Last Tuesday we saw a rarity that we don’t see much anymore in hockey, two guys fighting twice in a game against each other. In the Blue Jackets-Sharks game, Jim Vandermeer and Jared Boll fought twice, once in the first period and then later in the third period.
Blue Jackets Jared Boll has balls and maybe now a sore head as he dropped the gloves with Predators Brian McGrattan and took a beating. With Steve MacIntyre in the minors, is McGrattan the best enforcer in the league now? I love the way McGrattan fights, just standing there throwing punches until he is tired but he does leave himself open and sooner or later he may take one that knocks him woozy. Here’s the McGrattan-Boll fight, check out the rights that land on Boll’s head.
Talking about a bad team with Columbus they also have bad broadcasters. As you listen to the Columbus broadcast during that fight they have McGrattan’s name wrong. Who is McKracken? They’re also wrong how Nashville got McGrattan. The Predators claimed McGrattan off waivers from the Ducks on October 11th during the season, not in the offseason. Columbus managed to win the game in overtime, maybe that will delay Jeff Carter’s next trade request.
And maybe it’s karma for Jared Boll that he got beat up, as two nights ago he dropped the gloves with Bruins Shawn Thornton and broke the code as he threw two punches with the linesmen between them which really pissed off Thornton. I don’t know, I’m just saying.
St. Louis Blues Cam Janssen has another beauty of a fight this season, taking on Blues Jackets Jared Boll in a marathon bout on March 7th, 2011. Almost two minutes long, what a fight! This was definitely a “fight of the year” candidate.
There have been some good hockey fights recently. You got to check out these good ones.
Cam Janssen vs John Scott, November 30, 2010
Scott handles Janssen well at the start, and then Janssen comes back late in the fight. Lots of punches in this one.
Shawn Thornton vs Eric Boulton, November 28, 2010
Good fight with Thornton getting the decision in this one.
John Scott vs Kevin Westgarth, November 27, 2010
Scott bloodies Westgarth in this one.
Brad Winchester vs Brian Sutherby, November 26, 2010
Winchester keeps throwing the rights and gets the win against Sutherby.
Matt Bradley vs Troy Bodie, November 24, 2010
Bodie shows his new teammates what he can do as he cuts Bradley open in this fight.
Jared Boll vs Trevor Gillies, November 24, 2010
Boll puts a late hit on John Tavares so Gillies comes over and smacks Boll around.
Kevin Westgarth vs Chris Neil, November 22, 2010
They drop the gloves soon after the faceoff and exchange major punches with Neil getting the better of the younger Westgarth. Nothing new with Neil throwing punches late at a player down in a vulnerable position.
ANAHEIM, CA - NOVEMBER 05: Wade Belak #3 of the Nashville Predators and George Parros #16 of the Anaheim Ducks fight during the second period at the Honda Center on November 5, 2009 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
We finished up the Eastern conference teams and now we’ll look at the Western conference teams and see who is each team’s enforcer for the upcoming season. In the fourth part of this series, looking at the teams in each division in the NHL and seeing who will be the team’s enforcer, we’ll take a look at the teams in the Central division. So here we go…
The first team we’ll look at are the Chicago Blackhawks. In the off-season the Blackhawks signed 6’8″ giant John Scott who can play either forward or defense. Look for Scott to be their main tough guy. Scott had 6 fights in 51 games last season with the Minnesota Wild.
The next team we’ll look at are the Columbus Blue Jackets and their enforcer will be Jared Boll again, who has been their main enforcer since Jody Shelley was traded away. Last season Boll had 21 fights in 68 games.
Up next are the Detroit Red Wings and as usual the Red Wings don’t have an enforcer on their roster. Is anyone surprised by this? Aaron Downey is on the preseason training camp roster but I doubt he will make the team.
Next up are the Nashville Predators and their enforcer will be Wade Belak once again this season. Belak had 10 fights in 39 games last season. Hopefully his should will be ok this season.
And for the St. Louis Blues, they don’t have a true heavyweight, so their enforcers will be middleweights Cam Janssen and B.J. Crombeen. Janssen had 19 fights in 43 games last season. Crombeen had 18 fights in 79 games last season.
The next division we will look at is the Northwest division. Stay tuned for that post!
Past parts of this series
NHL News
