“He wasn’t going to give an inch and neither was I.”
I remember watching the game on ESPN…
Marty McSorley had been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins and returned to the organization he broke in with way back in different times ’83. It was now over ten years later, and he was a veteran tough guy. A famed enforcer. He had been involved in hundreds of fights to this point in his pro career. A true enforcer who had won two cups as protector of the Great One. He had risen from a skinny kid fresh out of Belleville of the OHL to become one of the game’s great Heavyweights. In his early years his willingness was always prevalent even if his strength and abilities were not. Over time he built himself up and gained in experience from all the great battles, all the great fights.
Probert was in what would turn out to be, his final season with Detroit. At the time, I never thought of him playing for another team. He was still one of the game’s great fighters-just reaching the end of his peak run as undisputed champ. Another veteran fighter with “big fight” experience. A champion and already considered one of the game’s all-time great pugilists. His career to that point had been one long highlight reel of big fight after big fight. He had already become something of a living legend with young fighters coming into the league looking to make a name for themselves by taking on the ‘Champ’.
The two were almost prime representatives of what fighting in hockey was all about. They carried a will to win that pushed them to the top of the NHL’s fighting ranks. Amazing heart and desire. Both had fought epic battles and had the battle scars to prove it. They represented the gold standard for fighting in the NHL. While Probert was the man to beat, McSorley had become one of the Heavyweight Divisions true Gatekeepers. The kind of fighter who had accrued so many fights and built up such a resume that anyone holding their own against him could hold their head up high.
I think sometimes of all the great McSorley fights just leading up to this moment. Fights with Wendel Clark, Tim Hunter, Jim Kyte, Larry Playfair, Joe Kocur, his first bout with Probert, Stu Grimson, Gino Odjick-so many great battles. He made a name for himself during the Battle of Alberta, first as the understudy to Dave Semenko and later as the sole Protector of the Great One. McSorley had tremendous stamina as a fighter and would stop at nothing to achieve ultimate victory. His granite chin, and willingness to go to war, made him a tough matchup for many wannabe tough guys. Even after ten seasons-Marty showed no signs of slowing down. The man was a machine.
So, on that night I knew there might be a chance McSorley and Probert would meet up. I kept it in mind to watch that game. Had to. What if something happened? Waiting to see if they fought in the game summary in the newspaper the next day was not enough. I had to see it.
There they were, behind the play. I remember Gary Thorne and Bill Clement were the broadcast crew for ESPN that night. I still remember Thorne’s call during the opening stages of the fight. “Probert and McSorley… they’re bumping… they’re talking… they’re fighting!” They had dropped the gloves. Probert with a push, McSorley with a quick pull on Probert’s jersey. It was on. This would be good.
They both started to swing away, nothing wild, but controlled. Initially they both had a good grip on each other and the punches were coming up a tad short. Maybe a glancing blow, or so, from each to start it off.
Probert began throwing some uppercuts and Marty caught him with a nice overhand right. Probert continued with the uppercuts, not landing, but forcing Marty to stay upright and- more importantly-in his jersey.
Marty then attempted to pull his jersey off himself, but a Probert uppercut put a halt to it. He was forced to go to the body, throwing a series of body blows. Marty was one of the few fighters who regularly went to the body in his fights. That was all part of his commitment to win at all costs.
Probert then came up short with another uppercut and instead of rearing back for another punch, he threw a quick backhand punch at McSorley. He would then follow it up with a short, chopping right and another backhand. I don’t recall seeing Probert use that maneuver before this fight. Awesome. Probert then tried to get the uppercut going again.
At this point, Marty began to pull his jersey off. He whipped his right arm in and out to throw it off him. Once he got free of it, McSorley went on the offensive. The discarded jersey dangled from his left arm. He threw a series of overhand rights, glancing Probert a few times. Probert had a hold on McSorley’s blue undershirt and tried to use his reach to keep him at bay.
Curiously enough, McSorley stopped his offensive short and allowed Probert to seize the initiative. Probert began mixing overhands and uppercuts. He then landed a beauty of an uppercut that snapped McSorley’s head back. McSorley’s jersey, still stuck on his arm, may have blinded him to this punch. Probert then landed an overhand right and began his trademark backward maneuvering to stay loose and on the offensive.
McSorley tried to answer and returned fire while Probert tripped slightly on McSorley’s jersey, now fully off. Probert threw a big uppercut that missed the mark, but then dropped a great hammer of an overhand right. This shot caught McSorley flush on the jaw and dropped him to his knees.
McSorley was down but not out. Not even that shot-from the game’s best-would stop him. It just made him want to come back stronger.
Probert seemed to allow McSorley a chance to get back up. He held up for a moment. Perhaps he thought McSorley was done and the linesmen would intervene, or perhaps he had too much respect for a warrior like McSorley to finish him off for good.
McSorley got back to his feet, and for all the respect Probert had for him, there was still a fight to be won. He was now in control of this one and wanted to keep up the pressure on McSorley. He landed a few more right hands, maybe four in all of varying quality. McSorley finally was able to get in close. It was here that the linesmen first tried to intervene but McSorely would have none of it.
Marty threw a right and then switched to his left. An audacious move considering the right hands that Probert had been landing. He fired off a few quick lefts and Probert answered with a vicious forearm smack into McSorley’s face. Then another. Backhands and forearms. Whatever it took.
Probert then threw a nice uppercut/overhand combination. A linesman appeared to be ready to get in and McSorley, bleeding from a cut above his left eye, cried “No!” and the battle raged on.
McSorley was determined to get back into the fight and pulled his right arm free. The two began to trade from long range. At one point, their fists collided with each other. McSorley landed. Probert landed. McSorley then landed a good right hand-Probert answered back! They were against the boards behind the Pittsburgh net. They became wrapped up. The linesmen finally got in to end it. They exchanged some words. Both were exhausted.
They skated to the penalty box. Probert, slow and steady. McSorley with no jersey on, bloodied but unbowed. He looked like he still had plenty left in the tank for another round. Amazing.
In the box Probert was breathing heavily, bent over. McSorley was wide eyed, talking. What a fight.
I knew I had watched the greatest fight of all-time. It had everything you want in a great fight. Two great fighters. Both, masters of their craft. It had momentum shifts. There was heart on full display here. A fighter, lifting himself off the ice to stay in the fight. A great comeback. Unbelievable will to win on both sides. A small show of respect between two great warriors, at its conclusion.
Of course, this is just a fight fans take and as a Probert fan I am perhaps a bit biased with my ‘greatest fight of all–time’ call. There may be fights with just as much heart, desire and will to win in them-but they didn’t have these two hockey fighting greats. Both, basically showing how great they were with this one fight.
At the end of that year, I traded for a 1993-94 season tape set. It had the same ESPN version of the fight. Later on, I was able to get the Detroit feed. I Loved Mickey Redmond’s call on the fight “… and Probert’s giving him a backhand cuff… Probert just staggered McSorley and dropped him to his knees… that is a fight for all time right there-you just saw it!” Redmond had some great calls in Probert fights.
I liked both the ESPN feed and the Detroit feed of this fight for different reasons. The commentary for both is very good. I liked Bill Clement’s call “Oh, baby! Oh, baby! Did McSorley get rocked?” However, I’ve grown accustomed to Mickey Redmond’s calls during Probert fights, so I like the Detroit feed a little better. It also has a full view of the fight. There are no real poor camera angles like the ESPN version with the shot from deep behind the Penguin’s bench or that shot with a fan’s head getting in the way. The Detroit feed also comes with a good view of the final phase of the fight behind the Pittsburgh net. You get a nice close up view of one of Probert’s vicious forearm smashes into McSorley’s face-who doesn’t love that?
In his book ‘Tough Guy: My life on the edge’, Probert talked about this fight with McSorley. Here is what he had to say:
‘The fight I remember most from the 93-94 season was a scrap on February 4 with Marty McSorley, who was with the Penguins. I was up all night before that fight, out partying. At the end of the first, we were up 2-1, when there was a little shoving and we dropped the gloves.
It was a pretty long fight-somebody clocked it at 93 seconds. Two or three different times, the linesmen started to come in and then got out. I think they were both a little surprised at the fact that we were both looking to keep fighting, but part of that is just who we are. He wasn’t going to give an inch and neither was I. We were both comfortable we could handle the situation.
We were jockeying for position and trying to move each other off balance. It was a good, clean fight. There was nothing dirty-a lot of mutual respect there. People have watched the tape and noticed that we said something to each other after that fight. You know what it was? My finger was stuck in one of the holes of his helmet. So when the linesmen were separating us, I said, “My finger is stuck.” And instead of jerking his head back, Marty put his head down and said to the linesman “Take his finger out.” So the linesman reached over and pulled it out. Then I just acknowledged the fact that he was respectful about the whole thing.
When Marty remembered the fight, he said, “There might be instances where you feel somebody is less than honorable or less than worthy of respect, and in those cases I might not have been as kind or open-minded about the finger.”
I was just bagged after that one. It was the most tired I had ever been after a fight. When I came off, Mo Melly patted me on the back and said, “You are a fucking machine to pull that one out of your ass.”
Dani was there waiting for me after the game, and as soon as she saw me, she said, “Hey baby, anything I can get you? A coke? A smoke? An oxygen mask, maybe?”’
Here are both feeds of the fight:
“That is a fight for all time right there- you just saw it!”
So there you have it. My take on Probert vs. McSorley: The War in ‘94. A fight I’m convinced will go down as one of the great fights of them all. The more I think about it that quote from Mickey Redmond during his call that game really rings true. It really is a fight for all time. It featured two all time greats and turned out to be an instant classic. Both of these veteran warriors were known for their great stamina and while this fight wasn’t “the longest one of all time” as Don Cherry claimed in its aftermath, at ninety three seconds this certainly qualifies as a true marathon in hockey fight terms.
Perhaps that’s what separates it from other all time great battles. It’s not a toe to toe bout or a crash and bang affair. It’s not a knockout or a bloodletting. This fight was a marathon that had subtlety and nuance to go along with its underlying savagery. These were veteran enforcers with hundreds of fights worth of experience between them. The battle featured an ebb and flow as both fighters would go on the attack and then find themselves on the defensive. You can see them vie for hand position at the fights outset. When McSorley shed his jersey, Probert used his reach to stay just out of range of McSorley’s salvos. Probert’s use of the uppercut often goes unheralded and it came up big for him in this fight. He landed a great uppercut in the early stages of the fight that was hidden by McSorley’s dangling jersey and it set up the big overhand right that dropped McSorley halfway through the fight.
McSorley, not to be outdone, was relentless the entire fight and he just kept coming. Even after getting dropped he seemed to become even stronger. His stamina and conditioning were so good that at the battles conclusion he was taking the fight to Probert. I have no doubt he could have fought for another minute or more. In the opening stages of the fight you could tell Marty wanted to shed the jersey right away. Probert peppered him with uppercuts to keep him upright. But once he was able to get free and go on the attack, he seemed to punch himself out quickly and allowed Probert to take control of the fight. Typically, once Marty got free of his jersey, he was like an irresistible force. He was a great fighter with the jersey on but losing his sweater gave him an X-Factor and made him that much more difficult to deal with. That jerseyless assault that at one time overwhelmed the likes of Larry Playfair and Wendel Clark, broke down due to Probert’s longer reach and underrated uppercut. Marty’s uncharacteristic halt in that initial offensive after he got free of his jersey gave Probert all the opening he needed.
The epic these two crafted that night did indeed give us a fight for all time.
-Thanks to @4thLineVoice for his help with this piece.
