Carolina has aquired Mike Commodore from Calgary in exchange for a 3rd Round pick. I partied with Mike last year in Lowell, and personally, I think he is a great kid. He also had two of the best fights anyone in a Lowell uniform had all last season. He and DJ King of Worcester had a real slug fest, with both guys standing toe to toe exchanging rights. The fight was to close to call, but the next night, both combatants were sporting nice shiners. Commodore thinks pretty lowly of King, as when I asked him about the tilt, he seemed to indicate Mr. King was what could be slang for a girl’s anatomy.

The second fight, was when Commodore one punched Brent Thompson of Providence. They were pushing and shoving before a face off. When they decided to go, Commie got his gloves off, and lowered the boom on Thompson. Brent went down like he’d been shot. Commodore went in for more, picking up Thompson by his jersey, noticed he was out cold, and dropped him like 8th grade Spanish. Thompson finally made it to the box, were he asked the penalty box attendant why he was in there, and when he got out so many times, the attendant was compelled to inquire if Brent was OK. Hilarious turn of events. Well, not for Brent Thompson.

Anyway, Commodore will probably be on Carolina’s blueline, and I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully up in the show he plays with a mean streak that sometimes eludes him in the "A". Good luck Pudding Head.

Detroit may want to think about getting into a knockdown drag em out game with Nashville this year. Darcy Hordichuk was traded to the Preds yesterday in exchange for a draft pick. Check out Darcy’s page here. Some pretty good fisticuffs. There are a couple of dandies with Mad Mel when they were both in the "I". I had forgotten about this site, and will now be coming up with excuses for my boss why my productivity is waaaaay down today.

"I’m not bullshitting you, I got stinkin shitfaced on the bus. Louise didn’t leave me or anything, but the son-of-a-bitch over there did keep playing me, when he knew I was drunk." - SlapShot

You see, I was at a lovely wedding Saturday (congrats Mike and Liz!) where they had an open bar. Who cares? Well, the beer was self serve. They had a boat turned on it’s side, and it was filled with brew. I took it upon myslef to drink roughly 40 Labatt’s Blue. The next day, there was a brunch for everyone that stayed at the hotel. Well, the shaking wasn’t going to stop itself, people. I tasked myself with drinking away my hangover, and found myself accidently pinted again.

My point is thus - I felt much like President’s Forward Nick Brophy for two days. Had anyone boarded me, I would have pissed all over myself. But I’m back and ready to skate. I see some qualifying offers have been extended in Boston to Thornton (5 years) Gonchar (4) Samsanov, Axelson, and Lapointe (3). I agree with all three. Marty has been lackluster in my eyes while wearing the spoked B. His offense has been way down, he really hasn’t had a single memorable fight, and he takes a lot of stupid penalties. I have heard a rumor that Tie Domi won’t be back in Toronto. It seems to me, Tie, and Lapointe would make roughly the same amount of dough in the new CBA, and for Boston, it would bring some added toughness, and a great role player. I am getting off the ice now, before I kill myself.

OK fight fans. Here is your shot. If I were running a TV network, I would demand production start immediately on a reality TV show featuring Providence Bruin Brendan Walsh. I mean right now. Brendan is always on. On the ice he is always chirping. He is a master of getting under everyone’s skin. Like an annoying gnat at a Summer BBQ, there is Brendan Walsh. So, here is you chance….let’s do this thing MTV Real World Style.

Pick Seven enforcers to live in a house, to find out what happens where people stop being polite, and start being real. I think I may have just infringed on about 87 copyrights just then but I couldn’t resist. Here are my seven. Brendan Walsh: Walshy is the focus of the show. If only because you know the other six guys in the house would all fight him at one point. Dennis Bonvie: He represents the Old Guard. Plus he is as funny as Walshy, and would probably bundle Walshy for stealing the spotlight. Trevor Gillies, and Jeremy Yablonski: These two guys are best friends, and had one of the fights of the year two seasons ago when Trevor was with Lowell, and Yabo was with Worcester. (Did anyone see that by the way? I was drinking at the Applebee’s across the street, and managed to miss the whole first period. I heard it was awesome. Stupid alcohol. )

Cam Jannsen: Young up and comer. Would want to fight everyone. Lyndon Byers: You have to have a fall down drunk in the house. Hopefully viewers would be treated to a Vern Troyer like episode like on the Surreal Life. What? Surreal Life is cool. Brian McGratton: Hopefully Bonvie would be so pissed about McGratton breaking his single season penalty record; he’d try to fight him every day. So there it is. The cast of Tough Guys. Help me out with this one fight fans…let’s see some lists.

I was talking the other day with some friends about guys that are down in the AHL, that don’t want to fight because, as they say, it’s just the American League. The latest example is Lowell Lockmonster Gordie Dwyer. I asked him why he hasn’t been fighting as much this season, and he told me flat out, because it’s only the American League. I can see his point this year a little bit, because there is no call up coming, what with the lockout on and all, but this isn’t the first time I have heard of, or seen an enforcer unwilling to drop em down in the A.

I would think if you have been in the show, been a tough guy in the show, part of the reason you got there, is your pugilistic skills. I would think having had a taste of the NHL; you’d do anything possible to get back there. Do these guys not want to fight because they want to work on their game to play their way back into the show? Wouldn’t you think part of staying sharp would be to keep the fighting skills sharp? I think beating up some up and comer in the A would be just what the Doctor ordered to get some confidence, and keep the skills sharp. Gordie has been very quiet this year. Aside from a fight with Brendan Walsh early on, and a couple of scraps against Joe Rullier, and JF Soucy of Springfield, we haven’t seen much of him. The fight he was in weren’t even that memorable.

I have seen him go in the NHL. He had a pretty memorable fight with Darcy Hordichuk a year or so ago. It was memorable because Darcy beat him like a red headed step child. Is he any good? The Lowell fans are starved for an enforcer. Gordie can be it. Someone needs to sneak in the dressing room, and remove the tie downs on the gloves.

Me and you. We’re gonna go. Welcome to the Goon Blog.

I have been thinking of doing something like this for quite some time. I love hockey, and I love hockey fights. This is going to be an open forum to talk about fights, enforcers, and general toughguy happenings. In its infancy, it will probably be my observations and the odd snickerings of my fight fan friends. I would like to take it to a point where it is a place for everything goons and goonettes are looking for in a fight-related site.

So, ideas are welcome. Feel free to email me at any time with questions, comments and suggestions. So welcome, sit back, put on the foil and look around, if you want to drop the mitts and have a go, feel free to make any comments. Thanks for checking us out here at www.goonblog.com! Give ‘er!