By Steven Rehm
The following is a fight fans take…
As we entered the 2007-08 NHL season both Georges Laraque and Donald Brashear were counted as two of the best enforcers in the game. Both were veterans at their craft-indeed Brashear had been in the league since the 93-94 season while Laraque broke in during the 97-98 campaign. In the time in between both had earned lofty reputations as elite fighters. Laraque had been hailed the NHL’s “champ” shortly after arriving in the NHL while Brashear-never the people’s choice-was the league’s ultimate bad man. While many gushed and praised Big Georges Laraque, Brashear was the league’s top villain. Both could claim big victories and dominant displays as well as incredible prime runs. Laraque at this point was still at his peak-he was 30 and showed no signs of slowing down. Brashear was longer in the tooth at 35 but you would never know it. He was still an absolute powerhouse.
Laraque had become the prime example of what an enforcer was during the 2000’s. He was almost the living embodiment of the unwritten rules and etiquette described in Ross Bernstein’s hockey fighting treatise, “The Code”. He practiced a gentlemanly version of fighting always subscribing to these unwritten rules of fair play. He was an amiable man who smiled before fights and was even heard to tell an opponent “good luck!” prior to a beating. Brashear on the other hand was a man who came into the league during an earlier era, a rougher and more raw time in hockey fighting’s evolution. He subscribed to a different style of fighting as well-while many sought the all-out brawls and wars of attrition, Brashear liked to play it safe and stay in control. He also developed a reputation for turning down fights if the moment wasn’t right for him and some fighters he avoided altogether. He had a mean streak that helped to separate him from a guy like Laraque, showing on more than one occasion he wasn’t afraid to step all over Bernstein’s Code if it came down to it. In truth Brashear played by his own code and while he and Laraque were two of the toughest in the league, they couldn’t be more different.
The two had fought each other on several occasions going into the 07-08 season. The fights were nothing major, no big time beat downs or vicious bloodlettings. Instead, the fights left you wanting more. You had two of the toughest fighters in the game, yet they hadn’t had that decisive clash to determine who was the true alpha dog. There was no Probert vs. Brown epic showdown to help recognize who was the “man” between these two new millennium giants. So, for many there was always that lingering question of who was #1? Every time they squared off you figured the time had come but it would be washed away in a mediocre fight featuring slipping and falling. Brashear’s hugging and grappling tactics and Laraque’s southpaw wrestling made for an ugly mash up of styles but deep down you knew each one could open a major can of whoop ass at any time. So, we as fans just had to stay tuned…
And so, it was on October 20, 2007, that the Pittsburgh Penguins played host to the Washington Capitals at the Civic Arena in Downtown Pittsburgh, PA. It was early in the 3rd period when Laraque and Brashear came together for another dance. They squared off with Laraque patient as was his custom just waiting for the chance to dart in with his right hand and get that grip. Brashear had both hands dangling, ready to lock on with the python grip. The key for Laraque is his initial grip. He gets a hold of the front of Brashear’s collar and pulls Brashear in. Almost immediately Laraque is in control as Brashear scrambles to get a better hold. Laraque begins raining down thunderous left hands. Four, five, six unanswered lefts have Brashear reeling, his helmet gone. Suddenly he is down to a knee as Laraque has his left arm cocked and poised to do more damage. Brashear gets back to his feet and Laraque unleashes his controlled fury once more, dropping Brashear to his knees a second time. Laraque stands over his battered foe, left arm cocked ready to dish out further punishment but careful not to stray over the line and violate the vaunted “code”. Brashear gets to his feet once more only to be knocked down once again by a clubbing Laraque left. It is here where we see the on-ice officials begin to creep in close as they appear to be ready to jump in for a merciful end to this one-sided beating.
Then Brashear rose to his feet once more…
The linesmen suddenly peeled away letting these two goliaths settle this one on their own. Brashear gets a better grip and at first, they grapple a bit before Laraque fires another left that misses but still has the shaky Brashear slipping to one knee. Brashear rights himself and unleashes two big lefts striking Laraque high on the forehead area of his helmet. Laraque crashes to the ice awkwardly with Brashear on top. And just like that the climactic clash we had been waiting for between these two future all-time greats had come to an end.
But who won?
That was on everyone’s mind in the fight’s aftermath. Opinions on this varied. Some believed Laraque’s brutal assault in the first 2/3rds of the fight sealed the victory for Laraque while still others felt that Brashear had dropped Laraque for a TKO victory with those final two blows. The fight certainly became a heated topic for debate on the old fight forums as fans argued and debated the fights outcome with blow-by-blow accounts in support of their version of events. Video-readily available during this era-was broken down so fans could lend weight to their accounts. Still there was never a consensus on this one and even to this day this scrap confounds fight fans of all stripes.
I thought that Laraque had such a huge advantage in this fight-he landed some major artillery in the fights opening stages. He pounded Brashear to his knees three times and only relented when it appeared that the linesmen were about to break it up. I honestly felt that it was Laraque’s gentlemanly nature and adherence to the enforcer “code” that caused him to let up on Brashear that one final time. This was all the opening Brashear needed to get back in the fight. Then Brashear exploded with two big lefts sending Laraque crashing to the ice. There was something about those two lefts, though, that struck me as odd. I always felt that Brashear’s lefts lacked the kind of heat to fell a guy like Laraque. A closer inspection reveals that the punches didn’t land flush to Laraque’s face but rather struck him up high on his helmet. Not the kind of blows that would put away a guy like Laraque. Yet Laraque went down.
It was always my belief that Laraque didn’t want to destroy Brashear any further so once the linesmen shockingly allowed Brashear to get to his feet a third time, Laraque hit the eject button to help preserve his victory and avoid punishing Brashear further. It just so happens he hit the deck after Brashear unleashed those two left hands. I always felt that those two lefts of Brashear’s simply were not monster enough punches to drop Laraque-indeed BGL had rarely been dropped in his career. The optics however gave the impression that Brashear caught Laraque thus, giving him an improbable victory.
Little changed in the enforcer hierarchy that season. Laraque and Brashear would fight again that year, but it was nothing like their clash on October 20. In fact, it resembled many of the previous Laraque-Brashear fights, sloppy and mediocre. Laraque finished with another solid Heavyweight championship style season while Brashear would close out the year in the Top-3. Despite the challenges of young enforcers on the rise like Derek Boogaard and Brian McGrattan, Laraque and Brashear remained perched atop the Heavyweight Division.
In a lot of ways, the 07-08 season would be Laraque’s last atop that lofty perch. Laraque would sign with the Montreal Canadiens during the off season but he was already beginning to fade. He slowed down as an enforcer and would be finished by the end of the 09-10 season. Brashear had a fine 08-09 campaign going until he ran into Wade Belak near season’s end and was unceremoniously dropped during a great exchange of lefts. And Brash haters everywhere rejoiced. Brashear would fade after that, signing with the New York Rangers in 09-10 before having a few cameos in the LNAH but he would never see a return to prominence.
I look at Laraque and Brashear’s one great clash as an example of opportunity lost and, to some degree, as a small form of redemption. For Laraque, he had the chance for a decisive victory-a modern version of Probert-Brown- against a man who many believed was like a 1a/b to Laraque during much of his career. The decisive outcome would have been the first thing fight fans would point to when comparing the two all-time greats- just as they do when they compare Probert and Brown. But Laraque’s gentlemanly nature and adherence to the vaunted “code” allowed Brashear to climb back into the fight and ultimately allowed him a chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. For Brashear, it was almost like this clash with Laraque was the one time-the one time-he showed true heart and battled back from a devastating start. Typically, Brashear would’ve hugged a guy to death or “fallen” or outright bailed as he did vs. Tie Domi in the ’03 playoffs. Brashear was in the throws of his worst loss as an NHLer before he got back to his feet that one final time. Looking back, I’m impressed at how he continued the fight after such a hellacious beating. Stick tap to the Don for that.
In the grand scheme of things, the fight changes little. As we appreciate their great careers and their otherworldly mountain of pugilistic accomplishments, we come to discover that just like Probert and Brown-the legacy of these two fearsome warriors will forever be intertwined. The fight on October 20 does not change that- as interesting a clash between two all-time greats as you will ever see.
Special thanks to 4th Line Voice.