Fighting in Ice Hockey - Notable Fights and Brawls

Notable Fights and Brawls

Some fights have attracted significant media attention due to injuries sustained by one or both participants and other factors.

• World Hockey Association Birmingham Bulls enforcer Dave Hanson, known for his 11-year professional career and role in the movie Slap Shot, fought hall of famer Bobby Hull of the Winnipeg Jets and in the process got Hull's wig caught in his knuckles. The incident landed Hanson in the news, and irate Winnipeg fans attempted to assault him on his way out of the arena.
• On December 23, 1979 at the end of a 4-3 Boston Bruins victory over the New York Rangers, an altercation led to most of the Bruins scaling the plexiglass and fighting several fans at Madison Square Garden. Terry O'Reilly, Mike Milbury, and Peter McNab were fined and suspended several games. The incident led to higher plexiglass in the arena, and has entered sports lore.
• In an NHL preseason game between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues on September 21, 1969, Bruins defenseman Ted Green and Blues left wing Wayne Maki, attacking Green, engaged in a bloody stick-swinging fight that resulted in Green sustaining a skull fracture and brain damage, forcing him to miss the entirety of the 1969–70 NHL season, with Maki emerging uninjured. As a result of the fight, Green would play for the remaining nine years of his professional career with a pioneering variety of hockey helmet in both the NHL and WHA.
• April 20, 1984 – A bench-clearing brawl broke out at the end of the second period of a second-round playoffs matchup between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens, after many smaller-scaled battles had occurred throughout the game. A second bench-clearing brawl erupted before the third period began, provoked by the announcement of penalties; a total of 252 penalty minutes were incurred and 10 players were ejected. This game prompted referee Bruce Hood to retire from the NHL once the playoffs ended, and is commonly referred to as the Good Friday Massacre.
• January 4, 1987 – The Punch-up in Piestany: A World Junior Ice Hockey Championships game between Canada and the Soviet Union was the scene of a bench-clearing brawl that lasted 20 minutes and prompted officials to turn off the arena lights in an attempt to stop it, forcing the IIHF to declare the game null and void. The fighting was particularly dangerous as fighting was a surprise and a custom unknown to the Soviet players, some of whom escalated the fighting beyond what was considered acceptable in North America. Both teams were ejected from the tournament, costing Canada an assured medal, and the Soviet team were barred from the end-of-tournament dinner. A book by Gare Joyce was written regarding the event.
• March 26, 1997, Brawl in Hockeytown – The Avalanche and the Red Wings engaged in nine fights, including bouts between Darren McCarty and Claude Lemieux and goalies Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon.
• February 9, 2001 – A game between the Nottingham Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers in the British Superleague saw "one of the worst scenes of violence seen at a British ice hockey rink". When Sheffield enforcer Dennis Vial crosschecked Nottingham forward Greg Hadden, Panthers enforcer Barry Nieckar subsequently fought with Vial which eventually escalated into a 36 man bench-clearing brawl. Referee Moray Hanson sent both teams to their locker rooms and delay the game for 45 minutes while tempers cooled and the officials sorted out the penalties. Eight players and both coaches were ejected, and a British record total of 404 penalty minutes were incurred during the second period. The League handed out 30 games in suspensions to four players and Steelers coach Mike Blaisdell and a total of £8,400 in fines.
• March 5, 2004 – A Philadelphia Flyers – Ottawa Senators game resulted in five consecutive brawls in the closing minutes of the game, including fights between many players who are not known as enforcers and a fight between Flyers goalie Robert Esche and Senators goalie Patrick Lalime. The game ended with an NHL record 419 penalty minutes, and an NHL record 20 players were ejected, leaving five players on the team benches. The officials took 90 minutes to sort out the penalties that each team had received.
• January 9, 2010 – In a Kontinental Hockey League game between Vityaz Chekhov and Avangard Omsk, a bench-clearing brawl broke out in the 4th minute of the first period, and a bench- and penalty-box clearing brawl broke out 39 seconds later, forcing officials to abandon the game as there were only four players left. 33 players and both team's coaches were ejected, and a world record total of 707 penalty minutes were incurred during the game. The KHL imposed fines totaling 5.7 million rubles ($191,000), suspended seven players, and counted the game as a 5–0 defeat for both teams, with no points being awarded.