Want proof? Here’s proof:

Basically, this was a bear-hugging contest. This was basically something you would be embarrassed to be a part of if you were looking back on it, talking to your grandkids about how hockey fights used to be. You could argue King landed more punches than Crombeen, including the kill shot, and you’d be correct, but this was a massive waste of time, really, and both men should’ve been given two-minute minors for Delay Of Game. I’ll give the edge to King, but only begrudgingly as it really should be a draw.

Ryan Reaves could’ve made this a better fight by just standing there. Roman Polak would’ve enjoyed this challenge. Crombeen just did not bring it in this fight, but then again, neither did his opponent, so it should be a wash.

The St. Louis Blues have won their third straight game against the San Jose Sharks after losing game one of the playoffs. The Sharks were hungry and aggressive but Ken Hitchcock’s harpoon called defense killed almost every opportunity by San Jose as the Blues took the fourth game of the series 2-1.

The teams traded chances fast and early including a breakaway by Logan Couture. Skating in on Brian Elliott on his own, Couture went forehand-backhand but was denied by the leg pad of Elliott who set his tone in the beginning of the game.

Stopping 24 of 25, Elliott was dominating again. With help from his defense, Elliott back stopped four killed penalties and a barrage of pressuring shots. Only one shot beat Elliott and that was in the last minute of the game.

The Blues kicked off the scoring with a goal from BJ Crombeen. A big spark of energy from David Perron had him skating circles around the Sharks defense. Perron passed the puck to Patrik Berglund behind the net who quickly centered a feed in front. Berglund’s perfect pass to Crombeen allowed the checking forward a prime scoring chance and he buried it.

Some fans have been complaining that the rough and tough Ryan Reaves has been scratched in favor of Crombeen. But the move has paid off for Hitchcock with Crombeen’s defensive presence along with his first playoff goal.

The Blues weathered a fierce second period attack from the Sharks to keep their one goal lead into the third.

Twelve minutes into the third, St. Louis took a two goal lead thanks to the suddenly lethal power play and the always lethal Andy McDonald. Working the half boards was Perron who fired a shot in with Berglund screening the net for the deflection. The puck bounced in the air off Berglund’s stick and off the back of Antti Niemi right to the middle of the crease. That is where McDonald stood and he slammed in his third goal of the playoffs.

Perron’s two assists went through Berglund who also had two assists. Another big game by the Swede has him at six playoff points.

Another too little too late rally by San Jose brought the home team within one in the final minute. With a pulled goalie and six attackers, Andy McDonald scored the Sharks lone goal of the game. A pass from the corner by Couture found Thornton in the slot.

Up Next: The Blues return home for game five Saturday.

In lieu of an actual fighting picture, there’s this. Image via Chris Breikss/Flickr

Backing into the division title? Yeah, that happened, but that shouldn’t diminish what the St. Louis Blues have accomplished all season. What SHOULD diminish things a bit is what exactly happened in their home game with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, looking a bit out-of-sorts in a 5-2 loss to the worst team in the league. Sure, the Jackets wanted it more, but that loss shouldn’t happen in your own building. There was a fight in the game, as after a clean yet harsh hit from Jared Boll, Scott Nichol decided to take matters into his own hands in a fight that was recapped in this Fight Card piece. After this was written, the fight was ruled a victory for Boll, which I can’t exactly argue with as even though the fight didn’t last long, Boll did throw and land a few more punches than Nichol even if Nichol got a bit of a takedown. So the Blues now boast 39 fighting majors on the National Hockey League season, good for a tie for ninth place overall with the New Jersey Devils. With the loss, the team’s fight record moves to a still-spectacular 16-6-17.

And now, the final Central Division game of the season, and who better to stage it with than long-time nemesis, the Detroit Red Wings? We’ve covered the team five times in this space this season (November 15th, December 6th, December 27th, December 31st and January 23rd). It’s long-known that they seem to have their gloves glued to their hands and don’t fight much, and when I pointed out this fact in the most recent edition of this report against the Wings, it didn’t settle well with some of their brethren. I embrace the hatred. Anyway, what still holds true is that the Wings are dead last in the NHL with 15 fighting majors on the season. To put it this way, there are six individuals with more fights than the whole Wings team, and one player – Brad Staubitz – has been waived once this year and still has as many fights as the Wings. Yikes. The Wings fight record? Predictably not good, at 5-9-1.

Of those 15 Wings fights, Justin Abdelkader (6’1”, 219lbs, 2-4-0) has taken part in six of them. Three of them were battled by veteran Mike Commodore (6’4”, 227lbs, 0-2-1 including a Loss to BJ Crombeen and 0-3-1 overall, traded to Tampa at the deadline) and two of the fights involved Todd Bertuzzi (6’3”, 229lbs, 1-1-0). The solo fighters have been Jonathan Ericsson (6’4”, 221lbs, Win), Brendan Smith (6’1”, 199lbs, Win, currently with Grand Rapids of the AHL), youngster Jakub Kindl (6’3”, 216lbs, Loss) and Brad Stuart (6’2”, 213lbs, Loss to Chris Stewart).

And while I expect this to be a tightly-checked and physical contest, I do not expect any fighting. It’s just not the Wings’ Modus Operandi, and the Blues probably don’t want to go down that path tonight.

I would love that top seed in the West.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Jared Boll usually isn’t left licking wounds after fights. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

Well, the division title is still in range for the St. Louis Blues, as they gained a point in a game they probably didn’t deserve to get one in after losing to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a free-throw shooting contest. But while there were a few mild skirmishes, there were no fights to speak of in this game. So the Blues stay at 38 fights on the National Hockey League season, good for a tie with the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks and the Hawks on that ladder, and the team’s fight record sticks at a very good 16-5-17.

I could spend an hour talking about how horrible tonight’s opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets, has been this season. But, it would do no good, really. This is the last meeting of the season between the Blues and Jackets, so we’ve covered them on five occasions on this report (November 27th, December 18th, February 14th, March 10th and March 11th), and there have been seven total fights between the two teams in those five games, with videos to each below. The Jackets are currently tied for fourth in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators with 52 fighting majors collected on the season, sporting a fight record that’s relatively average at 18-20-14.

The Jackets are led in fights by Jared Boll (6’2”, 219lbs, 5-6-5 including a Draw with Ryan Reaves and a Draw with Chris Stewart) and Derek Dorsett (6’0”, 192lbs, 5-8-3 including a Loss to BJ Crombeen), who each have fought 16 times this season and Cody Bass (6’0”, 205lbs, 2-3-1 including a Win over Reaves, currently with Springfield in the AHL) with six. Dane Byers (6’3”, 204lbs, 0-1-2 including a Draw with Roman Polak and a Loss to Crombeen) has fought three times this season, while Derek MacKenzie (5’11”, 180lbs, 1-0-1, out indefinitely with a concussion) and Derick Brassard (6’1”, 202lbs, 1-1-0) have each fought twice. Seven former and current Jackets have fought once each this season, and they are current Blue Kris Russell (5’10”, 172lbs, Win), James Wisniewski (6’0”, 208lbs, Win, Day-To-Day with a concussion), Fedor Tyutin (6’2”, 216lbs, Win, out with a broken hand), Jack Johnson (6’1”, 231lbs, Win, acquired in trade from the Kings), Colton Gillies (6’4”, 208lbs, Draw, claimed off waivers from the Wild), Darryl Boyce (6’0”, 200lbs, a Draw with Chris Porter, claimed off waivers from the Maple Leafs) and RJ Umberger (6’2”, 220lbs, Loss).

Even with the Blues now boasting a full roster and even with the fact that the “goons” will probably sit out, I still anticipate a fight or two in this contest. Look for Scott Nichol to get involved somehow. The best possible matchup size-wise might be Dorsett, but that may be a bad fight for Nichol to take.

Win the game. Win the division. Clinch at least a 2-seed in the West. Do it.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Daniel Carcillo fighting Andrew Shaw in training camp. I bet Shaw beat Carcillo’s ass. Image via HockeyBroad/Flickr

That may have been the biggest win of the season on Tuesday night. The St. Louis Blues have had all sorts of problems defeating the Nashville Predators this season, and finally they were able to vanquish them in regulation, 3-0, in a game that did more to determine postseason seeding for both teams than anything else. Despite Patric Hornqvist attempting his best Esa Tikkanen impersonation down the wire in that game, there were no fisticuffs. So the Blues stay at 38 fights on the National Hockey League season, good for a tie with the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks and tonight’s opponent for eighth position on that ladder, and the team’s fight record sticks at 16-5-17. That’s really good, if I haven’t noted that enough lately.

Now, a third meeting this month (and second in the Windy City) between the Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks is nigh, not to mention the final meeting between these two squads in the regular season. After sputtering for part of the home stretch, it seems the Hawks have things back together again, but they’ve played a Jekyll & Hyde show against the Blues this year . . . sometimes looking great, sometimes looking horrible, while the Blues have been pretty much steady throughout these five matchups, which were covered thusly (November 8th, December 3rd, February 19th, March 6th and March 13th). The Blackhawks have fought 38 times on the season, which as noted earlier is good for a tie for eighth with the Blues and Devils. Thanks to the help of three guys in particular, the Hawks sport a very solid 15-10-13 fight record.

The Blackhawks are led in fights by one of my favorite former Blues players of all time, Jamal Mayers (6’1”, 222lbs, 4-1-6 including a Draw with BJ Crombeen), who has fought 11 times this season. Following him is recent call-up and St. Louis area native Brandon Bollig (6’2”, 223lbs, 5-1-1 including a Win over Ryan Reaves and a Draw with Reaves) with seven fights in a short span with the Blackhawks. Next, a guy I despised even before the Blackhawks signed him, Daniel Carcillo (6’0”, 203lbs, 1-3-1 including a Loss to Ryan Reaves, Out for the season after having knee surgery which happened because of an illegal hit that he got suspended for), who fought five times this year before doing the “most Carcillo thing ever” and, somehow, earning a two-year contract extension in the process. Recently-traded John Scott (6’8”, 270lbs, 4-0-0 with the Hawks including a Win over Reaves and 4-0-1 overall, traded to the Rangers at the deadline) fought four times with the Hawks before being dealt. Andrew Shaw (5’10”, 180lbs, 1-2-0) and Steve Montador (6’0”, 210lbs, 0-2-1, recently removed from IR) have each fought three times. Bryan Bickell (6’4”, 233lbs, 0-0-2) has fought twice. Solo fighters include Dave Bolland (6’0”, 184lbs, Draw), Sean O’Donnell (6’2”, 238lbs, Draw) and Jimmy Hayes (6’6”, 221lbs, Loss). Also, be on the lookout for Johnny Oduya (6’0”, 190lbs, Draw as a Jet, acquired from Winnipeg at the deadline).

There were two fights in the last game between these two teams and some feistiness in Tuesday’s Nashville tilt. The presence of Bollig leaves open the possibility that Reaves would play tonight, but doesn’t guarantee it. If there’s a fight, I think it happens between secondary fighters such as Scott Nichol against Shaw. We’ll see how it shakes down, though.

See that top seed? Grab it. A win tonight gives the Blues the Central Division, which is a step toward it.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Paul Bissonnette has one of the league’s top personalities. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

A great defensive and goaltending struggle happened between the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings, and it ended in a 1-0 loss after a shootout (GOD I HATE THE SHOOTOUT!). But screw that . . . THERE WAS A FIGHT IN THE GAME! Yes, Chris Stewart dropped the gloves with Kyle Clifford and was able to defeat him on points, as was recapped in this Fight Card piece. So the Blues move up to 38 fights on the National Hockey League season, good for a tie with the New Jersey Devils for eighth position on that ladder. With the fight win, the Blues’ fight record goes up to 16-5-17, which is pretty much brilliant.

To the desert the Blues go to face another Pacific team on the playoff prowl, the Phoenix Coyotes. After absolutely lighting the league on fire in the month of February and getting themselves in the playoff conversation, the Coyotes have cooled off down the stretch. Their then-spectacular goaltending has regressed closer to the mean, the team has been felled by a few injuries and their schedule is a bit tougher than it once was. But they’re still a factor and are not to be taken lightly. We’ve covered the Coyotes a couple times already (December 23rd and January 3rd). Needless to say, their fighting has picked up since the last Blues-Yotes meeting, but they’re still very low in the fight standings – 24th place in the NHL, to be exact – fighting 24 times total, with results that are relatively even at 7-8-9.

The Coyotes are led in fights by The Most Awesome Twitter Follow In Hockey, Paul “BizNasty” Bissonnette (6’2”, 216lbs, 1-2-4), with seven fighting majors on the season. He’s followed by two journeyman veterans of the practice, Kyle Chipchura (6’2”, 203lbs, 2-2-2) with six fights and veteran agitator Raffi Torres (6’0”, 208lbs, 1-1-2) with four fights, not to mention long-time Yotes Captain Shane Doan (6’1”, 233lbs, 2-0-0, Currently “Shanabanned”) with two fights. There are five solo fighters on this list, and they are Taylor Pyatt (6’4”, 228lbs, Win, day-to-day with the dreaded “Upper Body Injury”), Chris Summers (6’2”, 209lbs, Draw), former Blue Jacket Rostislav Klesla (6’3”, 223lbs, Loss), Martin Hanzal (6’6”, 236lbs, Loss) and Keith Yandle (6’1”, 190lbs, Loss).

Ryan Reaves seems to be my go-to guy for a fight against a battling team, but he doesn’t really match up size-wise with the best fighters on the team (he’s too big). So, unless he’s a healthy scratch again, BJ Crombeen going at it with either BizNasty or Chipchura would probably suffice, if a fight happens.

Today’s my 31st birthday. All I ask is for a win from these guys tonight, to stay ahead of the others in the chase for the number one seed in the West. Is that too much to ask?

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

A blast from the past . . . George Parros, then with the Kings, fighting Matt Walker, then with the Blues, in 2005. Image via MPR529/Flickr

That’s more like it. To earn a playoff spot, the St. Louis Blues needed to beat the teams that they were clearly better than on paper, and the Tampa Bay Lightning would be one of those teams. And with the 3-1 victory Saturday over that squad, the Blues DID earn that long-elusive playoff spot and put themselves closer in their run for the top playoff seed. As anticipated, there were no fights in the contest, so the Blues stick and stay at 37 fighting majors on the season, which is now tied for ninth in the National Hockey League in that category with the Chicago Blackhawks. After recalibrating the win-loss-draw total (AGAIN), the fight record now stands at a very stout 15-5-17.

Across the country the Blues go, stopping first in southern California for two games, starting with the Anaheim Ducks tonight. While the Ducks are still mathematically alive in the playoff hunt, recent play has dictated that they will not reach the postseason despite a valiant push in February to get near the Top Eight in the conference. They are not to be taken lightly, as they possess a great deal of firepower. We’ve covered the Ducks a few times already (October 16th, December 8th and March 8th). As those who pay attention to this segment are aware, the Ducks are one of the more willing fight participants in the NHL, as evidenced by their current sixth place standing amongst fight participants with 40. Their fight record is very comparable to that of the Blues’ record, actually, at 15-9-16.

There’s a logjam at the top of the Ducks fighters list, but the chief among the conglomerate – perhaps to no one’s surprise – is big George Parros (6’5”, 228lbs, 7-1-2, find the big man on Twitter here) with 10 fights on the season. Following him are Matt Beleskey (6’0”, 204lbs, 3-2-3) with eight fights and Sheldon Brookbank (6’1”, 202lbs, 2-2-3) with seven fights. Luca Sbisa (6’2”, 207lbs, 1-0-2) has fought three times while Francois Beauchemin (6’0”, 207lbs, 1-1-0), team Captain Ryan Getzlaf (6’4”, 221lbs, 0-0-2) and Corey Perry (6’3”, 212lbs, 0-1-1) have each fought twice. Six Ducks have fought once each with the Ducks, and they are Jean-Francois Jacques (6’3”, 231lbs, Win, currently with Syracuse of the AHL), Bobby Ryan (6’2”, 209lbs, Draw), Mark Bell (6’4”, 220lbs, Draw, currently with Syracuse of the AHL), Rod Pelley (5’11”, 200lbs, Draw as a Duck and 1-0-1 overall, acquired in trade from the Devils in December), Andrew Cogliano (5’10”, 188lbs, Loss) and Lubomir Visnovsky (5’10”, 197lbs, Loss).

Despite the truculent ways of these two squads, in three games there have been no fights between them. I expect that to change tonight. I’d love to see Parros go at it with BJ Crombeen. Otherwise, look for the unexpected.

Just because a playoff spot is guaranteed doesn’t mean the Blues need to let off the gas. Win more.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

This is Tim Gleason getting “Baptized” by Jared Boll’s fists in 2007. Image via msmail/Flickr

Normally, when you play like crap against a desperate team in their building, you lose your ass. In this case, somehow the St. Louis Blues were able to garner a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to a Chicago Blackhawks squad that is desperately trying to stay ahead of the Western Conference playoff bottom-feeders. Things looked great in the first period for the Blues, and we even had a couple fracases – one involving BJ Crombeen and former Blue Jamal Mayers, another involving Ryan Reaves and Brandon Bollig after a hard hit by Reaves on Mayers. Both ended in draws, and they were recapped in this Fight Card piece. The Blues have fought 37 times now on the National Hockey League season, good for seventh overall in the category. Adding the two draws, the Blues’ fight record now stands at a solid 15-6-16.

And now, for the two-game Southeast portion of this road trip, starting with a date in Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s been a season of mostly lows for this Canes squad, battling injuries, a coaching change, leadership issues and – occasionally – talent not living up to expectation. Despite all that, they’re still dangerous. We covered the Hurricanes once earlier this season (October 21st). The two teams didn’t fight in that contest and it should be noted that despite how bad the Canes have been this season, they do not like to drop the gloves more often than they have to. They have only fought 16 times on the NHL season, good for 29th (Yes, that’s “next-to-last”) in the league in that category, only ahead of the Detroit Red Wings. Not only that, they’re not great at the practice when they do drop the gloves, recording a 3-5-8 record in those 16 fights.

The Canes are led in fights by four defensemen, starting with Tim Gleason (6’0”, 217lbs, 0-2-3) with five fights, Derek Joslin (6’1”, 210lbs, 0-0-3) with three fights and Bryan Allen (6’5”, 226lbs, 1-1-0) and Jay Harrison (6’4”, 211lbs, 0-1-1) with two fights each. The rest are solo fighters: Anthony Stewart (6’3”, 230lbs, Win, Chris Stewart’s older brother), Tim Brent (6’0”, 188lbs, Win), Justin Faulk (6’0”, 205lbs, Draw) and Brett Sutter (6’0”, 200lbs, Loss, currently with Charlotte of the AHL, Brian Sutter’s nephew).

I honestly do not expect a fight to happen in this game. Carolina isn’t known to fight much, and I doubt Reaves plays in this contest. It’s entirely possible Crombeen doesn’t play either, what with the arrival of Jaden Schwartz leaving the team to find the right times to play him.

Time to transform back into “Road Warrior” mode.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

First, there was this between BJ Crombeen and former Blue Jamal Mayers at the end of a shift for both:

You can tell just by watching the fight that: 1) Neither player should’ve fought, because they were both gassed from ending a shift, but 2) They were willing to participate, at least. In all, it should’ve never happened, and the fight showed that. I thought both should’ve been given double minors for Delay Of Game. Instead, it’s a draw.

Then, after Ryan Reaves lit Mayers up like a Christmas tree on a hit that looked high in live action but turned out to be hard but clean, Brandon Bollig came in and had a meeting with Reaves for the second time in as many weeks:

Unlike the fight from last week, though, this one was pretty much a hug-out. Both guys were able to get good punches in, but neither really were effective in the fight. It was a draw.

The more interesting aspect of this whole incident happened after the fight, when Mayers was jawing with Chris Stewart for some odd reason. You’d think he would’ve been bitch-slapping his defenseman (in this case, Duncan Keith) for throwing a pass toward him that left him open to such a tattooing. And remember, despite the uniform he now wears, I RARELY question Mayers or his motives.

This sets up for a really interesting final game between these two squads in Chicago on March 29th.

I think Brandon Bollig is trying to tell Daniel Carcillo that he sucks. He might be right. Image via HockeyBroad/Flickr

The St. Louis Blues needed to escape that weekend with, at the fewest, three points. They got four from the downtrodden Columbus Blue Jackets, and the second one was practically stolen by the goaltender. Sunday’s 2-1 victory was a beauty, in which Jaroslav Halak showed why he will likely be the first choice in net come postseason time by flashing the leather, padding and sticks the way he so skillfully can do, with some help from his defensemen. Not only was the goaltending brilliant and the offense timely, there was a tussle in this game between Chris Stewart and Jared Boll. Sure, the fight was horrible and ended in a draw, but at least it happened, I guess. That fight, along with the pair of scraps from Saturday’s game, are all recapped with video in the most recent edition of Fight Card. Now up to 35 fighting majors on the National Hockey League season, the Blues now find themselves in a tie for eighth in the category with the New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks. Adding the draw, the Blues’ fight record now stands at a very robust 15-6-14.

Didn’t we play these guys, like, last week? Yeah, that happened. Now, the Blues travel to Chicago to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Whereas the Blues’ fortunes have been on an upward trend since mid-November, the Blackhawks – while still firmly entrenched in a playoff spot – have been slipping a bit since January. We’ve covered the Hawks four times this season (November 8th, December 3rd, February 19th and March 6th). The Blackhawks have fought 34 times on the season, good for 11th by themselves in the NHL in that category, and their fight record is not bad at 13-10-11.

The Blackhawks are led in fights by one of my favorite former Blues players of all time, Jamal Mayers (6’1”, 222lbs, 4-1-5), who has fought 10 times this season. Following him is a guy I despised even before the Blackhawks signed him, Daniel Carcillo (6’0”, 203lbs, 1-3-1 including a Loss to Ryan Reaves, Out for the season after having knee surgery which happened because of an illegal hit that he got suspended for), who fought five times this year before doing the “most Carcillo thing ever” and, somehow, earning a two-year contract extension in the process. Recently-traded John Scott (6’8”, 270lbs, 4-0-0 including a Win over Reaves, traded to the Rangers at the deadline) and recent call-up and St. Louis area native Brandon Bollig (6’2”, 223lbs, 3-1-0 including a Win over Reaves) have fought four times each as Hawks this year. Andrew Shaw (5’10”, 180lbs, 1-2-0) and Steve Montador (6’0”, 210lbs, 0-2-1, on IR with the dreaded “Upper Body Injury”) have each fought three times. Bryan Bickell (6’4”, 233lbs, 0-0-2) has fought twice. Solo fighters include Dave Bolland (6’0”, 184lbs, Draw), Sean O’Donnell (6’2”, 238lbs, Draw) and Jimmy Hayes (6’6”, 221lbs, Loss). Also, be on the lookout for new acquisition Johnny Oduya (6’0”, 190lbs, Draw, acquired from Winnipeg at the deadline).

We’ll see what happens in this game, but after Reaves was replaced in the lineup on Sunday and with the arrival of Jaden Schwartz, the feeling here is that the goons for both clubs will stay in the stable for the most part, and there will be no fights. That said, a fight between Bollig and BJ Crombeen would not be the worst thing that ever happened.

Keep winning, eh?

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights