Tag Archives: Rick Rypien

Sad news: Rick Rypien has passed away

August 15, 2011   HockeyFightVids.com   3 Comments
Dan Carcillo vs Rick Rypien

There is terrible news tonight that former Vancouver Canucks tough guy Rick Rypien has passed away. He was only 27 years old and signed with the new Winnipeg Jets in the off-season. The News1130 site is reporting that Rypien committed suicide.

“Rick was a talented player with an extremely bright future,” the Jets said in a statement. “His hunger for the game made him a valued team member both on and off the ice. This loss has impacted us as more than just a hockey team.”

“As many people are aware, he had strong ties to True North Sports and Entertainment, the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club, the former Manitoba Moose Hockey Club and the Vancouver Canucks. We would like to express our sincere sympathies to the Rypien family as well as Rick’s friends. We also appreciate all of the support that has come pouring in from Rick’s fans.”

“Rick has been a beloved member of the Canucks family for the past six years,” the team said. “Rick was a great teammate and friend to our players, coaches and staff. We send our deepest condolences to the Rypien family at this most difficult time.”
Source

This is just terrible news to hear. Our prayers and thoughts go out to Rypien’s family and friends.

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Brad Richards signs and more signings around league

July 03, 2011   HockeyFightVids.com   No comments

The biggest news on July 2nd was when Brad Richards signed with the NY Rangers for 9-years $60M (an average of $6.66M per year). There were some other signings that happened:

Tim Connolly signed a 2-year $9.5M contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs (average of $4.75M per year). This is a big contract for a guy who can’t stay healthy and didn’t show up in the playoffs last season. Good luck Toronto with him.

Anthony Stewart signed with the Carolina Hurricanes for 2-years $1.8M ($900K average per year).

Simon Gagne signed with the Los Angeles Kings for 2-years $7M ($3.5M average per year).

Ian White signed with the Detroit Red Wings for 2-years $5.75M ($2.875M average per year).

Tomas Vokoun signed with the Washington Capitals for 1-year $1.5M. Good signing by the Capitals. Vokoun should get them further in the playoffs.

Rick Rypien signed with the Winnipeg Jets for 1-year $700K.

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Rypien suspended for 6 games

October 22, 2010   HockeyFightVids.com   No comments

Well Puckhead Mike posted about the Rick Rypien incident and today Rypien met with the NHL. Over at Kuklas Korner they’re reporting that the Vancouver Canucks forward has been suspended for 6 games and the Canucks have been fined $25,000 for the incident.

“Prior to each season, all clubs and players are advised that under no circumstances are club personnel permitted to have physical contact with fans, or enter, or attempt to enter the stands,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We hold NHL players to a high standard, and there simply is no excuse for conduct of this nature. Fortunately, this incident is not typical of the way NHL players conduct themselves and is not typical of the way Mr. Rypien had conducted himself during his career.”

I think 6 games is fair and right. I have to say though I was expecting for the NHL to go wild and give him more games, but I think this is right. What do you think? Too few games? Too many games? Or just right?

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The Rick Rypien vs fan incident

October 21, 2010   Puckhead Mike   1 Comment

By now you’ve all seen it. I thought AdamBruinsFan may post about this but he hasn’t so I’ll take a jab at this incident. After watching the incident numerous times it’s clear that Rick Rypien is wrong as he grabbed and pushed a fan who apparently said to him “Way to be professional” (source) while he was getting a misconduct. You can watch the incident below.

 

After reading other hockey blogs and reports, this fan is apparently a 28-year old (who cares what his name is, I’ll get to that later), although he looked like a kid in the video. While watching this incident it did remind me of the Rob Ray incident with a fan on the ice as Ray pounded the crap out of a Quebec fan who went on the ice and over to the Sabres bench back in 1992. I searched online but I only found that he wasn’t suspended and fined $7,000. I do not know if that is true or not though. The NHL has changed a lot since 1992 so I expect Rypien to get suspended even though he didn’t really rough up the fan. The Rypien incident is bad PR for the NHL so Colin Campbell and whoever else will give him… well who knows how many games to sit.

 

One of PuckDaddy‘s many blog posts about this incident includes some info from TSN about other incidents that included fans:

In 2004, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was fined $100,000 and given a one-week suspension by the league for an altercation with a season ticket holder.
[In 2000-01], Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matthew Barnaby received a four-game suspension for an incident with a fan in Florida…

Another site was trying to compare this incident with the NBA’s incident with fans and Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson. Are you crazy? Did you actually watch that incident with Artest? And no this incident is not as bad as when Mike Milbury went into the stands and hitting someone with their own shoe incident. Video below of that incident if you’ve never seen it before.

Now about what I said above about not mentioning this fan’s name. Well I’m taking that position to not name the fan and give him anymore publicity. PuckDaddy has a post with the fan’s quotes where he says that he is “definitely seeking legal representation. … I was assaulted, that’s just the bottom line.”

It’s his position to do that, but come on. Assaulted? Why don’t you let Rypien meet you outside so then he can really assault you. That’s a joke. Jackass wake up! You weren’t assaulted. And no that’s not the bottom line, you got grabbed and pushed by a professional athlete who makes possibly ten times what you do or ever will. You smell money and you’re going to try and get some. Now that’s the bottom line. You may see more future incidents like this because hey why not, right? Why not try and make some money off of someone else. Talk crap to athletes and dare them to touch you and then scream assault.

I’m no lawyer of course. But I got to thinking. Uh oh maybe I should have stopped lol. But if Rypien is sued or whatever by this fan, can Rypien blame the Minnesota Wild for not having protection around the area he “works” at. In the video you can see the fan could have probably got down at the Canucks bench if he wanted to.

Rypien has been suspended indefinitely today pending a hearing.

Old time hockey with the Big Bad Bruins going after a fan who grabbed a Bruins player stick back in 1979. Mike Milbury hits the fan with the fan’s shoe! Priceless stuff we will never see again.

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A look at Northwest division team’s enforcers for the upcoming season

September 24, 2010   HockeyFightVids.com   No comments
Raitis Ivanans vs Jean-Francois Jacques

Los Angeles Kings' Raitis Ivanans, left, fights with Edmonton Oilers' Jean-Francois Jacques during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

In our fifth 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 Northwest division.

The first team we’ll take a look at are the Calgary Flames. The Flames made lots of moves during the off-season, including changing their enforcer. They let Brian McGrattan go, and brought in ex-Kings enforcer Raitis Ivanans and ex-Islander Tim Jackman. Ivanans had 14 fights in 61 games with the Los Angeles Kings. Jackman had 10 fights in 54 games with the New York Islanders.

The next team we’ll look at are the Colorado Avalanche. If David Koci is able to keep his roster spot from last season then he’ll be the big enforcer for the Avs. Last season Koci had 11 fights in 43 games. The Avs also have Cody McLeod who can fill that role if needed. McLeod had 18 fights in 74 games last season.

Up next are the rebuilding Edmonton Oilers. With all of their young players, they made sure to bring in tough guys. The Oilers signed enforcer Steve MacIntyre in the off-season to protect their young players, such as Taylor Hall. MacIntyre had 4 fights in 22 games last season for the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers combined. Hopefully the Oilers will dress him nightly and not send him down to the minors. Zack Stortini will again be an enforcer for them, having 17 fights in 77 games last season. In a trade in the off-season, the Oilers got tough guy defenseman Jim Vandermeer. Vandermeer had 1 fight in 62 games last season with the Phoenix Coyotes. The Oilers also have Jean-Francois Jacques (8 fights in 49 games last season), Theo Peckham (1 fight in 15 games last season), and veteran Jason Strudwick (6 fights in 72 games last season) who all know how to throw down when necessary.

Next up are the Minnesota Wild. The Wild lossed both Derek Boogaard and John Scott to free agency this off-season. So they signed former Shark Brad Staubitz to be their tough guy. Last season with the Sharks, Staubitz had 12 fights in 47 games.

The last team to look at are the Vancouver Canucks. A lot of people have high hopes for Canucks this season. The Canucks don’t have a big heavyweight enforcer, but they have capable middleweights in Darcy Hordichuk and Rick Rypien. Even Tanner Glass can throw down when he has to. Hordichuk had 14 fights in 56 games last season. Rypien had 16 fights in 69 games last season. Glass had 15 fights in 67 games last season.

The next division we will look at is the Pacific division. Stay tuned for that post!

Past parts of this series

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NHL preseason begins!

September 15, 2009   HockeyFightVids.com   No comments

Monday night was the first day of NHL preseason action. The only game was the New York Islanders vs the Vancouver Canucks. Not a surprise that there were four fights in the game considering it is a preseason game and players try to make the coach notice them by doing anything to make the roster. Ex-Bruin forward Jeremy Reich got into the action, dropping the gloves twice. His fight against Canucks not so big tough guy Rick Rypien was a good one (included below courtesy of hockeyfights.com). I have to give the Reich-Rypien fight a draw. The other three fights in the game were: Jeremy Reich vs Ron Petrovicky, Tim Jackman vs Guillaume Desbiens, and Andy Sutton vs Rick Rypien. Rypien sure is a good fighter (just watch his fight against the bigger Sutton) and I hope he can stay healthy for a whole season with the Canucks this season.

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