I was in New York all week for business, and had intended to write something on the train home. Well, I didn’t. I watched the almighty movie Goon instead (it had been a long time – what a straight classic). Then people started emailing me and stuff, so I had to like, do my job. I found it incredibly rude, to be honest.
So here I am on a rainy Saturday going back over some fights from the week and thinking about the definitive list of hockey movies that The Ref owes us. He’s been working on this list since before Guns ‘N Roses started Chinese Democracy. He’s been working on this list since before movies were called “talkies”. He’s been working on this list for a long time, is the point. Anyway, he probably gets the message, so back to my prolific contributions instead: while looking at the week’s fights, I’m beginning to notice a trend.
If we aren’t careful, this page is going to wind up being a Xhekaj brothers fan page. A ways below we have Florian “Flo Rida” Xhekaj of the Brantford Bulldogs slugging it out with Sawyer Boulton of the London Knights. Florian, you may remember, was the subject of last week’s post regarding a brawl at the end of the Brantford and Peterborough game. He is also in need of a nickname, so I’m giving Flo Rida a try. But first, let’s talk about Boulton the younger.
Son of Boulton
If you’re seeing the name Boulton and wondering if Sawyer is the son of Goonblog favorite Eric Boulton like I was, well you’d be correct. The newly signed Sawyer joined brother Ryder on the London Knights roster on October 12th and 6 days later he’s looking to make his mark.
Sawyer Boulton appears to be a chip off the old block. Just look at the kid’s knuckles while signing his contract the other day in this photo from CHL.ca. He started the season with the Rochester Jr. Americans and in 10 games with the club racked up 49 PIMS. He’s played 4 games with London, and already has 7 PIMS. In 30 games in the NAHL last season he had 110 PIM in 30 games. He’s weighing in at 6 feet and 209 pounds. I guess what I’m trying to say is: it probably isn’t a good idea to make this kid angry.
Back to the scrap in question. Boulton and Xhekaj get together at the end of the first. Florian, the younger brother of Arber “WiFi” Xhekaj and property of Montreal, stands at 6’2” and weighs 174 pounds. He’s got a slight disadvantage in weight, while maintaining a slight height skew. All in all, these guys are evenly matched.
Sawyer Boulton vs. Florian Xhekaj
These two are jawing at one another from the conclusion of the previous play all the way up to the next faceoff. I’m not sure what was being said, but it probably has something to do with, “we’re gonna go” and so forth and whatnot. The color commentator initially seems upset they aren’t going to fight. So I have to question whether he was really watching these two chirp or adjusting his fly. Because it was pretty obvious to everyone else what was about to happen.
When the puck drops, Flo Rida gets the early advantage on Boulton, landing two really hard right hands. Boulton comes right back with some heavy rights of his own, and then it’s rock em sock em time. Both trade rights, and Sawyer Boulton scores a hard uppercut in there as well. It looks like Boulton uses the aforementioned weight advantage to get Xhekaj off balance, then gives him a couple to the license plate while off balance.
Eventually the linesmen separate the two, and the jawing continues. A lot of times when there’s a big tilt like this, the boys will have legitimate pleasantries for each other. “Hey, thanks for the fight,” or “Good scrap, buddy” – you know, respect among warriors. Not these two. They seem to be quite furious with each other. I don’t know if there’s a back story, but you can bet we’ll be keeping tabs on it.
I’ve been noticing in these early season fights that there seems to be a lot less technique, and a return to the all fists blazing days of yore. I am personally all for it, because we at Goonblog love seeing guys stand in there old time while giving and getting punches. The grappling technique, while interesting in a technical sense, is all about catching a guy exposed. The rock em sock em is more who can outlast the other guy in terms of brutality absorption. There is definitely an art to both. Rock em sock em may seem like it’s two guys just chucking fists at one another, but you will see guys, that can go with both arms, change from dominant hand to the other mid fight in an effort to come in at another angle. Or, in this case, Boulton uses his weight advantage to slow down the proceedings to try and get an advantage. Whatever they’re doing, I like this return to the old school approach, and hope to see more of it!