Looks like Tim Jackman is Mike Ricci's cousin. Image via sharkspage.com, and avert your eyes before clicking the photo for the full-size version
Off-Topic to start: if you don’t know (chances are likely that you don’t), my favorite music band is 311. Today, March 11th, is a national holiday for us 311-heads. Yes, it’s 311 Day! They’re playing a huge live show in Las Vegas, which is being webcast worldwide. Since I know just about all of their tunes by heart and there will be hockey on the tube, I won’t watch. But I’m sure it’ll be fun. And if you listen to any alternative radio stations today, you’ll probably hear a few 311 tracks today, as traditionally today is the day a whole bunch of fellow 311-heads are calling to hear their favorite 311 tunes. Happy 311 Day, y’all!
The Blues are coming off a disappointing effort on Saturday against the Colorado Chris Stewarts Avalanche. There was one early scrap involving BJ Crombeen and Cody McLeod, which ended in a draw after Crombeen fell on top of McLeod. The draw brings the Blues to 57 fights on the season, still staying strong at 5th league-wide. Their ‘09-’10 fight record now stands at 23-18-16.
The New York Islanders have one of the younger, more exciting rebuilding teams in the league. I won’t compare them to the Pittsburgh Penguins circa 2005, since that would be unfair to both squads. However, they have high-end young stars in John Tavares and Kyle Okposo, among others. But with this youth comes an unwillingness to throw down the gloves. They have done so only 24 times this season, good for 26th in the NHL. Their fight record is a God-awful 4-9-11. Among the seven players that have contested these fights, only two are currently in Uniondale, representing 11 of those 24 fights. When the Blues and Islanders matched up on November 21st in The ‘Lou, the two teams predictably did not throw down the gloves.
There is only one current Islander that is a threat to get into a fracas, winger Tim Jackman (6′4″, 210lbs, 2-4-4), pictured above. Jackman, who is of no relation to our own Barret Jackman, brings size and a nasty mean streak about him. He is not a threat to score, but he is the kind of guy that does the dirty things to help young teams along a rebuilding process. The only other fighter still with the Islanders is defenseman Bruno Gervais (6′1″, 205lbs, 0-1-0). The other five fighters that are not currently with the Islanders are center Nate Thompson (6′0″, 207lbs, 1-1-3 with the Isles and 1-1-4 overall, waived to Tampa Bay on January 21st), defenseman and noted Philadelphia SUV-defeater Brendan Witt (6′2″, 223lbs, 0-1-2, in the AHL since February 5th), defenseman Andy Sutton (6′6″, 245lbs, 0-1-1, traded to Ottawa on March 2nd), winger Matt Martin (6′2″, 192lbs, 1-0-1, in the AHL since February 11th) and winger Joel Rechlicz (6′4″, 220lbs, 0-1-0, in the AHL since October 21st).
My dream fight matchup this evening involves a couple of heavyweights, but it is all dependent on how Blues coach Davis Payne wants to play his hand. Assuredly, you would think Tim Jackman would play, but will the Blues ride with DJ King? King did not suit up on Saturday. If he’s not in the owner’s box tonight, I want him to face off against Jackman. They’re both big, strong, tough and ornery. This is about the only fight I would want to see between these two teams, but admittedly, the chances of a fight in this one are slim even if King DOES play.
If you want to be a playoff team, this is a game the Blues MUST have. Go get it!
"Hey dude, wanna have a beer after the game?" Image via UPI (but you probably won't be seeing David Koci tonight)
The Blues aren’t just beating people on the scoreboard, they’re punching people too. There were two fights on Thursday between the Blues and Dallas Stars – one featuring expected contestants and one featuring not-so-expected contestants. First, we had the long-awaited rematch between DJ King and Krys Barch. King broke his hand on Barch’s helmet in their last fight back in November (a fight that King won). King won the rematch handily. Next, it was the second fight of Erik Johnson’s career. He squared off against Jamie Benn, who was in the first fight in a regular season NHL game in his career. Johnson controlled Benn early but Benn charged late and won the battle. Despite the two fights, the Blues sunk back into 5th place in the league with 56 fights on the season and now sport a fight record of 23-18-15 in ‘09-’10.
Now the Blues are in Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche. Four weeks ago, the Blues squared off in Denver, and the Throwdown Lowdown was on the case. Since then, not including the two fights in their previous matchup with the Blues, the Avs have only fought twice. They have no problems throwing down the gloves when they feel the need to, as evidenced by their 9th place standing with 47 fights. Their fight record on the season is an underwhelming 9-14-24; however, two of those wins were against the Blues. Both came in Denver on February 28th; David Koci edged King (and in a bit of irony, Koci injured his hand in the process) and Chris Stewart took down BJ Crombeen.
The only changes from the previous meeting are in the records of multiple fighters for the Avs: Koci is now 2-4-5, Stewart is now 3-0-2, Cody McLeod is now 2-3-9 and Matt Hendricks is now 1-3-3. Otherwise, the information from the previous report is still accurate, except that Koci is on injured reserve
Despite Koci’s absence, I anticipate multiple fights in this game. The Avs have played in three games since the Olympic Break (including one with mutual bitter rival, the Detroit Red Wings), but their only fight was on Wednesday with the Anaheim Ducks. The Blues bring physicality, which seems to bring out the best in the big, tough Avs. Assuming King suits up, look for him to fight someone like Stewart amidst the absence of Koci. Also don’t be surprised if McLeod goes at it with someone like Crombeen or Brad Winchester.
The Blues haven’t lost since losing to Colorado, in Denver, back on February 8th. Can the Blues avenge that loss, take down this almost-certain playoff club and continue this hot streak? I SAY YES!
Krys Barch likes to punch people. Image via hockeyfights.50webs.com
A glorious two points earned by the Blues in the desert brings our squad back toward the pack fighting for the 8th spot in the playoffs. Unfortunately, no official fights occurred (the scrum at the end of the 2nd period notwithstanding), so the Blues drop to 5th place while remaining at 54 fights on the season. The season fight record stands at 22-17-15.
The Dallas Stars – former Norris Divison rivals, don’tchaknow – sometimes have problems dropping the gloves. But I won’t hold it against them . . . they’re mediocre at best when it comes to WINNING fights. The Stars have registered 35 fights on the season – good for a tie for 16th in the league with the Florida Panthers. Their fight record on the season is 11-12-12. The Blues have fought with the Stars four times thus far this season, and the Note is 4-0-0, according to the good folks at Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights. On October 24th in St. Louis, DJ King defeated Krys Barch in a battle that cost King some time with a broken finger . . . also, Brad Winchester defeated Brian Sutherby and BJ Crombeen dispatched of Steve Ott after a questionable hit. In the November 25th game in Dallas, our own Captain Roboto, Eric Brewer, beat the living crap out of Ott in a performance that may have solidified Brewer’s captaincy for the rest of this season.
Winger Barch (6′2″, 220lbs, 3-8-4) is the lead goon on this Dallas squad – and with his size and fighting ability, it’s not hard to see WHY he’s their enforcer. Other multiple fighters for the Stars include center and general league pest Ott (6′0″, 193lbs, 4-2-2, day-to-day with an appendectomy and yes, both losses to the Blues), winger Sutherby (6′3″, 209lbs, 2-1-1, day-to-day with a shoulder issue) and defenseman Mark Fistric (6′2″, 232lbs, 1-0-2). On the season, nine Stars have fought this season, including old friend and defenseman Jeff Woywitka (6′2″, 217lbs, 0-1-0).
It’s Cam Janssen’s 2nd suspension game of five, but with the addition of Matt D’Agostini and the subsequent send-out of Derek Armstrong, it’s still no guarantee that King will get playing time on this squad. If King suits up, look for him and Barch to set a rematch. Otherwise, Crombeen or Winchester may be your best bet to fight Barch . . . but I don’t like their chances against him.
Can the Blues continue their Olympic-extended hot streak? Lord I hope so.
Obviously Matt Greene whizzed in Paul Bissonnette's Cheerios that morning. Image via mlive.com
Well . . . welcome back. It was a long, exhausting Winter Olympic break, but we’ve all finally made it through the horror that is the NHL break. Congratulations to David Backes and Erik Johnson in doing your mightiest to help the United States defend Her honor in Vancouver and for helping give us a hell of a show on Sunday. Sure, silver is disappointing to you guys, but thrilling to most of us. Also, big props to Roman Polak, who played well despite his Czech Republic team falling short of the medal round.
The end of the Olympic break means two things: 1) St. Louis Blues hockey is back, and 2) THE THROWDOWN LOWDOWN IS BACK! YYYYYYYYYES! So let’s get to it.
The final game before the break was an upset of shocking proportions over the Washington Capitals that included suspension-actionable activity followed by a tail-whipping of a fight. Cam Janssen – brainiac he is never known to be – pummeled Matt Bradley to the ice a full three seconds after Bradley released a pass toward the net. To Janssen’s credit, Bradley DID stand there and admire it for a while. That doesn’t excuse what he did; however, five games may have been a bit much for a suspension. Anyway, the questionable hit was followed by an absolute hammering by Janssen over Quintin Laing, who was in trying to defend his teammate. Admirable, but futile. Janssen is now 9-3-3 in fights this season and gets to sit next to Larry Pleau and Company for a short while. The Blues move into a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers for 4th in the league with 54 fights and a record of 22-17-15.
The Phoenix Coyotes have been quite the story in the 2009-10 season. Mired in bankruptcy hell in the offseason and nearly sold (and moved to Hamilton) to the Blackberry Blabbermouth, the club let go of Wayne Gretzky after his ownership responsibilities were properly relieved and picked up a solid coach in Dave Tippett. They’ve been on an absolute steamroll since. The only problem is that they’re not much of a fighting team – only posting 27 fights this season (spread amongst seven fighters), which is good for a tie for 23rd in the league with the lowly Carolina Hurricanes. Not good to be in the same position as THEM this year. In two games against each other, there has not been any fighting.
The conversation about the team’s enforcer role starts and ends with winger Paul Bissonnette (6′2″, 211lbs, 7-4-7). Count ‘em up . . . he’s been involved in 18 of the Coyotes’ 27 fights this season. That is a staggering percentage (for those of you scoring at home – it’s 67%). The other six fighters for the ‘Yotes this year are centers Martin Hanzal (6′5″, 218lbs, 0-1-2) and Vernon Fiddler (5′11″, 201lbs, 1-0-1), defensemen James Vandermeer (6′1″, 211lbs, 1-0-0) and Keith Yandle (6′2″, 195lbs, 0-1-0), winger Petr Prucha (6′0″, 175lbs, 0-1-0, day-to-day because of this obscenely illegal hit by James Neal) and winger/captain/face-of-the-franchise Shane Doan (6′2″, 224lbs, 0-0-1).
Since Janssen can’t be part of the dream matchup for the next five games, we’ll have to pick another. Well, why not DJ King and Bissonnette? Sure, let’s dream that one. If team stars going toe-to-toe is more your thing, why not Backes and Doan? Doan was eligible for Team Canada, after all. Fact is, though, that Backes may be a bit banged up from playing his cojones off in Vancouver. An even size matchup may be Hanzal against Brad Winchester. The possibilities are endless, but to predict a fight against a team that doesn’t fight is sometimes futile.
It’s Game 1 back from the Winter Olympics bizarro world, and it’s time for the playoff push. GET IT DONE, BOYS!
Woah…5 Games?! Not fair!
Ridiculous. Pure BS.
This is hockey, its rough.
This is the type of response I’ve seen from Blues fans today.
I’ve got to be honest, I have to say I totally disagree. This suspension has really progressed my belief that Cam Janssen shouldn’t be on this roster.
Let’s review the hit.
In the video we can see Bradley make a play and is marked by a Blues player. As Bradley moves the puck he is looking at the play infront of him. That is to Boyes (marking him, it looks like) and back to the slot area of the ice where the pass went. Cam Janssen is coming in from his blindside (around the blue line), totally outside of the play. Janssen clearly leads with an elbow to the head of Bradley.
To recap, this is what we have.
- The offender is a repeat offender. (ask Kaberle what he thinks of Janssen)
- The offender was not in the play being made.
- The victim was blindsided.
- The victim was hit in the head directly by the elbow.
I’m sorry folks, I don’t know what part of the world that type of play is allowed. Sadly, Cam thinks it should be. The St. Louis Post Dispatch quoted Janssen as saying “He had his head down and I was doing my job.”…”The bottom line is, I’m going to play the same way.” News flash Cam, if you watch the replay his head isn’t down. Bradley’s head is turned to the play in front of him.
Cam Janssen - Image via blues.nhl.com
Cam Janssen came in with zero attempt to play the puck and hit Bradley in the head. Dare I say that a player skating out of his way to hit another player in the head is similar to what Patrice Cormier did to Mikael Tam? The outcome was different, Matt Bradley wasn’t on the ice in convulsions. However, I would argue that the play was similar. The offender came in to the play and made a path straight to the puck carrier and elbowed him in the head.
This is the play that scares me. Anytime you hit someone in the head, you are not only threatening their career, but also their way of life. There is no need for that type of physical play in the game of hockey. Players like Janssen are out on the ice for one purpose, stir the pot. Sometimes its a fight, sometimes its a big hit. These types of players walk a very fine line. The line between defensible and reckless. Some hits you can justify, this one can’t be. Can we justify this hit in hockey, can we defend it? I can’t.
The Blues are currently evaluating their roster going in to the deadline and for their off season plans. Both Janssen and DJ King are up for new contracts this summer. Both fill a similar role, Tough Guy / Enforcer. Can the Blues afford to pay two of these players when they are trying to raise the skill level of the NHL roster? Many fans may have forogtten King Kong and his brutal punches. This fan has not. I remember seeing him work hard and not look out of place on his shift. King can skate and play a game that is above average for the run of the mill “goon”. Janssen worked hard this past off season and looked to be a new improved Cam at Camp. However, that still doesn’t put him above a healthy King. Cam was brought in as a player to add “toughness” to the roster while not losing longtime Blue Bryce Salvador for nothing come unrestricted free agency in spring/summer 2008. When DJ King went down with injury to open the 08-09 Campaign, Cam became the full time #13 Forward. When DJ re-injured his hand this season, Cam’s spot was solidified again. Now DJ is healthy and playing again. Cam’s roster spot is now called in to question.
I know that he is a local boy. I know he has a big smile, big personality and seems to be a nice face to market for the Blues. Sorry, TJ Oshie and David Backes to a better job of marketing this team. They help this team win nightly without the antics. If Cam is here and his only benefit is PR, why is he on the roster? This suspension has to be the giant red flag that warns Blues fans to question Cam’s spot here. If DJ is back and Cam can’t match his play (or plays so poorly its a negative impact), is he worth keeping around?
My answer is no and has been since King returned. This is just my icing on the cake to hammer my thought home.
Colton Orr is often seen doing this. Image via thetelegram.com
The Detroit Red Wings DID relent and fight in their game against the Blues on Tuesday. Yes, it was the shards of Brad May’s career that fought our own Brad Winchester. It was scored a draw, and rightfully so as no one really landed anything solid. The fight pushes Winchester Cathedral up to 3-1-4 on the season. That is now 51 total fights by Blues players this season, still 5th in the league. Their fight record is now 21-16-14 on the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most violent teams in the Eastern Conference. GM Brian Burke has worked to assemble his squad with players that largely assume his own persona – grit, toughness and strength, namely. He had success with this in Anaheim and he may well gain success with this type of maneuvering in Toronto, but as of yet it has not resulted in a lot of victories. No less, you can pretty much peg the Leafs for at least one, if not several, fights per game. They are 9th in the NHL with 44 fights on the season and they sport a solid-if-not-spectacular 16-16-12 fight record according to the good folks at Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights. 13 Leafs have fought this season, but only eight of those players are currently with the club.
You see the visage of winger Colton Orr (6′3″, 222lbs, 4-4-7) and you see what I’m talking about with Burke and the type of player he likes. Orr was signed basically to fill the same role as Dave Semenko did for many years with the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the mid to late 1980’s – keep opponents away from his team’s stars (Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Fuhr, Coffey, etc.) by blasting the other team’s goons out of the way. In that, Orr leads the team in fights. The man who was second, winger and my former Favorite Current Blue Jamal Mayers (6′1″, 214lbs, 5-1-2 with the Leafs and 6-2-3 overall), was recently traded to the Calgary Flames as part of a monster trade you may have heard about. Defenseman Jay Rosehill (6′3″, 195lbs, 3-2-0) is third, but he is currently with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Other Leafs with multiple fights include injured Team USA defenseman Mike Komisarek (6′4″, 243lbs, 0-1-1, done for the season with a shoulder issue) and defensemen Garnet Exelby (6′1″, 215lbs, 1-2-0), Leafs blog favorite Luke Schenn (6′2″, 216lbs, 0-3-0) and Leafs blog least-favorite Jeff Finger (6′1″, 205lbs, 0-2-0). Also, recently-acquired defenseman Dion Phaneuf (6′3″, 214lbs, 1-0-0) fought twice while still with Calgary. He is 1-0-2 overall.
Orr will go with just about anyone. The trend lately has been for coach Davis (Earl of) Payne to only play one of either DJ King or Cam Janssen. Expect Orr to fight with whichever one of those two Payne decides to suit up. I would also not be opposed to Winchester getting involved with Orr or any secondary Leafs fighters that may play. I say this only because other than Phaneuf, the other secondary fighters have been consistently shuffled in-and-out of the Leafs lineup as of late.
Two more games until the Olympic break, and this one appears to be the more winnable of the two. Go get two tonight, boys.
HEY, A RED WINGS FIGHT! WOW! Image via dailyvsvids.com
Things got a bit hairy at work today, so this is late in being posted. Oh well, it happens from time to time. Not only that, I put the wrong date down when I originally posted this. That has now been fixed.
So not only did the Blues lose the game to the Avs yesterday, but they lost both fights – one by an edge, the other pretty much by a tail-kicking. First, the matchup of heavyweights – DJ King, playing in his third game of the year, got into it with David Koci. Both threw bombs, but Koci won by a nose, bringing King’s fight record to 1-1-0 this season. The second one wasn’t really a fight . . . Chris Stewart pretty much manhandled BJ Crombeen, who was playing his first game back from a lower body injury. Individually, Crombeen is now tied for 9th in the NHL with 14 fights, and with the loss his season record falls to 6-6-2. The two fights bring the Blues to 50 fights on the year, still in 5th place and now just one behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for 4th. The two losses bring their season record to 21-16-13. Yes, they’re slippin’!
Remember how I essentially berated the Chicago Blackhawks last week for being weak as far as fighters are concerned? Well, they have ABSOLUTELY nothing on the Detroit Red Wings. It’s an embarrassment to the league that the franchise that gave us Gordie Howe is so weak on the fighting front. How weak, you ask? They are DEAD LAST in the league in number of fights this season . . . with 16. SIXTEEN! That’s less than a third of the Blues’ total for the season. PATHETIC! Even worse – when they DO go, they don’t even do it well – 4-6-6 on the season. Any opportunity to laugh at the Red Wings is a great feeling. Oh, and if you haven’t figured it out . . . the Blues and Red Wings have not fought each other this year. OF COURSE NOT! They fear us!
So how do I preview the fighters of a team that doesn’t fight? Well, I’ll list all of them as they only sport seven fighters – only four of which are expected to possibly suit up tonight. One player has scrapped in nine of the 16 fights, and he’s a familiar name to the fighting circuit – winger Brad May (6′1″, 213lbs, 4-3-2). You’ll notice that he has all 4 fight victories for the Wings this year as well. The only other Red Wing with multiple fights is defenseman Doug Janik (6′2″, 209lbs, 0-1-1), and he is currently with Grand Rapids of the AHL along with center Justin Abdelkader (6′1″, 215lbs, 0-0-1). Winger Patrick Eaves (6′0″, 191lbs, 0-0-1) is day-to-day with an ankle issue and is currently listed as “doubtful”. Others with fights this year include defensemen Derek Meech (5′11″, 200lbs, 0-1-0) and Jonathan Ericsson (6′4″, 220lbs, 0-0-1) as well as veteran winger and general pain-in-the-rear Dan Cleary (6′0″, 205lbs, 0-1-0, should be given an extra loss as he fell to Sharks’ non-fighter Devin Setoguchi . . . yikes!).
With King having played last night and the way they’ve used him since being brought back from Peoria, and with the fact that the Blues played less-than-spectacularly last night, the guess is that Cam Janssen will be reinserted into the lineup tonight. If that’s the case, Janssen and May would be an intriguing matchup. Honestly, anything involving a fight would be intriguing against this team.
For those of you that care about football (remember, I’m a football guy first) . . . hopefully you enjoyed the Super Bowl and the commercials that came along with it. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for a well-played Super Bowl and a victory that was earned and not handed. What a game! And as a lifelong Denver Broncos fans, all I have to say is . . . I guess the San Diego Chargers never really had a good use for Drew Brees, did they? But enough about football analysis . . . this is a hockey blog.
I had the great honor of being in attendance for Saturday’s tilt between the Blues and the Blackhawks. Despite the result, it was a great time – especially since there were TWO fights in the contest. The first one – pretty much a hug-out between SIR JAXX (Barret Jackman) and Cam Barker (I blame it on Barker . . . he seemed not ready to throw fists, but . . . oh well) – was scored a draw at Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights, whereas the second fight between Eric Brewer and Andrew Ladd was called in favor of Ladd. The second fight, I thought, was even, but I also am biased (obviously). Jackman is now 1-0-2 on the season and Brewer is now 1-1-0. With the two fights, the Blues did not move up or down in the season standings, holding steady at 5th place with 48 fights on the season and a 21-14-13 season fight record.
The Colorado Avalanche are one of those teams with a mixture of a bit of everything – youth, locker room vets, skill players, tough guys, grinders and big boys. Much like the rest of the Northwest Division, the Avs are not allergic to fighting – they have fought a collective 43 times on the season, good for 7th place in the National Hockey League. However, they do not have a propensity to win fights – they’re 7-14-22 on the season, this despite starting the season 0-8-10. The Blues and Avs did not fight in the previous meeting between the two teams back on December 7th at home.
10 Avs have fought this season, and the leading fighters on the team are wingers Cody McLeod (6′2″, 210lbs, 2-3-8) and David Koci (6′6″, 238lbs, 1-4-5). As you can see, McLeod is big but Koci (who last season was a Blue for, like, five minutes) is much bigger. Center Matt Hendricks (6′0″, 215lbs, 1-3-2) is next on the list, but he is on IR with an ankle issue. Others with multiple fights are winger Chris Stewart (6′2″, 228lbs, 2-0-2), defenseman Ryan Wilson (6′1″, 207lbs, 0-1-2), veteran winger Darcy Tucker (5′10″, 178lbs, 0-1-1) and winger Chris Durno (6′4″, 205lbs, 0-0-2). Among these fighters are 6 of the 7 fight victories the Avs have recorded this season. They LIKE to fight, they just don’t WIN fights.
The dream matchup of the evening involves whichever between Cam Janssen and DJ King plays and either Koci or McLeod. If it’s King, I’d like to see him go at Koci. If it’s Janssen, he and McLeod match up well size-wise. I would also not be against a fight between someone like Jackman and a wily veteran like Tucker, although that’s a bit of a size mismatch.
One road game, then back home. The Blues need to make this one count against a very formidable foe on in Denver.
Eager: "BUT HE PUNCHED ME!" Ref: "Yeah, he was supposed to." Image via Red Light District, a Blackhawks blog on ChicagoNow.com
As most Sharks-Blues games are, Thursday’s match was a violent affair. However, apart from rabbit-punches and other general pugilistic activities, there were no fights to report. So the Blues stand at 5th in the NHL with 46 fights and that 21-13-12 fight record they’ve held on to since last Saturday.
This will be an abbreviated report, as we previewed the Chicago Blackhawks’ lack of fighting tendencies this past Wednesday. Nothing has changed, so instead of rehashing everything I said then, we’ll just link to it here. It contains all the possible fighters, all the stats, and everything else. This is not to say that the Blackhawks lack physicality . . . I’m just saying that they don’t like to fight. Sure, it makes my job easier . . . but this isn’t SUPPOSED to be this easy!
DJ King got his first action of the season on Thursday night and was well enough involved that he may get a repeat performance Saturday. If that’s the case, expect him to point out a certain gentleman named Ben Eager and try to scrap with him. If King isn’t in, Cam Janssen may be slotted back into the lineup and would do pretty much the same thing. However, Eager doesn’t like to go with primary fighters . . . he usually battles with secondary fighters such as Brad Winchester or BJ Crombeen. And this is irritating. STEP ON UP, BEN! Just as long as no one goes after Dustin Byfuglien, all is well. That dude scares me. And is it sad that I didn’t have to look up his name to spell it correctly? That’s HOW MUCH he scares me.
The Note have a tendency to lose whenever I show up to watch them at the home barn. For the sake of the team’s playoff push, let’s hope this “tradition” does not continue.
Brad Staubitz is not afraid to punch people. Image via sharkspage.com
There was plenty of testiness between the Blues and Blackhawks on Wednesday, but no fights since the Blackhawks have some sort of allergy that causes them not to drop the gloves. So the Blues remain in 5th with 46 fights and a 21-13-12 fight record.
We have covered the San Jose Sharks once on the Throwdown Lowdown – in fact, it was my very first Throwdown Lowdown report. Since then, the Blues have shot up the ranks in fights while the Sharks have pretty much stayed steady. The Sharks are currently 10th in the league with 39 bouts on the season, sporting a solid season fight record of 16-9-14. They are an even 1-1-1 against the Blues in fights this season: Cam Janssen defeated Brad Staubitz on November 14th in St. Louis, Ryane Clowe defeated BJ Crombeen on December 3rd in San Jose and Janssen and Jody Shelley worked a draw on January 6th in San Jose. It’s obvious that this club believes in violent behavior to settle a point, unlike pretty much all of our Central Division rivals.
First thing’s first: should this be classified as skill or fluke? Winger Clowe (6′2″, 225lbs) is 7-0-0 on the season. He hasn’t lost and hasn’t ended a fight in a draw. That’s crazy, right? I’d call it a fluke but I saw his bout with Crombeen, and he’s good. Clowe is not the only fighter on this team – in fact, 12 different Sharks have fought this season. You’re likely familiar with winger Shelley (6′3″, 225lbs, 2-2-3) from his days in Columbus as well as his scrap with Janssen last month. Winger Staubitz (6′1″, 215lbs, 2-2-3) is also not afraid of fisticuffs. Winger Frazer McLaren (6′5″, 235lbs, 2-3-3) registers the most fights on the team with 8, but he was sent back to the minors last month when Shelley was taken off IR. Other Sharks with multiple fights include center Scott Nichol (5′9″, 178lbs, 1-0-2) and defenseman Jay Leach (6′4″, 220lbs, 0-0-1 in SJ and 0-1-1 overall). Another fighter to look out for, just for pure size reasons, is Team Sweden Olympic defenseman Douglas Murray (6′3″, 240lbs, 1-0-0).
Might David Backes battle Murray in honor of Team USA? Backes gives 15 pounds to Murray, but they both are Olympians and it sure would be exciting. Excepting that, Shelley and Janssen are familiar with each other as are Shelley and DJ King. There are many possibilities in this matchup for fisticuffs as the Sharks are trying to hold off the Blackhawks for top spot in the West, while the Blues are trying to ratchet up the NHL standings and get INTO the postseason. And they may want to break the tie of the season fight record, too. 1-1-1 is WAY too even.
#2 in the West last night. #1 in the West TONIGHT. Let’s get it done.
For those of you that care about football (remember, I’m a football guy first) . . . hopefully you enjoyed the Super Bowl and the commercials that came along with it. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for a well-played Super Bowl and a victory that was earned and not handed. What a game! And as a lifelong Denver Broncos fans, all I have to say is . . . I guess the San Diego Chargers never really had a good use for Drew Brees, did they? But enough about football analysis . . . this is a hockey blog.
