing left and if that wasn’t enough he’d use some greco-roman tactics before some hip toss judo to end the fight. Laraque was nothing if not cultured. His style led to some rather shabby fights as Laraque preferred to wrestle rather than get into the action packed exchanges that garnered the adulation of the crowd. Still, once he got that left hand going, he could be unstoppable and few could stand in and trade with him anyhow making him a virtual matchup nightmare for opposing enforcers.

He struggled somewhat in a brief preseason call up in 1996-97 with the ever tough Donald Brashear before getting into a good battle later in the year against Calgary’s Todd Simpson. Simpson got up from a knockdown to take the fight to Laraque in a wild bout. The following year he got a longer look as he attempted to solidify himself as Edmonton’s enforcer. He pounded middleweight catcher Steve Leach and hung tough in a close bout with veteran vigilante, Stu Grimson which served as a tune up for his bout with top Heavyweight slugger, Tony Twist. There were none more feared in the game at this time than Twister and his jackhammer right hand. For the past three seasons, Twist had punched his way to the top of the Heavyweight heap leaving a trail of broken and badly beaten men in his wake. He was a wild slugger who threw punches with evil intentions and was arguably THE man at this time in the NHL. On February 1, 1999, in a battle that featured the champ vs. the young contender, Twist and Laraque locked horns at the SkyReach Center-which I will forever refer to as the Coliseum because I hate all that corporate logo nonsense ruining all of our hallowed hockey arenas. For as strong as Laraque was Twist seemed even stronger and proved hard to contain for the young southpaw. After an initial exchange that looked favorable for Laraque, Twister shed free from his jersey and landed a couple of solid blows to secure the victory. Laraque hung tough with one of the scariest guys in the league and while he didn’t come out of it victorious, he put the NHL on notice. He would finish out the year with solid bouts with Brent Severyn, Stu Grimson as well as his memorable drubbing of Rob Ray.

After a few seasons of getting his feet wet, Laraque played his first full year as an NHL regular in 1999-00. It was highlighted by his first scrap with Heavyweight legend, Bob Probert who was fighting father time at this point as well as up and coming NHL Heavyweights. Probert was having a great comeback year but I always felt Laraque showed him too much respect in this fight. Laraque would have another significant scrap later that year against Carolina’s newly acquired bodyguard, Sandy McCarthy. The Sandman was at the end of his peak run as a top tier Heavyweight and had spent the previous six years as one of the game’s best fighters. McCarthy was arguably champ for a few years in the mid-90’s as he vied for Heavyweight supremacy with other notorious henchman like Tony “TNT” Twist, Stu “Grim Reaper” Grimson, and Chris “Legend Killer” Simon. He spent the majority of this season in Philly plying his trade for the Flyers before being dealt near the end of the year to the Hurricanes. It was against this backdrop that Laraque and McCarthy dropped the gloves on March 15, 2000. Laraque pounded out a clear cut victory over McCarthy who never got anything going against the young Heavyweight phenom. While Laraque was certainly wild and wound up hitting mostly the back of McCarthy’s head and shoulders, the way he controlled McCarthy was impressive. His star was clearly on the rise.

Laraque was off and running after that. He would go on a tour du force thoroughly smashing anything in his path. In 2000-01, Big Georges Laraque, or BGL as he would become known to fight fans, would score notable victories over a young Shawn Thornton, Reed Low, Todd Fedoruk, Sami Helenius and Ryan Vandenbussche. He was getting considerable buzz as a potential title holder and at that point there weren’t many fighters who stood in his way save for maybe Donald Brashear. He would have another strong year in 2001-02 beating such Runyonesque characters as Jody Shelley, Andrei Nazarov, Aaron Downey, and Kevin Sawyer. He also demolished ageing veteran enforcer Craig Berube. One of the year’s highlights for Laraque would be his big TKO victory over rival heavyweight contender, Stu Grimson on December 8, 2001. The Grim Reaper, as he was so dubbed, had put together a great career as an on ice pugilist and was one of the league’s best fighters coming into the season. Laraque made short work of Grimson, dropping the veteran scrapper with a flurry of vicious lefts. The fight essentially ended Grimson’s career as the cumulative effect of repeated blows had finally taken its toll on the respected and popular tough guy.

The Laraque train just kept on rolling over the next three seasons with victories over the likes of Darcy Hordichuk, Kevin Sawyer, and Andrew Peters. Even after the lockout he was unstoppable in 2005-06 scoring a knockdown victory over young Super Heavyweight Monster, Derek Boogaard, defeating Todd Fedoruk, pounding upjumped middleweight Brad May, and mauling veteran Heavyweight, Chris Simon. Laraque carried the reputation of a champ coming into the year and he just seemed to confirm the notion with a great campaign. If anyone had any doubts who was champ, it was laid to rest this season.

During that off season, Laraque would leave Edmonton and sign with the Phoenix Coyotes. It was unusual seeing BGL in a Coyotes uniform but he was still the same ol’ BGL, going undefeated in a rather slow year by his standards. Even despite a light year he defeated Darcy Hordichuk, Colton Orr and Derek Boogaard before the Coyotes traded him at mid season to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He would play with the Pens for the 2007-08 season which was another solid year by Laraque’s standards. Even with victories over Riley Cote, Colton Orr, and Krys Barch, much of the talk that year would center around Laraque’s October 20th clash with long time foe, Donald Brashear. These two stalwarts of the Heavyweight division had shared the title, first Brashear in the early 2000’s and then Laraque and while they had fought each other on numerous occasions, had never had a true winner take all Probert-Brown championship fight. Most of their battles were predictably sloppy with a lot of wrestling. They would meet on October 20, 2007 at the Verizon Center and what transpired was a total shock to the senses. Laraque would take control of the fight right off the bat landing a number of thunderclap left hands that knocked Brashear down, not once, not twice, but three times. After the third knockdown it looked like Laraque was on the precipice of his greatest victory to date. Then Brashear got up. Having endured perhaps the worst drubbing in his long career, Brashear inexplicably rose to his feet and took the fight to Laraque. He fired two lefts, one of which appeared to catch Laraque up around the forehead and dropped the big southpaw. Brashear appeared to have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a fight that featured four knockdowns and no consensus as to who won. Many thought Laraque’s dominant display for the first three quarters of the fight was victory enough, while others thought Brashear’s big finish won the day. Laraque was on the verge of a Heavyweight championship thrashing, a la Probert-Brown but he seemed to let up on Brashear just enough to allow him back into the fight.

Laraque would sign with the Montreal Canadiens for the 2008-09 season. While BGL had a slow year he still had some bright moments like his beat down wins over Jody Shelley and Josh Gratton. However it was an incident against the Boston Bruins that seemed to stand out for Laraque the most. After Bruins star power forward, Milan Lucic beat up on Habs defenseman Mike Komisarek, he pounded the Molson Centre glass in the adrenalin rush that followed the fight. Canadiens enforcer, Georges Laraque didn’t appreciate this and the next time the two teams met up, Laraque in his usual, genial style asked Lucic politely to fight. Looch politely refused Laraque’s invitation and would ignore Laraque the rest of the night. Laraque did all he could to goad Lucic into a fight but he wouldn’t take the bait. Many thought it was a bad look for Lucic turning down Laraque after showboating after his victory over Komisarek. Lucic was already regarded by many as a spot picker for avoiding the enforcers of the league and taking on second rate toughs and assorted lesser known musclemen. However, there were still others that felt Laraque should’ve forced the issue. But that was Laraque, nice to a fault. Laraque would eventually fall out of favor in Montreal and would hang up the skates in 2009-10.

Laraque made an impression with me early on with some one-sided beatdown wins and his general stampede through the Heavyweight ranks. He was also incredibly hard to beat cleanly and went on an impressive run during the first decade of the 2000’s. I know a lot of people weren’t into his gentlemanly way of doing things, but if you’re looking for a fighter who dominated a decade and had a slew of clear cut or dominating wins, well Georges Laraque is your guy. Even after he left Edmonton-which was his best period as a fighter in my eyes-he was still a great fighter with champ status. He was still incredibly hard to beat clearly and he would finish his career with an amazing won-loss % as well as a great card for the era. During that period in fighting history, the Heavyweights were essentially taking on other enforcers. The age of filling your card with second tier scrubs was long gone and fighters in Laraque’s era were running a gauntlet of straight up designated enforcers, game in, game out. 

When I attempt to rank fighters one of the things I first look at is the big wins against top ranked opponents. If you’re making a case for a guy as an all-timer, then they should have some key wins over the best fighters of their era. Laraque owns wins over Derek Boogaard, Chris Simon, Sandy McCarthy, Stu Grimson, Craig Berube, Bob Probert, Rob Ray, and Reed Low. That some serious toughness right there for that time frame and it just helps to bolster the case for Laraque as one of the greatest of all time. What is even more impressive is how few clear cut losses he had for not only the amount of fights he had but for who he was fighting. When you fight guys like Belak, Shelley, Godard, Brashear, and McCarthy on the regular then you expect some losses and even bad losses along the way. With Laraque there were very few.  He had maybe a handful of notable losses over the course of a career that saw him rise up the ranks to the Heavyweight championship. 

Laraque had a great run as an elite fighter who was in the Champ mix from about 00-08. He was either champ or right up there in the top-2,3 during that time. Very few fighters all time can claim a run like that. When all is said and done, Georges Laraque will go down as one of the All-Time greats and is an easy Top-5 pick for me.

In fighting, a single punch can end your career. For Joey Kocur that’s exactly what nearly happened. Except it wasn’t he who got punched but rather Nova Scotia’s Jim Playfair, who Kocur punched into near oblivion, cutting his hand on one of Playfair’s teeth in the process. The gash became infected and got so bad that, at one point, it threatened to end Kocur’s career in its infancy. A single punch they say. Fortunately for Kocur, his hand healed and he was able to continue his professional hockey career, using that deadly right hand of his to end other players careers with a single punch. It’s funny how things come full circle. And for the better part of fifteen seasons Kocur’s right hand became the most feared weapon in the NHL. It wouldn’t suffice to say he threw bombs or  jackhammers, no, when Kocur reared back to throw that right hand, it was coming from the very depths of hell and it was bringing fire and brimstone with it. 

When he first entered the league he was 6 feet tall and weighed in at about 190 pounds, but his stocky build made him seem smaller. His gap toothed grin and baby face looks belied a devastating puncher who threw for the fences, not so much to knock a guy down, but to seriously injure or maim someone. It seemed like he was actually trying to punch through you. Opposing fighters learned quick to hold on well to that right arm lest they be put into a coma. And Kocur wasn’t one of those guys who demolished a few guys and coasted on his rep, Kocur might’ve been the most active young fighter in this project. I couldn’t find stats for fighting majors at that time but the archived dropyourgloves.com lists Kocur as fighting an average of 36 times over the course of his first four full seasons (1985-86 to 1988-90) with a high of 45 during the 1985-86 season. Are you kidding me? His total fights in that time eclipses the career totals of such noteworthy Heavyweights of the past as Nick Fotiu and Clark Gillies combined. Talk about putting in work.

After a cup of coffee with the Red Wings in 1984-85, he was more than ready for his first full season the following year. He fought anyone and everyone and amassed a card that featured everyone from Randy Boyd to Glen Cochrane and all stops in between. He was not shy and his power was evident early on. In a two fight game against the Edmonton Oilers on February 11, 1986, Kocur smoked the original “Don” Jackson with a single sniper like right hand. This infuriated Jackson’s teammate, Dave Semenko, who didn’t like seeing his fellow gunhand taken out with such ease. Later that same game, Semenko dropped the gloves and began pounding on Kocur scoring a tainted TKO victory as Kocur never even dropped his gloves. Such was Semenko, who wasn’t big on invitations and would start the party whether you were ready or not. Kocur would finish the year with victories over an assorted cast of characters like Jerome Dupont, a tired version of Brad Maxwell, Cam Neely, Dave Lowry, and Mats Thelin. Not exactly a murderers row of enforcers but it was a start.

Kocur was highly active the following year as well fighting like he was a turbo charged enforcer. He fought a variety of fighters but his card steadily improved. He took on guys like Michele Petit, Paul Baxter, Kevin McClelland, Todd Gill and Glen Cochrane. He would show off that great power with TKO victories over Jeff Jackson, Brian Curran, and Gary Nylund-who was also KO’d by Kocur’s teammate and fellow Bruise Brother, Bob Probert, that same year. While Kocur fought everyone and their mother-literally-his most noteworthy fights from this season came in the playoffs against Edmonton Oilers tough guy, Marty McSorley, who had become the primary protector of the Great One. These two would duke it out twice in the series with McSorley squeaking out decisions in both fights. McSorley was fast becoming one of the better Heavyweights in the game with a very versatile skill set and he was able to tie up Kocur’s right hand effectively and keep it from shattering his face. These two bouts weren’t sensational by any stretch but were actually typical of the kind of fight Kcour would have at the time. Most knew to hold on for dear life when battling Kocur and many of his fights would degenerate into wrestling matches and grappling affairs. McSorley had the strength and stamina to at least keep Kocur’s right hand at bay.

In 1987-88 Kocur put together another fine year although teammate Bob Probert got the spotlight after putting together one of the best single season for a fighter ever.  Kocur is probably best remembered this season for his single lowlight which was a quick TKO loss to Vancouver’s chief henchman, Craig Coxe. The ‘California Kid’ pasted Kocur with a flush right hand sending the rugged Red Wing toppling to the ice. Coxe had just fought an epic all time war with Bob Probert earlier in the game but wasn’t finished, waxing Kocur in one of the best two fight games for an enforcer ever. At this point in his young career Kocur’s right hand was gnarled and cut looking like worn pavement complete with cracks and potholes. He had to develop a left hand out of necessity at this point and it slowly became a solid weapon in its own right. In one fight against Boston Bruins brawler, Jay Miller, Kocur uncorked a beauty of a left that salvaged a victory against the technical wiz. He got into a good battle with Todd Gill-who at this point was becoming something of a rival to Kocur- and scored clear cut victories over Kelly Buchberger, Chris McRae, as well as  breaking Terry Carkner’s nose.

Kocur really came into his own in 1988-89 while teammate, Bob Probert was under league suspension. Kocur shined as the team’s top cop and started off the year with solid bouts against Boston’s Jay Miller and Minnesota’s young lion, Link Gaetz. These bouts seemed to serve as a prelude to one of Kocur’s biggest fights. On November 25, 1988, the Red Wings played host to the Winnipeg Jets and their battling blueliner, Jim Kyte. Kyte, who was deaf, was tall and lanky, about 6’5, 210 lbs who could throw from both sides and developed a reputation as one of the best fighters in the league. He wasn’t as active as a Kocur or a Miller at this time but was highly effective using that long reach of his and his ability to switch hands. During the 1984-85 season, Kyte completed a rare trifecta defeating Dave Brown, Joey Kocur and Marty McSorley on his way to a top-5 ranking. Against Kocur it was always best to use at least a little caution but Kyte was undaunted and was willing to run the gauntlet. He had faced Brown and had fought Kocur twice previously and lived to tell the tale-what was there to fear? In his willingness to take the fight to Kocur he left himself open to Kocur’s explosive right hand. Kocur cranked Kyte with three cinder blocks sending Kyte to the ice in a heap. And he topped it off with one final coup de grace while Kyte was semi conscious on the ice-a blow so hard it sent Kyte’s hearing aid sliding across the ice. It was the most brutal knockout of the era and was shocking to watch seeing Kocur cut down the taller man and deliver the coma shot after he was down. The fight made it onto sports highlight shows and newscasts all across North America. It would serve as a turning point for Kyte as he would never be the same fighter after that. Where he was once one of the game’s best, he faded dramatically and suffered other devastating defeats as his career wound down. For Kocur, his star was on the rise and he was now a legitimate top-5 Heavyweight and the league’s premier power puncher.

He steam rolled through the rest of the season scoring TKO or Knockdown victories over Lindy Ruff, Dave Manson and Rich Pilon. He would also win bouts against Dana Murzyn, Bob McGill, Dean Kolstad, and Kelly Buchberger. He also would have another fight worthy of mention against New York Islanders Brad Dalgarno. Dalgarno had developed a reputation as a tough guy and even battled with Kocur’s teammate Bob Probert in juniors. Kocur and Dalgarno tangled along the corner boards and it was a solid bout with Kocur gaining a solid victory. It wasn’t until later that it became known that Dalgarno’s face had been caved in by a Kocur right. What’s worse is the injury had adverse effects on Dalgarno’s career and he was never the same player or fighter again.  Kocur would go on to bloody Blackhawks bad boy, Wayne Van Dorp before duking it out with St. Louis Blues spark plug, Herb Raglan. Raglan was no slouch in his own right but he was far from the kind of fighter Kocur was. Kocur, still adding a left hand to his repertoire misfired on a left hand power shot and Raglan countered with a vicious right that had the word “Upset” written all over it. Kocur was stunned and fell to the ice in one of the biggest defeats of his career.

As Probert’s banishment continued on into the 1989-90 season, Kocur once again was the alpha dog for the Detroit Red Wings and he continued to flourish. The Red Wings had tried to give Kocur some help by adding a deteriorating Kevin McClelland and former AWA wrestling champ, Torrie Robertson to the roster, but Kocur just continued on ahead full bore. He would defeat Gary Roberts, Todd Gill, Jeff Chychrun, a young Tony Twist, and Kevin Hatcher. These fights would set the stage for one of Kocur’s signature fights. With the Minnesota North Stars visiting the Detroit Red Wings on January 9, 1990, young North Stars desperado Link Gaetz challenged Kocur in a rematch of their bout from the previous season. Their first bout was a close battle and it seemed to give the “Missing Link” the kind of confidence to give it another go. Only this time it wasn’t pretty. Kocur got the right hand loose and landed a number of overhand rights and uppercuts. Gaetz was in trouble but to his credit he stood in there and took it, he didn’t hit the deck or bail out. In the end Kocur cruised beating Gaetz soundly and leaving him bloodied and battered. It was one of those fights where you could just see the hurt all over Gaetz’ face as he was led to the penalty box. Kocur finished the year with zero blemishes  and some believe if it weren’t for a spectacular all time campaign from Dave Brown, he might’ve been the league’s top fighter.

Kocur would be snake bitten the following season as well. He once again put together a great season with victories over Rob Ray, a young Stu Grimson, Alan May and Jay Miller but he was outdone by teammate Bob Probert who was now back on the attack and put together one of the greatest seasons for a fighter ever. He was once again left to play second fiddle as he just couldn’t seem to overcome the two ranking Heavyweights. Then, in a surprise move, the Red Wings dealt Kocur to the New York Rangers on March 5, 1991. He was no longer a Red Wing. He was a Bruise Brother no more. Kocur settled in just fine with the Rangers. His card improved and with young tough guy Tie Domi in the mix with the Rangers that season, Kocur could pick his spots more and not have to fight every night. He would play the better part of the next five seasons with the Rangers and in that time he could claim victories over Ken Baumgartner, Rob Ray, Stu Grimson, Paul Laus, Brent Severyn, Donald Brashear, Reid Simpson, and Brett Lindros. Kocur also scored numerous KO/TKo’s in that time as well. He would even take on friend and former teammate, Bob Probert on two occasions during this time. Both fights were fairly close but they were far from epic once you get past the names involved. With young Heavyweight hopeful, Darren Langdon now fully capable and with young Eric Cairns waiting in the wings, the Rangers traded Kocur to the Vancouver Canucks.

The following season in 1996-97, Kocur started the year playing for the San Antonio Dragons of the IHL. He seemed to be fading out as an enforcer and was languishing in the minors. Unable to find an NHL job it would be old friend Bob Probert who would set things in motion to get Kocur back into the NHL. During a game against the Detroit Red Wings, Probert, now a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, bullied and pushed around the smaller Red Wings club. Probert went after Red Wing defenseman Aaron Ward and Enrico Ciccone dropped Jamie Pushor like a bad habit. The Hawks Broad Street Bullies routine forced the Red Wings hand and Kocur got the call. Kocur got right to work taking on Bob Probert and Cam Russell in the same game immediately after getting called up. Probert’s ploy worked and Kocur would play three seasons with the Red Wings before retiring after the 1998-99 season.

Kocur would finish with hundreds of fights and a fantastic won-loss record with a solid card. He had face breaking power and was a mainstay in the Heavyweight hierarchy in that great late 80’s/early 90’s time period. Kocur was another one of those fighters that had earned such a reputation for himself that young fighters in the mid late 90’s found themselves taking on a living legend. Even then, Kocur was a tough man to tangle with, farm boy strong and with great power.I like that Kocur was a top ranked Heavyweight for a long stretch-he had a roughly eight or nine year run as a Top flight Heavyweight. He might never have been the quote-unquote Champ but he was right there among the elite fighters of his time. He had scores of TKO’s with a few KO’s sprinkled in. He also had signature victories like his KO win over Jim Kyte and his punishing victory over Link Gaetz. All in all, Kocur is a Top-10 All-Time fighter in my eyes for his great power and longevity as a top fighter.

As we approached the 1993-94 season Bob Probert was the reigning champ and held sway over the Heavyweight field. It seemed like each year there was some threat to his crown, some new challenge for him to take on. If one were to do a survey of the top Heavyweight contenders of the time you’d think of names like Dave Brown, Tie Domi, Marty Mcsorley, or even Craig Berube. Over the years Probert had taken them all on and one might begin to look over the leagues Heavyweights to find the next great challenger to his throne. You might think of names like Gino Odjick, the Vancouver Canucks wild brawler or even Jim McKenzie who had put together some fine years with the Hartford Whalers. And while our gaze was fixated elsewhere looking for the next great challenger, a tough kid from Toronto, Ontario broke in with the Calgary Flames and was determined to bring his own kind of heat to the Heavyweight ranks.

Sandy McCarthy was like any other tough kid breaking into the NHL-he was young,hungry, and ready to take on the world. He was big and strong, about 6’3, 230 pounds and he was only 21 years old. He wasted little time making a name for himself taking on Vancouver’s Gino Odjick in a great toe to toe battle in the preseason. He and Gino exchanged punches at a furious clip and you could tell this young heavyweight was for real. In his first NHL fight he pounded LA’s Light Heavyweight Warren Rychel easily taking the victory. He followed that up with a good toe to toe bout with Buffalo’s Rob Ray. He then engaged in a fantastic toe to toe war with Hartford’s Jim McKenzie. McCarthy would keep going with good battles against Tie Domi, Ken Baumgartner, Francois Leroux, and Rob Ray before soundly beating Vancouver’s Shawn Antoski. The march would continue with victories over Tie Domi, Billy Huard, Francois Leroux, Brent Thompson, Mike Peluso and Brent Severyn. It was an incredible run but he wasn’t finished. He would go to war with Jim McKenzie again-this one a Fight of the Year candidate that many believe McCarthy won. 

He was in the midst of a great rookie campaign and rocketed up the Heavyweight ladder. Only a title shot would make the season perfect and that’s just what he got on April 2, 1994. As the Red Wings played host to the Calgary Flames at Joe Louis Arena, Bob Probert went looking for the young contender. McCarthy had been using a ploy that season to draw penalties from would be combatants. He would fake like he was going to drop his gloves, tricking his opponent into dropping theirs and then he’d turn away while his would be dance partner got a 2 minute penalty. This tactic did not endear him to many of the big fighters of the time but he was far from the only one doing it. So when Probert came knocking that April night, McCarthy at first appeared interested but then clammed up when Probert dropped the gloves and began firing away with right hands. The linesmen weren’t sure what to make of the situation and let it play out. When McCarthy wouldn’t fight back, Probert held up, feeling duped by the young trickster. McCarthy realizing that the linesmen weren’t moving in, used Probert’s pause to get set and get in the fight. McCarthy got a good grip on Probert’s right arm and picked him apart piece by piece until a frustrated Probert resorted to headbutting as the fight wound down. McCarthy skated away victorious as arguably the youngest heavyweight champion of them all.

McCarthy would follow up his rookie year with a great sophomore effort during the lockout shortened 1994-95 season. He would earn victories over Gord Donnelly, Shane Churla, Stu Grimson, Cam Russell, Alan May, Scott Thornton, Alek Stojanov and Shawn Cronin. Bob Probert would miss the entire year due to suspension so there would be no major rematch coming from that quarter but Tony Twist and Chris Simon were both on the rise and challenges were on the horizon. With a full slate of games scheduled for the 1995-96 season, McCarthy once again put together a great year with victories over Scott Daniels, Stu Grimson, Todd Ewen, Dennis Bonvie, Jim McKenzie, and Kelly Buchberger on top of an absolute marathon war with veteran enforcer Marty McSorley in the preseason. The key bout, though, for McCarthy this season would be a title match up with Colorado’s long haired lefty, Chris Simon. Simon was a beast of a fighter standing in at 6’3 and 230 pounds of left handed fury. He was billed as the next Dave Brown for being not only a big southpaw but a dominant one as well. He had bested his predecessor, Dave Brown, in a two fight series only two seasons prior and would finish this year out with a big one sided victory over Bob Probert. Simon was indeed a legend killer. When McCarthy and Simon met up on January 14, 1996, it was a showdown of two top enforcers vying for the Heavyweight crown. They would settle everything at McNichols Arena, McCarthy being unfazed at fighting on Simon’s home turf. They would drop the gloves off the face off and came to grips right away. The fight featured a good toe to toe exchange with McCarthy landing a couple of big rights, earning him the unanimous decision.

McCarthy would continue to roll through the 1996-97 season with victoires over Wade Belak, Ken Baumgartner and Keith Primeau. He would struggle with veteran Marty McSorley who’s great stamina helped steal close decisions from McCarthy in a season that many believed Stu Grimson to be the Heavyweight champ. If he was he did it without beating the Sandman. McCarthy continued to roll right on through the 1997-98 season with victories over Bill Huard, Francois Leroux, Dan Kordic, and even won the rematch with Bob Probert. On March 24, 1998, McCarthy was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning where he would finally have a go with top Heavyweight contender Tony Twist. Those expecting a Donnybrook would be disappointed as the fight turned out to be a dud with both showing a lot of mutual respect. If anyone rated an edge it was McCarthy but the bout had little significance and aside from the two involved, did little to change the status quo in the Heavyweight division. He would finish out the year with victories over Mick Vukota and Chris Tamer and remained one of the league’s elite fighters.

The Sandman marched into the 1998-99 season hitting a bump in the road at first, losing a close decision to Florida Panthers defenseman, Paul Laus. The savvy Laus was able to use his rag dolling/pulling style to keep McCarthy off balance while outlanding the Lightning forward. McCarthy would secure victories over Darren Langdon and Grant Marshall before being shipped to the Philadelphia Flyers. It was here, on April 1, 1998, that McCarthy would suffer the first major defeat of his career against newcomer, Patrick Cote of the Nashville Predators. Cote landed a solid right hand, dropping the big Flyer tough guy and ending McCarthy’s remarkable run of no major defeats. He went roughly a hundred fights without suffering a clear cut loss, a distinction held by few fighters in NHL history. I can only think of all-time greats like Dave Brown or Donald Brashear –maybe even Behn Wilson-as having similar runs. A close loss here or there is one thing but to not suffer a major defeat in that amount of fights is truly significant.

McCarthy started the 1999-00 season as a member of the Flyers but would finish with the Carolina Hurricanes. He struggled initially with Krzyztof Oliwa but began putting things together with victories over Reid Simpson, Wade Belak, Kryztoff Oliwa, Dennis Bonvie and the giant Peter Worrell. The one major blemish for McCarthy this year would be his battle with up and coming Heavyweight, Georges Laraque of the Edmonton Oilers. The bout was one sided with Laraque pounding away on McCarthy who did little to retaliate. Even though most of Laraque’s punches missed their mark and struck shoulder or the back of McCarthy’s head, the way Laraque controlled the action and with McCarthy unable to pull the trigger hinted at a change at the top of the Heavyweight division. With Tony Twist retired and Chris Simon struggling with injuries and his role as an enforcer, Guys like Georges Laraque and Donald Brashear sought to fill the void. And McCarthy was the last obstacle in their way.  

That off season McCarthy was dealt to the New York Rangers. It was here that McCarthy was rejuvenated as he began toying with the notion that he could be a better player and not have to drop the gloves all the time. He would play the next three seasons with the Rangers earning career highs in goals and assists while still standing in as a top-5 heavyweight. In that time he earned victories over P.J. Stock, Jim McKenzie, Krzyztof Oliwa, Darcy Hordichuk, Eric Boulton, Stu Grimson, Jody Shelley, and Andre Roy. The first year in New York, at least, was solid. It was the following year in 2001-02 that the first signs of a fade became evident. During a heated set of games with the New York Islanders, McCarthy had been chomping at the bit for some action and he would get it in the form of 6’6, 245 pound monster, Eric Cairns. Cairns was climbing the Heavyweight ladder himself after a rough start and was now one of the best fighters in the game. His combination of size, strength and power made him extremely formidable. McCarthy was unable to get anything going against Cairns who worked McCarthy for the clear victory. This tough defeat would serve as a turning point for McCarthy as the first chinks in his armor began to appear.

During the of the 2002-03 season things took a turn for the worst. It would come against long time nemesis, Donald Brashear. At this point Brashear was no longer a scared wide eyed hugger, he was an absolute powerhouse and on an unseasonably warm October afternoon, Brashear mauled McCarthy, beating him so thoroughly that he cracked his helmet almost in two. Brashear would continue his march of dominance while McCarthy struggled with his role and his desire to fight. He became a shell of his former self. It was in New York that the Sandman became “Sandra” and it was almost like a tragedy unfolding before our very eyes. He struggled the rest of the season getting into a couple of mediocre battles but you could see that the end was near. He signed with the Boston Bruins that off season and there was a hope that he could return to form but it became clear immediately that he wasn’t the same fighter. He struggled mightily in Beantown before being placed on waivers. The Rangers claimed him and he would play thirteen games with them before calling it a career. It was a sad ending for a man who at one time set the league on fire with his fistic exploits. 

I think over the years people’s views of McCarthy were colored by those final two seasons. They saw a virtually washed up Heavyweight who had no more desire to fight the way he once had. They see the one sided defeats at the hands of Cairns and Brashear and see a fighter that was for all intents and purposes, done. But for as rough as those final few years were, I still saw a Heavyweight who went on a remarkable run early in his career and dominated the Heavyweight Division. On top of that he was doing it with an open style of fighting that led to some great bouts during a great era of fighting. So in the end when I view the entirety of McCarthy’s career I’m just so impressed by what he was able to accomplish during the first half of it, that it simply outweighs those tough to watch final seasons. Most fighters break down after a time or have some bad losses at the end of their careers. In that sense McCarthy was no different. But what truly separates him from the rest of the pack was just how truly AWESOME that 6 year run was at the beginning of his career. So, based on the strength of that early to mid-career run, as well as some big time victories over fighters who were not only the best of their day but the best of all time as well, I rank the “Sandman” in the Top-10.

There are few fighters that confound, perplex and frustrate the great hockey fight thinkers like Clark Gillies. His wafer thin fight card and low fight totals always seemed at odds with the favored criteria of the current day. In today’s world of instant video, youtube and dvd’s, it’s become popular to use a bit of revisionist history when looking back on fighters from the past. A lot of time the “experts” of today base their rankings off the standards of the current era instead of the standards of Gillies own time.So they see so few fights and so few highlight reel battles. There are not many rock’em sock’em bouts from Gillies and his fights weren’t the most entertaining. He didn’t have a stacked card and, truth be told, he wasn’t exactly the most polished fighter around, either. So there has been this fall from grace in many people’s all time lists when it comes to Gillies over the last decade or so. While many began placing heavy emphasis on a fighters fight card they began losing sight of the fact that it isn’t always the quantity of the fights but the quality of them that truly matters. 

Clark Gillies was a big brute of a Heavyweight standing at 6’3 and close to 215 pounds. He punched with the force of a mule kick and was strong as an ox. When thoroughly engaged he was a tough man to handle and developed a reputation as a fierce power puncher. He was uncommonly big for the time and his sheer size and power made him someone to be wary of. Would be villains of the time would be thankful for Gillies mild nature and relatively long fuse. Instead Gillies would let things build and the inevitable eruption could have career altering effects. This version of Gillies was what scared people the most and most teams thought it best to simply not wake him up. But when the time came and someone sufficiently crossed the line, this hockey fight version of Mt. Vesuvious would explode leaving chaos and destruction in his wake. There was nothing quite like an “irate Gillies”.

The first victim of one of Gillies explosions was none other than Dave Schultz. The Hammer at that time was the league’s ultimate bad boy. He and the rest of his Broad Street Bullies were busy raiding teams throughout the NHL sewing fear and terror everywhere they went. With the upstart Islanders vying for respect among the NHL’s elite teams, Gillies made his presence felt and left his mark in the ‘75 playoffs. It was here on May 5, 1975, in that house of horrors they called the Spectrum in Philadelphia, that Gillies announced himself to the world. These two fought earlier in the season, a battle that many believed Schultz scored the proverbial “edge”. Round two would be much more decisive. The fight was even at first but Gillies was able to get his right free, landing a number of unanswered blows forcing Andre Dupont and Ted Harris to jump in and save the Hammer. The fight occurred during the playoffs and just happened to be on National Television. Schultz had been soundly thrashed and to many Clark Gillies was a hero for it. The beating put him on the map and was the first major victory in a career that would feature several.

“Jethro” had made a name for himself after defeating Schultz but he was still very much a reluctant warrior. His long fuse and gentle giant nature meant Gillies would fight on occasion and usually only after being sufficiently riled up. Over the next few seasons Gillies would only fight on a few occasions against the likes of Tiger Williams, Andre Dupont, Jerry Butler, Ted Irvine and Ryan Walter. One team that always seemed to make Gillies snap was the Philadelphia Flyers. After making his mark as a rookie thrashing the Flyers chief brute, Dave Schultz, Gillies found himself facing down the Flyers next number 8 in one Dave Hoyda. Although not much of a player, Hoyda threw his body around liberally and when it came down to fighting, he was more than capable. Hoyda only played two seasons in Philly but he was a very good fighter and had excellent battles with some other very capable fighters like John Wensink, Willi Plett, Bobby Nystrom, and Al MacAdam. Seeing Bossy get lined up and drilled, Gillies sprang into action and gave Hoyda a thorough beat down, landing heavy right after heavy right. Gillies pounded Hoyda to the ice in what was the worst loss of Hoyda’s brief NHL career. Things would later get out of hand as Flyers brute, Behn Wilson, began assaulting Mike Bossy which led to Bobby Nystrom leading the charge off the bench for the Islanders. Players began pairing off and the brawl was on. Mel Bridgman matched up with Gerry Hart and Bob “Hound” Kelly fought Battling Billy Smith, the Islanders scrappy goaltender. Hoyda seethed at having lost to Gillies in such one sided fashion and if he couldn’t get at Gillies amidst the tumult and chaos of the brawl, he would go after someone else. That someone else turned out to be Gillies teammate Garry Howatt. Hoyda, sufficiently riled up himself, gave the Toy Tiger a solid beating, knocking him down in the process.

One of Gillies biggest moments as a fighter came during the Islanders fantastic run during the 1980 playoffs. In a quarter final match up against the Big Bad Bruins, the Islanders found themselves pitted against one of the toughest teams in the league. The smaller Islanders had never been an overly physical team despite having Clark Gillies and Bobby Nystrom. Even with a menace like Howatt the Islanders weren’t the type of squad to force the issue like the Flyers or the Bruins. They had been embarrassed by the Toronto Maple Leafs only a few years before during the 1977-78 playoffs. The Leafs roughed up and ran over the Islanders in another disappointing postseason finish. Gillies and the Islanders wanted to avoid a repeat of that dreadful experience and instead decided to take the fight to the Bruins. Game one was quiet, a feeling out kind of game, mere probing before the heavy infantry was massed for attack. However it would be a heavy hit by Clark Gillies on Bruins non fighter Rick Middleton that set the stage for a memorable Game two. It would go on to become one of the great fight filled games of them all. Gillies fought O’Reilly twice. The first bout was a wild swinging affair with both scrappers missing with the majority of their punches. O’Reilly won the decision in the furious battle but these two were far from finished. Later in the same period Gillies came to teammate Butch Goring’s aid as Bruins defenseman Mike Milbury circled him like a shark would a nude swimmer. Gillies came in to settle the dispute only to run into O’Reilly again. These two spoke a few words and in an instant were squaring off. Gillies was able to land a few quick rights on O’Reilly putting the rugged Bruins winger down. 

Gillies and O’Reilly would fight two more times, both occurring in Game three of the series. In their first go that afternoon, Gillies was able to get a good grip on O’Reilly and take the fight to him earning him the clear cut decision. Later, Gillies would hit O’reilly in the corner and throw him head first to the ice. O’Reilly got up and just went to town on Gillies who was overwhelmed for much of the fight. While the linesmen were trying to break up the two combatants, O’Reilly landed a knee on Gillies as payment for slamming him head first to the ice. Gillies would also fight Bruins young gun, Al Secord later in the series, a short battle that many believe Gillies to have won. There were many battles in the series, mostly in that memorable Game two which featured several fights and a bench clearing brawl. Nystrom battled Wensink. Howatt fought Cashman. Lane scrapped Secord. Lorimer and Jonathan went. In all the fighting and scrapping that went on in that series, it was the Gillies-O’Reilly fights that took top billing. Both served as their respective teams de facto policemen who had hard earned reputations as tough men. Gillies was the Isles reluctant warrior while O’Reilly was the Bruins Heart and Soul. The Islanders won the series in five games and moved on, defeated the Sabres in the Semifinals before taking out the Philadelphia Flyers for their franchises first Stanley Cup.

Because the Islanders would go on to win four straight Stanley Cups, the Gillies-O’Reilly fights have grown in significance over the years. They’ve since become the subject of myth and legend with the details of the fights becoming blurred over time. Many have taken to giving Gillies a kind of strategic victory in the fights as opposed to breaking them down bout for bout. So instead of scoring the four fight series as being even with both winning clear decisions in their victories, Gillies is credited with winning the four fight series overall as the Islanders not only won their first Stanley Cup but saw the birth of a Dynasty.

Gillies biggest challenge would come the following year as a young upstart in Philly had earned top contender status. He was young and hungry and he had made a real name for himself in a short time. His name was Behn Wilson and he was fast becoming one of the game’s best fighters. Gillies reputation at this time was at its zenith, he was feared and respected as one of the game’s top Heavyweights. When Gillies and WIlson met up on October 25, 1980, it had all the makings of a title fight. Big Behn was on the rise, a smooth fighter with a great uppercut while Gillies was the more established fighter with the colossal reputation. In a memorable encounter at Nassau Coliseum, Big Behn took the fight to Gillies and dominated the Islander heavyweight. It was the worst loss of Gillies career and marked the beginning of Behn Wilson’s reign over the Heavyweight field. Gillies would rebound with a great victory over another one of the league’s best fighters, pound for pound king, Stan Jonathan. Bulldog had few blemishes during his career but one of them would be his battle with Clark Gillies. Jonathan had largely avoided the battles of the previous season taking on only the non fighting Bob Lorimer.. This time he was ready and he went looking for Gillies on November 6, 1980, at Boston Garden. Gillies made short work of the Bruins Bulldog and once again Gillies reminded the league of what he was capable of. Jonathan had never been beaten like that before.

This would serve as the pattern with Gillies. He would seldom fight but every so often he would lay out a major league ass whoopin’ to remind people of what he was capable of and to dust off his place in the Heavyweight hierarchy. During the 1980-81 season, it was his beat down of Stan Jonathan. In 1981-82, it was his vicious face breaking performance against New York Rangers thug, Ed Hospodar. One of the more brutal knockouts you’ll find. In 1982-83 it was his one sided drubbing of Wilf Paiement.Then during the 1983-84 season he finally met up with Big Behn Wilson again. Wilson had since been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks but he hadn’t skipped a beat in the Windy City. Now there’s some back story to this fight where Bobby Nystrom had asked Gillies which fighter caused him the most concern and Gillies replied, “Behn Wilson”. Nystrom then convinced his friend and teammate that he needed to take on Wilson to get the monkey off his back. A rematch was in order and it would come on January 18, 1984 at Chicago Stadium. After a stoppage in play Wilson began shoving with Bob Bourne and was jawing with Denis Potvin when Gillies came in pushing and shoving. Wilson was more than ready and invited Gillies to dance. The two squared off with Gillies throwing a number of feints and hooks at Wilson, perhaps taking a page out of Nick Fotiu’s playbook. When they came together, Gillies seized the initiative firing a number of overhand rights and uppercuts. Wilson weathered the early storm before bouncing back with some rights of his own. It’s here that things get interesting. Gillies went down after Wilson appeared to land a right hand. It’s hard to tell if the right landed and even with video of the fight it’s not clear. Gillies admitted to slipping but otherwise felt he defeated Wilson in the rematch redeeming himself in the process as Wilson was the author of his greatest defeat.

Gillies pace as a fighter continued to decline throughout the mid ‘80’s and it got to a point where his disinterest became palpable. A new breed of fighter had been slowly but surely taking control of the Heavyweight ranks. These were young kids who were wired to fight game in and game out and Gillies had no interest in battling all the time at this stage of his career. The Islanders put him on waivers and he was claimed by the Buffalo Sabres. Gillies faded as a fighter not so much because of big losses or epic defeats, but because he lost the desire to be that guy on a nightly basis. By the time he called it a career fighting had passed him by. Guys like Dave Brown and Bob Probert now ruled the roost and fought all the time. Young kids coming into the league looked up to them now.

There are always certain elements you wrestle with when ranking fighters and for me Gillies thin resume has always been a sticking point. It becomes a balance over the impressive list of accomplishments and how spread out they are over the course of his career. It has caused me to move him in or out of my top-10 All Time over the years. One thing that does stand out to me is the respect he commanded from his peers during this time. In an era when reputation went a long way, Gillie’s rep was HUGE. He was always referred to as dangerous and one of the best fighters in the game. It’s always that argument that serves as a tipping point in my own little inner debate over Gillies all time worth.

Like many small market NHL teams in the late 70’s, the Buffalo Sabres had few televised games. To the lay person this probably doesn’t mean much, but to us fight fans, it robbed us of crucial video of one of the great power punchers of his time, Larry Playfair. The footage of Playfair at the time is spotty with gaps and runs of missing bouts. Some of his biggest fights sadly never made it to video or were lost over the years. While we’ve been able to fill in the gaps from a variety of sources over the years, the lack of actual footage has had an adverse effect on Playfair in an all time sense. For us fight fans, hockey fighting has always been a very visual experience with our eyes pouring over footage from vhs tapes and, later, dvd’s, youtube and websites dedicated to the task of bringing us fights. So not having those great battles from Playfair’s early years really does hurt him when we attempt to break him down as an all timer. Even with information on his missing bouts readily available in books, player interviews, newspaper articles, and from Larry himself-not being able to actually witness them ourselves has this negative effect on Playfair’s all time status.

Playfair was a tall, lanky kid out of Fort St. James, British Columbia. Standing in at 6’4 and well over 200 pounds, Playfair cut an imposing figure on the ice. He had long arms and freakish strength which served him well patrolling the blue line for the Buffalo Sabres in the very late 70’s. As a rookie, Playfair made a name for himself after a fantastic toe to toe exchange with New York Islanders hit man, Bobby Nystrom. Playfair skated away from the dust up with a new found respect for Bobby Nystrom but also with the realization that he hung tough with one of the best fighters in the game. Playfair would later call it “the fight of my life”. There were ups and downs for Playfair as a rookie-a solid bout with tough veteran defenseman, Dave Hutchison, Minnesota North Stars antagonist, Ron Zanussi, and missed 20 games after taking a huge hit from Bruins ruffian, John Wensink. He also battled it out with Bruins newcomer, Al secord and showed a glimpse of his great punching power by breaking Ron Delorme’s jaw.

He followed up his rookie season with a great sophomore campaign in which he mauled Willi Plett and broke Terry Ruskowski’s jaw. It also featured one of Playfair’s biggest losses. On December 19, 1979, Playfair crossed paths with Winnipeg Jets enforcer, Jimmy Mann. John Ferguson and the Jets had drafted Mann in the first round and he was blazing a trail through the Heavyweight field in his rookie campaign. Sadly not much of Mann’s rookie season is available on video. He was known for his wicked left hand that did a lot of damage that season. He had good power and tried for the quick KO and if he couldn’t pull it off, he’d go for wrestling. As Playfair and Mann battled, the Winnipeg policeman unleashed a hellacious left that broke Playfairs nose instantly. Mann skated to the box with the biggest victory of his young career and Playfair tried to turn off the faucet that was his nose. 

By the time the 1980-81 season rolled around, Playfair had already developed a reputation as one of the league’s best fighters and most feared punchers. He would add to his resume with a couple of signature fights which sadly are not available on video. However, if you dig enough you’ll find enough information to paint a clear picture of the scraps. Playfair would lock horns with Edmonton Bad Boy, Dave Semenko, in a fight that featured two of the game’s most noteworthy Heavies. During the fight, Playfair landed a right hand that stunned and knocked down the hulking Edmonton enforcer. Semenko was fast becoming the game’s greatest intimidator and the victory was a huge feather in Playfair’s cap. Later in the year Playfair would go to war with Quebec Nordiques newcomer, John Wensink. “Wire” had moved on from the Boston Bruins and was now plying his trade with the lowly Nordiques. I never thought Wensink looked right in a Nordiques uniform and maybe the change of scenery-going from the black and gold of the Big Bad Bruins to the powder blue of the Nords-had an effect. Playfair and Wensink met up on January 3, 1981, and, according to different sources, won the fight rather handily. Playfair once mentioned being surprised at how easily he handled the former Bruins wild man. Playfair thought Wensink was sick or injured and wondered if they’d meet up again down the road. It wouldn’t take long. As soon as their majors were over, Wensink went after Playfair in what LP described as an excellent fight. While Wensink was probably past his peak in Quebec, he was no slouch and even in his time in Colorado/New Jersey he fought less but was still very formidable.

Through the first half of the 1980’s, Larry Playfair was among the best fighters in the game. Those with knowledge of such things could boast that Playfair was the league’s Heavyweight champ or held at least a piece of it anyway. With characters like Behn Wilson, Glen Cochrane and Dave Semenko around, the competition was fierce and it didn’t show signs of slackening any time soon. Over the next few years Playfair would be a force claiming victories-in many cases decisive, dominating beatdowns-over an assortment of ne’er do wells and candidates for America’s Most Wanted. Down went the likes of Chris Nilan, Tiger Williams, Larry Melnyk, Al Secord, Paul Higgins and Terry O’Reilly, among others. He exacted revenge on Jimmy Mann, mauled Gord Kluzak, smashed Perry Turnbull, roughed up Gary Rissling and mangled Brian Curran. All the while Playfair broke noses, orbital bones and other assorted facial bones. LP was on cruise control when he encountered unranked Heavyweight Brian MacLellan on March 10, 1985. The Sabres were playing in Los Angeles against the Kings when Playfair and Maclellan came together during a minor scrum. MacLellan was a big kid who could hold his own when he did drop the gloves, but he usually wasn’t so inclined. Big Mac was more of a big teddy bear as opposed to all time caliber enforcer. He left the fighting duties to guys with more experience in the art like teammates Jay Wells, Tiger Williams or Terry Ruskowski. On this night MacLellan was primed and ready. When Playfair came calling Big Mac unleashed holy hell on the stunned Sabres defenseman. MacLellan’s fusilade dropped Playfair twice, the second time for good as the linesmen jumped on top of them to pry them apart.

The MacLellan fight seemed to signal a turning point for Playfair the Heavyweight king. The following year, he suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of Montreal Canadiens farm hand Steven Rooney. Near the end of the 1986-87 season, Playfair was traded to the Los Angeles Kings but it was clear at this point there was a general shift in the Heavyweight division. It was no longer guys like himself or Big Behn Wilson or Dave “Cement Head” Semenko who ruled the roost. Now it was guys like Dave Brown, Dave Richter, and Bob Probert who were on top. Even though Plafyair still carried a huge rep and outside of those few shocking losses, rarely suffered a defeat, he seemed to be fading in the rankings. Though he was far from done and still a dangerous puncher, his pace slowed considerably. He still scored nice wins over some of the newer crowd like Boston’s Lyndon Byers and Edmonton’s Kevin McClelland- fights which would’ve added considerably to Playfair’s resume at one point, but now seemed lost amid the high volume, high octane fighters of the mid/late 80’s.

Playfair would be traded by the Los Angeles Kings back to his original team, the Buffalo Sabres, shortly after the start of the 1988-89 season. He would spend parts of the next two seasons with his old club before calling it a career. From about 79-84 Playfair was one of the league’s best fighters and one of its more feared punchers. His laundry list of accomplishments included stunning Dave Semenko, manhandling Willi Plett, pounding on former Bruins ruffian John Wensink, avenging a tough loss to Jimmy Mann as well as scoring a couple of complete wins over Bruins Tasmanian Devil, Terry O’Reilly. He also scored other vicious beatdown wins and damaged a few faces along the way. It was well that Playfair had a long fuse and was slow to anger. Once pushed to the edge Playfair was incredibly hard to handle and one of the game’s scariest fighters. 

Playfair was counted among the very best of his time during his career. His name was mentioned alongside Behn Wilson and Dave Semenko as one of the top enforcers in the league. Always dangerous and with bone breaking power, Playfair earned his spot in my Top-10 All-time. What I like is the near universal acclaim he gets as a feared puncher and fighter during a tough era for fighting. Almost all agree he was one of the best and I almost view him in that 79-84 timeframe as basically being like 1(a)/1(b) style of Heavyweight alongside Behn Wilson. Whenever I think of Playfair and Wilson I think of that time they almost dropped the gloves. Wilson was fighting Tony McKegney and he tried to sneak a few overhand rights over the linesman as they were being broken up and Playfair began piling in. They never did get to tangle that night but, man what could’ve been…

It’s interesting how Tony Twist is viewed as a man of two careers. There was the young, St. Louis/Quebec version of Twist who was growing into his role and slowly climbing the Heavyweight ladder. Then there was the muscled up version in his second stint in St. Louis who was possibly the most feared fighter in the league. So dangerous was Twist that many found themselves already half beaten before even taking him on. He had awesome power but he was wild and would flail when he punched but even a shoulder punch from a guy like Twist was like taking a shot from a sledgehammer. Opposing enforcers found themselves just happy to survive Twist’s onslaught and escaping relatively unharmed was a victory in itself. His style was to hold you at arm’s length with a good strong left and throw long range bombs with his right. There wasn’t much subtlety or nuance to what Twist did. He was trying to knock you out, plain and simple.

When Twist first broke in with the St. Louis Blues during the 1989-90 season, he showed some real potential with his bombs away style. He had some solid victories against Gord Donnelly and Wayne Van Dorp but he also had his share of struggles as well. He looked overmatched by Joey Kocur and he was mauled by a prime time Probert in the 1990-91 preseason. He was traded mid-year to the Quebec Nordiques and it is here that we began to see Twist gradually climb the Heavyweight ladder. After hitting some speed bumps in his first season with the Nordiques he began to hit his stride during the 1991-92 season. He had some good bouts with Rudy Poeschek, Darin Kimble, Lyle Odelein and Lyndon Byers. In his last three seasons with the Nords his only major defeats came at the hands of Gentleman Jim McKenzie. Their first bout on January 2, 1992, is my favorite “young” Twist fight. Even though he was knocked down in the end by a McKenzie left, I thought Twist showed guts trading in an all out style of fight. Both of these young Heavyweight lions went to war landing some serious blows. I was impressed with McKenzie standing in there and taking some serious Twist hammers while still returning fire. In the end a jerseyed and blinded Twist ate a solid McKenzie left that dropped him to the ice. A warriors loss and something we rarely saw from Twist because (a) he didn’t lose very much and (b) few would trade so openly with him. Their second bout the following year was a quicker fight with McKenzie overwhelming Twist for a knockdown victory.

Twist’s merciless punching style led to some wild swing outs from the up and coming power puncher. He was an enraged clubbing puncher and he was more apt to separate your shoulder as much as separate your head from it. But all he needed was one of those clubbing shots to find their mark and he could render someone comatose. It was on December 18, 1993 at Le Colisee in Quebec that we saw for the first time just how devastating a puncher Twist could be. The visiting New Jersey Devils boasted a tough left hander in Mike Peluso. He was a southpaw with bad balance but he was willing to trade and had some solid battles to this point in his career. He attempted to exchange bombs with Twist, which was similar to playing Russian roulette because all it would take was one. And that’s all it took. Twist caught Peluso coming in with a right to the temple, dropping him to the ice like he had been shot by a sniper. Then he landed ajackhammer at the downed Peluso for good measure before the linesmen could get in and pull him off. Peluso had to be helped off the ice, suffering a major concussion which would have long lasting effects and follow him throughout the rest of his career.

While Twist was slowly but surely making a name for himself, no one saw a top contender just yet. That all changed with the 1994-95 season. Twist signed with his former team, the St. Louis Blues and with a new team came a new look. Twist had become more muscled over the last year, his arms nearly bursting out of his sleeves. He was always strong but now he was a physical powerhouse. That first year back in St. Louis Twist could not be contained . He powered his way to victories over Stu Grimson, Barry Neickar, Brannt Myhres, Paul Kruse and Bryan Marchment. Twist was so strong that he simply didn’t hold you at arm’s length, he impaled you with his arm so he could rain down right hand cinder blocks that had devastation written all over them. After laying waste to everything in his path during the lockout shortened 1994-95 season, Twist kept up his destructive ways the following year. He broke Rob Ray’s orbital bone and dropped Shawn Antoski viciously. He dished out pain and suffering to Alek Stojanov and Mark Janssens. He mauled Rudy Poeschek and Jim Mckenzie. He also scored a one sided victory over Bob Probert who wasn’t so much the champ anymore but was still a top Heavyweight.

Twist was on such a run that some crowned him champ, surpassing Sandy McCarthy who had dethroned Bob Probert in a remarkable rookie campaign in 1993-94. The way things were going, who could argue? But Twist ran into trouble at the end of the year. Trouble that first came in the form of one Billy Huard, a young gunslinger with the Dallas Stars. Most attempted to merely contain Twist and survive, hoping to live to fight another day, but Billy Huard didn’t get the memo. He was willing to trade punches with Twist and the result was a perfect right hand that buckled the title contender. Twist went down and was back up in a flash but it was too late, Huard had won. Seeing Twist get taken to Upset City was a shock but before word could even spread of his defeat disaster struck again. Six days after the shocking upset loss to Huard, Twist was beaten and bloodied by Francois Leroux. The big Pittsburgh defenseman landed a number of unanswered right hands and upset the champ for the second time in less than a week. Those two big losses came at a time when Twist was ascending the Heavyweight hierarchy. The 1995-96 season was supposed to be a coronation for Twist but now questions remained.

Twist was his usual devastating self as the 1996-97 season got under way. He got off to a solid start with victories over Marc LaBelle, Nick Kypreos and Bob Probert. He was even able to avenge his tough loss to Frankie Leroux from the previous year. Leroux was less interested in slugging it out with a vengeful Twist this time around as he seemed to be suffering from “half beaten” syndrome. All the signs seemed to point to another big year from Twist and he was riding high as the Blues traveled to San Jose for a January 9th battle with the Sharks. Twist dropped the gloves that night with veteran enforcer, Todd Ewen. The Animal had put together a solid career as an enforcer and was most noted for KOing Bob Probert back in 1987. He was very strong and had good power but at this point in his career was on the outside looking in on the top-10 and his best days were behind him. But he still had good power and Twist learned that first hand. Once again, Twist’s bombs away style came back to haunt him as Ewen landed a wrecking ball of a right that dropped Twist. Down but not out, Twist threw punches from his back as the linesmen fell on the two combatants and pried them apart. As the two skated to the box an odd scene played out where Twist, who had just been dropped, taunted Ewen for having a cut on his forehead but it all seemed to be an attempt to downplay the fact that Twist had once again been shocked by an underdog. Twist finished the season strong with the Ewen loss his only blemish.

By the time the 1997-98 season rolled around it was clear that Twist was the most dominant Heavyweight in the game. While he was susceptible to the odd loss he had developed a reputation as the game’s most feared fighter. His power and strength were so renowned by now that he found himself having trouble filling his dance card. Many times a teams top Heavyweight would forego Twist in favor of Kelly Chase or Rudy Poeschek-fighters who were good, but weren’t known for altering careers. Even without huge fight output, Twist had a huge presence. All he had to do was dress and when opposing teams saw him on the bench they knew to keep everything on the up and up. At this point all Twist had to do was scowl and growl to settle a situation. He did however manage to fight Kevin Sawyer, Jim Cummins, Andre Nazarov, Patrick Cote, Lyle Odelein and Reid SImpson. He marched on without so much as a dent. At seasons’ end he had a title match up against Sandy McCarthy. The two had become the best Heavyweights in the league at this point. McCarthy was a weapon from the moment he entered the league in 1993-94 and just seemed to get better and better. Twist was the most feared power puncher of the time who could also lay claim to the title. The fight had some serious potential and could’ve settled a lot of things at the time but the fight turned out to be anticlimactic. It was a mediocre fight with no clear winner. Fight fans were looking for a Probert-Brown style battle-a fight with Heavyweight title AND all time implications all rolled into one. Instead they were underwhelmed by two fighters who seemed almost too wary of each other.

Twist wasn’t shy about giving a young up and coming enforcer a shot. He was nothing if not accessible in 1998-99. He took on Patrick Cote four times that season. He battled with a young and hungry Scott Parker, a fight I scored a draw but a solid showing for the youngster. He took on the monstrous Steve McKenna and he battled it out with newcomer Georges Laraque as well. The Laraque fight was interesting in that it pit champ against future champ. Laraque was a beast at 6’4, 240 pounds. He was strong-almost as strong as Twist-and he was a southpaw which always spelled trouble for fighters of every era. When these two strongmen locked horns on February 1, 1999, it was a strength vs. strength battle at first. Some grappling before some lefts by Laraque. For the briefest of moments Laraque had Twist in trouble but Twist was able to shed his jersey and it gave him just enough of an advantage to land a few solid right hands and take the victory. Twist earned the W but many respected the way Laraque went at Twist and it was plain for all to see that this young kid out of Montreal, Quebec, was the real deal.

Sadly that would be Twist’s final season in the NHL. A motorcycle accident ended his career prematurely that offseason. If you have to go out, might as well go out on top. What Twist did in his prime was extraordinary. He was a legitimately feared man who threw punches with evil intentions. He was either champ or co champ for a few years in the mid-late 90’s. Along the way he earned signature victories over the likes of Bob Probert, Georges Laraque, Stu Grimson, Rob Ray, and Jim McKenzie while running through a host of others. Even prior to his great run in St. Louis, Twist was already beginning to earn a rep with the Quebec Nordiques as a fearsome puncher and top-10 Heavyweight. He lost rarely and was incredibly hard to contain, fending opponents off with his vice like left before smashing them with his battering ram right hand. He didn’t have tons of epic fights or pier six brawls. What he did do is cause damage, breaking faces, orbital bones, jaws, noses and at least one collar bone. When all is said and done Twist is a great addition to any top-25 list with a prime run that places him among the all time greats.

Over the course of time in the NHL there have been tough guys who weren’t necessarily fond of fighting and performed the function reluctantly. Some found that the only way they could make it to the show was by dropping the gloves, even if they didn’t care much for fighting. They would carry out their duties mechanically like it was just a job or some task that needed to be done. But every so often you come across someone who seemed like he was born to fight. A guy willing to run the gauntlet of the toughest the league had to offer game in, game out. Players like this were almost hard wired to fight and while some performed the role with a soulless detachment, Brian McGrattan almost seemed to enjoy it. With his all out offensive style and his salute to the crowd after a fight, Big Ern was bred for hand to hand combat. Standing in at 6’4, 230 pounds, McGrattan had the flinty eyes of a gunfighter and his weapon of choice was hockey fightings version of the 1-2 combo. Using a fistful of jersey, McGrattan would jab at his opponents to set up the big right hand. It was a nice complementary weapon in his overall offensive attack which typically featured a firestorm of right hands. 

That special kind of zeal led McGrattan to amass 551 penalty minutes in a single season in 2004-05 while playing for the Binghamton Senators of the AHL. This was no reluctant warrior and what McGrattan did with the Baby Sens would be unheard of today. He not only fought a ton that season but got into some unbelievable slugfests including a wild war of attrition with Philadelphia Phantoms hitman, Josh Gratton. McGrattan brought that same all out style and willingness to go to war to the NHL the following year. After a busy preseason sparring with Wade Belak, Ryan Vandenbussche, Nathan Perrot, and Raitis Ivanans, McGrattan decided to turn it up a notch for the NHL regular season. He slugged it out with every major heavyweight in the league not named Georges Laraque and catapulted himself into the Top-5 discussion in just his rookie year. He won hard earned victories over Eric Godard, Andrew Peters, Eric Cairns, Wade Belak, Todd Fedoruk, and Donald Brashear. His fight with Brashear was fun to watch as the cocky McGrattan took it to the veteran enforcer and jawed with Brashear the whole time they were in the box.Very rarely did Brashear suffer defeat at this time but rarer still did someone talk trash the whole time after doing it. He also dropped wily veteran enforcer, Tie Domi, who was at the end of his long and storied career. He did suffer setbacks to Andrew Peters and Derek Boogaard but it was clear his star was on the rise.

As fantastic as McGrattan’s debut was it was overshadowed by the fireworks display put on that year by Derek Boogaard who set a new standard for KO/TKO’s in a single season. The hulking Boogarrd would serve as a major roadblock for McGrattan in his quest for Heavyweight stardom. But McGrattan just kept right on rolling in 2006-07 and 2007-08 for the Ottawa Senators adding to his already considerable laurels with victories over Wade Belak, Andrew Peters, Cam Janssen, and John Erskine. On October 13, 2007, McGrattan would renew acquaintances with New York Rangers equalizer, Colton Orr. These two would engage in a classic with both firing away with the long range artillery. The exchanges were vicious with Orr taking the early edge before McGrattan came on strong in the latter stages. It was an instant Fight of the Year contender further solidifying McGrattan as one of the best action fighters in the game. 

That off season the Ottawa Senators traded McGrattan to the Phoenix Coyotes. McGrattan played only three games with the team before entering the NHL’s substance abuse program in December of 2008. He returned later that season, playing only two more games for the Coyotes. McGrattan would then sign with the Calgary Flames for the 2009-10 season which saw a rejuvenated McGrattan contend for the Heavyweight crown. With the decline of Donald Brashear and Georges Laraque, there was now a void at the top of the Heavyweight division, one which McGrattan looked to fill. McGrattan had a great comeback year with great scraps against Wade Belak, George Parros, David Koci, and Eric Godard. But two tough losses, one to fellow top Heavyweight contender Colton Orr and old nemesis, Derek Boogaard, sealed his fate that season and left him on the outside looking in. 

The Flames let McGrattan go that off season and he signed with the Boston Bruins, but the B’s had popular veteran enforcer Shawn Thornton handling the enforcer duties and McGrattan never got the call, instead he toiled in the AHL battling it out with noted minor league bad boys Paul “Wrecker” Rechlicz and Pierre-Luc Leblonde. McGrattan would eventually sign with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the 2011-12 season and would score a nice TKO victory over Heavyweight newcomer, Kevin Westgarth of the Los Angeles Kings in the preseason. Anaheim, in their infinite wisdom, released McGrattan and he was scooped up by the Nashville Predators. McGrattan pieced together a great year with big fights against George Parros, Cam Janssen, Jay Rosehill and Ryan Reaves. He finished the year without blemish and his fight with Jay Rosehill was one of the seasons best scraps. The Heavyweight division was in a state of flux that year with a number of top fighters either stuck in the minors or retired. This is not to mention the tragic deaths of Rick Rypien, Wade Belak and Derek Boogaard that past summer. All of this upheaval in the Heavyweight ranks left for a thin field and despite his low number of fights, McGrattan might have done enough to finally earn at least a piece of the Heavyweight title.

That off season, McGrattan signed on for his second stint with the Calgary Flames. It was a tough year for hockey as once again the NHL went through a lockout. When the NHL and NHLPA finally came to an agreement to play that season, they played a limited slate of games. The shortened schedule was set so teams only played teams within their own conference. McGrattan wound up with a paltry three fights, two against journeyman enforcer, Tom Sestito, and an all out war on March 27, 2013, with newcomer, Patrick Bordelau of the Colorado Avalanche. The lock out infringed season made for a chaotic top-10 that year that featured the likes of McGrattan, Colton Orr and Patrick Bordeleau all competing for Heavyweight supremacy despite relatively few fights.

McGrattan, like the NHL, came back with a vengeance in 2013-14 as the full slate of games meant more fights and Big Ern was busy that season. He had great battles with Brent Gallant, Frazer McLaren, Patrick Bordeleau, Luke Gazdic, Krys Barch, Tom Sestito and Deryk Engellend. He finished without a single blemish and skated away with the Heavyweight crown. Sadly this year is regarded as the last gasp of the enforcers as the league moved away from the designated fighter role and the yearly top-10’s became filled with odd names like Adam McQuaid, Brandon Prust and Jared Boll-guys who were willing but were a far cry from McGrattan, Orr, and Boogaard. McGrattan spent the next two seasons in the AHL before taking his act overseas to play one final year in the EIHL. 

What he left behind was a legacy of great fights against the best of the best. McGrattan came into the league as a top fighter and finished as arguably its last true “champ”. In an all time sense, a great case can be made for McGrattan as a Top-10-12 fighter. He held elite status from his rookie season in 05-06 to his last year in the NHL in 2013-14 setting aside his “lost” year in 2008-09 and the year he spent in the AHL in 2010-11. His long resume of action packed bouts vs. the top fighters of his time-a few that were indeed some of the best fights of the era-certainly help solidify the case for McGrattan. As we put McGrattan under the all time microscope you can see a high percentage of his fights were against fighters who were in their relative prime. In fact, I’d argue that more than half of McGrattan’s fights were against enforcers who were top-10 fighters the year they fought. When you think of the kind of competition he faced and the kind of style he fought, it was only fitting that he closed out the final chapter of the enforcer age.

Marty McSorley was a fighter who was never the quote unquote “Champ”, but who skated amongst the best fighters in the game for over seventeen years. Marty took on a who’s who of the 80’s AND 90’s straddling two eras like the Colossus of Rhodes. From the mid 80’s and right on through the mid 90’s McSorley was a force as a top-10 Heavyweight. He didn’t just fight, he fought wars and he did it against some of the best fighters of all time. A Heavyweight in the truest sense of the word who can boast victories over Larry Playfair, Joey Kocur, Sandy McCarthy, a prime before-the-KO version of Jim Kyte and a prime Tim Hunter. His longevity as a relevant top-10 heavyweight is what is truly incredible when you think of the kind of competition he was taking on. McSorley was a very technically sound fighter who could throw from both sides, had great strength, balance, a cast iron chin, and incredible stamina. He lacked only power and was one of the few fighters to actually go to the body during fights. McSorley also had no qualms about shedding his gear to gain an advantage. He could grapple and brawl with the best of them and presented a match up problem for many of the league’s best fighters.

This native of Hamilton, Ontario, first broke in with the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 1983. He was 6’1 and skinny taking on full fledged NHL vets. He was fresh out of the OHL and spent his rookie year getting himself acquainted with some of the games best fighters. He ran up on greats like Clark Gillies, Paul Holmgren, Willi Plett and Behn Wilson holding his own in his first year. Those greats were still bearing some semblance of their prime so we’re not talking about over the hill hitmen but bona fide NHL Heavyweights. Not only that but McSorley also did battle with Mel Bridgman, Joe Paterson, Chris Nilan, Bob McGill, Dave Brown and Daryl Stanley. He was certainly not shy and while he lost more than he won as a rook’, it would serve as an invaluable learning experience for the up and coming Heavyweight.

The Penguins traded McSorley to the Edmonton Oilers after the 1984-85 season. It was there, while under the tutelage of veteran enforcer and NHL boogeyman, Dave Semenko, that McSorley began to gradually improve not only as a fighter but as an enforcer as well. McSorley embroiled himself in the cut throat Smythe Division politics of the time developing feuds with Winnipeg blueliner, Jim Kyte, LA’s blue chip badass, Jay Wells, and Calgary’s master technician, Tim Hunter. He scrapped with pound for pound terror, Wendel Clark in the preseason and earned high praise for wasting Bruins antagonist, Mike Milbury. He was active and he was learning and all the while gaining in experience and confidence. The following year he once again continued to improve with good battles against Joe Paterson, Glen Cochrane, Terry Carkner and Daryl Stanley. The highlight for McSorley that season came in the playoffs. He duked it out with Winnipeg warrior, Jim Kyte twice in the second round before a solid two fight affair with Detroit Red Wings Kid Dynamite, Joey Kocur. In back-to-back games, McSorley edged out Kocur in solid battles as the two up and coming Heavyweights continued their climb up the ladder. With Dave Semenko being shipped to the Hartford Whalers that season, McSorley found himself in the role of Protector of the Great One-a job he would have for some time to come.

Now emerging as a top-10 Heavyweight, McSorley continued to roll as the 1987-88 season progressed. It was early in the season when the usually iron chinned McSorley was decked by New Jersey Devils button man, Jim Korn. What Korn accomplished this night was probably even rarer than a Behn Wilson loss- he TKO’d Marty McSorley. In a career that spanned seventeen seasons and literally hundreds of fights against the greatest fighters of all time, McSorley was only dropped on the rarest of occasions. This loss didn’t sit well with McSorley and he seethed until later in the year when the two teams met again. McSorley gave Korn no choice basically assaulting the unwilling Devil defenseman. That nasty bit of business aside, McSorley put together a fine season, earning victories over Todd Gill, Joe Paterson, Tim Hunter, and a young Ken Baumgartner. The centerpiece of McSorley’s fine season was an outstanding bout against Los Angeles Kings dangerous defenseman, Larry Playfair. LP was nearing the end of his storied fistic career but he was still a deadly puncher. The Kings invaded Northlands Coliseum on December 22, 1987, and Playfair stepped in for teammate Dave Taylor who was being harassed by Edmonton pest Esa Tikkanan. McSorley and Playfair came thundering in and wasted little time shaking the gloves off and coming to blows. Initially, Playfair had the edge, firing long range rights while rag dolling McSorley off balance. The two engaged in a deadly duet, swirling around as Playfair kept McSorley off balance. All the pulling and tugging that LP was doing on McSorley’s jersey wound up backfiring as Marty shed his gear and began taking the fight to Playfair who found himself on the defensive with little to hold on to. McSorley mixed in body blows and rained down overhand rights as Playfair found himself trying to cling to Marty like a shipwreck survivor. McSorley earned possibly his biggest victory to date against a real all timer in LP. Still not finished, McSorley would wage war with Red Wings phenom, Bob Probert. At this point, Probert was in the midst of arguably the greatest single season for a fighter ever but McSorley was undeterred. At Joe Louis arena on March 22, 1988, McSorley would drop his gloves with the man everyone was calling the “champ”. It was a good Heavyweight battle with Probert skating away with the “edge”. McSorley acquitted himself well against one of the game’s best fighters as he continued his rise in the Heavyweight division.

That offseason the unthinkable happened: Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Sitting right alongside him on the plane out of Edmonton was Marty McSorley. The duo would take their act on the road leaving the winter vastness of Alberta for the sunny shores of California. McSorley didn’t miss a beat cruising his way through the Heavyweight division. Over the next five seasons, McSorley would score victories over Terry Carkner, Jim Peplinski, Grant Jennings, Joel Otto, Marc LaForge, Mark Tinordi, and Randy McKay. During that time he got into some great fights with Gino Odjick, Stu Grimson, and he would score a memorable KO over Jeff Odgers. During the 1992-93 playoffs McSorley would slug it out with Maple Leafs power forward, Wendel Clark. It was game six of the semi final round with the Kings ahead in the game when McSorley threw a big elbow high hit on Maple Leafs Captain Doug Gilmour. Wendel Clark came to his teammates rescue whipping off the gloves and taking the fight to McSorley. The two would engage in a ferocious toe to toe exchange in which Clark landed a missile of right that snapped McSorley’s head back. To Marty’s credit, he took the punch without missing a beat and stayed on the attack eventually taking over the fight. The fight has become somewhat controversial as many scored it a victory for Clark based on that great opening salvo in which he rocked McSorley. Marty’s mugshot complete with his swollen blackened eye turned up in the papers soon after giving the Pro-Clark faction of the debate more ammo, declaring him the victor based on damage done. Still, there was that image of Clark holding on for much of the fight and being swamped by McSorley at its conclusion that some believed tilted the scales in his favor.

The 1993-94 season was a strange one for McSorley. He was traded to his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the start of the year. During the preseason McSorley battled it out with Keith Primeau, Darren McCarty and both of the Mighty Ducks twins, Stu Grimson and Todd Ewen. He also had a great fight with New York Rangers face breaker, Joey Kocur. During the fight Kocur smoked McSorley with a good right uppercut dropping him to his knees. Before the linesmen could intervene McSorley was up in a flash and taking the fight to Kocur. Sadly, footage of the early stages of the fight is missing, leaving us with an abbreviated version of the fight with McSorley in control and landing right hands on a defensive Kocur. Footage of the actual knockdown has never surfaced although some years back an alternate version of the bout was discovered with added footage of the early stages but not the knockdown. He would get right to work that year for the Pens getting into good battles with Scott Levins and long limbed Mark Janssens. He would then suffer a flash knockdown loss to veteran Washington Capitals enforcer, Craig Berube. McSorley would rebound with what many believe to be one of the great fights of all time. On February 4, 1994, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, McSorley dropped the gloves with NHL Heavyweight champ, Bob Probert. This fight would feature two veterans of their craft locking horns in a titanic struggle. It would be a marathon of a fight with both having their moments until Probert dropped McSorley at the fight’s mid point. McSorley, undaunted and unbowed, got right back to his feet and got back into the fight. They would trade punches with cool veteran skill, at one point, Probert was landing full force forearm shivers right into Marty’s squash. Even then McSorley came roaring back until the fight was stopped. What transpired was the Fight of the Year for the 1993-94 season as well as one of the greatest fights of all time. In an odd twist, McSorley was shipped back to the Los Angeles Kings near the end of the year ending a huge roller coaster ride of a season for the veteran NHL enforcer.

McSorley would play two more seasons with the Kings before being traded to the New York Rangers near the end of the 1995-96 season. In that time he would have great fights with Heavyweight king, Sandy McCarthy, Shane “Chainsaw” Churla, master technician, Darren Langdon, Dennis Vial, and Rudy Poeschek. It was strange seeing him in a New York Rangers uniform and even stranger the following year when he turned up with the San Jose Sharks. San Jose had become a veritable enforcers graveyard since their inception, catching a number of former tough guys at the end of their careers. McSorley seemed to be on that precipice where he still had something to give but was a little long in the tooth to be an impact Heavyweight. It was around this time he faded from the top-10 but he was still a tough out for anyone. It was as a member of the Sharks that McSorley gave Top ranking Heavyweight, Sandy McCarthy all he could handle and more on two occasions. He also had great battles with Brendan Shanahan, Scott Daniels, as well as epic encounters with Reid Simpson, Darren Langdon, and Rob Ray. It was also around this time that McSorley would meet up with a fighter who would serve as his Achilles heel, although Achilles’ heel only faltered once, while McSorley would face disaster multiple times. Donald Brashear was on the rise at this time and had entered his prime as a member of the Vancouver Canucks. He had become a power in the Heavyweight division with his great strength and boa constrictor tactics. Three times McSorley went up against the brash Brashear as a member of the Sharks and three times he failed. McSorley would go on to fight Brashear a total of six times, losing each time, proving that some fighters can indeed have your number.

McSorley would play two seasons with Sharks before moving on to another former team, the Edmonton Oilers for the 1998-99 season. McSorley was clearly in the twilight of his career at this point, hoping he still had something left in the tank to help put a team over the top. He would have his share of struggles as a fighter that year with two more losses to Brashear added to his ledger. He would sign on with the Boston Bruins for the 1999-00 campaign but another tough loss to Brashear during a wild game pushed McSorley to his breaking point. Riled by Brashear’s antics during the game-and the beating he took at his hands-he tried to goad Brashear into fighting him again. Upset at Brashear’s continuing refusals, McSorley smacked him on the side of the head with his stick. Brashear went down in a heap, his head whacking against the ice as he went down. It would be McSorley’s last game in the NHL. Despite his claims that he was attempting to hit Brashear in his shoulder and only accidentally struck his head, McSorley was suspended for the remaining 18 games of the season and would eventually be charged with assault. It was an ugly and rather ignominious ending for one of the game’s great enforcers. 

McSorley’s fantastic run as a legitimate top Heavyweight contender for over a decade is truly remarkable. In that time he took on anyone and everyone and gave us some truly memorable fights. He took on the best of the ‘80’s and 90’s and while he would never wear the Heavyweight crown, he became something of a Gatekeeper for the Heavyweight Division. If you wanted to prove yourself as a legitimate Heavyweight you had to pass through a guy like Marty McSorley to prove it. Victories over Sandy McCarthy, Larry Playfair, and Joey Kocur and his longevity as one of the league’s best fighters bolster his all time resume. That rare combination of great fight card and great fights only adds to an already impressive list of accomplishments. McSorley will go down as not only a great fighter but the consummate enforcer as well. He took the reins from Dave Semenko as Wayne Gretzky’s Protector and followed him out of Edmonton to LA to serve as the elite bodyguard of the Great One. That special dual role of great fighter and great enforcer put him in a category few could hope to attain.

Every so often you’ll come across a fighter who seemingly has all the tools. A fighter whose skill set presents a total package. Whether it be strength, hand speed, power, balance, or chin, a young Jim McKenzie seemed to have it all. He was one of those guys who broke into the league in the early ‘90’s and helped make that decade truly special when it came to fighting. He was big-6’3, and weighed in at 225 lbs. He could throw from both sides and had fast hands. What truly made McKenzie great was how fluidly and quickly he switched hands. There have been guys in the past who chucked’em fast and switched hands well but you rarely saw that from a guy of McKenzie’s size. He had this great fast paced style firing rapid fire right hands and then he’d switch hands on a dime, usually catching his opponent off guard. And while his opponent was trying to react to the lefts, McKenzie would switch back to his right and continue to pump away. It was a formula that made for a successful career for “Gentleman Jim”. 

When McKenzie first began showing up on Sports Channel Hartford Whalers games I began to take notice of this big rugged winger from Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. His fast hands and ability to switch made him a match up nightmare for the Heavyweight Division at the time. McKenzie was a Heavyweight who punched with the hand speed of a Middleweight. In his first few years of making his bones in the Heavyweight Division, he really impressed me. I honestly thought he could be the next big Heavyweight. He was a big tough western lad who threw viciously from both sides and switched hands flawlessly. He also used this little crossover grip as well, from both sides, which just further made him so tough to deal with during his 14 year NHL career.

There’s an interesting story behind McKenzie’s first NHL fight. McKenzie was recently called up from the Hartford Whalers AHL affiliate in Springfield. While playing in Edmonton shortly after his call up, he dropped the gloves with a big galute on the Oilers who threw a wicked left hand. The two got into a great exchange of lefts before McKenzie was overwhelmed and put down. McKenzie served out his major and then went to his bench where he sat dejected having felt he didn’t do well in the fight. He thought his stay with the big club would be brief until a teammate informed him that he had just fought Dave Brown, formerly of the Flyers. McKenzie was somehow unaware of Brown moving to Edmonton and when he realized he had just slugged it out with the Dave Brown, he felt better about himself. So the story goes. After that first awesome clash with Brown, McKenzie went on a run winning bouts against Mick Vukota, Michel Petit, Shawn Cronin, Herb Raglan and Chris Nilan. The following year he showed up with more of the same-rapid fire punches and quick, seamless switching of hands. McKenzie would speed through John Kordic on two occasions, Mick Vukota as well as scoring a dramatic TKO over a tough Tony Twist.

McKenzie began to climb the Heavyweight ladder, quickly cracking the Top-10 by the time his third year in Hartford rolled around. He would go on to defeat Randy McKay, Tim Hunter, and Tony Twist via TKO. He would follow that up with a strange season in 1993-94. He would start the year with the Hartford Whalers before being traded to the Dallas Stars. The Stars would then trade him to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Throughout the ups and downs and all the moves, McKenzie had a great year engaging in two fantastic fights with young Heavyweight phenom, Sandy McCarthy. He would best Greg “Bird Dog” Smyth, Francois Leroux, and Cam Russell, fast becoming one of the best fighters in the league. McKenzie would play another year with the Penguins before signing on with the Winnipeg Jets. At this point, with all the moves, McKenzie was playing with an open ended plane ticket in his equipment bag. 

He would play the next three seasons, first with the Jets and then he would stay with the team during the franchises move to Phoenix. He continued his run in the Top-10 earning victories over Ken Baumgartner, Craig Berube, Darren Langdon, Todd Ewen, and Stu Grimson. He would also continue his great rivalry with Sandy McCarthy. During this stretch he would suffer losses to Sandy McCarthy, Tony Twist, Stu Grimson, Donald Brashear and Paul Laus, losses which always served to keep him out of contention for the Heavyweight crown. He was always something of a gentleman and subscribed to the Marquis De Queensbury rules and etiquette of fighting. He didn’t mug guys or jump people. He didn’t go out of his way to sucker punch opposing players. For the most part he was a very straight up and fair type of enforcer. He was almost like a precursor to the kind of enforcers we would see in the 2000’s “code” era with fighters adhering to certain rules of fair play in fights. In an era of Probert and Brown and Ciccone and Odjick and Clark-McKenzie was something else, very rarely trying to get the jump on guys or ever using any jersey gimmicks or going over the edge to right a wrong.

Gentleman Jim would take his traveling enforcer act to Anaheim where he would play parts of two seasons before being traded to the Washington Capitals near the end of the 1999-00 season. He then signed with the New Jersey Devils where he would spend the next three seasons. In all this time McKenzie would best Brad Brown, Patrick Cote, Paul Laus, Sandy McCarthy, Chris McAllister, Wade Belak, Ryan Vandenbussche, and Georges Laraque. He would balance this with the odd loss here or there but he was still very much a fixture in the Top-10 at this point. His skill set as a fighter meant he could be a nightmare match up for anyone on any given night, but his somewhat inconsistent side left him out of true contention despite some notable victories under his belt. He would sign with the Nashville Predators in 2003-04 in what would turn out to be his final year in the NHL. You can argue he began to fade out of the rankings the previous year. His final season would be a mediocre one highlighted by a good bout with Top Heavyweight contender, Eric Cairns. Even in his fourteenth season he could still give the best all they could handle.

One of the true highlights of McKenzie’s career as an enforcer was his great rivalry with Heavyweight Kingpin, Sandy McCarthy. From the moment he broke into the NHL during the 1993-94 season, McCarthy was a legitimate badass who vied for the Heavyweight crown. As a member of the Calgary Flames, McCarthy was one of the game’s true elite fighters. McKenzie had all the tools coming up but McCarthy’s rise was meteoric in comparison. Both McKenzie and McCarthy had somewhat similar styles. They were both big guys who had good hand speed. They both could switch hands well and were action fighters. They had subtle differences like McKenzie’s seamless switching and McCarthy’s longer reach but when the two came together they proved that styles make fights. The two would fight ten times over the course of their careers in what would be an action packed rivalry that brought out the best in both fighters.

During McKenzie’s 1993-94 frequent flyer mile campaign which saw him play for three different teams, he encountered the young McCarthy on his way to the Heavyweight title. Sandman had just begun his march up the Heavyweight ranks when he met up with the very tough and very underrated, Jim McKenzie on November 3, 1993 at the Hartford Civic Center. After some preliminary pushing and shoving in front of the Calgary net, they dropped the gloves and came to grips, firing away, McKenzie with lefts, McCarthy with rights. They exchanged blows at a furious pace until McCarthy began shedding his jersey. McKenzie attempted to readjust while McCarthy banged away with rabbit punches to the back of his head. McKenzie took the punishment while he adjusted his grip and worked for better hand position. Suddenly he sprang back to life throwing machine gun lefts and taking the fight to the young McCarthy. Sandman stood his ground and gave as good as he got before the linesmen came in to end it. The fight would serve as the opening act in a great series of scraps that would span some eight seasons.

Round two between the two has yet to surface on video but it featured McKenzie as a member of the Dallas Stars. A month later, McKenzie and McCarthy would get together for round three in Calgary on March 26, 1994. This time McKenzie was playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as he once again criss crossed North America to do battle with McCarthy. This battle featured a center ice square off as the two sized each other up. As they came together, McCarthy was able to seize the initiative and took the early stages of the fight. McKenzie got himself situated and came back with rapid fire lefts and the two got into a great exchange that took them from center ice to the Calgary net. It was another excellent bout in the developing rivalry between the two.

These two would meet up again two seasons later during the 1995-96 season. The well travelled McKenzie was now plying his trade for the Winnipeg Jets. It would be on December 3, 1995 at Winnipeg Arena that the rivalry continued in earnest as the two Westerners did battle for a fourth time. It was a good battle with McKenzie getting the edge early before McCarthy slowly but surely came back. The fight didn’t have the crash and bang toe to toe exchanges of their previous bouts but it was still a great addition to their growing feud. Later that same year, on February 10, 1996, McCarthy and McKenzie would settle things with a two fight affair, this time at the SaddleDome. We only have two abbreviated clips of these fights available to us. The newsclip footage features a small portion of each fight. Both appeared to be good swing outs that only seemed to whet the appetite for more.

During the 1997-98 season these two would write the next chapter in their rivalry during the preseason but sadly no footage has surfaced. I’m sure it was as entertaining as their other scraps and I hope one day it is discovered. The final three bouts of this rivalry would occur during the 2000-01 season. McKenzie was with the New Jersey Devils while McCarthy was playing for the New York Rangers. The Devils and Rangers were natural rivals so it was only fitting that these two veteran warriors do battle under those banners. The rivalry within a rivalry picked up where it left off with a good dust up on November 29, 2000 at the Meadowlands. After McCarthy clotheslined Alexander Mogilney, McKenzie came to the rescue. In his typical gentlemanly style, McKenzie waited for McCarthy to get to his feet before addressing the hit with Sandman. It turned out to be a good showing for McKenzie, who was able to get his right going and landed a number of right hands to secure the victory. They would double up with a two fight game on January 6, 2001, this time at Madison Square Garden. The first go that night would be a quick scuffle, both landing a few before McKenzie went down. The second battle that night was a much more substantial one that featured a slow start before McCarthy slipped out of his right sleeve scoring a few solid blows before the linesmen came in to end it. It was a good battle, worthy of their reputations and a fitting end to one of the great rivalries of the time.

While McKenzie was probably never really in the champ discussion, he still had a fine career as a fighter. He fought the best of his era and had some noteworthy fights over the course of his career. What impresses me about McKenzie as an All-Timer is his great card, longevity and his run as Top-10 Heavyweight. You can argue he was anywhere from Top-5-10 from roughly 1991-2001. Along the way he had some nice wins, a great rivalry with Sandy McCarthy and some great fights. Wins over the likes of Twist, McCarthy, and Laraque certainly help his cause and bolster his case as an All-Time great. A great won-loss record, tremendous opposition faced, and of course his longevity as a top fighter makes him a great candidate for the vaunted Top-25 All-Time. I like McKenzie outside of the Top-10 All-Time. He was never a champ or had a championship run. I don’t think he really ever put together the kind of elite run where you can qualify him as a Top-10 All-Time great fighter. So for me, taking into consideration his great overall career, his big wins and wins against top flight competition (McCarthy, Twist, Laraque), I place him just outside the Top-10 all-Time. A truly special spot reserved for only the greatest fighters in NHL history.

While the Flyers and the Bruins usually got the most ink when it came to tough teams in the ‘70’s, the New York Islanders were no slouches themselves. They didn’t have the numbers that the Bruins or Flyers had and they didn’t push fighting and brawling in quite the same way, but they boasted three extremely tough individuals in Clark Gillies, Bobby Nystrom and Garry Howatt. Gillies was like a sleeping giant. If left alone, he was fine but when pushed too far he could be one of the most destructive forces in the game at the time when the gloves were dropped. Howatt, the Toy Tiger, was a pint sized holy terror, taking on guys much bigger than him routinely. Then there was Bobby Nystrom. “Thor” didn’t have quite the fearsome reputation of his partner Gillies, or the pugnacity of Howatt, but he was a great fighter in his own right and a without a doubt all-timer. He was 6’1 and close to 200 pounds. He had an all out offense first style of fighting and was relentless once the fight got going. He was granite chinned and was good at tying up opponents. All put together, Nystrom was like a total package as a fighter.

I’ve always differed from the popular opinion when it came to Nystrom’s early years. I recall some of the older fans I knew growing up thought Nystrom was just tops from beginning to end in his career but I thought Nystrom needed a bit of development and had some growing pains as a fighter early on. He suffered a tough set back early on in his career in a fight against Los Angeles Kings Blueliner, Dave Hutchison during the 1974-75 season. There is no video of the fight available but enough accounts of this fight exist to paint a pretty clear picture of not only a win for Hutch but he apparently welted up Nystrom in this one. Nystrom would also suffer one of the worst defeats of his career the following year when he was dropped by Buffalo Sabres d-man, Jim Schoenfeld. There are no real accounts of any major Nystrom wins early in his career as a fighter although he was no doubt a good scrapper. He just wasn’t the Nystrom we would see in the late ‘70’s.

As a fight fan there was sort of this distinction between the early, clean shaven Nystrom who had some tough defeats and the mustached and growling version of Nystrom we would encounter in the late ‘70’s. If we follow along Nystrom’s career through available footage, his first big fight came near the end of the 1977-78 season. It was a toe to toe war with the Flyers Mel Bridgman. Both trade right hands in a great exchange before Bridgman began crooking his left elbow up to deflect Nystrom’s rapid fire right hands. Bridgman would then deftly counter Nystrom’s rights with this maneuver before they both engaged in another fierce toe to toe exchange. This was a great fight for both fighters as I believe many people’s eyes were opened to both of these fine scrappers. I just loved the way Nystrom stood in there taking flush right hands, his blonde hair straightening with each shot landed. Bridgman couldn’t phase him.

Nystrom had a monster year the following year in 1978-79. Nystrom was in his prime and getting into some major exchanges. His first big fight of the year was against Philly’s Dave Hoyda. Hoyda was very underrated as a fighter. I know some like to view him as the quintessential bully, but Hoyda could really throw down and he had a couple of dandies in his very brief career. This fight was no exception as both went all out in a total brawl. In the end it was probably too close to call but this has always remained one of those fights BOTH men could hang their hat on. Nystrom would also engage in a now legendary slugfest with Buffalo’s young up and comer, Larry Playfair. For years only a brief newsclip of this fight circulated in trading circles. It only featured the toe to toe exchange between the two. Years later, the full fight would become available. The toe to toe exchange was neat but in the full clip you see just how relentless Nystrom was as a fighter. Playfair was forced to hang on in the face of Nystrom’s all out relentless assault. The other noteworthy fight for Nystom this year is his now legendary fight with Vancouver Canucks tough guy Curt Fraser. This fight was allegedly a pier sixer and one for the ages but, alas, no video of it seems to exist. What a shame.

I was always impressed at Nystrom’s willingness to trade punches with that all out flare he had. There was just something else seeing Nystrom, that blonde hair flying, those flinty eyes and that mustached snarl going to war. He would take flush shots and just keep coming and was involved in some of the more classic fights of the era. I just loved how, once the fight was on, Nystrom had no quit in him. It was like he got stronger as the fight went on and his will to win drove him on and on in fights. Whenever I think of those great ‘70’s era fighters, I always conjure up this vision of Bobby Nystrom going toe to toe. He had so many great action packed fights and some of them became real highlights of the time. The linesmen had to pull Nystrom apart when he dropped the gloves. There was no head taps and bum pats after one of his fights. His anger and rage was always there; his drive and determination obvious.

Nystrom had an offense first mentality but he was sneaky good on defense. During that great hard fought series with the Boston Bruins in ’80, Nystrom went to war with Bruins bad boy, John Wensink. The “Wire” was noted for being a tough strong fighter for the Bruins and a loose cannon as well. He was known for hair pulling and headbutting in his fights and his wild afro and fu Manchu style mustache only added to his wild image. Nystrom was able to get a good grip on Wensink’s right arm at the outset of hostilities between the two. Nystrom’s good grip kept most of Wensink’s punches short of the mark, while Nystrom was able to land a number of good right hands. Nystrom wasn’t going to knockout the Boston strong man but he was able to score at will as he poured in the right hands. Wensink had amassed quite a reputation in a short time with signature victories over Battleship Kelly and Behn Wilson, so Nystrom’s clear cut win over the Wire was a big deal at the time and coming as it did during that special 1980 playoff run just added a certain luster to it.

Over the next few years Nystrom would retain his status as one of the best in the game with fights against Hartford Whalers Policeman, Nick Fotiu in a mediocre battle as well as getting a measure of revenge against the Sabres, Jim Shoenfeld. He would beat guys like Randy Holt and a young Bob McGill and have solid bouts with Washington’s Scott Stevens and Edmonton’s Don Jackson. Nystrom seemed to be in cruise control until he ran into Philadelphia’s Glen Cochrane. Captain Caveman had carved out quite a wild reputation for himself in only a few short years and he went gunning for Nystrom one night at the Spectrum in Philly. The fight was a wild one with Cochrane landing several solid blows on a game Nystrom. Cochrane shed free of his jersey and Nystrom flailed wildly with nothing to anchor himself to. He went down in defeat-his first major loss since he was dropped by Schoenfeld in 1976. That’s a run of about 8 years without a major loss. That’s an incredible accomplishment when you stop to think of the kind of competition he was facing in those 8 years. Bridgman, Hoyda, Wensink, Playfair, Fraser, and Fotiu were some of the best in the business. 

The Cochrane fight, more or less, signaled an end to Nystrom’s run as a top fighter. He would play another two seasons before calling it a career. He didn’t seem to have that same kind of drive he had when he was in his prime. He was no longer as active and he faded out of the top fighter rankings. Nystom was one of the best fighters in the game for the better part of a decade. He had a number of great fights to his credit and was viewed by his contemporaries as one of the best in the NHL at the time. His action packed fights and all out style endeared him to fans and foes alike. I remember being instantly drawn to certain fighters as I began my hockey fight voyage many moons ago and Nystrom was one of them. This guy was taking flush bombs and seemingly walking through them. We’re talking about a guy with no helmet on staring down the barrel of the gun and firing away getting into all-time classics. All hail the mighty Thor!

There is an old saying, “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long” and it would perfectly describe Chris Simon. As a young gun Heavyweight breaking into the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques, Chris Simon was very much like that flame that burned twice as bright. Outside of a tough battle with veteran Middleweight, Rick Tocchet, Simon was like a hot knife through soft butter in those first few years with the Nordiques. At 6’3, 225 pounds, Simon was a vicious southpaw who heralded the second coming of Dave Brown. He presented a fearsome sight- big, burly with extremely long and straight hair. His wicked lefts and ability to finish his opponents made him someone to be wary of. Early on he took on a variety of opponents from non fighters like Boston’s Steve Heinze, Middleweights like Rick Tocchet and Steve Thomas to true enforcers like Mike Peluso, Darin Kimble and Dave Brown. He was a mean and brutal sort and he was on the rise.

Simon would truly leave his mark during the lockout abbreviated 1994-95 season. On January 21, 1995, Simon would do battle with none other than Dave Brown. The two would go toe to toe at the Spectrum in Philly with Simon earning the edge in a good exchange. Despite Brown’s age, the victory did come as a shock- Brown losing was still something of a rare occurrence even at that stage in his career. Anyone who knew Brown knew damn well he wouldn’t let that loss go and less than a week later the two went at it again. This time the fight was closer but Simon still prevailed, the victory serving as confirmation for their first bout as well as a kind of changing of the guard. Brown had been the league’s dominant pure southpaw for years and Simon had proven to be the Next One in that regard.

Simon, with his signature long hair, would make a run at a title in 1995-96. That time between 94 and 97 were real changing of the guard times in the Heavyweight Division. One of the men forcing that change was Chris Simon. Not only did he do away with the ageing Dave Brown the previous season, but he would destroy the once undisputed champ, Bob Probert, in 1995-96 as well. He would do it in grand fashion, too, right in the playoffs on hockey’s biggest stage. Simon just pounded away on Probert scoring a dominating victory and further pushing the KING out of the Heavyweight title discussion. The Probert beating coupled with his victories over Dave Brown gave Simon Legend Killer status among the enforcer ranks at this time. Simon also had a wild trilogy of fights with Toronto’s Tie Domi that year as well. This series is very underrated and showed how fearless Domi could be taking on one of the baddest dudes on the planet three times in one season. Simon would drop a decision to fellow up and coming Heavyweight sensation Sandy McCarthy that year but he seemed destined for future greatness.

It’s hard to explain what happened to Simon after that. He went to Washington and had shoulder problems and attempted to improve more as a player. It was always one of the most confounding things about Simon if you were a fight fan at the time. He literally fell out of the Heavyweight picture for close to 6 years. It just seemed so inconceivable that a fighter of Simon’s ability would fall off like that so quickly. During his time in Washington, Simon would struggle with guys like Mark Janssens, Keith Primeau, Chris McAllister and Aleksander Karpotsev, of all people. In Chicago it seemed like more of the same, he just wasn’t the same fighter and it was sad because he was once a championship caliber fighter in the mid-90’s. The flame that burns twice as bright…

Then Simon seemed to put it together in 2003-04 with the New York Rangers/Calgary Flames earning comeback fighter of the year honors. He had a fantastic year –his first truly active year in a long time. In fact he was more active than ever. He fought a ton that season and put together some good action bouts. His excellent battle with the Florida Panthers Grant McNiell would serve as the centerpiece to a great year. He would also have great fights with Jesse Boulerice and Darcy Hordichuk. Simon appeared to be back and it was great to see him now as a Top-10 style veteran enforcer at this point in his career after some difficult years.

After the lock out, Simon would still be trouble for the Heavyweight Division, besting young Heavyweight Phenom, Derek Boogaard, Anaheim’s George Parros and Vancouver’s Wade Brookbank in a solid 2005-06 campaign. He would begin to fade in his last few years with the New York Islanders where he was known more for select dirty incidents than his fighting prowess. After his time in the NHL, Simon went overseas to play in Russia. I have to admit it was great seeing some of the video of him smashing dudes over there in the KHL. Simon was like a man among boys over there.

What I always liked about Simon was his white hot prime years from 93-96 where he was in that elite championship mix with Sandy McCarthy and Tony Twist. Even after some mediocre middle years, I have to admit I liked seeing Simon rebound and become relevant again. He was no longer the brash long haired Heavyweight full of piss and vinegar. He became a solid veteran enforcer who had some good years at the back end of his career. His victories over both Dave Brown and Bob Probert really put him in select company. Who else can boast significant victories over those two legends? The way he won his fights was also very telling. Simon was wrecking guys early on in his career, he wasn’t winning fights on points or edging guys. He was dominating with equipment and long hair flying about. I used to rank Simon in the mid-late teens, so he’s fallen a bit for me over the years but still in select company with all these truly great fighters. 

Victories over Bob Probert, Dave Brown (TWICE), Tie Domi, Dennis Vial, Rob Ray, Derek Boogaard, Darcy Hordichuk-among a host of others-is another impressive quality I like about Simon. I’ve always believed that if you want to be considered as an all-time great, you should have a noteworthy victory or fight against some all time opposition. You can’t get any more “all-time” than Bob Probert and Dave Brown. His great prime run early in his career showed he was an elite fighter and his resurgent later years proved he had staying power in an era of Super Heavyweights. Looking back on it, there was nothing quite like Chris Simon with that left hand loose… 

Those tough years in Washington really hold him back in my eyes. Whether it was his shoulder injuries or simply wanting to reinvent himself as a player, it hurt him with his standing among other Heavyweights at the time. When Simon was at his best in those early years, guys like Dave Brown and Bob Probert were the league’s Kingpins, but by the time he was resurgent with the New York Rangers just before the lock out, the entire Heavyweight scene had changed. Dave Brown retired shortly after their two big fights in ’95. Bob Probert retired in 2001-02. Guys like Georges Laraque and Donald Brashear now ruled the roost. His relative inactivity at that time killed his fight card and his odd losses to non ranked fighters certainly didn’t help his cause.

In his prime, Simon was like few others. He was vicious, dominating and one of the best in the game who could boast victories over legends like Dave Brown and Bob Probert.

In the storied history of hockey fighting never was there a physical specimen quite like Derek Boogaard. The Boogeyman, as he was so affectionately dubbed, stood 6’7 and weighed a massive 250+ lbs. He combined his sheer size with brute strength and knockout power in both hands. When he lumbered up and down the ice he did so with a flinty, soulless glare that more than jellified a few spines during his career. His size alone was intimidating and once people began to see what he was capable of with his fists, they steered clear of this Super Heavyweight Monster. In the ongoing arms race in the NHL, teams still sought tough guys and by the 2000’s, the bigger, the better. Well there was no bigger-or better-than Derek Boogaard. 

Boogaard’s rookie season was one for the ages. The Boogeyman authored the most destructive rookie campaign of them all with KO’s and TKO’s in such abundance that he eclipsed the career totals of other reputed ‘power punchers’. Boogaard recorded 6 KO/TKO’s in a rookie campaign that saw him cruise up the Heavyweight ladder. He scored TKO wins over Kip Brennan, Wade Brookbank, future champ Brian McGrattan, tough lefty Jim Vandermeer, as well as Matthew Spiller in a bout outside of the traditional Heavyweight division. He also viciously knocked out minor league bad boy Trevor Gillies. His power punching was awesome and NHL Heavies took notice. It wasn’t a perfect year, he would struggle with both Donald Brashear and Heavyweight champ Georges Laraque and Chris Simon was able to escape with a decision but everyone knew who the Boogeyman was now.

Boogey picked up right where he left off in 2005-06. He won decisions over both Raitis Ivanans and Jody Shelley before scoring another brutal knockout of Todd “Fridge” Fedoruk. Boogaard broke Fedoruk’s face and “Fridge” left the ice holding up what was left of it with his hands. Boogey’s power was frightening and his star was clearly on the rise when he ran into Calgary Flames slugger Eric Godard. Godard was a solid Top-10 Heavyweight with some good fights to his credit. He had been in the league for a few years now and showed tons of potential but seemed a bit inconsistent and would at times fight down to the level of his opponent. It was a shame because Godard had a lot of the tools you like to see in a fighter – size, power, ability to switch hands, willingness to go all out – but he would at times fail to put it all together. Godard was able to work an upset special as he dropped Boogaard in a memorable fight. Godard had slayed the giant.

Boogaard was undeterred and, truth be told, that might’ve been the worst loss of Boogey’s career. I don’t recall Boogaard losing another fight in such decisive fashion. He did indeed lose a few scraps but they were usually very close affairs, decisions or edges or, more likely, draws. Boogaard spent the bulk of his career with the Minnesota Wild-every season but one, his final year, which he spent on Broadway with the Rangers. But looking back on his time with the Wild, Boogaard was such a force –although he could not overtake Brashear and Laraque until after those two greats retired and moved on to other endeavors. Once gone, there was a void at the top that had to be filled. Guys like Brian McGrattan, Colton Orr, Wade Belak and, of course, Derek Boogaard all sought to fill that void and ascend to the Heavyweight throne. 

I always felt that if you believed Boogaard ever held the Heavyweight title, he did so with greasy, slick fingers. His hold on the title around this time was tenuous at best and the challenges from tough men like McGrattan and Orr in particular disputed the notion of Boogaard as Heavyweight Champ. In 2009-10, with current ‘champ’ Wade Belak having an off year, Boogaard-in the eyes of many- did just enough to outrace Colton Orr and Brian McGrattan for the coveted Heavyweight title. It wasn’t without dispute, however. Colton Orr had a fantastic season-one of the last GREAT years for an enforcer before the league put the kibosh on them a few seasons later-so an argument could be made that he was the new ‘man to beat’. Boogaard wasn’t nearly as active as Orr but he did not lose and had a big TKO win over top Heavyweight contender, Brian McGrattan on his ledger. Orr fought a ton that year with some hi-light fights but suffered a few big losses in an otherwise awesome season. The debate still rages… 

Derek Boogaard signed with the New York Rangers during the off season and entered the 2010-11 as one of the best Heavyweights in the league with face breaking power. He would have a few noteworthy fights with Edmonton’s Steve MacIntyre, who carried a huge rep from the minor leagues. He would also have a big time bout with old foe, Trevor Gillies. Boogaard was having another solid season when he squared off with Ottawa Senators enforcer Matt Carkner. Carkner was a tough veteran AHL enforcer trying to make the most of his opportunity with the Sens. The fight wasn’t much but Carkner was able to rock Boogaard with a right that stunned the Ranger big man. Boogaard would leave the game and not return and he wouldn’t play again that season. Though the fight didn’t really amount to much, it certainly helped to stir up the already murky waters of the Heavyweight Division at this point. Matt Carkner and Steve MacIntyre threw their name into the championship mix as well. 

For Boogaard, the 2010-11 season would be his last. He died tragically on May 13, 2011, cutting short a great career as an enforcer. From start to finish-six seasons-Boogard was counted amongst the very best fighters in the game. He was a monster, a giant even by Super Heavyweight era standards. His big victories and memorable KO’s/TKO’s cemented his place among the great fighters in the game. What I like about Boogaard is that he came into the league right away and made an immediate impact. So it’s not like it took a few years to get on track. He was a devastating puncher from the get go and I viewed him as one of the game’s few elite fighters for his entire playing career. While he didn’t have the longevity of some all-time greats, his status as one of the best for that six year stretch is impressive. Boogaard also fought a smaller pool of fighters, almost exclusively made up of top-10 style enforcers. There were very few Light Heavyweights or Middleweights filling out Boogaard’s card. I remember for a time it seemed like Boogaard had trouble finding dance partners –his rep as a face breaker preceding him –so it was only the big time enforcers who came calling. 

Boogaard checks off on a number of my own specific all time criteria as well. He not only had the great won-loss record, dominating wins, signature victories/fights but also had a great run as an elite fighter during the Super Heavyweight era. He was always right there as a top-3-5 Heavyweight with a few years on the back end where you can argue he was in the Heavyweight title mix. Some claim he was champ in those last two years before his untimely death. To me this counts for more than say a fighter who might’ve been a back end top-10 fringe contender for a longer period. Six years at or near the top is a major accomplishment which to me warrants instant Top-25 All-Time consideration.

Was there ever a more sinister nickname than the “Grim Reaper”? The name itself gives people the shivers and the images it conjures up are enough to keep people awake at night. That was Stu Grimson. At 6’5, 230 pounds, Grimson was a full fledged enforcer who’s fighting ability kept other tough men up at night worried about a visit from the Grim Reaper. Grimson was a bona fide Heavyweight contender for the better part of a decade. He built up an impressive resume over the course of his career and despite a slow start, managed to put together an all-time career as a fighter and enforcer. Breaking in during the Probert-Brown era and finishing in the Brashear-Laraque era, Grimson was a fixture in the Heavyweight Division and one of its true standard bearers.

Grimson initially broke in with the Calgary Flames where he made an immediate impact by pulling off an upset over then Heavyweight champ, Dave Brown. This only served to make Brown angry and he proceeded to wipe out the young Grimson in the rematch, breaking his orbital bone and putting him on the shelf for weeks. Grimson then was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Blackhawks where he began to really make his mark as an NHL Heavyweight. However, his first few years Grimson was more of an up and down, win one, lose one style of fighter. He struggled with the tougher NHL competition and his own balance issues were front and center in those days. He was big and willing but his poor balance made him seem like he was more like Bambi on ice as opposed to a legitimate NHL enforcer.

He suffered numerous defeats at this time, some major and some minor and while he was popular with the Chicago fans, it was hard to see Grimson making it as a long term NHL Heavy after taking some of those early losses. He suffered defeats at the hands of Randy McKay, Joey Kocur, Darin Kimble, Jeff Chychrun, Bob Probert, and Gino Odjick. His iffy balance and wide open style did not help. But Grimson would work on his balance and he would improve. He improved so much that the 1992-93 season turned out to be a breakout year for the young Grimson. He started off in the preseason getting into a brutal slugfest with Detroit’s up and coming Heavy Dennis Vial. The fight was a real back and forth affair as each fighter took turns pounding one another. The fight became the front runner for Fight of the Year, Grimson and Vial setting the bar high and it was only the preseason. Later in the preseason, Grimson finally edged out Heavyweight champ, Bob Probert. It wasn’t a major fight but Grimson for the first time was able to overcome Probert, who had his number up to that point. Brimming with confidence, Grimson went on a run that season earning victories overt Rob Ray, Darren Banks, Marty McSorley, Kelly Buchberger, Kelly Chase, Tie Domi, Darin Kimble, and Greg Smyth. He had great battles with Gino Odjick and Marty McSorley as he finally broke into the Top-10 and began to climb the Heavyweight ladder.

Grimson would be picked up in the expansion draft by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for their inaugural season in 1993-94. He, along with veteran enforcer, Todd Ewen formed a nice 1-2 punch for that fledgling Ducks team. He would play the better part of two seasons in Anaheim beating the likes of Shawn Antoski, Phil Crowe, Matt Johnson and Greg Smyth. The Mighty Ducks traded Grimson to the Detroit Red WIngs near the end of the 1994-95 season. He would instantly make a name for himself with good battles against Jeff Odgers and veteran Jim Kyte. Kyte was a grizzled vet at this point and gave the younger Grimson all he could handle in a real war. Grimson would spend the 1995-96 season with the Red Wings and once again put himself up among the game’s best fighters with victories over Jim McKenzie, Grant Marshall, Dennis Bonvie, and Jeff Beukeboom. At 6’5, and tipping the scales at 230+ pounds, Grimson cut an imposing figure on the ice. With his hulking stature and sinister nom de guerre, Grimson almost personified the ‘90’s enforcer. He came into the league very lanky but he got stronger as his career progressed. His balance improved over time and was able to use his reach to his advantage. His long arms enabled him to hold opponents off or switch hands almost at will. Grimson learned to throw from both sides and he had good power, to boot. Grimson had the size and power to be a true force in the Heavyweight Division during the mid late 90’s.

Grimson reached his peak during the 1996-97 season. While he had already become a legitimate Top-10 fighter, the 1996-97 season would see Grimson take a run at a title. Now playing for the Hartford Whalers, Grimson had a season for the ages, scoring victories against Randy McKay, a wounded Shane Churla, Gino Odjick, Rob Ray, Darren Langdon, Enrico Ciccone, and Ryan Vandenbussche. He was already climbing rung after rung on the Heavyweight ladder but this season saw Grimson-in many fight fans eyes-earn at least a piece of the Heavyweight crown. The Hartford Whalers would fold after the 1996-97 season and relocate to Raleigh, North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. Grimson moved right along with them and enjoyed another fine season as one of the leagues top Heavyweights. He would finish the year with victories over Chris Dingman, Dennis Vial, Darren Langdon, Scott Thornton, Krzyztoff Oliwa and Dan Kordic. His name at this time was mentioned alongside St. Louis Blues brawler, Tony Twist and Calgary Flames killer, Sandy McCarthy, as potential champs. He was sipping rarified air at this point in his career. From Bambi on ice to top contender-the stuff stories are made of.

The Hurricanes then traded Grimson back to his former team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. He put together two fine seasons in his reprise with the Ducks getting into excellent battles with Patrick Cote, Rob Ray and Rocky Thompson. This would also be the time he would be introduced to Georges Laraque. Big Georges was just entering the league breaking in with a lot of buzz. He was a big, strong lefty who liked to wrestle and he’d give Grimson all he could handle and then some over the next few years. He would also get into a great two fight affair with Chicago Blackhawks Light Heavyweight, Ryan Vandenbussche. On November 19, 1999, The Hawks were in town when Vandenbussche and Grimson dropped the gloves. Vandenbussche was a smaller fighter for the time, probably about 6 feet and built like a fire hydrant. He and Grimson had fought before when Vandenbussche was a member of the Rangers. Vandy had a piston like left hand and was willing to engage in open warfare in his fights. In the first of their two bouts that evening, Vandenbussche surprised Grimson with some solid lefts, scoring a knock down victory. The upset loss left a bitter taste in Grimson’s mouth as he, like most great fighters, sought revenge. Grimson would get it, too. Later that game, the Grim Reaper came calling and he had his sights set on Ryan Vandenbussche. You could see there was some extra intensity in Grimson’s face during their square off. When the two combatants came together, Grimson fired a fusillade of right hands at the Chicago Light Heavy, dropping him at least twice and bloodying him badly. Fighting Stu Grimson was one thing but a vengeful Stu was a whole other animal. 

Grimson would next take his traveling enforcer show to Los Angeles where he would once again serve as one of the league’s top fighters. It wouldn’t be without some bumps in the road, though. In the 2000-01 preseason, Grimson would suffer a tough TKO loss to up and coming enforcer extraordinaire, Scott Parker. Grimson fought Parker again that same game but wasn’t quite able to get to him the way he wanted to. Grimson was able to string together some solid bouts putting him once again in the Top-5 mix. Great showings against the young Jean-Luc Grande-Pierre, former Heavyweight champ, Bob Probert, as well as his one punching of Reid Simpson made it clear that the ageing Grimson was going nowhere and he remained the class of the Heavyweight Division. He would edge out the uber-strong Georges Laraque and would end the year with one more good scrap against Colorado’s Scott Parker.

Grimson was then able to work out a three year deal with the Nashville Predators during the offseason. Grimson looked forward to playing a bigger role with the Predators but something seemed strange. There was something not quite right with Grimson as the season progressed. It all became too clear during a December 8, 2001 fight against Heavyweight Honcho, Georges Laraque. Big Georges landed a flurry of unanswered lefts and dropped Grimson in a one sided affair. Grimson didn’t realize it yet but he was suffering from the effects of Post Concussion Syndrome. He might’ve had it far back as October of that year, possibly from a punch taken by Calgary Flames veteran, Craig Berube. It was hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened but a few days later, Grimson took on tough New York Ranger Heavyweight, Sandy McCarthy and found himself just going through the motions in a fight he didn’t want to be in. While Grimson had been a durable, productive enforcer for fourteen seasons, the cumulative effects of taking so many blows had finally caught up to him. He held out hope of returning but the symptoms lingered and he called it a career. 

Stu Grimson fought during a truly great era for fighting and he routinely took on the best in the business. He had extended rivalries with the likes of Bob Probert, Georges Laraque, Sandy McCarthy, Marty McSorley, Darren Langdon, Ken Baumgartner and Shane Churla. He fought a virtual who’s who of his time and has one of the greatest fight cards of them all. I find it amazing that Grimson was as successful as he was fighting that kind of competition for over fourteen seasons. The fact that Grimosn fought some major league wars only adds to his already impressive resume. He had a couple of real beauties with Dennis Vial-one of them being a slugfest, Fight of the Century style of fight. He also had a great toe to toe bout with Marty McSorley that also got the Fight of the Year treatment. All throughout his career Grimson had some great fights and never took the easy way out. He didn’t hug it out or seat belt guys or grapple. He went toe to toe and brawled.

The downside to Grimson was his slow start and his penchant for some bad losses spread out over the course of his entire career. Grimson also didn’t fare well against the elite of his time. He beat Bob Probert a few times during his career but his overall record vs. the KING was dreadful. Grimson had similar results against Laraque, McCarthy, Twist, Kocur and Brown. He’d score the odd win but for the most part wound up on the losing end. Now you can look at it and say ANYONE would have a losing record against that lineup and you’d be right. To Grimson’s credit, he was perfectly willing to battle all these greats multiple times. You had to love that about Grimson. It does, however, show where Grimson ranks in the great pecking order of enforcers during his time. 

All told Grimson is a Top-25 All-Time fighter in my eyes. His great overall career, great prime run and big wins march him up the all-time rankings. Though Grimson didn’t have a championship run-he was arguably #1 in 1996-97 -he still had a tremendous run as a Top-10 Heavyweight for close to a decade. That kind of longevity combined with his great won-loss record, all time fight card, and signature fights help round out the case for Grimson as an all-time great. 

The Philadelphia Flyers had proven themselves so adept at discovering and developing tough guys that they had an unbroken line of great fighters that dated back to the 1972-73 season with the arrival of Dave Schultz. The Hammer helped to kick off the Broad Street Bully era in Philly and when he signed with the Los Angeles Kings, the Flyers were undeterred brining in tough, American born Paul Holmgren and a replacement #8 in Dave Hoyda. Both proved to be dynamite fighters with Holmgren staying in Philly for eight seasons. Hoyda’s time was brief, only two seasons, but once he was gone the Flyers brought in a nineteen year old Behn Wilson who would become a phenomenal fighter in his own right. Ed Snider had the Flyer factory pumping out bigger and better fighters every few years it seemed. In the early ‘80’s they brought up Glen Cochrane, another wild character who would be one of the best fighters in the business as well. Other teams might’ve brought in the occasional scrapper or traded for a tough guy but Snider and co. had a nose for toughness. It was almost unfair then in 1982-83 when they unveiled Dave Brown, their newest creation. Brown was a lanky 6’5 southpaw who turned Terminator once he donned the Orange and Black. Brown was another great fighter and would go on to become Heavyweight champ.

So it was no surprise when the Flyers, always tinkering with perfection, brought in Craig Berube during the 1986-87 season from their AHL affiliate in Hershey. This native of Calahoo, Alberta, signed on as an undrafted free agent further showing they had an eye for toughness. Berube was smaller-about 6’1 and tipped the scales at about 205 pounds and while he didn’t have the reach or southpaw style of a Brown or the wildness of a Cochrane, he made up for it with possibly the fastest gun hand in the game. His machine gun right hand was on display from day one in Hershey as he took out vets like Steven Fletcher, Steve Martinson and Andy Ristau. He would play the majority of the year with the Hershey Bears but would get in seven games with the Flyers that year and he wasted no time making a name for himself. Already tearing up the AHL, Berube would get to work on the NHL next. On March 28, 1987, Berube would drop the gloves with rising Heavyweight star, Bob Probert. The fight would feature some great exchanges with Berube breaking Probert’s nose and taking the victory. Just like that Berube was on the map leaving Probert on his knees, sopping up blood with a towel. To prove it was no fluke, Berube would fight Probert twice more only a few days later in an April Fools Day showdown. The first bout was merely a tune up match with both probing for weaknesses and playing it safe. Round two, later that game would see the two throw down in earnest once more. Berube again overwhelmed Probert with his fast right and skated away with a clear victory over the Heavyweight contender. It was a great start for Chief and his lightning fast hands.

Berube would go back and forth between Hershey and the parent club in Philly during the 1987-88 season. He would once again test his metal against a tough southpaw in Quebec Nordiques bruiser, Gord Donnelly. The scrap would turn out to be a great righty vs. lefty matchup with some great exchanges. Donnelly rated an edge perhaps in the fight but both could hold their heads high after this one. Berube was impressive in these early bouts but every great fighter overcomes obstacles or suffers some growing pains along the way. For Berube those growing pains would come in the form of a two fight game against the Boston Bruins on December 8, 1987. The Bruins featured two very tough fighters in Jay Miller and Lyndon Byers and when the Bruins descended upon the Spectrum the anticipation began to build. Berube wasted little time getting acquainted with the Bruins bad boys. First he took on Lyndon Byers who featured a great uppercut, arguably the best in the game at this time. He put it to good use, catching Berube with a number of flush shots, thoroughly taking the fight out of the young Heavyweight. Berube struggled against LB and it would get no better against his partner in crime, Jay Miller. While Byers was the power puncher, Miller was a technical wiz who could beat you in a variety of ways. Though not known as a power puncher, Miller made up for it with incredible stamina and a will that pushed him to become a top-10 fighter during his time in Boston. Miller put those technical skills to work right away against Berube, tying him up like a pretzel before going on the attack and swamping the beleaguered young Heavyweight. Berube skated to the box with his hands on his hips sucking wind and looking disheveled and defeated. You almost couldn’t believe that this was the same guy who tore through guys like Steve Martinson, Andy Ristau and Bob Probert.

The 1988-89 season would be Berube’s first full season with the Flyers. Having already proved himself over the last few seasons, Berube was ready to become an NHL regular. He would have a solid year, breaking into the Top-10 with notable bouts against Chris Nilan, Richard Zemlak, Jay Caufield, Brad Dalgarno and young power forward, Brendan Shanahan. He would score a great TKO victory over a young Ken Baumgartner and would slug it out with Marty McSorley and Rudy Poeschek before a playoff battle with Pittsburgh’s Phil Bourque. Berube had made believers out of the Flyers brass, so much so that they traded the feared Dave Brown to the Edmonton Oilers near the end of the year. Chief would continue to climb the Heavyweight ladder in 1989-90 with notable battles against Rudy Poeschek, Marty McSorley, Basil McRae and Richard Zemlak. His only real blemish being an upset TKO loss at the hands of Hartford’s Paul MacDermid. At this point Berube was off and running as a fighter standing in as the Flyers top Heavyweight. He would come to personify the late 80’s/early 90’s enforcer with his bent nose, missing teeth, long hair, and perennial snarl. 

Berube would have arguably his best year for the Flyers during the 1990-91 season. He was on fire that season getting into some memorable bouts with Darin Kimble, Troy Mallette, and Steve Leach and would pound out a decision against a game Allan Stewart. He would ride that machine gun right hand to an overwhelming victory against the brash young Tie Domi of the New York Rangers as well. The Flyers that year boasted a lineup that included Berube, Jeff Chychrun, Terry Carkner, Dale Kushner, Rick Tocchet and Scott Mellanby. So it was odd that, in a strange twist of fate, Berube was traded that off season to the Edmonton Oilers for Big Dave Brown. Brownie was now replacing his replacement while Berube was off to new frontiers. He would play only a handful of preseason games with the Oilers before being traded before the start of the year to the Toronto Maple Leafs. His run in Toronto would be confined to a forty game stretch but in that time he put together some great bouts. He would get into two terrific scraps with Minnesota’s Basil McRae, score a nice victory over power forward toughie Gary Roberts, and take a close decision over St. Louis Light Heavy, Kelly Chase. Berube would also tangle with Heavyweight Champ, Bob Probert while as a member of the Laefs as well. There was no love lost between these two teams nor Berube and Probie, either. Probert at this point was the undisputed Heavyweight Champ, taking on all comers. While Berube might have had Probert’s number only a few years before, he found him to be a tougher test this time around. Probert got loose and managed to cut Berube pretty good under his left eye, atoning, at least somewhat, for his two previous defeats at the hands of Berube back in ‘87. In January, Berube would be traded to the Calgary Flames in a deal that brought Doug Gilmour to the Leafs. Berube would finish out the year by smoking Neil Wilkinson, swamping New York’s Tie Domi and a young Jeff Odgers as well.

Berube would spend the 1992-93 season with the Calgary Flames getting into good battles with Marty McSorley, Louie DeBrusk, and Marc Potvin. He also put on a fireworks display that season dropping one of the league’s top pests and low hit specialist, Darius Kasperitis, buckling Dave Maley and scoring the knockout victory over rugged d-man, Doug Zmolek. He did suffer a setback in a tough loss to Bob Probert. The loss was a rather tainted affair with Probert engaging in his most egregious episode of jersey shedding by essentially taking off his own jersey and shoulder pads while leaving his helmet on before coming to grips with Berube. Berube had little chance after that. 

Chief would be traded to the Washington Capitals during the off season. He would play the next six seasons with the Caps serving not only as the teams resident enforcer but as a team leader as well. His first year with the Capitals would be one of his better seasons in the NHL. He would edge out long time foe, Mick Vukota, drop the ever willing Jim Cummins, defeat Cam Stewart, Jamie Huscroft, and big blueliner, Jeff Beukeboom. He would also defeat another long time nemesis in Marty McSorley, scoring a flash knockdown over the Pittsburgh Penguins newly acquired defenseman. Berube would vault himself into the Top-5 discussion arguably for the first time in his career. 

The lockout shortened 1994-95 season would show us the first signs of decline from Berube. He fell out of the Top-10 with a mediocre season by his standards with his only notable win coming against Hartford’s Scott Daniels. It was more of the same for Berube in 1995-96 with his only highlight being a close loss to Winnipeg Jets enforcer, Jim McKenzie. The fight featured a good toe to toe exchange with Chief suffering a nasty cut over his right eye. The 1996-97 campaign would have a little bit of everything for Berube as he would get involved in some good scraps, battling it out with Stu Grimson, Randy McKay, Bob Boughner, Scott Daniels and Chris Tamer. He would also be involved in a couple of signature bouts that season as well. The first being a wicked TKO of young Rangers upstart, Eric Cairns. As we headed towards the late ‘90’s, the enforcers coming into the league only got bigger and bigger giving us our first “Super Heavyweights” and Cairns at 6’6 and scaling over 235 pounds certainly fit the bill. He was big with a long reach and good power but he seemed to have fine china in his mandible suffering some tough TKO losses early in his career.  When these two met up Berube looked like a middleweight in comparison. Berube proved that it wasn’t the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that really mattered when he unloaded a barrage of right hands, one catching and folding the gargantuan enforcer like a chair. Berube was not done as he would get involved in one of the best toe to toe exchanges of the season during a great battle with Tampa Bay’s Rudy Poeschek. Berube and Poeschek had a number of fights in their rivalry but none quite like this. It was a full on toe to toe punch up with both staring down the barrel of the gun and taking flush punches. Berube skated away with a slight edge in the battle but you had to appreciate both for their willingness to put it all on the line for ultimate victory. The downside to Berube’s season were two tough bookend losses to Florida’s young gun, Paul Laus. While Berube was an established veteran enforcer in his eleventh season, Laus was just entering his prime. He would have a breakout year getting into some major league battles with the likes of Jim McKenzie, Dean Malkoc, Rob Ray, Paul Kruse, and Mark Janssens. Laus featured a rag dolling style with deceptive power and this was evident when he and Berube clashed on November 18, 1996 at Miami Arena. Laus landed an uppercut that shot Berube’s lid into the rafters and dropped the veteran winger. Berube was up in a flash but the damage was already done. These two would lock horns later in the year with Laus landing more heavy artillery skating away with a knockdown victory. The 1996-97 would be Berube’s last truly memorable year as a fighter and enforcer as he would gradually fade out of Heavyweight contention as he entered his grizzled vet years.

Berube would play another two seasons with the Capitals before being traded to his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers. By this point Berube was in his fourteenth season and was far removed from the prime machine gunner he once was. Still, he was resurgent with the Flyers in 1999-00. He didn’t break any faces or rise in the rankings but he was able to at least hold off Father Time for one more year. The Flyers traded Berube back to the Washington Capitals briefly before being dealt to the New York Islanders part way through the year. By 2001-02 he was once again playing for the Calgary Flames. The losses were happening more and more although there were times like against Florida’s Peter Worrell or San Jose’s Andy Sutton where Berube would show flashes of how great he once was. Even in his final year in the NHL he could still give those young bucks a run for their money as evidenced by some solid bouts with Columbus Blue Jackets up and coming policeman, Jody Shelley and Chicago’s Monster Super Heavy, Jason Strudwick. 

Berube was never a guy I thought of as a champ and I’m not sure he really made a run at a title. He was just a solid top-10 Heavyweight during a great time for fighting when you had some serious fighters kicking around the league. Some of your all-time greats-guys we see detailed in this project-fought during Berube’s time which I’ve always considered to be arguably the greatest era for fighting. Signature victories over Probert, Domi, McSorley and Cairns helped to define him as a fighter and are proof of how great he was. His machine gun right hand and action style fights made him an instant fan favorite. His snarl and typically ‘90’s enforcer “look” – not to mention awesome fights and vicious exchanges – made a fan out of me right away. As a Bruins fan I hated the Flyers but always had a grudging respect for their commitment to tough guy hockey.

In the past I’ve ranked Berube in the mid teens all time but as time has gone by and more great fighters have joined the all-time pool, Berube has slipped somewhat but still holds a place in my vaunted Top-25. He has the card-there was some quality opposition at that time and Berube was able to match up with all the big fighters of the time. His great won-loss and signature wins really bolster his case. He’s one of those guys that had the great prime as well as a great overall career. He might’ve faded in his final few years but I never thought he had “bad years” where he was taking beatings left and right. So while he might not have had that champ level status, his great career, great prime run and big wins make him a great all time candidate. 

Tie Domi was one of those unique characters that comes around once in a generation. He was one of the few fighters that combined being a fighter with being a showman in his fights. He was like nothing I had ever seen before or since. His small stature only added to this hockey fighting absurdity. At barely 5’10 and scaling 200 pounds, Domi had squat features-squat arms and legs and a bowling ball for a head. He was a two fisted brawler during a time when the enforcers were getting bigger and bigger. And he did it all with this brash and cocky attitude. He talked trash to anyone and would taunt opposing players and tough guys. He became known for his post fight antics- doing a speed bag routine and twirling his finger in the air, smiling and laughing the whole time. Domi would play up to the crowd and put on a show. Yet, underneath all the cockiness and the antics, there was a crafty fighter who learned how to use his small stature to his advantage.

Yet Domi found it hard to earn respect in those first few formative seasons and his antics didn’t help. Drafted in the 2nd round of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Windsor, Ontario native came into the league kicking ass and talking trash and this led to some not taking the pugnacious pug seriously. After a few brief call ups with the Maple Leafs, Domi was traded to the New York Rangers, where he would take his act to a bigger stage in his search for respect. It would be during the 1991-92 preseason that Domi first got to strut his stuff for the Rangers. He decked Washington’s Alan May and had a few decent tilts leading up to the regular season. But despite fighting a ton during camp and the preseason, Domi started the season off with the Rangers AHL affiliate in Binghamton. It wouldn’t be long before he would get the call as the Patrick Division rivalries began to heat up. The Rangers that season were rolling with some young guns like Troy Mallette, Mark Janssens, and Kris King and added Domi to the mix part way through the year. Domi had an up and down year for the Rangers, winning some and losing some. He would battle it out with guys like Tony Hoarcek, Lyndon Byers, and Mike Peluso before a major showdown with Edmonton Oilers muscleman, Dave Brown who was one of the league’s best fighters. Domi really wanted to make a statement but Dave Brown proved to be too much, dusting Domi with ease. But if Domi couldn’t take out Brown, he’d settle for one of his underlings as he would TKO Oilers Defenseman, Jeff Beukeboom later that same game. The rest of the year would feature more of the same inconsistency, every time he seemed to take one step forward, he took two steps back. He lost to veterans Tim Hunter and Ken Baumgartner and struggled with New Jersey’s blue chip defenseman, Ken Daneyko. He would then score an upset victory over Washington’s John Kordic before getting waxed by Philly’s ultra tough Craig Berube.

Domi would start off the 1991-92 season off with a bang, smoking Boston’s Matt Hervey before getting the better of New York Islanders tough guy, Ken Baumgartner. He would struggle mightily with Dave Brown-the 6’5 southpaw was back with his former team and seemed better than ever. Domi would follow up that rough showing by dropping Vancouver’s young enforcer, Gino Odjick. Domi was fast proving he had good pop in both hands and could surprise people with his power. He also had an uncanny ability to bait opponents into exchanges before stepping back a step and pulling them off balance. He was showing a bit of polish to his game that came with more experience. Domi would go on to mangle Buffalo’s Mike Hartman before getting into good back to back fights with tough southpaw, Gord Donnelly. He once again struggled with Craig Berube’s machine gun right hand-Berube now doing his thing out in Calgary with the Flames. At this point Domi was showing he had good power and toughness but his showboating and post fight antics led some to loathe him. He was one of those fighters that you almost loved to hate. He was the small Heavyweight of his generation which gave him that kind of underdog status in his fights but his post fight histrionics and trash talking kept him from getting the respect he deserved.

Then he fought Bob Probert…

On February 9, 1992, Domi would drop the gloves with Heavyweight champ, Bob Probert. The Red Wings had invaded Madison Square Garden and Domi spent much of the game challenging the Red Wing policeman. At first Probert wanted no part of the young upstart but after a time relented and accepted Domi’s challenge. Domi would make the most of the opportunity. He fired away at the champ with rights and lefts while Probert attempted to use his great reach to his advantage. While Domi stayed busy, Probert was more deliberate and began to shed free of his jersey. All this took time however and before long Probert found himself struggling with the Rangers pint sized pugilist. At one point Probert found himself unable to get his right free for anything but blocking Domi’s lefts. By the time Probert was able to get free of his jersey, he was cut over the right eye and losing the fight. As Probert began to find the range with his punches, the linesmen inexplicably jumped in to end the fight. Domi skated away and began doing an exaggerated championship belt gesture stating to the league and anyone else watching that he was the new Heavyweight champ. The fight with Probert was indeed a close one with Domi earning a decision but seeing Domi cut the champ and the whole post fight Heavyweight champ belt gesture certainly had the optics of a big Domi win. So much so that the hype immediately began to build for the rematch. Domi had finally earned the respect he had fought so hard for. He would TKO Jim Agnew and get into battles with Ken Baumgartner, Mick Vukota and Grant Jennings but it didn’t matter at that point. He had beaten the champ.

There was an air of anticipation as the 1992-93 season got underway. Domi had put himself on the map with a big victory over Bob Probert but a rematch with the Red Wing Giant loomed. First there would be some preliminary bouts with guys like Shawn Cronin, Alan May, and Dave Brown. The Brown fight would serve as a tune up for the Probert rematch and once again Domi found himself overmatched and lost quite handily to the tall southpaw. As the rematch approached the hype was like no other fight before or since. The buzz surrounding the Probert-Domi rematch was even greater than the Probert-Crowder rematch only a few years before. Everyone was talking about it and had December 2, 1992 circled on their calendar. The players and media personalities alike all helped to build up the big rematch and even Probert and Domi began sparring back and forth through the media. When the time came you could see Probert wanted to get it over with. He began pushing at Domi after a faceoff and at first Domi seemed to play it nonchalantly but in an instant he whipped off the gloves and the fight was on. Probert got to work right away throwing right hands with a vengeful mind. He poured it on taking the fight to Domi swamping him with right hands. Domi was being outpunched and outfought and when he finally began putting punches together found Probert had switched hands and was now taking it to him with lefts. In the end a final right to the temple sealed the victory for Probert as he was once again the league’s alpha dog. Domi skated to the box smiling but without his usual post fight theatrics. Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings Captain, stood up on the Red Wings bench and began doing his own version of the Heavyweight championship belt gesture further adding salt to the wound.

In a strange twist, Domi would be traded within a month to the Winnipeg Jets. Knocked down a peg by the epic defeat at the hands of Probert, Domi once again sought to prove himself out west with his new team. He would get acquainted with Chicago’s Stu Grimson, LA’s Marty McSorley, and San Jose’s ever pugnacious Jeff Odgers, among others. He would also do battle with Neil Wilkinson, Jim Agnew, Darin Kimble and old foe Gino Odjick. It was with the Jets that Domi touched off a feud with Buffalo Sabres brawler, Rob Ray. They would fight the first of their fourteen fights this season, a rivalry that featured some absolutely great battles over the years. Domi had risen to Top-5 status with his victory over Probert and was still a rock solid Top-10 fighter in 1992-93. Amazing when you think of the fact that he was the smaller guy in almost every fight and was scoring some notable victories and had defeated the champ.

The 1993-94 season would be Domi’s only full season with the Winnipeg Jets. Domi once again put together a solid Top-10 style year with noteworthy fights against Darin Kimble, Mike Peluso, and Brent Thompson. He would do battle that year with young Heavyweight phenom, Sandy McCarthy who was blazing a trail to the Heavyweight title that season. One of the year’s highlights would be a huge knockout victory over Chicago Blackhawks defenseman, Steve Smith. Domi was proving to be a top fighter in the league who was capable of occasionally bumping off a top contender like a Probert or even a McCarthy. The 1994-95 season would feature more of the same for Domi with solid battles against Dallas’ Shane Churla and San Jose’s young Dody Wood. In April, Domi would be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he would finish out the year with bouts against Sandy McCarthy, Gord Donnelly and Basil McRae.

The trade to the Maple Leafs would change the course of Tie Domi’s career. He would play ten seasons in a Leafs uni and I really thought he really became a much more polished and refined enforcer during this time. I know some people view Domi’s run at a title in 1991-92 as being his high water mark as a fighter but he gave us some great years in Toronto. He was a bona fide top-10 style fighter who had some great moments. Despite his small stature, Domi routinely took on some of the baddest fighters in the game. During the 1995-96 season when Chris Simon was a virtual wrecking machine, Domi went to war with him on three separate occasions He would also add three more fights to his growing rivalry with Rob Ray. He would slug it out with Reid Simpson, Bob Probert, Bill Huard and Gino Odjick. This would be the year he began a long and brutal rivalry with Donald Brashear. It would be during the 1995-96 preseason that Brashear decked Domi with a great uppercut. Domi was incensed having been beaten by a guy nicknamed “Huggy Bear” and for ten long seasons, he would not let it go, fighting him over eleven times. 

Domi would have one of his finest seasons in 1996-97, contending for a top-5 spot with victories over Rob Ray, Darren Langdon, Cam Russell, Michel Petit, Bryan Marchment and Dody Wood. He would add two more bouts to his feud with Rob Ray and once again battled it out with heavyweight title contender, Sandy McCarthy. One thing I noticed about Domi from around this time was the way his style as a fighter developed. As a younger fighter he was prone to all out brawling but now in his eighth season, he was becoming a cunning and crafty fighter. He would circle to his right or left during a scrap and with his low center of gravity and good strength, could put his opponents in a spin cycle causing them to fall off balance where he would take full advantage. He would jam a hand right in a taller opponents face and just leave it there blinding them. At times he would do this and pull an opponent’s sweater up over his face, leaving him blind and easy prey to his lefts and rights. And the whole time he would have this big shit eating grin on his face.

Domi was on a roll heading into the 1997-98 season putting together another great top-10 year. You almost couldn’t fathom a fighter of Domi’s size not only hanging but excelling during what was fast becoming an era of giants. At barely 5’10 Domi was going to war with fighters who were 6’3 and over, giving away size and weight in nearly every fight. The Albanian Aggressor would put together a couple of dandy scraps with Technical Wizard, Darren Langdon, and his old nemesis, Rob Ray. He would also engage in a trilogy of vicious battles with Chicago Blackhawks blueliner, Cam Russell. Russell was a tall, lanky fighter who might not have won them all but was game as all hell. Despite a rather spotty-won-loss record, Russell had a curious way of confounding some top fighters over the years. He would give Domi all he could handle and then some in their first bout before earning the proverbial “edge” in round two. This only seemed to piss Domi off as the two would fight the rubber match on April 15, 1998 at Maple Leafs Gardens. Domi would take the fight to Russell, punishing Russell before finishing him off with a knockout blow. This fight would actually draw the ire of old foe, Bob Probert who came gunning for Domi later in the same game. Probert had just recently come back from shoulder surgery and for much of the fight he had a poor grip on Domi and struggled to mount any kind of offense. Luckily he was able to use his reach to keep Domi at bay. Finally as the fight dragged on, Probert landed a sneaky right hand that sent Domi to the ice. It was a tough loss in an otherwise fantastic career for the Lilliputian like enforcer.

As we progressed into the late ‘90’s, the fighters became more and more monstrous but Domi rolled with the punches almost daring the big Goliaths to come knockin’. During the 1998-99 season Domi once again flourished, dropping Jim Cummins and veteran Dave Manson. He would add three more scraps to the Domi-Ray rivalry, split a series with veteran enforcer Ken Baumgartner and give away nearly 9 inches and over forty pounds to Gargantuan Florida Panthers enforcer, Peter Worrell. While the 1999-00 season would feature more Domi scraps it would also feature one of the low lights of Domi’s career as an enforcer. During a December 11, 1999 game against the uber tough Philadelphia Flyers, Domi refused to fight Craig Berube in the third period. While Berube attempted to goad Domi into a fight he began shaking his gloves which only led to Sandy McCarthy and Luke Richardson to come flying in, also looking to duke it out with Domi. Domi kept shaking his gloves surrounded by three Flyer sharks until the linesmen made an attempt to intervene which only caused things to spiral out of control. Luke Richardson began pounding on non fighter, Mike Johnson while Sandy McCarthy went to work on Dimitri Yushkevich. Craig Berube pounded away on Dimitri Kristich as a full blown line brawl erupted. Everyone on the ice seemed to be fighting except Tie Domi who only jumped into the fray when Berube began pounding on Kristich. It was a poor display by the typically combative Domi who generally had no fear and had fought all three in the past but he kept the gloves on this day and his teammates paid a price for it.

Domi had a quiet year by his standards in 2000-01 but things got interesting the following season when the Maple Leafs traded for big Wade Belak who broke into the league only a few years before with the Calgary Flames. It would be under Domi’s tutelage that Belak began to flourish as an enforcer. He broke into the Top-10 that year and under Domi’s influence Belak seemed destined for great things. Domi wasn’t too shabby himself in 2001-02 with notable fights against Randy Mckay, Peter Worrell, Krzysztof Oliwa, Jason Weimer and Eric Cairns. He would continue to struggle with Donald Brashear but let’s be honest-who didn’t struggle with the “Don” during this time? Brashear had dominated the series with Domi ever since that freak TKO victory during the 1995-96 preseason. Since then Domi had tried to atone for that loss but suffered additional defeats which only embittered him even more. On April 11, 2003, Domi and Brashear would lock horns at the Spectrum. It started off in typical Brashear fashion, he got the quick hug going and then began to work over Domi with lefts. Domi seemed to have no answer for Brashear’s assault, unable to even put together a few punches together in retaliation. Domi was on the verge of another tough defeat at the hands of Brasher when he was able to rear back with a left when Brasher suddenly-inexplicably-bailed and hit the deck. Domi threw a few more punches at Brashear as he turtled on the ice. It was always one of the most confounding things about Brashear. For all his size and strength, he would occasionally pull moves like this which simply didn’t endear him to many. When faced with the prospect of trading blow for blow with Domi, he hit the deck in one of his most embarrassing showings.

By the 2003-04 season, tiny cracks began to appear as Domi struggled with newcomers like Andrew Peters, Eric Godard, and couldn’t put away Jason Doig. While overall you could rate the season a success for Domi, you could see he was falling off. It would become all too painfully clear for Domi in 2005-06 when he was dropped by young lion, Brian McGrattan with relative ease. Domi would fight sporadically that season and would retire at year’s end, thus ending one of the truly great careers for an enforcer.

Domi put together quite a resume during his fifteen year NHL career. He scored victories over some great fighters over the years: Bob Probert TWICE, Chris Simon, Donald Brashear, Darren Langdon, Gino Odjick, Gord Donnelly, Ken Baumgartner, Paul Laus, Krzyztof Oliwa, and a host of others. While Tie might have only briefly been considered an elite fighter, he nevertheless was a rock solid Top-10 fighter from 91 through to the very early 2000’s. Domi amassed an amazing fight card and to have his kind of run during one of the truly great eras for fighting is an amazing accomplishment. In the end it’s what you actually did as a fighter that really matters and with Domi he gave us plenty. I also have to admit to being impressed that a guy of Domi’s size could have the kind of career he had. During the ‘90’s the Heavyweights in the NHL just became bigger and bigger. Domi was almost always the smaller fighter when he dropped the gloves. Yet, he carried the rep of a true Heavyweight, consistently ranking in the Top-10. He upset the Heavyweight champ and engaged in one of the biggest fights of the era. He took down bigger fighters on the regular and did it all with a cocky smile on his face. 

Domi was one of the game’s most active fighters with hundreds of fights against some of the best of his time. He not only had hundreds of fights but he engaged in some great rivalries as well. He had one of the best rivalries of the era against Buffalo Sabres bad boy, Rob Ray. The two fought each other thirteen times over the course of their respective careers. The series was noteworthy for the ferocity of their fights and how consistently good they were over such a long series. Domi also had extended rivalries with Bob Probert, Dave Brown, Donald Brashear, Sandy McCarthy, Ken Baumgartner, Gino Odjick, Craig Berube, Stu Grimson, Darren Langdon, etc. For a guy of his size to battle those guys on an almost routine basis and still be as successful as he was is truly incredible. I’ve always ranked Domi in the mid-teens. He’s consistently ranked anywhere in the 14-17 range for me which I feel is justified for the kind of longevity he had as a fighter, the kind of competition he faced and his noteworthy victories. Your Top-10 all-time should feature elite fighters and “champs’ who had solid runs as bona fide contenders for the Heavyweight throne. Domi only briefly had that kind of status but generally was more of a Top-5-10 style fighter for over a decade which is incredibly impressive considering his size, the era he played and the competition he regularly faced. 

After the 1991-92 season, when he defeated Probert, he was generally outside the elite grouping of fighters during his career and never really made a run at a title again. He might have fought extended series of fights against some of the greatest of his time but he generally lost those encounters. Whether it was Probert, Brown, Brashear, McCarthy, Simon, etc, he would win once or twice but generally came out on the losing end. This is something to consider when placing Domi in your all-time list. I’ve seen some place him higher than noted champions and it just doesn’t feel right to me. This is why I always liked Domi in the mid-teens on my list. He was a great fighter but I’d rank him outside of that Top-10 elite group. Either way, Domi was a great character AND fighter, and being ranked among the Top-25 all time is a special honor.

For most of the fighters we have chronicled thus far, their greatness was there for all to see. They put their name up in lights as champions or Main Eventers, Top Dogs- Kings even… With Wade Belak there was this subtle greatness. The kind of greatness that probably wasn’t appreciated at the time but with the benefit of hindsight has become more and more evident as the years go by. Or perhaps it’s because his greatness wasn’t fully realized until late in his career that he goes down as almost an afterthought when discussing the all time greats. It was like the moment he planted that picture perfect left on the jaw of The Don, the world finally began to recognize and sing the praises of the Albino Assassin.

Not that he was some rags to riches story-far from it. Belak was tough from the get go, incredibly hard to beat cleanly. Even as a young fighter first breaking into the NHL in 1998-99, he might’ve been unspectacular, but he was solid and a tough out for the Heavyweight class of the time. He was a big brawling “Super” Heavyweight standing in at 6’5 and close to 230 pounds. He was a strong kid and could throw from both sides. He had good technical ability and a sturdy chin and he showed promise as a young fighter. I recall a two fight game against the Chicago Blackhawks early in his career when he was a member of the Calgary Flames. Belak had beaten and bloodied badger tough Hawks winger, Ryan Vandenbussche. Blackhawks enforcer Bob Probert, a grizzled veteran at this point in his career, took umbrage to Belak’s handling of his teammate and battled it out with the young defenseman later in the game. It was a hotly contested bout with Probert skating away with the proverbial “edge” but I took notice of Belak right then and there. Sure he was in his second year and already had a few fights under his belt but Probert was the measuring stick, even at that stage in his career. He might not have been the champ anymore but if you could hold your own with Probert, you’d do just fine as an NHL enforcer. And Belak did just fine for himself against the King. 

Little by little you could see the improvement from Belak. The following year was another rather uneventful one for the young Belak but he managed to squeak out a close decision against Heavyweight Kingpin, Georges Laraque. It was no beatdown or KO but even a close win over Laraque at this time was a rarity and it seemed like another feather in the cap for the steadily improving Belak. It was at the end of that 2000-01 season that Belak was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs and he began to hit his stride. Given a chance to play more Belak was able to grow into the role and began to really develop as an enforcer. A breakout 2002-03 season saw him break into the ranks of the Top-10. He had notable fights with Jessie Boulerice, Eric Boulton and giant Peter Worrell, although he did lose badly to Stephen Peat at seasons end. He TKO’d Jeff Cowan and Sean Brown as he began to flex his muscles under the tutelage of teammate and veteran enforcer, Tie Domi. He followed up that effort with a fantastic year in 2003-04, catapulting himself into the top-5 discussion with victories over Stephen Peat, Peter Worrell, Doug Doull, Darren Langdon, Wade Brookbank and Eric Godard. You could see him developing more technique with the way he used his jab to set up his right hand. This worked great in the Worrell fight. He was also showing good footwork, throwing punches and circling to his right to avoid counters. He was really starting to come into his own.

The lockout of 2004-05 really came at a bad time for Belak who was on the rise as a Heavyweight. He played that year overseas in Europe, getting a shot with the Coventry Blaze of the EIHL. He had a few scraps that year but none bigger than his battle with Eric Cairns who was also spending the lockout in the EIHL, finding a spot with the London Racers. Both of these titans got into a major league war during a massive bench clearing brawl. The fight was a close one, most likely a draw as Belak hung tough with one of the NHL’s top fighters. Things appeared to be going just swell for Belak who returned from the lockout as one of the league’s best fighters. That all came screeching to a halt on October 27, 2005 when the Belak battled Boston Bruins young Heavyweight contender, Colton Orr. The fight was a good one with a couple of solid exchanges but Orr landed a solid right hand and broke Belak’s nose, giving him the victory. It wasn’t so much losing to Orr, who was a real wide open brawler with knockout power, that was the problem, it’s how he reacted after the loss. He became more tentative and cautious. He began using his jab more and more and even began to adopt Tie Domi’s spin cycle style. He acquired this bad habit of turning his head away from his opponent to avoid being hit and you could clearly see what was happening with Belak. He was gun shy.

The rest of the 2005-06 season was a struggle for Belak as he had rough showings against Ottowa’s twin terrors, Brian McGrattan and Chris Neil. What’s worse was there seemed to be a carryover effect the following season as he continued avoiding the big exchanges and settled for a more cautious approach in his fights. It seemed like more than his nose was broken that night against Orr. More than just broken, his confidence appeared shattered and some even thought he was finished as a fighter. But nothing can restore a fighters confidence than avenging a bad loss and that’s just what Belak did. On December 16, 2006, Colton Orr and Wade Belak met for the second time. Orr was now a member of the New York Rangers and the change of scenery suited him as he appeared to be a young fighter on the rise with awesome power. Belak was able to exorcise some demons that night with a flurry of right hands taking a clear cut decision over Orr. It is truly remarkable how very distinct this period was with Belak. You can literally follow along and watch his progression and his improvement going into the 05-06 season and note his decline after that first fight with Orr followed by the upward swing after the rematch. Belak really needed that rematch with Orr. It was almost like he couldn’t do anything else until he got that measure of revenge. And what an upward swing it was! He went on a run that year scoring decisions over Donald Brashear, Andrew Peters, and Cam Janssen. He continued to cruise in 2007-08 with victories over George Parros, his nemesis Colton Orr, David Koci and Eric Boulton while suffering nary a loss in that time.

Belak had gained some serious momentum by this point and it reached its zenith during the 2008-09 season. He pulled off a mild upset by skating away with a decision victory over 6’7, 250 pound monster, Derek Boogaard. The “Boogeyman”, as he had been so styled, was a wrecking machine with KO power in both hands and a reach so long he could hit you from the parking lot. The two would fight two more times in the upcoming weeks, splitting decisions in both. Belak’s confidence surged and he rode that wave of momentum over guys like Cam Janssen, Darcy Hordichuk, Zack Stortini, and Riley Cote. This all set the stage for Belak’s finest hour. On March 10, 2009 Wade Belak dropped the gloves with long time rival, Donald Brashear. The “Don” was the NHL’s most indomitable force, having bashed and smashed his way up the Heavyweight ladder for the better part of a decade. Brashear held sway over the Heavyweight division as the prototypical arch villain and showed virtually no signs of slowing down. While at times a polarizing figure, Brasher was a legit powerhouse who’s losses were as rare as shaking hands with an honest politician. Usually, Brashear would use his strength and trademark huggy bear style to rag doll and squeeze the life out of a guy but on this night he wanted to trade punches. They got into an exchange of left hands and Belak landed one that would alter the Heavyweight landscape forever. Brashear folded like a cheap suit and went down for the count, his run at the top finished. Belak would own a piece of the Heavyweight title having defeated one of the game’s most frightening power punchers as well as scoring a TKO over one of its all time greats. Talk about a run!

For as high as Belak skyrocketed as an enforcer, he seemed to fall back to earth during the 2009-10 season struggling with old rival Brian McGrattan and Uber enforcer Steve MacIntyre. He faded in the Heavyweight rankings in his final two seasons before his sudden tragic death on August 31, 2011. He was the consummate enforcer and fought his way to the upper echelons of his trade. His longevity, his run as a top-10 Heavyweight and his signature victories put him squarely in the discussion for Top-25 all time status. When you really take a step back and break it all down, how many people can claim victories over Brashear, Laraque and Boogard? How many can claim a career defining TKO over an all time great like Donald Brashear who rarely lost and almost never lost big? Belak himself lost rarely and I can’t recall a single time he was KO’d or TKO’d. During his career Belak seemed overshadowed by other notable fighters of his time. When he first broke into the league there was Twist and McCarthy and then Brashear and Laraque and then Boogaard and McGrattan but there was always Belak, tough as any and, with his skill set, a match up problem for any of the Super Heavyweights.

It would be remiss of me not to recognize one of the truly great pound for pound fighters in this Top-25 All Time project. What I love about the P4P/Middleweights was the sheer variety of opponents they would take on. Unlike the Heavyweights, which typically fought their own, at least in general, the pound for pound scrappers of the game fought up and down the fighting spectrum. Whether it be against a Heavyweight, tough power forward, gritty blue liner, loose cannon, sleeping giant, or even non fighter-the Middleweights took them all on. When I say pound for pound I’m usually thinking of the smaller fighters- the undersized guys that took on all comers. In the past we might’ve called these guys middleweights or even light Heavyweights but with hockey fighting’s “weight classes” being such a fuzzy distinction, I simply started referring to them as pound for pound fighters. And Wendel Clark was one of the greatest pound for pound fighters I ever saw.

Whenever I think of the term ‘pound for pound’, the first name that comes to mind is Wendel Clark. At 5’11, 190 lbs, Clark was the ideal pound for pound fighter. Quick with his hands both in fighting and getting the gloves off, you had to be ready when Clark was riled up and out for blood. With his ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ style, Clark laid waste to much of the non Heavyweight field in only his first few seasons. A young Wendel Clark was something else to watch firing off the gloves and thrashing away with lightning fast rights and lefts. His hand speed and ability to switch on a dime made him a match up nightmare for any kind of tough guy from Heavyweights right on down the line. What’s more, Clark had some serious thunder in those fists and could put guys out. He’d finish his career with scores of TKO’s.

With Clarks great blend of power and speed, he was able to leave quite a trail of destruction in his wake during his rookie campaign. He fought all shapes and sizes and the fights were usually born out of the emotion of the game. Clark’s physical style of play meant there would be the odd tussle and when that happened, he’d be on you like a wolverine, viciously tearing away with punches. He flew through an assortment of victims to be named later that year like Rick Nattress, Kelly Miller, and Neil Sheehy before taking on veteran tough guy Behn Wilson of the Chicago Blackhawks at Maple Leafs Gardens on January 5, 1986. Big Behn was one of the games great fighters and Clark stood toe to toe and brawled it out with him. The fight featured some great exchanges and momentum shifts with Clark coming on strong early before Behn settled in late. It was an instant Fight of the Year contender and showed to the entire NHL that Clark meant business. Outside of a minor setback against wily veteran Harold Snepsts, Clark tore through a bevy of crash test dummies like Brad McCrimmon, Gord Dineen, Ed Hospodar, Ed Beers, Jim Pavese, Dave Barr and Lee Norwood. His blinding speed and ferocity were on display the whole time as well as a penchant for some old school ground and pound action when he had one of his victims down and in a prone position. Clark was vicious and utterly ruthless and, as a young fight fan, I loved him for it.

During the preseason of 1986-87, Clark was involved in the now notorious, one-sided beatdown of Oilers forward, Craig MacTavish. Clark savaged MacTavish beating him so bad that you almost felt sorry for him. In the post game interviews MacTavish seemed almost embarrassed to recount details of the assault. Clark continued to roll and even had a great all out battle with fellow power forward Rick Tocchet. Both threw punches so fast it was a blur until it was broken up. Clark would follow up this effort with a great tilt against top Heavyweight contender, Bob Probert of the Detroit Red Wings. With the bitter rivalry between these two Norris Division teams, it’s no surprise that these two young battlers matched up. Both were up and coming players and fighters and when they locked horns it would not disappoint. Clark gained the early edge on Probert with some thunderous rights. Probert weathered the early storm and began mounting a comeback. Despite his efforts Probert was unable to do enough in the latter stages giving Clark his biggest victory to date. The fight set the stage for a four fight feud between the two rising stars.

For the remainder of the season Clark continued to battle a variety of fighters. He fought veteran winger Mario Marois, southpaw Joe Paterson, crease clearing blueliners Garth Butcher and Terry Carkner and feisty North Stars forward Dirk Graham. Clark was on cruise control and smashing anything in his path. Then, during a trip to the Montreal Forum on March 21, 1987, Clark once again tested the Heavyweight waters, exchanging blows with Canadiens enforcer, John “Rambo” Kordic. Kordic had quickly developed a rep for having the fastest left in the game and one of those machine gun lefts caught Clark flush, staggering him and ending the fight. It was Clark’s worst loss thus far as a pro. Clark always enjoyed a hand speed advantage in a fight but few could top Kordic who could make that left sing. 

In only his first two seasons, the youngster from Kelvington, Saskatchewan, not only made a serious claim for pound for pound king but also figured into the yearly top 10 rankings- rankings, I might add, that were now typically reserved for Heavyweights. In fact Clark might be the last non “Heavyweight” to be ranked in the top-10. You could argue Clark rating in the top-5 possibly as well. His sparkling won-loss record and slew of dominating wins certainly put him in the discussion. By the 1987-88 season Clark began dealing with shoulder and back injuries which caused him to miss quite a bit of time that year. The injuries almost certainly played a role in his fights that season. In the big rematch bout with Bob Probert, Clark was thoroughly dominated and simply didn’t look like his normal self. While he did have a nice TKO victory over Chicago’s Bob McGill as well as his near murder of Bob Brooke, he played and fought far less than in his first two seasons. The injuries were taking their toll.

Clark continued dealing with shoulder and back problems which limited him over the next few seasons. He fought much more infrequently but still maintained that quick off the draw style, making short work of Boston’s Cam Neely, destroying David Mackey, and of course his one punching of Slava Fetisov. By 1990-91, Clark had regained some semblance of his health although he would be dealing with injuries for the rest of his career. He would go on to score TKO’s over Washington’s Alan May and Chicago’s Mike Peluso as well as one sided bashings of Neil Wilkinson and Jeff Chychrun. It was good to see Clark a bit more regularly but each fight, each hit, saw him break down a little more.

Clark played sporadically the following year and before you knew it, it’s 1992-93 and Clark, ever ballsy is fighting his Detroit Red Wings rival twice in the same game. On December 9, 1992, at Maple Leafs Gardens, Clark tangled with the Heavyweight champ. The first fight was a wild one. Clark, in typical Clark fashion, got the early advantage, landing quick lefts and rights while Probert bided his time, shedding his gear. Having survived Clark’s initial barrage and worked himself out of his rigging, Probert began putting punches together. He then fired a sweeping right hand that was sadly blocked from view by the linesman and a poor camera angle. The two went crashing to the ice but-at the time- we had no idea if that last right by Probert landed or not. Regardless, the fans at MLG were in a frenzy having watched their star go blow for blow with the champ. Their second fight that night wasn’t nearly as good, with Probert getting a good grip right away and the fight devolved from there to just holding with few punches landed. Years later, footage of an alternate angle of the first bout that night surfaced. It showed Probert’s final sweeping right hand landing on Clark, putting him down. It’s amazing what long lost footage of a different camera angle can do to ones perception of a fight. 

Clark would have a few more bouts that season, one of them an underrated scrap with Winnipeg’s Dean Kennedy near seasons end. Kennedy was always a very sturdy fighter and gave Clark fits in this one. This scrap would serve as a prelude to one of Clark’s biggest fights and certainly one of his most popular according to his legions of fans. In the first game of the Stanley Cup Semi Finals against the Los Angeles Kings, Clark dropped the gloves with Kings veteran Heavyweight, Marty McSorley. It was the third period and the Leafs were ahead in the game when McSorley took a run at Leafs star center, Doug Gilmour. Seeing McSorley smite his linemate, Clark came rushing in, lefts and rights blazing. They got into a vicious toe to toe exchange with Clark landing a missile, snapping McSorley’s head back. To McSorley’s credit he took the punch like a pro and continued battling on as if he hadn’t missed a beat. McSorley spent some time shedding his gear while Clark did his best to hold onto the now enraged enforcer. As the fight wore on, McSorley was finally able to put together some big punches and the linesmen came in to end things. McSorley wound up with a welt the size of a volvo under his right eye-which was featured prominently in the Toronto papers the next day. Many of Clarks’ fans have scored this fight a win for Clark based on that head snapping bomb he landed early in the fight and the damage McSorley incurred as evidenced by one Sports page’s epic headline ‘A McSorry Incident’ with Marty’s blackened eye plastered all over for the world to see. I personally thought Marty won the fight in what was one of the great playoff bouts of the time.

The following year, Clark put up his finest offensive numbers, scoring 46 goals and adding 30 assists for career highs in goals and points. Outside of whooping up on the lowly Adam Bennett, Clark didn’t fight very much. Rather than punch in faces, he decided to punch in goals and did a damn good job of it. That off season the Maple Leafs did the unthinkable: They traded Wendel Clark to the Quebec Nordiques. The trade was a shocker as Clark was a Maple Leaf through and through and it was almost surreal seeing him in another uniform. He would play 37 games that year for the Nordiques before being dished to the New York Islanders, who later shipped him back to his former club, the Maple Leafs. In terms of fighting, Clark was clearly fading at this point, injuries were breaking him down and while he didn’t suffer any major setbacks, it was clear he was no longer the thrashing, bashing force he once was with those lightning fast hands. 

Clark would play a few seasons with the Maple Leafs before being shipped off to Tampa Bay, Detroit and Chicago, teaming up with old foe, Bob Probert briefly. He would retire in 1999-00 as a member of the Maple Leafs, finishing up where everything started back in 1985. In the time since, Clark had gone on to prove he was equal to any Heavyweight having proven himself in wars against two of the best of all time in Behn Wilson and Bob Probert. He scored numerous KO/TKO victories and many thorough dominations while putting himself up there as one of the greatest pound for pound fighters of his era. As a power forward, Clark was able to take on a wide variety of opponents proving himself the better in all but a very few cases. He suffered only a couple of noted clear cut defeats while amassing an impressive record as a Middleweight Mauler with hands so fast he could beat you before you even knew you were in a fight. That was Clark-shoot first, ask questions later.

As the ‘90’s progressed the Heavyweights got bigger and bigger and even BIGGER. There were always big fighters but now these massive creatures were slowly becoming the norm. Case in point one Eric Cairns. A physical monstrocity, Cairns stood at 6’6 and tipped the scales at 240 lbs. He was freakishly big and freakishly mean and the New York Rangers had hopes that he could contend as a top Heavyweight. Those hopes were nearly dashed in their infancy on November 9, 1996, when the New York rangers stopped by US Airways Arena. Cairns, young and hungry, took on veteran Caps enforcer, Craig Berube in what could only be described as a learning experience for the big lumbering defenseman. After dropping the gloves, Berube got his machine gun right going and caught Cairns right on the button, sending the young wannabe enforcer crashing to the ice. As Cairns picked himself up off the ice that night, he might’ve been picking up what was left of his career as well. It was not long after this brutal loss to a division rival that Cairns was sent down to the teams AHL affiliate in Binghamton ostensibly for more “seasoning”.

Cairns made the best of it and before long found himself back in the Big Apple for another shot at the big time. For the briefest of moments Cairns showed flashes of the potential that drew the Rangers to draft the hulking lad who grew up in Burlington, Ontario. He bested Randy McKay, Steve Webb and smoked Philadelphia’s Scott Daniels. He battled to a draw with the ever tough Kelly Chase before beating the technically sound Dody Wood. These bouts served as a prelude to a couple of nasty fights at seasons end. In Montreal, Cairns took on a game Scott Thornton and wound up the recipient of a surprise Thornton left that put him on his keister. Cairns would later finish off the year with an ugly loss to veteran Buffalo Sabres tough guy, Rob Ray. Rayzer took it to the young Super Heavyweight scoring a one sided decision. 

Thus ended an up and down rookie campaign for the young Cairns. He would follow that up with a rather mediocre sophomore effort. He struggled mightily against the Heavyweight divisions rising star, Donald Brashear, following that up with a number of non descript fights which had him languishing in mediocrity. He would play almost the entire 1998-99 season in the AHL. The Rangers would part ways with the giant enforcer, shipping him to the New York Islanders. During a brief call up, Cairns slugged it out with Buffalo’s Light Heavyweight contender, Paul Kruse. After a quick exchange, Kruser clocked Cairns with a flush right hand, stunning and buckling the struggling enforcer. And that was just it with Cairns: for all his size and brute strength and raw power, he possessed a chin made of fine China. 

Big Daddy wasn’t done yet, however. He bounced back with a great 1999-00 campaign which saw him crack the top-10 with solid bouts against Tie Domi, Cale Hulse, won a nice rematch bout with Paul Kruse, bested Stephane Quintal, had a great bout with the legend himself, Bob Probert, beat minor league king Dennis Bonvie and took it to Reid Simpson as well. It was a fine comeback year for Cairns who made his mark as one of the games best Heavyweights. Glass Joe no more, you could now officially say he was climbing the Heavyweight ladder.

Cairns followed up that brilliant 1999-00 season with a quiet year in 2000-01. Cairns only fought a handful of times and didn’t dress many games. In 2001-02, Cairns put together a near perfect year and ranked among the top-5 fighters in the game. He bested Sandy McCarthy-a pivotal fight that began the downward spiral for the once proud Sandman. He would also defeat Jody Shelley, Dennis Bonvie, took his revenge against Rob Ray and had that great playoff demo job of Shayne Corson. Cairns was now a legit enforcer in the NHL and one of the games best. You almost couldn’t believe this was the same Cairns who only a few short years before struggled to earn his stripes. Cairns would continue rolling along in 2002-03, his big hi-lite being a knockdown victory over Minnesota Wild enforcer Matt Johnson. Despite a few early season setbacks to the gun slinging Francis Lessard and fellow behemoth Peter Worrell, Cairns was once again one of the league’s top fighters and he was still on the rise.

The 2003-04 season was arguably Cairns best as a fighter in the National Hockey League. It was this year where one could claim-with some kind of validity-that Cairns was the champ. Despite a tough defeat to Buffalo Sabres young gun Andrew Peters, Cairns went on a fantastic run which included great tilts against Jim McKenzie, Todd Fedoruk, Doug Doull, Stephen Peat, Richard Scott, Aaron Downey and Grant Marshall. He even showed some old school hate in a wild couple of games against his former team the New York Rangers. On February 19, 2004, Dale Purinton, the Rangers bad boy, decided he would get the jump on Cairns instead of going with a more straight up fight. Purinton landed a flush bomb, dropping Cairns before pummeling him while he was down. Cairns was incensed and did everything he could to get at Purinton. A week later the Rangers were now on the Island and Cairns was looking for revenge. It wouldn’t take long. It was like the moment both stepped on the ice, the whole place began to buzz. The Rangers made sure Veteran enforcer Chris Simon and agitator extraordinaire, Matthew Barnaby, were both on the ice but nothing was going to stop Cairns. While teammates Aaron Asham and Eric Godard handled the light work, Cairns grabbed a hold of Purinton who shamefully turtled. Cairns pounded on Purinton until Mark Messier jumped in briefly to stop it. Cairns stood back admonishing Purinton for his cowardice, challenging him repeatedly. Cairns showed he could be a nasty SOB when you stepped over the line against him. 

It’s such a shame that the league officially closed doors for the 2004-05 season. Cairns had hit his peak as a fighter and was counted among the best in the game. He had gone from a brittle chinned behemoth to Heavyweight champ in only a few years time. The lock out of 2004-05 robbed us of at least one more potential big year from Cairns. With enforcers all over the NHL suddenly looking for work, Cairns took his game overseas to Europe to the EIHL in the U.K. Cairns didn’t fight a ton but he made his bouts count, battling notable Heavyweights like Mel Angelstad and Wade Belak. In the lead up to the Belak fight, Cairns once again showed his wild side by punching a linesman who was attempting to restrain him. It was a chaotic scene that culminated in a good battle with Belak.

Cairns would sign with the Florida panthers for the 2005-06 season. He had some good battles that year but wound up on the losing end vs. newcomers Eric Godard and Brian McGrattan while doing well vs. young lion Colton Orr. The Panthers traded Cairns part way through the year to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he began struggling with the effects of post concussion syndrome. He was still trouble for the league’s top fighters besting Donald Brashear in a bout fight fans have been arguing about on messenger boards for years. Cairns would retire the following year.

What I like about Cairns is he was able to come back from some tough losses as a young fighter to become one of the elite fighters of the game. His run wasn’t overly long running from 99-04-basically five seasons as a top shelf Super Heavyweight and, arguably champ briefly. He can count victories over the likes of Donald Brashear, Colton Orr, Peter Worrell, Matt Johnson, Todd Fedoruk, Rob Ray, Tie Domi, and Sandy McCarthy. He was a top caliber Heavyweight for a solid run with a claim to a Heavyweight title. I like him in this range all time which is a remarkable feat when you consider how far he had to climb. Cairns’ amazing turnaround- from Glass Joe to champ-was truly remarkable. Very few in the long history of hockey fighting can claim that.

In hockey, to be a great enforcer doesn’t always mean being the flashiest fighter. Fighting and enforcing go hand in hand-being able to maintain decorum on ice through established fighting ability. But to be feared you had to have a willingness to go beyond the norm to settle a transgression. And being feared is the ultimate key to being a great enforcer. Dave Semenko wasn’t a work of art as a fighter but he didn’t have to be. He was a one dimensional, mainly an orthodox fighter who fought with a conventional style. He was big-about 6’3 and almost monstrous in size, weighing in at over 220 lbs. He had a massive head on top of almost mountain like shoulders. And his eyes-he had murderers eyes. The kind of eyes a hardened hit man would have. Narrow, flinty and ice gray. Semenko would become so adept at enforcing he could settle an issue with a sharp glance or an evil eye. Sammy made sure things were quiet on his watch and when the time was right for sending a message he knew how to make a point. For Semenko, it wasn’t so much about beating a guy in a fight so much as it was teaching any would be transgressors that total pain would be the ultimate result.

A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Semenko learned to utilize his size and strength to great effect early on essentially taking over the WHA’s Heavyweight throne as it’s tenure as a competing league to the NHL came to an end. Sammy stayed with the Edmonton Oilers during the merger and found himself the protector to a skinny young blonde haired centerman with girlish looks. He must’ve presented a pathetic sight to the big brawler, but through his guidance and ultimately his protection, Wayne Gretzky would be just fine. And so Semenko set about his task with vigor laying it all out there for everyone in the league: Gretzky was off limits. Anyone who so much as looked at Gretzky the wrong way was set upon by a vicious thug with no soul and no remorse. Sammy knew that being an enforcer didn’t always mean fighting the other guys Heavyweight or abiding by some unwritten code of conduct. For Semenko, he wrote his own code and if you had a problem with it you could see him about it. Sammy played for keeps and if that meant jumping or mugging a guy outright, then so be it. This was a man who treated enforcing like it was the art of war and sometimes a fair fight wasn’t always prudent in warfare. Semenko would push that maxim to the limit during his career. 

Despite his penchant for dirty fighting and mugging tactics, Sammy was still an accomplished fighter in his own right. He packed a wallop in that right hand and if you weren’t careful he could put you on your ass. Sadly we don’t have a lot of footage from Semenko’s early years. Like a lot of the western teams at the time we have great gaps in the video record and it’s hard to make sense out of what we know from his early years in the NHL. We do know of a couple of notable encounters with Buffalo Sabres Blueliner Larry Playfair. In one of the bouts, Playfair allegedly stunned Semenko in a fight that helped to catapult Playfair in the Heavyweight rankings at the time. The video available on Semenko features his total destruction of a young Joey Kocur, victories over Chris Nilan, Tim Hunter, Ron Delorme, Joel Otto, Steve Martinson, Basil McRae, among others. It also features his nasty side as he would throw knees during fights, pound on downed and vulnerable opponents, pull hair, sucker punch and mug people. You could argue his tactics but Gretzky was rarely touched so in the end they proved successful. With Semenko, the ends justified the means.

Semenko’s reputation was such that when he suffered a loss it became big news. He was looked upon as something of a black hat style of tough guy- a villain or outlaw-because of the brutal ways he would dole out punishment. When Semenko and Larry Playfair did battle on November 23, 1980, Playfair was a young Heavyweight on the rise and Semenko had already put in a few years in the wild and wooly WHA as well as a few years after the merger breaking heads and dealing with miscreants who ran afoul of him. Semenko had a huge reputation for being an extremely dangerous and unpredictable individual when they dropped the gloves. Sadly, there is no video of this fight but allegedly Playfair stunned or buckled Semenko, giving Cement Head his biggest loss to date as a pro. The two would meet up again a few seasons later during the preseason in a bout we have very little information on. Semenko’s early years are plagued by this critical lack of footage which always left us in a perpetual search for information regarding those early fights. The victory would be a huge one for Playfair catapulting him up to elite status. You simply don’t gain that kind of notoriety unless you are beating the best of the best and Semenko was in that kind of category at that time.

During the ‘80’s, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames engaged in a bitter inter-Province rivalry known as ‘the Battle of Alberta’. These two teams battled for supremacy in the region and many of their games became fight filled affairs. Whether it be one on one scraps or line brawls or all out bench clearers, this rivalry had a little bit of everything. Two of the central figures of this bitter feud would be Edmonton’s Dave Semenko and Calgary’s Tim Hunter. Both served as their teams respective enforcers with Semenko relying on brute strength and intimidation while Hunter used his conditioning and superior technical acumen to his advantage. The Oilers at that time rolled with two or three enforcers complimenting Semenko with all out brawler, Don Jackson and tough southpaw, Kevin McClelland. Hunter had the erstwhile Jim Peplinski as well as miscreants like Paul Baxter and Neil Sheehy to help add some spice to those Battle of Alberta matchups. Semenko and Hunter, naturally enough, would meet up on a few occasions during this time developing their own personal feud. Their first fight would be a memorable one at the old Calgary Stampede Corral on April 17, 1983. The Flames were battling the upstart Oilers in the playoffs when Hunter and Semenko came to grips. Semenko appeared giant like and was even sporting a larger than usual afro of hair. Hunter was a wiry rookie in comparison having split the year between the Flames and their CHL affiliate in Colorado.  In fact outside of a one sided loss to New York Rangers Policeman, Nick Fotiu, Hunter was as green as you could get.

Initially Semenko got the early edge as Hunter struggled to contain the massive Semenko. Hunter was unable to get a good grip on Semenko at the outset and it cost him the early portion of the fight. Eventually, Hunter was able to apply his patented crossover grip, which thoroughly shut down Semenko’s big right. Unable to get his right arm free, Semenko was almost paralyzed, unable to get any kind of offense going. Hunter then flurried with lefts, taking the fight to Sammy in a way no one had before. Semenko almost seemed helpless when the linesmen jumped in to end the fight. Semenko was clearly frustrated by Hunter’s tactics and, with his right arm still free, threw a hellacious sucker punch over the linesmen. The shot caught Hunter flush and sent him sagging to the ice. Incensed, Hunter’s teammate Jim Peplinski came charging in after the Oiler thug and a massive brawl broke out. Hunter would later state that after that punch from Semenko, he knew there was no “code”.

Hunter made quite an impression with the way he dealt with Semenko in the ‘83 playoffs. He would become a regular with the Flames and became a mainstay of those great Flames teams in the mid-80’s. By the time Semenko and Hunter dropped the gloves again, Hunter was now a confident enforcer who was entering his prime. The clash would happen on April 5, 1984, at Northlands Coliseum. In this bout, Hunter would prove his technical mastery with a near flawless performance against Semenko. He thoroughly crossed up Semenko and even began landing effective body blows. Semenko had no answer for Hunter’s tactics and this time there would be no sucker punch to marr Hunter’s victory. It was a resounding victory for the technical wiz, arguably the greatest win of his career.

Their final fight would happen on April 24, 1986, at the Saddledome during the ‘86 playoffs. This time Semenko wasted little time getting a fast start on Hunter to gain an early advantage. Hunter tried to keep the fight in close and get set but Semenko was able to jam short rights into Hunter’s face and eventually decorate his long schnozz with another gash. Semenko mixed in some uppercuts and short quick rights before the linesmen jumped in to end the fight. The fight was ended in rather premature fashion with Semenko skating away with a mediocre victory over the ever game Hunter. The two would never fight again as the rivalry within a rivalry came to an end. Hunter really made his mark with the Semenko fights and it speaks volumes to how great an enforcer Semenko was that these bouts became such a huge feather in Hunter’s cap.

In what would be a shock, Semenko would be traded to the Hartford Whalers shortly after the start of the 1986-87 season. With a very tough Marty McSorley waiting in the wings, Semenko had become expendable. It was strange seeing Semenko in Whaler green that year. In terms of fighting and enforcing you could see that Sammy had lost a little on his fast ball by this time. A new generation was beginning to take over and he was slowly being squeezed out. As a member of the Whalers, Semenko stayed busy with bouts against Boston’s Lyndon Byers, Washington’s Kevin Hatcher, Toronto’s Terry Johnson, Pittsburgh’s Phil Bourque, Boston’s Jay Miller and Quebec’s Basil McRae. He wasn’t bad at all but with fighting exploding at this time with tough guys earning 20-30 or more fights a year, Sammy was more and more becoming a fringe player in the Heavyweight Division.

The Hartford Whalers would trade Semenko to the Toronto Maple Leafs in September of 1987. Going to Toronto to play for John Brophy might have seemed like a great match on paper. Semenko was a tough guy and Brophy loved tough guys. It would, In fact turn out to be a contentious relationship with Brophy demanding much of his players AND his enforcer as well. Some of Brophy’s tactics didn’t sit well with the veteran Semenko who found himself at a crossroads in his career. As far as fighting, Semenko was poised for a rebirth in Toronto getting into a couple of wicked fights in the preseason with Detroit Red Wings young upstart Steve Martinson who was amassing quite a reputation as a minor league bad boy. It would be early in the year, on October 17, 1987, at Maple Leaf Gardens that would see Bob Probert of the visiting Detroit Red Wings lay a one sided beating on Leafs power forward, Wendel Clark. Semenko would make Probert pay later in the game by jumping him from behind. He whaled away on Probert who took several punches before getting himself in the fight. Probert’s teammate, Gerard Gallant would spoil a comeback bid by jumping in and going after Semenko. A wild scene ensued with a livid Probert trying to get loose while Semenko forced in right hands over the linesmen. Probert was a Heavyweight on the rise that season and you had to believe more would come out of this. Semenko would stay busy as a fighter that season taking on the likes of Basil McRae on a few occasions and Chris Nilan before a January 29, 1988 showdown with Probert at Joe Louis Arena. The two would drop the gloves behind the play in the corner. Initially Semenko fared well with the young Heavyweight contender and at one point had Probert’s jersey over his head, blinding him. Deftly, Probert was able to slip free from his jersey and rock Semenko with three pile driver right hands that sent Semenko crashing to the ice. It would turn out to be one of Probert’ signature victories and would serve as a kind of passing of the torch kind of moment as Probert was entering his prime and Semenko was on the way out. Semenko would fight Basil McRae on three occasions before mugging St. Louis strong man, Todd Ewen. It would the last bit of action Semenko would perform before retiring at the end of the season.

When all is said and done Semenko will go down as one of the truly great enforcers of all time. Semenko’s over the edge, take no prisoners style of enforcing created the room and protection that helped to build the backbone of two Stanley Cup Championships. His brutal ways and unpredictable nature served him well in his role as bodyguard to Wayne Gretzky. He was such a force as a fighter and enforcer that he often times didn’t need to fight to settle a dispute or write or wrong, though usually, if you crossed Semenko, pain was the end result. As a fighter Semenko wasn’t the most polished or refined but he made up for it with a ferocity and viciousness that knew no bounds. He became the most feared enforcer of his era and an all time great.

April 13, 1968. This is the date when it all began. It was Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals between the rugged St. Louis Blues and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were winning handily in the game when a massive brawl broke out in the third period. Both benches emptied and a wild chaotic affair ensued. During the brawl, Blues defenseman, Noel Picard, sucker punched Flyers forward Claude Laforge from behind. Laforge was knocked unconscious and was left face down on the ice in a pool of his own blood. It was at that moment that Flyers owner, Ed Snider, vowed that his team would never get pushed around like that again. He wanted size and meanness in the upcoming drafts and I don’t think even Snider himself knew what he was about to unleash on the league at the time. It was from that Game 5 Big Bang that the Broad Street Bullies were created and fighting and physical play in the NHL would forever be changed.  

It didn’t happen overnight. Snider planted the seeds in the 1969 Amateur draft when he drafted both Dave Schultz, a tough kid from the western prairies and Don Saleski, a tall goofy sort out of Moose Jaw. The following year they drafted Bob Kelly in the third round and the pieces were slowly falling into place. All three were primed and ready by the time the 1972-73 season rolled around but Ed Snider wasn’t done. Part way through the year Snider traded for St. Louis Defenseman, Andre “Moose” Dupont. Dupont was a tough blueliner who could handle himself in a scrap. Together this quartet helped form the nucleus of the now infamous Broad Street Bullies, a team that pushed the envelope of fighting and on ice mayhem like no other team before or since. 

At the head of this pack of wild ice dogs was Dave Schultz. This mustached marauder skated the ice with a perennial snarl on his face and was wild and unpredictable. He would go after tough guys or non fighters and skill guys with equal enthusiasm. Schultz and the Flyers became like a plague, forcing their goonery on teams and emasculating grown men in their home rinks. Schultz fast proved to be the ultimate bad boy on this tough Flyers squad and developed the rep as a scary guy to be around as well as being one of the league’s best fighters. His big right hand and penchant for dirty tactics gave him quite an intimidating reputation and the Flyers became quite successful implementing Coach Fred Shero’s game plan while forcing the issue with opposing teams. Their tactics mortified the NHL gentry of the time and gave those Flyers teams a kind of outlaw aura to them. With the Hammer at the helm, the Flyers would punch, kick, brawl and headbutt their way to the top.

The Flyers went on to win back-to back Stanley Cups using those goon tactics and opposing teams found themselves forced to toughen up in the face of this Orange and Black onslaught. A guy like Schultz or Saleski thought nothing of going after opposing teams star players, so teams had to beef up and add toughness to compete. And so, an arms race had begun. The period from roughly 1972-73 to 1975-76 was that initial Broad Street Bully timeframe when we began to see more and more footage become available. We began to see our earliest glimpses of classic era greats like Terry O’Reilly, Garry Howatt, Jim Schoenfeld, and Dave Schultz, among others. We still lacked footage on such notorious policemen as Dangerous Dan Maloney and Battleship Kelly, to name a few, but we were now in an age when there was enough footage available to help paint a picture of fighting at the time. As teams added muscle, still more great fighters entered the league in the following years like Clark Gillies, Tiger Williams, Bobby Nystrom, Mel Bridgman, and Willi Plett. The fighting landscape had been forever altered. The ‘70’s would end with a veritable police line up of thugs and bent nosed enforcers with such noted purveyors of pugilism as Stan Jonathan, John Wensink, Paul Holmgren, Nick Fotiu, Behn Wilson, Brad Maxwell, Al Secord, and Larry Playfair. There was a seemingly endless supply of NHL henchmen making for a great time for fighting in the game.

As for Schultz, with the Flyers he was the ultimate bad boy. He had to be accounted for and he was no slouch as a fighter. It’s arguable if he was ever the league’s top dog. He was certainly right there in the mix during his Flyer years. He was insanely active, fighting anyone and everyone and having great success for himself, to boot. His sideshow antics and post-fight tirades helped lend some notoriety to his actions but he was a solid fighter and one of the better bare knuckle boxers in the game for a time. When he lost, it was big news and some were able to make a name for themselves by defeating the Flyers biggest Bully. He was involved in some of the biggest fights of the time and took on a who’s who of the era. In a time of bad blood and on ice vendettas, Schultz developed fierce rivalries with Boston’s Terry O’Reilly and the Islander’s Garry Howatt. Wins over the likes of O’Reilly, Cashman, Howatt, and Gillies are testaments to his skill and determination as a fighter. His infamous KO of Montreal’s John Van Boxmeer and his memorable playoff beating of New York’s Dale Rolfe are fights that still resonate today. You almost can’t talk about those great Flyers teams and the back to back Cups without conjuring that image of Schultz beating Rolfe or the KO of Van Boxmeer. They have become embedded in Flyers lore and you’ll be hard pressed to find another fighter with those kinds of fights on his resume. 

When Schultz left the Flyers for the fun and sun of the west coast, he clearly wasn’t the same fighter. He no longer had the same impact with the more laid back LA kings. Where he once was surrounded by a pack of marauders, in LA they didn’t have that same pack mentality and didn’t force the issue the way his former teammates on Broad Street did. He was still a good fighter no doubt-there is evidence throughout the remaining years of his career of just how good a fighter he still could be. His war with Stan Jonathan in the ’77 playoffs showed he could slug it out with the best of them and later he showed he could hang with one of the best of all time in ’79 when he battled a young Behn Wilson to a standstill. Yet there were more and more losses as well. Nothing denoted the end of the Schultz era in Philly then in his return game at the Spectrum. It was at this game that he took on young up and coming Flyers soldier, Paul Holmgren. Holmgren was able to score a resounding victory over the former Flyer bad man. It was a kind of passing of the torch moment in terms of Flyers fight history, as the organization was in the midst of possibly the greatest unbroken line of enforcers of any team in history. Holmgren would handle the heavy lifting for the Flyers for the next seven seasons. For Schultz, as he skated to the box that night, it was as a conquered foe as opposed to Flyer favorite.

Schultz found himself at a crossroads in his career eventually landing in Pittsburgh with the Penguins. By this point, Schultz would still drop the gloves but it was no longer with the zeal he once had in Philly. Occasionally he’d show flashes of brilliance like his bout with a young Behn Wilson but otherwise he was a faded policeman. Schultz would finish his career in ’81 with the Buffalo Sabres. By then he was a non factor as a fighter and tough guy. It’s amazing when you think of just how much of a splash he made when he first broke into the NHL. He and the rest of the Flyers set the league on fire with their style of play and their bullying tactics. In the end he just fizzled out, a mere shadow of his former self. Still, it’s hard to ignore the impact the Broad Street Bullies and Dave Schultz had on fighting in the NHL. From then on, teams needed that equalizer. They needed to defend against the Schultz’ of this new NHL. 

Schultz’ is an interesting figure when it comes to all time rankings. He was indeed one of the league’s top fighters for a four year stretch as well as being the league’s ultimate bad boy. After he left Philly he was no longer the same fighter but he was still solid. By the end, though, he completely petered out. During that time frame it’s hard to really say who was the champ or even if any really used that term. The world of NHL fighting at that time dictated that the best fighters usually were avoided, but Schultz was a different animal altogether breaking penalty minute records with his fistic exploits. He fought so much and seemed to be right in the thick of the action at every turn. In terms of noteworthy victories, Schultz bested Bruins Tasmanian Devil, Terry O’Reilly on more than one occasion. O’Reilly was also a good up and coming scrapper and would quickly become one of the game’s best. He defeated the likes of Wayne Cashman, Garry Howatt, and while not as decisive as their second encounter, I gave Schultz the victory in his first bout against New York Islanders big man, Clark Gillies, another fighter who would not only make a name defeating Schultz but would go on to have a great all time career as a fighter. Signature bouts against Jonathan, Wilson, O’Reilly, Howatt, Van Boxmeer, Rolfe etc lend weight to his status as a top fighter of his time. 

His critics-of which there have been many over the years- are quick to cite that his time at the top was brief. They also will point out that Schultz was below a cast that included “Dangerous” Dan Maloney, Battleship Kelly, Jerry “King Kong” Korab and later Clark Gillies… they will point out his relatively few victories over legitimate competition and his fall from grace in his last few seasons. They will harp on some of Schultz’ more suspect losses and they may even mention how he turned on fighting when his career was over… but I would argue that no one that has been discussed so far had the kind of impact on fighting that Dave Schultz had. His name became synonymous with violence in hockey during the 1970’s and was more widely known than many of the game’s bona fide superstars. His brand of play helped the Flyers to back-to back Stanley Cup Championships and he defined an era. Very few tough guys in the history of this great game can claim that as well as offer up significant victories.

I think it’s a difficult exercise to rank fighters of different eras with the same blanket criteria. I’m of the opinion that each fighter should be treated individually, first relative to their own era and how they compare to fighters of different times. I’ve seen in the past how some will have a dedicated set of factors they use on all fighters no matter the era to justify their rankings. This often leads to lending too much weight to one or more of those factors in the ranking process. Some people only like fighters with stacked fight cards and this often leads to a phasing out of fighters that played pre-1990’s on their all time lists. So they will see a guy like a Stan Jonathan and say that his card is lacking in comparison to his more modern counterparts. At times you will even see comparisons to the average difference in size between the monsters of the 90’s and 2000’s and their 70’s/80’s brethren. They will see a 5’8, 170 pound shrimp like Jonathan and believe him not equal to the task in their ho hum hypotheticals. But Stan Jonathan is exactly the reason why you don’t judge a book by its cover. Because Stan Jonathan might have had the stature of a Black and Gold pygmy, but he developed the reputation of a giant.  

When you sit back and think of what Stan Jonathan accomplished in his relatively short career, you can’t help but be amazed. He was given the nickname Bulldog, which was quite apt as he would take bigger opponents and tear them down into smaller sections before knocking them silly or planting them on their back with his patented take down slam. His small stature almost seemed like an advantage as he could slip and duck punches from bigger fighters and counter with lightning fast lefts and rights. He seemed impervious to pain and would come out of toe to toe exchanges with a grin on his face. His ability to switch hands was superb-he could switch from left to right without breaking stride and with face breaking power, to boot. Short, but stockily built, this full blooded Tuscarora Indian took on all comers of all shapes and sizes and would run roughshod over the Heavyweight Division in the upcoming years.

Bruins coach Don Cherry saw something in this Mighty Mite and took a chance, drafting him in the 5th round, 86th overall in the 1975 NHL amateur draft. After some seasoning in the minor leagues, mostly with the Dayton Gems, Jonathan joined the Bruins for the 1976-77 season. It’s here, if one were to follow along with the available footage, where Jonathan made his mark. On April 15, 1977, Stan Jonathan slugged it out in a playoff battle with Los Angeles Kings roughneck, Dave Schultz. The Hammer was only slightly removed from his best days as the leader of the Broad Street Bullies and was still a tough character in the NHL. This fight turned into an all out brawl with Jonathan firing away with lefts and rights while Schultz chose to stay with his potent right hand. It was a close, hard fought battle and an instant Fight of the Year contender for the 1976-77 season. Schultz skated to the box sporting a few new welts and a healthy respect for the Bruins new Bulldog. This fight would put Jonathan on the map as a tough guy in the NHL setting the tone for an entire career of fistic delights. Stan Jonathan was here.

Jonathan kept right on rolling the following season getting involved in notable bouts with Randy Holt, Bert Wilson, Jerry Butler, Danny Gare, Tiger Williams, and Bob Murdoch. He would lay a licking on Flyers rugged blue liner, Andre “Moose” Dupont and made another statement by making short work of the much taller John “The Big Guy” Hilworth of the Detroit Red Wings. All this seemed to be a mere prelude to what would be Jonathan’s crowning achievement as a fighter. The Bruins rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens was part of Hockey lore and Jonathan was about to write its next chapter. On May 21, 1978, in the Stanley Cup SemiFinals, Stan Jonathan dropped the gloves with Pierre Bouchard, the Habs big, rugged defenseman. Bouchard had 6 inches and about thirty pounds on the Bruins forward but for Jonathan it mattered little. They would engage in a fierce toe to toe exchange before Jonathan seamlessly switched to his left and caught Bouchard right on the beak. Bouchard went down in a bloody heap, his nose pouring like a faucet. The fight has become hockey’s version of David vs. Goliath and has lost little of its luster over the last forty years. The epic playoff encounter has become almost iconic and may go down as the greatest fight in Bruins history. You almost can’t think of that era of fighting without seeing that scrap play out in your mind. Don Cherry in his book “Grapes” said on that night ‘Jonathan became the Middleweight and Heavyweight champion’. High praise indeed. The Bouchard fight was the cherry on top of a fine year for the gritty Bruins winger who now placed himself among the best fighters in the game. And he was doing it while at a disadvantage in size in nearly every fight.

Injuries limited Jonathan to only 33 games during the 1978-79 season but he would come back strong the following year. 1979-80 was a banner year for Jonathan who amassed a career high 208 penalty minutes during the regular season and put together some great fights. This was the year he would get into it with Kim Clackson, Chris Nilan, Mario Tremblay, Behn Wilson, Paul Stewart, Danny Gare etc. His battle with Behn Wilson at Boston Garden on March 23, 1980 featured a great righty/lefty exchange and ended with Jonathan smiling at Wilson. Not many people would slug it out with Big Behn and come out smiling which only served to make Jonathan seem even scarier. On November 22, 1979, the Bruins were in Quebec and Jonathan went toe to toe with Nordiques resident policeman and Dorchester native, Paul Stewart. It was a great scrap with Jonathan bloodying the ever game Stew Cat. Jonathan would also handle Montreal newcomer Chris Nilan with relative ease. Bulldog was enjoying another fine season as a fighter and once again proved to be among the top fighters in the league.

Jonathan’s last big year for fighting would be the 1980-81 season. He would get into an absolute war with underrated North Stars southpaw, Brad Maxwell. This was a great fight with momentum shifts and both guys going the extra mile to pull out the win. It’s one of those fights where the ref should’ve raised both of their hands at its conclusion. He would also drop Ron Zanussi, battle it out with young Chris Nilan again, smack around Bob MacMillen and lay a whoopin’ on Edmonton’s Don Jackson in another year of fistic highlights. By 1981-82, Don Cherry was gone and the Bruins seemed to be moving away from their Lunch Pail Gang persona they took on under his leadership. Jonathan’s playing time dwindled and his fight output decreased dramatically. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 8, 1982 where his career completely fizzled out. He played sparingly with the Penguins that year, splitting his time between them and their AHL affiliate in Baltimore. Jonathan would retire at the end of the season. 

In a career that lasted seven seasons, Jonathan proved to be one of the game’s best fighters. When you couple that with the fact that he needed lifts in his shoes to get on most amusement park rides, you really can’t help but stand in awe at what he was able to accomplish in his career. At his size, you’d think it was accomplishment enough just to make it to the NHL, but Jonathan not only made it, he excelled. In a game where fighting had become such an integral part, Jonathan was one of it’s greatest practitioners. From 76-82, Jonathan was a top-5 fighter and for a few of those years, climbed as high as the top-2 or 3. In roughly 70 NHL fights, Jonathan lost only a handful of times and outside of his quick knockdown loss to Clark Gillies, they were close affairs, split decisions or “edges”. That’s a remarkable feat considering the kind of fighters he was taking on. His battles against Dave Schultz and Behn Wilson are a testament to his skill and ability as a fighter while his fight with Pierre Bouchard has become an all time classic and one of the most highly regarded fights in the Bruins storied history.

I like Jonathan in this range as an all timer. He was probably not a guy you would call a champ but he had an extended run as a top fighter with notable fights, memorable victories while facing some of the best fighters of the era. It’s true he doesn’t have the kind of longevity of some and his card might not measure up to the guys of the 90’s/2000’s. He didn’t even reach 100 career fights and what was up with that take down slam? All of these are legitimate criticisms but while some during his era gained lofty rankings based on reputation alone, Jonathan earned his with his fists. With his diminutive stature and excellent career as a fighter, Jonathan has earned pound for pound laurels over the years as well. Despite being the size of a Middleweight, Jonathan carried the rep of a Heavyweight with fights that have stood the test of time and still resonate today. 

More to come…

My thanks to @4thLineVoice for generously donating pics from his collection for this project. Also, a big thanks to @HockeyFightHistory for use of the Probert-McCarthy clip.