During our last podcast we asked you to contribute entries heralding your favorite hockey thug of all time. Response has been great, although there is still room for more entries. We’ll be posting the best and holding a vote so that our readers can eventually pick the winner. Here is the second - Todd St. Louis’ take on Marty McSorley:

Back in the 94-95 hockey season I was playing with the Belleville Bulls. That year was the first NHL lockout and a few former Bulls came and skated with us to keep in shape. One of those guys also gets my vote for best goon of all time - Marty McSorley.

My time skating with Marty was a very educational period in my hockey career. Not only did these guys practice with us, but they gave us advice off the ice as well. Marty could quickly tell my role on the team, and bestowed more than a few hockey fight tips to my waiting ears. The one I remember the best is when Marty told me “Every time you throw a punch, visualize your fist coming through the back of that person’s skull.” So every time over the years when i dropped the gloves, Marty’s little school of fighting would echo in my head. So I suppose I owe him a vote of thanks for all the punches i landed over the years!

Also check out Bobsluggo’s tough-to-beat entry for Dennis Bonvie and then submit your own!

I have been looking for Gordie all year, and I fucking found him.
Looks like his career lives on with that waste of a first rounder, Nikos Tselios. I don’t speak Swedish or whatever, so I have no idea what this says. I can gather that Wendel Clark is Gordie’s favorite player. Good to know. Good luck Gordie. Bring me back some meatballs eh?

Trevor. Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a kid? I was at the Devils game in Lowell this past snowy Friday night. Since the game was boring as hell, I was watching Trevor Gillies for most of the third period. My friend Bekah says I am obsessed. Well, no more than she is obsessed with Mr. Kitty. At any rate, I noticed a few things.

The first thing I noticed is Mr. Gillies has fallen a long way from the guy that was wearing an A on his chest last season. Every shift he took, which wasn’t many, Coach Dineen was all over him upon his return to the bench. Coach is all over this guy.

Secondly, he is like a Pee Wee on the bench. No kidding. For most of the Third Period, which was tied by the way, Trevor was fooling around with his helmet, elbowing the guy next to him, punching the same guy in the gut, and pushing his helmet forward. I couldn’t believe I was watching a Professional do that sort of thing on the bench. Maybe he’s just really bored, but it was strange to see a pro do it. Trevor also seemed to be pretty chummy with Mike Hoffman, a guy he has fought a zillion times this season. Anyway, you really had to see what Gillies was doing on the bench t believe it. I really was amazed. If he can’t figure out why he’s in Dineen’s dog house, this may be a big reason why.

This past Tuesday night, Dallas Stars Center Mike Modano became the second US born player in the NHL to score 500 career goals. Joe Mullen was the first and is currently 37th all time with 502 goals with Modano sitting in 38th place tied with Lanny “Mustache” McDonald. Modano was the first overall pick in the 1988 NHL draft by the then Minnesota North Stars. In 1993 the Stars moved from Minnesota to Dallas.

I know you are all thinking: “Enough with the history lesson and the stats Killer, can you write something entertaining?” Settle down GoonBlog fans I’m getting there.

During Modano’s first year in the show, he swung into the old Garden for a tilt against the B’s. My dad thought it would be a good idea for me to catch the game in person and ordered me up a few seats compliments of Whacky Hacky. For those of you that know the Hack, he always had great seats. So me and a few buddies headed on in, not having a clue how entertaining this game would actually be.

We were all under age at that time so there was no pre-game boozing it up at the Four’s or any other watering hole. But of course, we did have a case of Bud for the ride in compliments of my sis who always looked after little brother! We ended up arriving in plenty of time to tailgate in the garage across the street. A few laughs were shared amongst the group and even a piss or 3 behind the pickup truck parked next to us. Back in the day, I think my limit was about 4-5 beers before I got a little sloppy so I was feeling good!

We arrive in the Garden and check our tickets. Hot damn, wouldn’t ya know it, Whacky Hacky has us 5 rows behind the Bruins penalty box! We toss down a couple dogs and make our way to the seats. Modano clearly stood out with his lanky frame and flowing locks. Mullets were the in fashion hair do back then, I should know, I had one. His second shift of the game produces the first “wow, what a fucking move” comment from me. He flies down the right wing with the puck, cuts back into the middle and riffles a shot up an over the shoulder of Reggie Lemelin. Poor Reggie didn’t stand a chance. Modano notched his second of the game with about 3 minutes to go in the first on a power play. I forgot who passed him the puck, but he was wide open across the cage on a great back door cut to the net. That put the score at Minnesota 3 and Boston 0. Sensing this game was about to be a blow out, I got a feeling something was about to happen.

The fun began when Basil McRae and Lyndon Byers, better known around Boston as LB, touched the ice following Modano’s second goal. I swear the puck hadn’t even left the refs hands on the face off drop and those two had their gloves off. Wammo Kablamo they were pounding away at each other. Pretty solid fight with LB getting the edge on the take down. With our seats being directly behind the B’s penalty box, I was front and center to the trash talk that ensued while those 2 combatants were ushered into there respective sin bin. The play on the ice continued and so did the yapping back and forth between LB and McRae, most of it can’t even be repeated on this site! With less than 30 seconds to go in the period, another skirmish ensued in front of Reggie. No fights but the typical pushing and shoving that occur after a save.

While the refs were busy tending to that, LB & Basil were ready for round 2. I think Basil was a little ticked off from the fight and felt he had some leftover business to tend to. LB places one leg over the boards in a symbol of ok let’s go, I am ready for round 2. Basil kept yapping with no movement so LB placed the other leg over. Now we all know if LB leaves the penalty box back onto the ice surface he is a goner. Think he gave a shit? He and Cam were probably gonna get all banged up after the game and the tab was going to # 8 not # 34. Sure enough, LB makes the move and lands on the ice. Basil, never being one that backed down from a challenge, tossed his gloves and leaped over onto the ice. The Garden explodes in cheers as these two get set for round 2. An even better fight this time with both guys landing some serious bombs. Of course once the refs broke it up, both LB and Basil were shown the gate for the rest of the game.

Modano ended up getting the hat trick in the third period and the North Stars got the W: 6-3. All in all, a very entertaining game with some great goals and even better brawls. Mike, hats off to you for your 500th goal. You will go down as one of the best US born players ever to lace em up in the NHL. I’ll never forget that night in 1989 when you announced yourself to B’s fans as the real deal. I wish you continued success in your career but keep in mind, I really enjoyed the Basil vs. LB brawls way more than your Hat Trick.

I can not fucking believe the Bruins took another too many men on the ice penalty today. Again, while on the Power Play. If this isn’t the most poorly coached team in the NHL, then I don’t know what is.

At any rate. Here is a snap shot of my week last week.

Monday: Work. Outback Steakhouse. Reno 911 Movie. Home.

Tuesday: Work. Quick one at 99 that turned into 5. Home.

Wednesday: Work. Lowell Devils vs. Albany River Rats. Home.

Thursday: Work. Bruins vs. Wild, left at the end of the second because I was so fucking bored. Went to the Fours watched Simon’s tomahawk chop on Hollweg. Home. Poured MOL into bed.

Friday: Work. Quick three at the 99, then the Woo Sharks vs. Hartford, Papa Razzi, Home.

Big whoop. We are all busy. Point I am making is it was a very busy week for me, but it was equally busy for controversy in the NHL. That, ladies and gentlemen, is called a segue.

It actually started last Friday night. For those of you under a rock or without Youtube, New Jersey forward Cam Janssen was suspended three games for hitting Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle in what the NHL deemed an illegal way. I have seen the hit a zillion times, and I think it was three things.

1. It was very late. Kaberle was admiring his pass and Janssen in on the forecheck had plenty of time to turn back up ice. Instead he drilled Kaberle, who wasn’t even looking at him.
2. It was totally unnecessary. I understand Janssen’s role, and what he was trying to do, but he could have really hurt Kaberle, and it didn’t need to be done.
3. It was dirty. Again, I understand what he’s trying to do, but to drill a guy that is prone like that isn’t the way to do it. You want to stir it up, go hit a guy fair and square. Doing what he did perpetuations the notion of hockey and enforcers being barbaric.

What I found most shocking at the time of Janssen’s hit was the half hearted response by the Leafs. Only Travis Green did anything on the ice, and it didn’t look like his heart was really in it. I was reading in the book I have about Bobby Orr, Searching for Bobby Orr, about an incident in Boston many moons ago. Basically Bobby was clipped in the face accidentally by a Maple Leaf, and it started a brawl on the ice, and a near riot in the Boston Garden. After I thought about it for a couple of days, the shock really wore off. This is the new NHL people. There is no emotion in an 82 game exhibition season. I do have March 30th circled on my calendar though, as the Devils and Leafs play each other and there should be some fireworks. Having said that, see the above sentence about the new NHL and most likely nothing will happen.

The second incident was far more fiendish, and sinister carried out by Islander forward Chris Simon. For those of you emerging from a coma, first off welcome back and secondly I will recap. Chris Simon, after being drilled from behind by Ranger forward and super pest Ryan Hollweg, picked himself up off the ice. As Hollweg was coming back at him because the puck was in Simon’s area instead of Simon dropping the mitts and taking Hollweg on one on one, he went crazy for a second, and chopped Hollweg in the jaw with his stick. You no do that. Never never. MOL and I watched it at the Fours after leaving the most boring Bruins game ever. The Simon slash was one of those incidents where the whole bar saw it, and yelled out loud.

I understand what happened here. Simon lost control of his emotions for a second, and instead of doing what he should have done, i.e. drop the buckets and whale on Hollweg, he did something really stupid. I am in no way condoning what Simon did, in fact, quite the opposite. Hockey is an emotional game, and you need to try your best to harness that emotion in the right way. I am sure there isn’t a single guy that has played against Hollweg that hasn’t wanted to chop him in the face with their stick. His job is to be a pest, and he does it well. Having said that, Simon should never, ever have done what he did. I am sure he is very sorry about it, and wishes he could take it back, but that is no excuse. You have to respect the other players out there, even if you want to smash them to death with your stick. You just don’t do what Simon did, and I think the NHL did exactly what they needed to do in suspending him for 25 games.

There is a place for fighting in the NHL, and the stick work shown by Simon is a big reason why. He should have challenged Hollweg to a fight if he felt wronged. People that are against fighting should get used to seeing a guy getting chopped in the face like Hollweg was, because if and when it is regulated out of the game, it is going to be happening all the time.

As you guys all know, I think Rob Simpson is a goof. He must have nude pictures of someone somewhere, because he comes off like a total numnut on his in game reports on NESN. As such, I have never really paid much attention to his Rubber Biscuit show, also on NESN. I figure the 15 minutes a week I get of him on Bruins games is enough. However, when I heard that last weeks show was going to be about fighting, obviously I was firing up the DVR, and watching the show. I am glad I did.

For those not in the know, Rubber Biscuit is a half hour program on NESN. Basically what I can gather is it is a wacky behind the scenes look at the Bruins, both on the ice and off. Sounds like Simpson being Simpson, so I have basically avoided the whole thing. The fighting episode was perhaps the finest half hour in television history.

Basically, Rubber Biscuit takes the same stance Goonblog does on fighting, and fighting’s place is the game today. They also mixed in some awesome fight clips, and some quick interviews with Bruins legends, Ray Bourque, Jay Miller, Derek “Turk” Sanderson, Terry O’Reilly, and number 8, Cam Neely.

There was a common thread with all the interviews. Miller said he fought because he was a local kid and he felt like he was defending the honor of Boston, also, it was the only way he could stay in the show. O’Reilly said that back in his day, fighting was so common, and luckily for him it was, because it was, like Miller, the only way he could stay. Turk said the same thing. “Even Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque fought.” Said Sanderson. Bourque and Neely both said they did it when they had to. Neely as a product of his rough and tumble style, Bourque, to defend a teammate or retribution on a person that had taken some liberties with the interpretation of the rules.

What Rubber Biscuit said about fighting itself is there is a place in the game for it, in fact, a very big place. They looked at why the NHL in legislating fighting out, and the repercussion to the fans. Stating that people that aren’t watching the NHL now are never going to watch the NHL, no matter what kind of marketing they do. It made me think of basketball. No matter what the NBA does, I am never watching. I understand it is Sales, and Marketing 101, you need to grow the business through advertising, but if you change the product enough, you’ll drive away the existing customer base. See the drop in attendance as an example.

The show also examined the instigator rule. Paul Mara had said he wanted to do something about the cheap shot laid on a mate in Buffalo, but didn’t because he was afraid of getting his third instigator, and thus suspended for two games. It has always been my stance that without the instigator rule, the Todd Bertuzzi incident never happens.

All in all it was a fine program. This league is in deep trouble folks. The regular season has turned into a very long exhibition schedule, with no emotion or meaning to most of the games. Attendance is way down because North American hockey fans prefer North American hockey, not the Swedish Elite League. Rubber Biscuit really nailed the role of fighting in the NHL, and I suggest you catch it if you can