Atlanta Thrashers

It’s been a big hockey weekend so far. Last night Milan Lucic and I watched the Bruins game, and some of the Calgary game. Then Milan woke up at 7 AM, so I took her out for a walk (she was super good by the way) and came in the house to find Youngblood on On Demand. It had been years since I’d seen it, and as I was telling Dean Youngblood’s skating was done by Peter Zezel, and why we hated him, I did my normal morning routine of looking at box scores. I was pretty happy to see two Old Time Hockey games last night in the NHL. The beloved Bruins and Thrashers had 4 fights in the 7-3 Boston win. What makes this all the more interesting is these two teams face off again tonight at The Garden. It started about 3 minutes in last night in Atlanta. Eric Boulton and Shawn Thornton got into it after the Bruins went up 1-0. They were talking about it off the opening draw but decided against it. After the early lead taken by the Bruins, Thornton obliged Boulton’s request to have a go. It was a pretty good scrap that I score as a draw. Boulton fought again later in the game, and I score it a win for Boston’s Milan Lucic. Zdeno Chara’s fight was fairly lame that I guess was a draw, although I am not 100% sure any punches were thrown. It was more of a wrestling match, and obviously Jack Edwards mentioned Z’s dad was a former wrestler. He’s the biggest homer ever, and I love it. The fourth fight was Shawn Thornton again having a go with Atlanta’s hulking Boris Valabik. Looking at the tale of the tape on this fight, Thornton has to get credit for giving up the huge size advantage to the massive Valabik. I was quite impressed with the big Slovak. He handled Thornton nicely, and it was a clear win for him. Not to be outdone on the score sheet, New Jersey and the New York Rangers had a slug fest at the Rock last night. They had 4 dust ups themselves, across all weight classes. Round one was the heavyweight division with Colton Orr and Mike Rupp getting into it. I liked this fight, and I score it a win for Rupp. He threw and landed more than Orr did. The next fight was in the light heavyweight division featuring two former Lowell Devils teammates in New Jersey’s David Clarkson, and the Rangers Aaron Voros. This could be the fight of the night. A lot of punches trade by each guy. I score it a draw, but nominate it for fight of the night. Next up we have Travis Zajac getting fed 3 hard rights from Dan Girardi after Girardi leveled him. High marks to Zajac for standing up for himself. Quick tip: Let someone else do your dirty work. Yikes that was ugly. The final tilt was Jamie Langenbrunner of New Jersey against Ryan Callahan. Not a bad scrap that I score a win for Callahan. He threw and landed more. So, we had two games, and 8 fights between them. These are classic examples of why I love fighting. Look at the Bruins and Atlanta first. There isn’t much of a rivalry there, and why would there be? They are not in the same division, and haven’t ever had a reason to dislike each otheruntil maybe last night. The Thrashers were sending a message to Boston: you may be beating us on the ice, but we are not taking it lying down. I love games like that, and it’s a big reason why I love fighting in hockey. I would not be surprised if these two have a fight off the hop in the Garden tonight. Then there are the Devils, and Rangers. This is a classic natural rivalry game that got out of hand on the scoreboard, and frustrations were reflected on the penalty sheet. These two clubs don’t like each other, and when the score gets out of hand, this kind of thing happens. I for one love it, and it’s what makes hockey so unique. What happens in other sports when the score gets high? They can either let up on each other, or run up the score. In hockey, you have the element of having to stand up for winning or losing. The mentality being, we are beating you on the scoreboard, now I’m sending you a message that we can beat you physically too. Or, ok, you are winning on the scoreboard, but I am not going down without a fight. It’s a factor that makes hockey unique, and probably the least understood part of the game for non fans. Last night’s games are what we fans talk about when we say Old Time Hockey and I loved every second of it. So did Milan Lucic the dog. Here’s hoping Atlanta hasn’t forgotten last night yet, and will be looking to settle a score early tonight, and here’s hoping Boston is ready for it.