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Tkachuk vs kassian is what it looks like when someone backs down. search "GOTTA SEE IT: Zack Kassian Ragdolls Matthew Tkachuk After Taking Multiple Massive Hits". In the clip, it's a game of two rival teams who play out of the same province. Tkachuk lands a big questionably clean hit but then refuses to answer the bell to fight Kassian
Marchand is the worst. Good Friday brawl, most watch. It's not that the referee don't do their job, but that sports is so fast, it's hard to see everything that's going on. They're standing on razor blade, going a 40mph. Snapping piece of frozen rubber at speed close to100mph.
Enforcers aren’t very common anymore because really every player on a team seriously needs to be capable, all 20 players need to be capable of contributing beyond just policing
@@rk74194 There are guys that are known to stand up for their teammates, but most of those are also skilled, like Wayne Simmons. (I know - he's older now and not as able to score, but dude was seriously good at playing AND fighting). In the old days (pre-93 or so) there were far more players on teams that were ONLY there to fight when needed.
@@cjg2k I know the role has changed and every player has to be skilled now days! But there are still players that intimidate, fight and score sometimes like Wilson, Reeves, Xhekaj, Lucic. I agree with you though most of the time it is guys sticking up for their teammates, players like Tkachuk, and others!
The NCAA HEAVILY punishes fights in college hockey (multiple game suspensions for instigators, game misconducts, etc.) but there is such a fighting culture that the right kind of rivals still do it every single time. As the old saying goes, "I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out."
Bench-clearing brawls happened more in the 70's and 80's. Even then they were rare, but they still happened. Around the 90's the NHL started cracking down on BCB's, so they really are a thing of the past. There is a great video somewhere out on UA-cam of great "vintage" fights. The best one happened in the late 70's. This was back in the days when the glass was shorter than it is now. Anyway, a player for the Boston Bruins took exception to some trash taking by a fan and actually CLIMBED OVER THE GLASS from the ice and started fighting with the fan in the seats!
@@ronaldnixon8226 If regards to going into the stands, do you perhaps mean the 1979 game between the Bruins & Rangers? If so, a couple technical points. That game was actually in New York at Madison Square Garden. When the Bruins went into the stands to fight the fans, my memory recalls Security & Ushers trying to intervene as much as they could, but I'm not sure if I remember seeing NYPD present. I could be wrong. Unless your referring to an entirely separate game or incident at Boston Garden?
The rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche along with the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens are the most epic rivalries (alot of games happen in the playoffs as well so you know the level of competition is waaaaaay higher)
Agreed. If you want to see one of the most famous mob brawls check out Fight Night at the Joe between Detroit and Colorado, but watch the longer version that gives you the history behind it.
Montreal/Quebec was the biggest rivalry in Hockey, it made Detroit/Colorado look like a scrum. Also Toronto and Ottawa used to have full bench clearing brawls.
Oilers-Flames is a wild rivalry as well. Can't compare to the Bruins/Habs just based on how long it's been going on. There is no rivalry between the Wings/Avs these days. It was intense for about 5 years and that's it.
There was a game a few years ago when both teams sent out their third line to start the game, and it immediately turned in to a Line Brawl (all ten skaters fighting each other) both coaches later admitted they did that on purpose because the lines had challenged one another to a fight during the opening skate.
I doubt that's only happened once. It wasn't quite as extreme as that, but just a few days ago the Bruins and Lightning both started their fourth lines and two fights broke out immediately.
Imagine it this way, if this “code” was implemented in European football, you would rapidly see embellishment of fouls decrease as the “enforcers” would just punch them in the face a couple times. and yea they might get a red for that, but that player may think twice before diving again to get an advantage
If you do any embelishment (ie. soccer players) in hockey, you will get your lights punched out and your teammates will hate you as this is considered shameful behavior. I can't watch soccer for this reason, a lot of Canadians consider that sport to be for girls and sissy boys.
I love the narrator covering this like it's a nature documentary, it's exquisitely British lol. The enforcer/goon era is now a relic of the past but much of the traditions and codes are still relevant, especially when it comes to fighting. Any type of showboating or hotdogging will also put a target on your back and likely have swift consequences. Catch as much Playoff hockey as you can, it never disappoints!
A really good small fighter to take a look at is Rick Rypien. He used to play for the Vancouver Canucks before he tragically took his own life. At 5 foot 11 he would fight guys 6 foot 3 and taller and still kick their butt. Such an amazing small fighter. RIP Rick Rypien.
Rule 12 was broken by Buffalo against Ottawa in 2007. Ray Emery (RIP) for Ottawa was also into boxing so he didn't care and was smiling the whole time he fought Peters.
In order to deepen your understanding of hockey culture, I believe it’s time you gentlemen watch the movie “Slap Shot”. It was filmed in the late 1970’s. It started Paul Newman. It’s about a minor league team in a small rust belt city in the US. It’s a comedy, but, it actually does a great job of showing the culture of the sport. It’s one of the best movies of all time IMO.
Pretty good movie but not the best hockey movie, that would be Maurice Richard (or the rocket) - its like the hockey version of cindarella man. Also, slap shot doesn't explain hockey culture at all, Goon would be a better example.
Love watching this, I grew up playing hockey and never seen people talking about it in this perspective. BOYS great job keep giving us the sweet sauce top shelf. ❤ 🇨🇦
This is nuts! I remember a commercial from when I was a kid where there’s a hockey team posing for a photograph, and when the team smiles for the camera, they’re all missing teeth. Now I know why. 😂
The lack of teeth is also because checks, pucks to the face, and such. Not just fights. Famously, Duncan Keith took a puck to the face in the middle of a playoff game, lost **10**!!!! teeth, and didn't miss a shift. He went to the dressing room, got the debris out of his mouth, and stuffed it with cotton gauze to control the bleeding while he was on the ice. (It was too important a game to sit out.) There's even a term for this - "Spittin' Chiclets". Hockey players are nuts - and I love it.
@@cjg2k Oh wow, yeah, a puck to the face could do some serious damage! I knew that happened too, but was focused on the fighting. There’s something so great about hockey. It seems so hard to be good at it. I am really looking forward to learning more about the rules and intricacies. “Spitting chiclets” is hilarious!
I've never seen true backing down from a fight, but I've definitely seen a couple of instances where someone was trying to throw down but the opposing player had no beef with the guy trying to fight and saw no reason for that guy to have a beef with him so he just skated away while the other guy dropped his gloves and tried to come after him. Per the code, the aggressor did not punch the guy skating away, but he tried SUPER hard to get him to throw down as well. Yeah, goalie fights are probably my favorites, there used to be some CRAZY ones back in the 80s. You'd probably have some fun watching a goalie fight compilation. No, bench-clearing brawls are strictly prohibited. They've instituted some serious penalties for leaving the bench during fights. You're also not allowed, in most leagues, to jump into a fight you weren't already a part of; that'll get you a more severe penalty. The leagues tacitly condone fighting but they have rules for anyone that turns a bad situation worse. Really the lack of control that the video suggests the leagues have is not necessarily accurate, especially any more. 13:40 THAT'S Tie Domi vs. Bob Probert. Should give you and idea of how nasty those two were. The pure enforcers that they describe, especially at the end of the video, aren't really a thing any more. There are players who play farther down the bench that are expected to be a bit tougher and jump into the enforcer role when needed but you still need to be a pretty good player, at least defensively, to make a team these days. Tom Wilson of the Capitals and Ryan Reaves now of the Wild, are great example of this. The absolute toughest guys on their teams but still pretty good players.
Thanks Kevin, great comment as always. Appreciate it! Ah I can’t believe I missed Tie Domi vs Probert!! I was looking out for Domi (when I hit rewind and apologised it was because I thought I’d seen Domi). Was hard to stay focused on the names 😅
Never seen true backing down from a fight? Just look at anything Marchand does, his whole thing is being a little shit head and and then refusing to fight
The photo used for Rule #9 was Zack Kassian and Matt Tkachuk, Edmonton Oilers vs Calgary Flames. What a ruckus that caused in Edmonton. Local sports radio did up a song for about and it was very funny. It was a back to back home n home and the second game was the Rule #11 goalie fight game along with a Kassian/Tkachuk rematch. Tkachuk took his beating like a man this time. Very good rivalry.
I like how they used a video of Chara for rule 6 regarding size. That dude is over 7 feet tall on skates and is a Viking stuck in the wrong age of time. He's also a great defenceman with multiple Stanley cups.
As diehard Wings fan and someone who just found the channel (and subbed), I'm was excited to see you guys go over some NHL fights. There are some great videos on the Wings-Avs rivalry in the '90s-early '00s; it was probably the most intense professional sports rivalry of the era. I say pro sports because honestly no pro rivalries can hold a candle to college football rivalries. But man, that Wings-Avs saga was utterly epic. To this day if you ask Wings fans to name which players they hate the most, Claude Lemuix is going to be a name you hear a lot.
Believe it’s an automatic 10 game suspension if you leave the bench to join a fight. Happened during a brawl between the Penguins and Islanders some years back. A tough guy went after the pens goalie and the pens tough guy who was on the bench went on the ice to intervene and protect his goalie
I remember that game well. It had to do with something that sparked on the ice the previous game. Then they played a few days later and a brawl broke out.
In the old days, I started watching hockey around 1972, the bench could join in on the fight but they changed that rule decades ago. It's a lot stricter about the fighting in many ways than it was back then.
React to this next: ua-cam.com/video/YIzNQydkBi0/v-deo.html It's called the brawl in hockey town. From 1996-2002 the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche absolutely hated each other. One of the best rivalries in sports. To this day, as a Michigan native, I fucking hate the entire state of Colorado. It all starts with a cheap shot hit. And in the end, in the next 7 years the Wings or Avalanche combine for 6 Stanley Cups. It's the best combination of top tier hockey, top tier fighting, top tier rivalries, and "the brawl in hockey town" is a legendary moment in 1997 that will live in hockey infamy. You asked if there are bench clearing brawls in hockey? This is about as close to that as you'll get. Cheers boys
Goaltender Ron Hextall would fight the league, at the same time if they would let him. There is certainly a "vigilante" streak in American sports in general. There is always some kind of unwritten rule or code in American sports that are informally in control of player conduct.
You guys really, really need to watch a video about the Red Wings - Avalanche battle in 1997. It's legendary. They were the two best teams in the league at the time, and I have never seen anything like it, tons of fights, blood all over the ice, a goalie on goalie battle, I think 11 goals were scored total, everything about that game was amazing, well worth your time
Im loving your enthusiasm for learning about these sports, fellas! Please 🙏 watch anything about the rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche. As a 90's kid, this will stick with me forever
One of your final questions was a great one. If there’s a fight on the ice and a player leaves the bench to join any infraction, they’re automatically ejected from the game and receive a minimum 10 game suspension. It’s a HUGE price to pay so it rarely happens. There was a brawl between the Leafs and the Sabres 10 years ago where David Clarkson jumped off the bench to help in his first game and got suspended for the next 10. It’s a big no-no these days. Used to happen back in the day on occasion.
Fights usually are gentlemanly, you can tell when a fight is coming more often then not because the enforcer throws his gloves off, if you take yours off in return, then the fight is on.
I’d highly recommend watching “Alex ovechkins best hits and goals updated” he’s probably the best scorer in nhl history but also a complete wrecking ball. Nobody else is like him.
I loved how you guys paused the video and asked a question about something that was being answered right as you were asking it hahaha all you had to do was look at the screen and that question would have been answered. Also,bench clearing brawls used to be common back in the early days of the game but we're discontinued by the 90's and it will never happen in a modern day game.
The Goalie fighting situation actually came up very recently specifically because the officials prevented two of them from fighting. Marc-Andre Fleury, the Minnesota Wild netminder wanted to teach a lesson to Jordan Binnington, his counterpart on the St. Louis Blues & a frequent instigator, because no one else on the Wild was allowed to hit him back after his latest incident. Fleury even complained to the refs as they got in between them that, "If I don't teach him a lesson, who's going to?"
It's the "Emery Rule" - it's not written (like The Code) but there was an incident where Emery fought another goalie, and the other goalie got injured and was never the same again. These days, goalie fights are rare because of that. But for a good one, search for Hextall vs Potvin from the 90s
Ray Emery (god rest his soul) vs Andrew Peters. All time classic goalie vs player fight in an Ottawa vs Buffalo game. Ron Hextall was also known to fight players most notably Chris Chelios in a Philly vs Montreal game in the late 80s.
Way back in the "dark ages" of the 1970's, I had seasons tickets to a local Junior hockey team called The New Westminster Bruins. New Westminster is a city located a few kilometers from Vancouver BC. From 1975 to 1978, the Bruins won the league championship every year, then they went on the national championships against the winners of the Ontario Hockey Association and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. 4 years in a row the Bruins won their league championship then went on the Memorial Cup, the Canadian junior hockey national championships. They lost the first 2 times but then went on to win the Canadian major junior hockey leagues championship the next 2 years in a row. This was also during the "goon" years of hockey. In those years we saw hundreds of 1 on 1 fights, dozens of line brawls and at least 15 full on brawls with every player on the ice fighting. The most memorable brawl that I saw was the "Billings Brawl". It started with a line brawl which quickly degenerated into the most massive brawl I ever saw. In most brawls, you'll see a few fights and a whole lot of milling about, pushing and shoving and just hanging on to the other teams player. This one was different, pretty well every single player was fighting. It was epic. The next weekend we went over to Victoria on the ferry to watch the return match. It was a much tamer event. But, being 20 something years old, my friends and I looked forward to pub after the game as well.
My favorite quote that explains fighting in hockey perfectly is this: "...when two guys gets so pissed off at each other, maybe because one guy stuck a stick in his ribs, and then he finally says 'I've had enough' and wants the drop the gloves and break his nose... it makes guys think twice sometimes about taking liberties with other people if there's someone there that can come and settle things down." - Chris "Knuckles" Nilan
Great reaction, hockey is such a fun sport once you get into the details. Just like any sport. You guys mentioned Tie Domi he was a legend and just like you said he was short for NHL 5'8". But a monster, fearless and just a pure fighter. The stories he tells on the hockey podcast Spittin Chiclets are legendary. The fact that you stopped at a clip of Brad Marchand and went "That's the nastiest thing I've seen" made a few of us hockey fans grin, I am pretty sure. Hated by everyone who isn't a Bruins fan.
As an Oilers fan I heartily agree with you. Brad Marchand is the devil and I will hate him until he retires. Which is saying something because Zach Kassian, lol
bench clearing brawls are technically illegal, and they don't happen anymore. That being said they have happened, the most infamous being in international play (where fighting is actually illegal) in the 'Punch-up in Piestany'. One of the most out of control and wild sports moments ever
Back in the good old days, there were more frequent bench clearing brawls and they sometimes spilled over into the audience. In the late 70’s I was watching a Chicago game with a friend from Florida that had never seen hockey before and knew nothing of the “rules’ of fighting. When a fight broke out, I told him that, if the fight looked even, the refs would give the combatants a little time to continue fighting and wear themselves out and then break it up. In the game we were watching the fight turned into a bench clearing brawl that I took about 1/2 hour to get under control.
I think it's a unwritten rule in any fight that you don't run away but a couple days ago in the UFC, CJ Vergara ran his ass off. It looked a bit silly but if he didn't do it he would have most certainly been knocked out. He nearly got knocked out anyway, but running circles around the Octagon helped him clear his head, tired his opponent, and allowed him to make a remarkable comeback. Highlights which shows some of the running and the finish: ua-cam.com/video/cdBS962CLT8/v-deo.html
13:02 check out the brawl in hockey town (Detroit red wings vs Colorado Avalanche) back in March 1997 - they cleared that bench so quick 😂😂 It’s been nicknamed Bloody Wednesday. 9 fights, 11 goals, 39 penalties, 148 penalty minutes, 1 hat trick, 1 turtle, 2 stanley cup champion goalies going at it in overtime lmao
If you want to see a crazy bench clearing brawl, there's a video called the Punch-up in Piestany when Canada and the USSR faced off and beat the living daylights out of each other. It was bedlam.
If you want a deep dive into fighting in hockey check out the documentary Ice Guardians. Great film with interviews from current and retired enforces, goons, stars, fans, and coaches. Really goes into detail about the culture of hockey and fighting in the sport.
An infamous “back down from a fight” or “turtling” happened about 10 years ago with my team. Our tough as nails defenseman was not challenged to a fight (he didn’t shake the gloves off) and he was grabbed by an opposing player and immediately became a turtle. He could have fought but we were leading in the score and he realized it’s better to get a power play than lose their best defenseman.
There have been backdowns due to the player having an injured hand or something. A famous one was Justin Abdelkader backing down from a much larger Chara. Abby was definitely a fighter and a hitter. He backed down because he had an injured hand that had tape on it. If you drop your gloves in a fight and your hand(s) is taped you get another penalty and sometimes a match penalty which will remove you from the game and possibly the next game. The incident was in the playoffs (if I remember correctly).
I remember watching a game and i think it was Shawn Horcoff that accepted a fight, went to shake his glove off and his shoulder poped out. I think thats the only time i've seen something like that though.
@@tommcd8471 Yeah, I remember seeing a replay of that. Weird. With Abby though, he was more than willing, he just didn't want to take an additional penalty. It's a rule they put in because of guys like McCartey who would tape up their hands like a boxer because they were planning to fight. Abby had injured his hand fighting the previous game, I think it was, which precipitated Chara challenging him.
Most everything in this video still applies even if it’s a bit dated. The nhl specifically has changed a lot in recent years. But the unwritten rules still apply. Fighting is a necessary part of the game to keep it from getting out of control due to how dangerous it can be. Certain rules have changed like you have to keep your helmet on now, which is dumb but it’s a rule now. Goalie fights have actually been happening a lot lately in the league and they’re a lot of fun. But fights and the code will always have its place even if fighting is on the decline because of how fast and skilled the league is now.
@@derpderpin1568 The NHL created extra punishment for removing your helmet in a fight to discourage fighting. It had nothing to do with safety. Now, you will often see the fighters take each other's helmets off during a fight.
Bench clearing brawls used to happen but, now they have strict rules preventing it. A player who comes off the bench or a third-man joining a fight are both automatic suspensions.
Hockey is a man's sport. Quite often, you'll see players getting stitched up right on the bench so that they won't miss a shift. Note: Probably the best story in all of sports history happened in 1972 in a 8 game series between Canada and Russia's best hockey talent in the middle of the cold war. It was more than a sports series... it was war on ice. There's a few great documentaries about it. It's often referred to as "Summit '72".
At the end of the day, the code exists to prevent players from running around and doing stupid stuff. It’s for the protection of everyone playing. The majority of players want a physical game but nobody ever wants to be injured horribly. The code helps prevent this.
Here's a great example of a game where the code was not followed. Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Islanders, 2011. Previous game between the two the Penguins had laid some questionable hits that were not called penalties by the refs. The Islanders responded in this game and things got extremely out of hand. 65 penalties were assessed that night for a grand total of 346 penalty minutes (and no, that's not even close to the record). 15 of those penalties were for fighting, and 21 players were kicked out of the game.
10:41 . This goalie fight was amazing. Season prior both goaltenders where playing for opposing teams, they got traded in the off season….. this is also the Battle of Alberta, 2 teams from same province in Canada…. Most or all games are entertaining. I recommend watching Battle of Alberta recent playoffs
There is a video about the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche. The fight takes place right at the beginning of the period, for something that happened to a star from the game before. It is epic
12:55 check out “The Battle Of Lower Parliament Street”. It’s a bench clearance in the EIHL Nottingham Panthers Vs Sheffield Steelers. If you check out the one from “Hockey Fight UK”, you will be able to hear audio from players that were involved in the game talking about it.
Former NHL player, coach, scout and sportscaster Don Cherry has talked about "The Code". (He believes in it and understands it intimately, because he was a bit of a tough guy.)
There are people that back down from fights all the time. Rookies getting bullied, stars that are getting instigated but strategically they can't fight because they are needed to score, the guy just isn't a fighter and getting him to fight is damn near impossible. Sometimes they just move on and game play continues. Other option is someone else will fight in their place.
@LynnMeger-gb4eo "after" was never mentioned. I see your point though and that makes sense, but they did word of vaguely. They just asked if anyone has backed down
Goalie fights have specific rules. If a brawl is happening, usually one goalie will skate to the middle of the ice, when he does so the other goalie will meet him there and they'll tussle. If the goalie crosses the center line he can get a penalty, now this penalty is waved IF the opposing goalie is assisting his teammates in a brawl at the other end, then the goalie can come all the way down the ice. Players who challenge goalies are usually talked poorly about, unless that goalie was Ron Hextall, then that player was a brave S.O.B because that goalie was crazy. Another goalie, Ray Emery, was an ex boxer and had a fight with a player, yes they are at a significant disadvantage due to the extra padding and less range of motion, but he did pretty well.
It's also worth noting that most of the great fighters in the leagues history came from small working class Canadian towns, and a lot from mining towns.
Yeah Hockey! Loved that video. Yes, I have seen many bench clearing brawls, but it is rare today. Ive seen bench clearers before the opening face-off. My favorite fighter was John Ferguson of the Montreal Canadiens. I'm not a Canadians fan but back when I was like 10, he was destroying people. Few players would go with Gordie Howe either. He was a star player who could fight. Thanks for the Hockey!
Bench clearing brawls won't happen today because any player that steps off the bench, and onto the ice, receives an automatic 10 game suspension. David Clarkson did this a few years back during an exhibition game, and was immediately suspended. If the benches cleared, both teams would be without every player on the ice for 1/8th of the season.
Tie domi is awesome but Wendel Clark from the Toronto maple leafs is a legend. 165 lb and took on probert multiple times and he could put the puck in the net. Best game I ever saw. He scored a Hattrick and assist and won one or two fights.
Cheers from Canada. There's an ESPN documentary Unrivaled about the Detroit Colorado rivalry. If you can find it, it would answer most, if not all of your questions. I also recommend Montreal Quebec from the 1984 playoffs. Quebec relocated to Colorado a few years later. 1987 Canada Russia at the world juniors in Czechoslovakia. Canada was headed for gold, Russia was crap. Not wanting to see Canada win, Russia started to play chippy. Canada wrote the unwritten code. Both teams were disqualified. Anything from the Flyers of the '70s, known as the broad street bullies.
Canada and Russia played a World Junior Tournament final game where both benches cleared (almost, ahem Pierre Turgeon) and there was nothing the refs could do because they were fighting everywhere so they turned out the lights and they fought in the dark. Both teams were disqualified from the tournament when both were to receive medals. It's called the punch up in Piestany (Czechoslovakia)1987 It's wild. There's an NHL game where Boston players went up into the stands during the game. One fan got beat with a shoe by a player. It was hilarious.
7:45 nah people back down all the time lol, especially in todays nhl. And backing down from a fight is only considered cowardly if you did something to instigate before declining said fight, ninh didn’t really explain that super well. If you did absolutely nothing wrong and get challenged to a fight, it’s not cowardly to decline. And overall fighting has decreased quite a bit over the years
Great comment. I'd also add that, on rarer occasions, goading someone into wanting to fight you, and then skating away from them, can be a ploy - get someone to drop their stick and gloves while you get on with the play. Or even get them a penalty for roughing.
@@DNReacts no problem. Also nick asked about the legality of the benches clearing during a brawl. Bench clearing brawls with literally entire teams fighting against each other used to happen quite frequently in the 70s and 80s, but started to sharply decline in the 90’s. I don’t believe it’s happened since the 90’s, not sure if it was due to rule changes but that sorta thing doesn’t happen anymore. There are plenty of clips on UA-cam of these bench clearing brawls, I’d highly recommend looking up the “Good Friday massacre” or any video of the Boston bruins going up into the stands to fight the fans lol
Leaving the bench during a brawl is now a match penalty that comes with suspension as well. Before this rule, bench clearing brawls happened semi-regularly, especially in rivalry games. The 80s-90s era was the peak of them, when cocaine usage and alcoholism were rampant in the NHL.
@@DNReacts It was a harsh business and the survivors are honest about it. If you want to see an NHL legend fighting it's the appropriately named Tony Twist who was a middleweight but never lost spite for some draws ua-cam.com/video/_EMCzcg22xw/v-deo.html
One full on brawl happened on Good Friday of 1984 between Montreal and Quebec. The benches cleared twice in the same playoff game. Throw two teams were rivals, being in the same province. One player got a broken nose and another had to end his career, got injured to an eye and had vision issues for the rest of his life.
Ice ‘ockey! The old line was “if you can’t beat ‘em in the alley you can’t beat ‘em on the ice”. There actually is less fighting than there used to be. It’s really only fun in person-not sure hockey works on TV.
Fighting is tolerated (5 minute penalty for most fights) in only in North American pro hockey leagues. In the NCAA, European hockey, and International Hockey (i.e. Olympics, etc.), the punishments for fighting are much more strict.
If you leave the bench to fight, or during a brawl, you get an automatic game misconduct penalty (out for the game), and a probable fine from the league. You also get a game misconduct for being a third man in a one-on-one fight.
So bench clearing brawls happened on a fairly regular basis in the 70s and 80s however today the first one to leave the bench gets an automatic 20 game suspension. That having been said of you want to watch an epic bench clearing brawl you need to watch "the good friday masacre" this was a brawl thayt broke out during a Montrel-Quebec game on catholic good friday of all days. It spanned an intermission having started at the end of the second period and continuing at the beginning of the third
There's a great video of players being mic'ed up during and leading up to fighting and you can really experience some of the funny comments but also the sportsmanship. One fight that was about to start, the one guy asked the other guy which shoulder he had surgery on out of respect to avoid re-injuring that shoulder... And then they tried to take each other's head off...lol
Historically (pre '90s) players used to leave the bench to join fights, sometimes clearing benched. However, the NHL has deemed this unacceptable and strictly penalize if it happens... handing down suspensions and hefty fines to players, coaches, and even team ownership. It doesn't happen anymore, but two or three fights simultaneously happens several times per season, especially late in the season and playoffs.
Yes, It's fair game for the bench(es) are clear to join in a brawl. Usually this depends on the infringement, the degree of bad blood between teams and/ or if the emotions are heightened during play off games.
The IIHF does have a bit more control then the NHL during competitions like the Worlds Championship since they make Fighting an automatic Game Misconduct and both fighters are removed from the game. But in club competition the only way you get kicked out of a game for fighting is to get into 3 fights in a single game. Fighting is an automatic 5 Minute Major Penalty, but since it's on both teams, the game is keep Even Stength and the two penalized players are replace on their lines, if their lines are on for a shift.
Bench clearing brawls *_does_* happen but is exceedingly rare. If thst happens there has been some *_really_* nasty crap to trigger it. Someone purposly hitting someone in the head at full speed, kicking someone with the skates, something actually potentially lethal.
hi gents, loving the channel! with regards to the clearing of benches, it doesnt happen very often at all, but it does happen! maybe take a look at the bench clearance in the old ISL (british elite league) from 2001 between the Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers!
Fighting still occurs but it's very rare compared to the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. During those years, there were designated players whose role was to fight. Nowadays, those players are obsolete. The game is now more skilled and faster but it's much less physical and intense.
Players who come on to the ice to engage in a fight get an automatic suspension for a few games pretty much, but typically when something is going down on the ice, players arent allowed to come onto the ice fromm the bench
only 2 things need to be updated in this video. 1. being called a "goon" now-a-days basically means you have no actual hockey skill, you just fight. where enforcers actually can play hockey as well as fight. so a "goon" is an insult now. 2. the league changed the fighting rules: players can no longer voluntarily remove their helmets.
As a big guy who was an enforcer you saw smaller players start things thinking they were safe because bigger players. Never would drop my gloves on a smaller player and saying that I did give some a smarten up short jab in the nose with my gloves on and referees let me do it.
its an unspoken rule in hockey that a “goon” or fighter will protect his best teammates. baseball has this too where sometimes a pitcher is “obligated” to peg or pitch towards a player to basically set the teams in place. although baseball rules are subtle the hockey rules are very much in your face. you fuck with the wrong guy or do something crazy you will have a man on you fighting. so even though the refs/umps are there. the “gentlemens agreement” keeps alot of this in place
A lot of times when goalies fight its because the scrum is even and the opposing goalie gets involved making it a 6-5 advantage, thats when the other goalie will skate down and even it out.
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Tkachuk vs kassian is what it looks like when someone backs down. search "GOTTA SEE IT: Zack Kassian Ragdolls Matthew Tkachuk After Taking Multiple Massive Hits". In the clip, it's a game of two rival teams who play out of the same province. Tkachuk lands a big questionably clean hit but then refuses to answer the bell to fight Kassian
Marchand is the worst. Good Friday brawl, most watch. It's not that the referee don't do their job, but that sports is so fast, it's hard to see everything that's going on. They're standing on razor blade, going a 40mph. Snapping piece of frozen rubber at speed close to100mph.
Enforcers aren’t very common anymore because really every player on a team seriously needs to be capable, all 20 players need to be capable of contributing beyond just policing
There's still some but their not complete goons!
@@rk74194 There are guys that are known to stand up for their teammates, but most of those are also skilled, like Wayne Simmons. (I know - he's older now and not as able to score, but dude was seriously good at playing AND fighting). In the old days (pre-93 or so) there were far more players on teams that were ONLY there to fight when needed.
@@cjg2k I know the role has changed and every player has to be skilled now days! But there are still players that intimidate, fight and score sometimes like Wilson, Reeves, Xhekaj, Lucic. I agree with you though most of the time it is guys sticking up for their teammates, players like Tkachuk, and others!
NYI have two true Enforcers , Matt Martin and Ross Johnston but ya you need to be able to play and not be a liability .
Pendulum is gonna swing back, look at FLA
I love the calm, gentlemanly voice of the narrator in this while discussing how to beat the shit out of your opponent.
He was amazingly calm 😅
The NCAA HEAVILY punishes fights in college hockey (multiple game suspensions for instigators, game misconducts, etc.) but there is such a fighting culture that the right kind of rivals still do it every single time.
As the old saying goes, "I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out."
there’s still fighting in the CHL, best league to watch beside the NHL
Love the "pick on someone your own size or bigger" Is Chara lol that beast.
Bench-clearing brawls happened more in the 70's and 80's. Even then they were rare, but they still happened. Around the 90's the NHL started cracking down on BCB's, so they really are a thing of the past.
There is a great video somewhere out on UA-cam of great "vintage" fights. The best one happened in the late 70's. This was back in the days when the glass was shorter than it is now. Anyway, a player for the Boston Bruins took exception to some trash taking by a fan and actually CLIMBED OVER THE GLASS from the ice and started fighting with the fan in the seats!
The Bruins fighting the Boston Police in the stands in the 70s, all out brawls before refs were on the ice, and Stu Grimson. Stu God Damn Grimson.
@@ronaldnixon8226 If regards to going into the stands, do you perhaps mean the 1979 game between the Bruins & Rangers? If so, a couple technical points. That game was actually in New York at Madison Square Garden. When the Bruins went into the stands to fight the fans, my memory recalls Security & Ushers trying to intervene as much as they could, but I'm not sure if I remember seeing NYPD present. I could be wrong. Unless your referring to an entirely separate game or incident at Boston Garden?
@@davepangburn No idea, it was a long time ago now and I was real drunk in the 70s
70's hockey was great!
I think the fan touched a Bruin? If it's the game I'm thinking of, just type in Mike Milbury shoe, lol.
The rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche along with the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens are the most epic rivalries (alot of games happen in the playoffs as well so you know the level of competition is waaaaaay higher)
I'd say there's one greater....Canada V Russia, aka the Punch-up in Piestany
Agreed. If you want to see one of the most famous mob brawls check out Fight Night at the Joe between Detroit and Colorado, but watch the longer version that gives you the history behind it.
Montreal/Quebec was the biggest rivalry in Hockey, it made Detroit/Colorado look like a scrum. Also Toronto and Ottawa used to have full bench clearing brawls.
Bruh, Montreal Nordiques was way crazier than Montreal vs Boston. Good Friday Massacre.
Oilers-Flames is a wild rivalry as well. Can't compare to the Bruins/Habs just based on how long it's been going on. There is no rivalry between the Wings/Avs these days. It was intense for about 5 years and that's it.
There was a game a few years ago when both teams sent out their third line to start the game, and it immediately turned in to a Line Brawl (all ten skaters fighting each other) both coaches later admitted they did that on purpose because the lines had challenged one another to a fight during the opening skate.
Quebec vs. Montreal
It may gave been the Capitals and Rangers.
Canucks and flames did this after the flames head coach started their fourth line so John torterella did the same I believe
I doubt that's only happened once. It wasn't quite as extreme as that, but just a few days ago the Bruins and Lightning both started their fourth lines and two fights broke out immediately.
Ottawa @ Philli was a good one too. each team had 4 guys on he bench by the end. March 5th 2004
Imagine it this way, if this “code” was implemented in European football, you would rapidly see embellishment of fouls decrease as the “enforcers” would just punch them in the face a couple times. and yea they might get a red for that, but that player may think twice before diving again to get an advantage
This is very true!
Hell, if you even included the embellishment penalty in hockey to football you'd see a lot less diving.
If you do any embelishment (ie. soccer players) in hockey, you will get your lights punched out and your teammates will hate you as this is considered shameful behavior.
I can't watch soccer for this reason, a lot of Canadians consider that sport to be for girls and sissy boys.
I love the narrator covering this like it's a nature documentary, it's exquisitely British lol. The enforcer/goon era is now a relic of the past but much of the traditions and codes are still relevant, especially when it comes to fighting. Any type of showboating or hotdogging will also put a target on your back and likely have swift consequences. Catch as much Playoff hockey as you can, it never disappoints!
A really good small fighter to take a look at is Rick Rypien. He used to play for the Vancouver Canucks before he tragically took his own life. At 5 foot 11 he would fight guys 6 foot 3 and taller and still kick their butt. Such an amazing small fighter. RIP Rick Rypien.
Technically Ryp was the best fighter in the NHL. He had a boxing background
Er, that "amazing fighter" part led to the tragedy of him taking his own life due to repeated brain trauma. It was later determined he had CTE.
Rule 12 was broken by Buffalo against Ottawa in 2007. Ray Emery (RIP) for Ottawa was also into boxing so he didn't care and was smiling the whole time he fought Peters.
In order to deepen your understanding of hockey culture, I believe it’s time you gentlemen watch the movie “Slap Shot”. It was filmed in the late 1970’s. It started Paul Newman. It’s about a minor league team in a small rust belt city in the US. It’s a comedy, but, it actually does a great job of showing the culture of the sport. It’s one of the best movies of all time IMO.
Great movie!
Pretty good movie but not the best hockey movie, that would be Maurice Richard (or the rocket) - its like the hockey version of cindarella man. Also, slap shot doesn't explain hockey culture at all, Goon would be a better example.
I wanna talk about violence!
You guys need to watch the 1987 bench clearing brawl between Canada and Russia at the World Junior Hockey Championship aka The Punch-Up in Piestany
Love watching this, I grew up playing hockey and never seen people talking about it in this perspective. BOYS great job keep giving us the sweet sauce top shelf. ❤ 🇨🇦
LET'S GO HOCKEY!!! Well done boys.
Thanks Casey! Appreciate it
This is nuts! I remember a commercial from when I was a kid where there’s a hockey team posing for a photograph, and when the team smiles for the camera, they’re all missing teeth. Now I know why. 😂
The lack of teeth is also because checks, pucks to the face, and such. Not just fights. Famously, Duncan Keith took a puck to the face in the middle of a playoff game, lost **10**!!!! teeth, and didn't miss a shift. He went to the dressing room, got the debris out of his mouth, and stuffed it with cotton gauze to control the bleeding while he was on the ice. (It was too important a game to sit out.) There's even a term for this - "Spittin' Chiclets". Hockey players are nuts - and I love it.
@@cjg2k Oh wow, yeah, a puck to the face could do some serious damage! I knew that happened too, but was focused on the fighting. There’s something so great about hockey. It seems so hard to be good at it. I am really looking forward to learning more about the rules and intricacies. “Spitting chiclets” is hilarious!
I swear hockey is the only sport where you can look ugly as dirt but still be handsome in someones eyes lol
yeah missing teeth is from getting hit in the mouth with sticks and pucks
I've never seen true backing down from a fight, but I've definitely seen a couple of instances where someone was trying to throw down but the opposing player had no beef with the guy trying to fight and saw no reason for that guy to have a beef with him so he just skated away while the other guy dropped his gloves and tried to come after him. Per the code, the aggressor did not punch the guy skating away, but he tried SUPER hard to get him to throw down as well.
Yeah, goalie fights are probably my favorites, there used to be some CRAZY ones back in the 80s. You'd probably have some fun watching a goalie fight compilation.
No, bench-clearing brawls are strictly prohibited. They've instituted some serious penalties for leaving the bench during fights. You're also not allowed, in most leagues, to jump into a fight you weren't already a part of; that'll get you a more severe penalty. The leagues tacitly condone fighting but they have rules for anyone that turns a bad situation worse. Really the lack of control that the video suggests the leagues have is not necessarily accurate, especially any more.
13:40 THAT'S Tie Domi vs. Bob Probert. Should give you and idea of how nasty those two were.
The pure enforcers that they describe, especially at the end of the video, aren't really a thing any more. There are players who play farther down the bench that are expected to be a bit tougher and jump into the enforcer role when needed but you still need to be a pretty good player, at least defensively, to make a team these days. Tom Wilson of the Capitals and Ryan Reaves now of the Wild, are great example of this. The absolute toughest guys on their teams but still pretty good players.
Thanks Kevin, great comment as always. Appreciate it! Ah I can’t believe I missed Tie Domi vs Probert!! I was looking out for Domi (when I hit rewind and apologised it was because I thought I’d seen Domi). Was hard to stay focused on the names 😅
Never seen true backing down from a fight? Just look at anything Marchand does, his whole thing is being a little shit head and and then refusing to fight
The photo used for Rule #9 was Zack Kassian and Matt Tkachuk, Edmonton Oilers vs Calgary Flames. What a ruckus that caused in Edmonton. Local sports radio did up a song for about and it was very funny. It was a back to back home n home and the second game was the Rule #11 goalie fight game along with a Kassian/Tkachuk rematch. Tkachuk took his beating like a man this time. Very good rivalry.
I like how they used a video of Chara for rule 6 regarding size. That dude is over 7 feet tall on skates and is a Viking stuck in the wrong age of time. He's also a great defenceman with multiple Stanley cups.
As diehard Wings fan and someone who just found the channel (and subbed), I'm was excited to see you guys go over some NHL fights.
There are some great videos on the Wings-Avs rivalry in the '90s-early '00s; it was probably the most intense professional sports rivalry of the era. I say pro sports because honestly no pro rivalries can hold a candle to college football rivalries. But man, that Wings-Avs saga was utterly epic.
To this day if you ask Wings fans to name which players they hate the most, Claude Lemuix is going to be a name you hear a lot.
Thank you Jon! Appreciate your support. Also added these to our list.
The Red Wings/Avalanche game called Fight Night at The Joe Louis Arena is a must watch
Believe it’s an automatic 10 game suspension if you leave the bench to join a fight. Happened during a brawl between the Penguins and Islanders some years back. A tough guy went after the pens goalie and the pens tough guy who was on the bench went on the ice to intervene and protect his goalie
Weirdly enough I’m pretty sure baseball is the only sport that doesn’t give massive penalties for leaving the bench in a fight
Leaving the bench carries a SUBSTANTIAL fine plus suspension - which is without pay all in itself
I remember that game well. It had to do with something that sparked on the ice the previous game. Then they played a few days later and a brawl broke out.
In the old days, I started watching hockey around 1972, the bench could join in on the fight but they changed that rule decades ago. It's a lot stricter about the fighting in many ways than it was back then.
React to this next:
ua-cam.com/video/YIzNQydkBi0/v-deo.html
It's called the brawl in hockey town. From 1996-2002 the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche absolutely hated each other. One of the best rivalries in sports. To this day, as a Michigan native, I fucking hate the entire state of Colorado. It all starts with a cheap shot hit. And in the end, in the next 7 years the Wings or Avalanche combine for 6 Stanley Cups. It's the best combination of top tier hockey, top tier fighting, top tier rivalries, and "the brawl in hockey town" is a legendary moment in 1997 that will live in hockey infamy.
You asked if there are bench clearing brawls in hockey? This is about as close to that as you'll get.
Cheers boys
Goaltender Ron Hextall would fight the league, at the same time if they would let him. There is certainly a "vigilante" streak in American sports in general. There is always some kind of unwritten rule or code in American sports that are informally in control of player conduct.
You guys really, really need to watch a video about the Red Wings - Avalanche battle in 1997. It's legendary. They were the two best teams in the league at the time, and I have never seen anything like it, tons of fights, blood all over the ice, a goalie on goalie battle, I think 11 goals were scored total, everything about that game was amazing, well worth your time
Colorado vs Detroit in the 90’s was crazy!!
Im loving your enthusiasm for learning about these sports, fellas! Please 🙏 watch anything about the rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche. As a 90's kid, this will stick with me forever
For enforcers, I recommend watching Bob Probert, Tie Domi (Probert vs Domi is a classic), and for a little more modern, The Boogeyman Derek Boogaard.
Bench clearing brawls are quite rare. Usually it's the guys on the ice that apply 'the rules'
One of your final questions was a great one.
If there’s a fight on the ice and a player leaves the bench to join any infraction, they’re automatically ejected from the game and receive a minimum 10 game suspension. It’s a HUGE price to pay so it rarely happens.
There was a brawl between the Leafs and the Sabres 10 years ago where David Clarkson jumped off the bench to help in his first game and got suspended for the next 10.
It’s a big no-no these days. Used to happen back in the day on occasion.
Fights usually are gentlemanly, you can tell when a fight is coming more often then not because the enforcer throws his gloves off, if you take yours off in return, then the fight is on.
I’d highly recommend watching “Alex ovechkins best hits and goals updated” he’s probably the best scorer in nhl history but also a complete wrecking ball. Nobody else is like him.
There's no probably about it, he's definitely the best goal scorer of all time.
I loved how you guys paused the video and asked a question about something that was being answered right as you were asking it hahaha all you had to do was look at the screen and that question would have been answered. Also,bench clearing brawls used to be common back in the early days of the game but we're discontinued by the 90's and it will never happen in a modern day game.
The Goalie fighting situation actually came up very recently specifically because the officials prevented two of them from fighting. Marc-Andre Fleury, the Minnesota Wild netminder wanted to teach a lesson to Jordan Binnington, his counterpart on the St. Louis Blues & a frequent instigator, because no one else on the Wild was allowed to hit him back after his latest incident. Fleury even complained to the refs as they got in between them that, "If I don't teach him a lesson, who's going to?"
It's the "Emery Rule" - it's not written (like The Code) but there was an incident where Emery fought another goalie, and the other goalie got injured and was never the same again. These days, goalie fights are rare because of that. But for a good one, search for Hextall vs Potvin from the 90s
Ray Emery (god rest his soul) vs Andrew Peters. All time classic goalie vs player fight in an Ottawa vs Buffalo game. Ron Hextall was also known to fight players most notably Chris Chelios in a Philly vs Montreal game in the late 80s.
Way back in the "dark ages" of the 1970's, I had seasons tickets to a local Junior hockey team called The New Westminster Bruins. New Westminster is a city located a few kilometers from Vancouver BC. From 1975 to 1978, the Bruins won the league championship every year, then they went on the national championships against the winners of the Ontario Hockey Association and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. 4 years in a row the Bruins won their league championship then went on the Memorial Cup, the Canadian junior hockey national championships. They lost the first 2 times but then went on to win the Canadian major junior hockey leagues championship the next 2 years in a row. This was also during the "goon" years of hockey. In those years we saw hundreds of 1 on 1 fights, dozens of line brawls and at least 15 full on brawls with every player on the ice fighting. The most memorable brawl that I saw was the "Billings Brawl". It started with a line brawl which quickly degenerated into the most massive brawl I ever saw.
In most brawls, you'll see a few fights and a whole lot of milling about, pushing and shoving and just hanging on to the other teams player. This one was different, pretty well every single player was fighting. It was epic. The next weekend we went over to Victoria on the ferry to watch the return match. It was a much tamer event. But, being 20 something years old, my friends and I looked forward to pub after the game as well.
My favorite quote that explains fighting in hockey perfectly is this: "...when two guys gets so pissed off at each other, maybe because one guy stuck a stick in his ribs, and then he finally says 'I've had enough' and wants the drop the gloves and break his nose... it makes guys think twice sometimes about taking liberties with other people if there's someone there that can come and settle things down." - Chris "Knuckles" Nilan
Great reaction, hockey is such a fun sport once you get into the details. Just like any sport. You guys mentioned Tie Domi he was a legend and just like you said he was short for NHL 5'8". But a monster, fearless and just a pure fighter. The stories he tells on the hockey podcast Spittin Chiclets are legendary.
The fact that you stopped at a clip of Brad Marchand and went "That's the nastiest thing I've seen" made a few of us hockey fans grin, I am pretty sure. Hated by everyone who isn't a Bruins fan.
As an Oilers fan I heartily agree with you. Brad Marchand is the devil and I will hate him until he retires. Which is saying something because Zach Kassian, lol
bench clearing brawls are technically illegal, and they don't happen anymore. That being said they have happened, the most infamous being in international play (where fighting is actually illegal) in the 'Punch-up in Piestany'. One of the most out of control and wild sports moments ever
Back in the good old days, there were more frequent bench clearing brawls and they sometimes spilled over into the audience. In the late 70’s I was watching a Chicago game with a friend from Florida that had never seen hockey before and knew nothing of the “rules’ of fighting. When a fight broke out, I told him that, if the fight looked even, the refs would give the combatants a little time to continue fighting and wear themselves out and then break it up. In the game we were watching the fight turned into a bench clearing brawl that I took about 1/2 hour to get under control.
I think it's a unwritten rule in any fight that you don't run away but a couple days ago in the UFC, CJ Vergara ran his ass off. It looked a bit silly but if he didn't do it he would have most certainly been knocked out. He nearly got knocked out anyway, but running circles around the Octagon helped him clear his head, tired his opponent, and allowed him to make a remarkable comeback.
Highlights which shows some of the running and the finish: ua-cam.com/video/cdBS962CLT8/v-deo.html
13:02 check out the brawl in hockey town (Detroit red wings vs Colorado Avalanche) back in March 1997 - they cleared that bench so quick 😂😂
It’s been nicknamed Bloody Wednesday. 9 fights, 11 goals, 39 penalties, 148 penalty minutes, 1 hat trick, 1 turtle, 2 stanley cup champion goalies going at it in overtime lmao
If you want to see a crazy bench clearing brawl, there's a video called the Punch-up in Piestany when Canada and the USSR faced off and beat the living daylights out of each other. It was bedlam.
This was an excellent explanation of the code.
If you want a deep dive into fighting in hockey check out the documentary Ice Guardians. Great film with interviews from current and retired enforces, goons, stars, fans, and coaches. Really goes into detail about the culture of hockey and fighting in the sport.
That would give them a much better understanding of the code.
Ovechkin hits everyone, and no one can do anything about it. And he’s the greatest goal scorer of all time.
2nd greatest, only behind Wayne Gretzky.
7:06 I'm glad you rewound that because those 2 dudes were throwing haymakers!
Bob Probert and Tie Domi are both from here in Windsor, Ontario! Their highlights are awesome!
An infamous “back down from a fight” or “turtling” happened about 10 years ago with my team. Our tough as nails defenseman was not challenged to a fight (he didn’t shake the gloves off) and he was grabbed by an opposing player and immediately became a turtle. He could have fought but we were leading in the score and he realized it’s better to get a power play than lose their best defenseman.
There have been backdowns due to the player having an injured hand or something. A famous one was Justin Abdelkader backing down from a much larger Chara. Abby was definitely a fighter and a hitter. He backed down because he had an injured hand that had tape on it. If you drop your gloves in a fight and your hand(s) is taped you get another penalty and sometimes a match penalty which will remove you from the game and possibly the next game. The incident was in the playoffs (if I remember correctly).
I remember watching a game and i think it was Shawn Horcoff that accepted a fight, went to shake his glove off and his shoulder poped out. I think thats the only time i've seen something like that though.
@@tommcd8471 Yeah, I remember seeing a replay of that. Weird. With Abby though, he was more than willing, he just didn't want to take an additional penalty. It's a rule they put in because of guys like McCartey who would tape up their hands like a boxer because they were planning to fight. Abby had injured his hand fighting the previous game, I think it was, which precipitated Chara challenging him.
Most everything in this video still applies even if it’s a bit dated. The nhl specifically has changed a lot in recent years. But the unwritten rules still apply. Fighting is a necessary part of the game to keep it from getting out of control due to how dangerous it can be. Certain rules have changed like you have to keep your helmet on now, which is dumb but it’s a rule now. Goalie fights have actually been happening a lot lately in the league and they’re a lot of fun. But fights and the code will always have its place even if fighting is on the decline because of how fast and skilled the league is now.
It's not dumb. Broken hands are significantly, drastically superior to concussions.
@@derpderpin1568 the 1 or 2 fist fights they might do in a year is not what's causing concussions
@@derpderpin1568 The NHL created extra punishment for removing your helmet in a fight to discourage fighting. It had nothing to do with safety. Now, you will often see the fighters take each other's helmets off during a fight.
I went to the fights last night when suddenly a hockey game broke out. That's the NHL. Collegiate hockey is where actual hockey is played.
Bench clearing brawls used to happen but, now they have strict rules preventing it.
A player who comes off the bench or a third-man joining a fight are both automatic suspensions.
Hockey is a man's sport. Quite often, you'll see players getting stitched up right on the bench so that they won't miss a shift.
Note: Probably the best story in all of sports history happened in 1972 in a 8 game series between Canada and Russia's best hockey talent in the middle of the cold war. It was more than a sports series... it was war on ice. There's a few great documentaries about it. It's often referred to as "Summit '72".
At the end of the day, the code exists to prevent players from running around and doing stupid stuff. It’s for the protection of everyone playing. The majority of players want a physical game but nobody ever wants to be injured horribly. The code helps prevent this.
Here's a great example of a game where the code was not followed. Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Islanders, 2011. Previous game between the two the Penguins had laid some questionable hits that were not called penalties by the refs. The Islanders responded in this game and things got extremely out of hand. 65 penalties were assessed that night for a grand total of 346 penalty minutes (and no, that's not even close to the record). 15 of those penalties were for fighting, and 21 players were kicked out of the game.
10:00 yes it's always goalie-on-goalie. One of the weird things about hockey is the goalie. They're special and treated differently to other players
When a goalie sees the opposing goalie cheap shot one of his teammates, he stands up for them
Montreal vs Quebec this happened often , they hated each other and both teams wanted to be the iconic team of that province
10:41 . This goalie fight was amazing. Season prior both goaltenders where playing for opposing teams, they got traded in the off season….. this is also the Battle of Alberta, 2 teams from same province in Canada…. Most or all games are entertaining. I recommend watching Battle of Alberta recent playoffs
There is a video about the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche. The fight takes place right at the beginning of the period, for something that happened to a star from the game before. It is epic
12:55 check out “The Battle Of Lower Parliament Street”. It’s a bench clearance in the EIHL Nottingham Panthers Vs Sheffield Steelers.
If you check out the one from “Hockey Fight UK”, you will be able to hear audio from players that were involved in the game talking about it.
Former NHL player, coach, scout and sportscaster Don Cherry has talked about "The Code". (He believes in it and understands it intimately, because he was a bit of a tough guy.)
Montreal vs Quebec in the 1980s had SEVERAL bench clearing brawls (Donnybrooks) as well as Philadelphia and Boston...they happened haha
There are people that back down from fights all the time. Rookies getting bullied, stars that are getting instigated but strategically they can't fight because they are needed to score, the guy just isn't a fighter and getting him to fight is damn near impossible. Sometimes they just move on and game play continues. Other option is someone else will fight in their place.
Ahh but the statement was, so not back down AFTER agreeing to fight. What you describe are people refusing to agree to fight, not backing down.
@LynnMeger-gb4eo "after" was never mentioned. I see your point though and that makes sense, but they did word of vaguely. They just asked if anyone has backed down
Goalie fights have specific rules. If a brawl is happening, usually one goalie will skate to the middle of the ice, when he does so the other goalie will meet him there and they'll tussle. If the goalie crosses the center line he can get a penalty, now this penalty is waved IF the opposing goalie is assisting his teammates in a brawl at the other end, then the goalie can come all the way down the ice. Players who challenge goalies are usually talked poorly about, unless that goalie was Ron Hextall, then that player was a brave S.O.B because that goalie was crazy. Another goalie, Ray Emery, was an ex boxer and had a fight with a player, yes they are at a significant disadvantage due to the extra padding and less range of motion, but he did pretty well.
Domi/Probert scraps were legendary!
This is why I love hockey great sport to get into
It's also worth noting that most of the great fighters in the leagues history came from small working class Canadian towns, and a lot from mining towns.
Yeah Hockey! Loved that video. Yes, I have seen many bench clearing brawls, but it is rare today. Ive seen bench clearers before the opening face-off. My favorite fighter was John Ferguson of the Montreal Canadiens. I'm not a Canadians fan but back when I was like 10, he was destroying people. Few players would go with Gordie Howe either. He was a star player who could fight. Thanks for the Hockey!
I remember hearing years ago someone (don't remember who) say that Gordie Howe used to sharpen his elbows, lol !!
@@lindajane8962 I would not put it past him. He was a tough, tough guy.
Bench clearing brawls won't happen today because any player that steps off the bench, and onto the ice, receives an automatic 10 game suspension. David Clarkson did this a few years back during an exhibition game, and was immediately suspended. If the benches cleared, both teams would be without every player on the ice for 1/8th of the season.
Tie domi is awesome but Wendel Clark from the Toronto maple leafs is a legend. 165 lb and took on probert multiple times and he could put the puck in the net. Best game I ever saw. He scored a Hattrick and assist and won one or two fights.
Cheers from Canada. There's an ESPN documentary Unrivaled about the Detroit Colorado rivalry. If you can find it, it would answer most, if not all of your questions. I also recommend Montreal Quebec from the 1984 playoffs. Quebec relocated to Colorado a few years later. 1987 Canada Russia at the world juniors in Czechoslovakia. Canada was headed for gold, Russia was crap. Not wanting to see Canada win, Russia started to play chippy. Canada wrote the unwritten code. Both teams were disqualified. Anything from the Flyers of the '70s, known as the broad street bullies.
Canada and Russia played a World Junior Tournament final game where both benches cleared (almost, ahem Pierre Turgeon) and there was nothing the refs could do because they were fighting everywhere so they turned out the lights and they fought in the dark. Both teams were disqualified from the tournament when both were to receive medals. It's called the punch up in Piestany (Czechoslovakia)1987 It's wild. There's an NHL game where Boston players went up into the stands during the game. One fan got beat with a shoe by a player. It was hilarious.
7:45 nah people back down all the time lol, especially in todays nhl. And backing down from a fight is only considered cowardly if you did something to instigate before declining said fight, ninh didn’t really explain that super well. If you did absolutely nothing wrong and get challenged to a fight, it’s not cowardly to decline. And overall fighting has decreased quite a bit over the years
Thanks for the comment Colin, when you put it like this, makes a lot of sense why players would back down. Especially if they weren’t the instigators.
Great comment. I'd also add that, on rarer occasions, goading someone into wanting to fight you, and then skating away from them, can be a ploy - get someone to drop their stick and gloves while you get on with the play. Or even get them a penalty for roughing.
@@DNReacts no problem. Also nick asked about the legality of the benches clearing during a brawl. Bench clearing brawls with literally entire teams fighting against each other used to happen quite frequently in the 70s and 80s, but started to sharply decline in the 90’s. I don’t believe it’s happened since the 90’s, not sure if it was due to rule changes but that sorta thing doesn’t happen anymore. There are plenty of clips on UA-cam of these bench clearing brawls, I’d highly recommend looking up the “Good Friday massacre” or any video of the Boston bruins going up into the stands to fight the fans lol
@@DNReacts the "instigator" of the fight is suppose to get an extra 2 minute penalty. However, the instigator penalty isn't being called that often
These are all great life rules. New hockey fan here
Leaving the bench during a brawl is now a match penalty that comes with suspension as well. Before this rule, bench clearing brawls happened semi-regularly, especially in rivalry games. The 80s-90s era was the peak of them, when cocaine usage and alcoholism were rampant in the NHL.
Oh wow, that wouldn’t have helped with the fighting 😂
@@DNReacts It was a harsh business and the survivors are honest about it. If you want to see an NHL legend fighting it's the appropriately named Tony Twist who was a middleweight but never lost spite for some draws ua-cam.com/video/_EMCzcg22xw/v-deo.html
One full on brawl happened on Good Friday of 1984 between Montreal and Quebec. The benches cleared twice in the same playoff game. Throw two teams were rivals, being in the same province. One player got a broken nose and another had to end his career, got injured to an eye and had vision issues for the rest of his life.
In the nhl, its fines and suspensions if players leave the bench while a fight is breaking out
Yes there has been bench clearing, when I played high school hockey we had a couple of bench clearings. I haven’t seen it in forever in the NHL.
Ice ‘ockey!
The old line was “if you can’t beat ‘em in the alley you can’t beat ‘em on the ice”. There actually is less fighting than there used to be. It’s really only fun in person-not sure hockey works on TV.
Fighting is tolerated (5 minute penalty for most fights) in only in North American pro hockey leagues. In the NCAA, European hockey, and International Hockey (i.e. Olympics, etc.), the punishments for fighting are much more strict.
If you leave the bench to fight, or during a brawl, you get an automatic game misconduct penalty (out for the game), and a probable fine from the league. You also get a game misconduct for being a third man in a one-on-one fight.
So bench clearing brawls happened on a fairly regular basis in the 70s and 80s however today the first one to leave the bench gets an automatic 20 game suspension. That having been said of you want to watch an epic bench clearing brawl you need to watch "the good friday masacre" this was a brawl thayt broke out during a Montrel-Quebec game on catholic good friday of all days. It spanned an intermission having started at the end of the second period and continuing at the beginning of the third
There's a great video of players being mic'ed up during and leading up to fighting and you can really experience some of the funny comments but also the sportsmanship. One fight that was about to start, the one guy asked the other guy which shoulder he had surgery on out of respect to avoid re-injuring that shoulder... And then they tried to take each other's head off...lol
Historically (pre '90s) players used to leave the bench to join fights, sometimes clearing benched. However, the NHL has deemed this unacceptable and strictly penalize if it happens... handing down suspensions and hefty fines to players, coaches, and even team ownership. It doesn't happen anymore, but two or three fights simultaneously happens several times per season, especially late in the season and playoffs.
Coming off the bench to join a brawl is STRICTLY forbidden, according to The Code AND the rules.
Yes, It's fair game for the bench(es) are clear to join in a brawl. Usually this depends on the infringement, the degree of bad blood between teams and/ or if the emotions are heightened during play off games.
The IIHF does have a bit more control then the NHL during competitions like the Worlds Championship since they make Fighting an automatic Game Misconduct and both fighters are removed from the game. But in club competition the only way you get kicked out of a game for fighting is to get into 3 fights in a single game. Fighting is an automatic 5 Minute Major Penalty, but since it's on both teams, the game is keep Even Stength and the two penalized players are replace on their lines, if their lines are on for a shift.
Thank you for this context. Makes complete sense, appreciate it!
unless someone is deemed "the instigator" and is given the additional 2 minute minor. Lately, the instigator penalty not being called that often
@@cosmickid1794 A lot of the reason for that is cause the players know the penalty exists and take the necessary steps to avoid it.
Bench clearing brawls *_does_* happen but is exceedingly rare.
If thst happens there has been some *_really_* nasty crap to trigger it.
Someone purposly hitting someone in the head at full speed, kicking someone with the skates, something actually potentially lethal.
One rule they forgot is "when you fight you cannot use your stick". It's common sense, but very important
You guys should check out Don Cherry's "Rock'em Sock'em hockey" series for THE premiere source of old school greatness.
hi gents, loving the channel! with regards to the clearing of benches, it doesnt happen very often at all, but it does happen! maybe take a look at the bench clearance in the old ISL (british elite league) from 2001 between the Sheffield Steelers and the Nottingham Panthers!
Thank you so much, we really appreciate it 🙏 Have noted the suggestion too
Fighting still occurs but it's very rare compared to the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. During those years, there were designated players whose role was to fight. Nowadays, those players are obsolete. The game is now more skilled and faster but it's much less physical and intense.
Players who come on to the ice to engage in a fight get an automatic suspension for a few games pretty much, but typically when something is going down on the ice, players arent allowed to come onto the ice fromm the bench
only 2 things need to be updated in this video.
1. being called a "goon" now-a-days basically means you have no actual hockey skill, you just fight. where enforcers actually can play hockey as well as fight. so a "goon" is an insult now.
2. the league changed the fighting rules: players can no longer voluntarily remove their helmets.
As a big guy who was an enforcer you saw smaller players start things thinking they were safe because bigger players. Never would drop my gloves on a smaller player and saying that I did give some a smarten up short jab in the nose with my gloves on and referees let me do it.
its an unspoken rule in hockey that a “goon” or fighter will protect his best teammates. baseball has this too where sometimes a pitcher is “obligated” to peg or pitch towards a player to basically set the teams in place. although baseball rules are subtle the hockey rules are very much in your face. you fuck with the wrong guy or do something crazy you will have a man on you fighting. so even though the refs/umps are there. the “gentlemens agreement” keeps alot of this in place
A lot of times when goalies fight its because the scrum is even and the opposing goalie gets involved making it a 6-5 advantage, thats when the other goalie will skate down and even it out.