Is this the look of Jody Shelley knowing he was about to be suspended? Yes. Image via Zimbio

What a nice come-from-behind victory by the Blues over the Carolina Hurricanes at home last night – proof that if you put enough shots on a goaltender, eventually the puck CAN bounce your way. So yes, the Blues won the game in overtime, 3-2, but as somewhat anticipated, there were no fights in the contest. So the Blues hold still at two fighting majors on the season, good for a massive share of 18th place on this still-young National Hockey League season amongst teams in that category. And, yes, the fight record still stands at 1-0-1.

The Blues have somewhat of a checkered history with the Philadelphia Flyers that goes back to the teams’ early existence in the Expansion Era. There was one infamous incident involving one of the Plager Brothers climbing into the stands in Philadelphia to settle a score with a fan. The two teams met at the beginning of last season, and lo-and-behold, there was a fight in that contest. Do I expect the same to happen in THIS contest? Absolutely . . . but it cannot be Brad Winchester, the Blues’ participant in the fight that took place last year. The Flyers are currently sitting in a tie for third in the NHL with the New York Rangers with five fighting majors apiece. The Flyers’ record in those fights is 2-1-2. Last year, the Flyers went 13-19-15 in 47 fights, which was good for 13th in the NHL.

Flyers that have fought this year include former Blue Matt Walker (6’4”, 215lbs, 1-1-0) and Zac Rinaldo (5’11”, 169lbs, 0-0-2, currently with Abbotsford in the AHL) with two fights each and former King Wayne Simmonds (6’2”, 183lbs, Win) with one. Of those currently on the Flyers roster, Jody Shelley (6’3”, 230lbs, 5-5-2) led with 12 fights, followed by Simmonds (2-1-3) and Scott Hartnell (6’2”, 210lbs, 0-2-4) with six fights each. Former Penguin Maxime Talbot (5’11”, 190lbs, 0-3-2) follows with five fights. Solo fighters include Braydon Coburn (6’5”, 220lbs, Win), Matt Carle (6’0”, 205lbs, Loss), Claude Giroux (5’11”, 172lbs, Loss) and James Van Riemsdyk (6’3”, 200lbs, Loss).

I think our best chance for a fight in this game would be if Ryan Reaves suits up and goes at it with Shelley, which would be one heck of a heavyweight battle. Being that I don’t anticipate Reaves suiting up tonight, this will likely be a moot point, so you may have to look for something secondary.

One win is needed before a long cross-continent flight to Vancouver. Get it done, gentlemen.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Ryane Clowe, International Badass. Image via Yahoo! Sports

Surprisingly with the number of former Blackhawks playing against the Blues in Saturday’s dramatic 4-3 shootout win over the Atlanta Thrashers, not to mention the seeming one-sidedness of the calls going against the Blues in that game (not that we’re biased or anything here at The Bluenote Zone), there were no fights.  Too bad, so sad . . . but such is life.  The Blues remain at nine fights on the young season (5-2-2).  Despite the sparse October schedule that leaves The Note as one of two teams AT THIS MOMENT to have played less than ten games, the team is in a tie for ninth in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils and the Washington Capitals (teams that have played five and three more games, respectively, than the Blues).  So not only is this team succeeding at winning, they’re succeeding at throwing punches.  And trust me, this is a good combination!

The San Jose Sharks are one of those special “Total Pain In The Ass” teams – they score goals, they have agitators, they have role players, they have grinders and they have fighters.  They even have some guys that can play a combo of two or three items from that menu.  In 2009-10, the Sharks went 20-15-22 in 57 fights (tied for ninth with the Toronto Maple Leafs) en route to a 2-seed in the Western Conference side of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and a subsequent Western Conference Finals appearance.  These guys were good at many things last year, and this year – despite a slight unexpected dip in the standings – they’re still good at fighting as they hold third place in the NHL with 13 fights (4-3-6).  Last season, Cam Janssen destroyed Brad Staubitz November 14th in St. Louis, Ryane Clowe defeated BJ Crombeen December 3rd in San Jose and Janssen and Jody Shelley worked a marathon draw January 6th in St. Louis.  Links to the YouTube clips of each fight are on each opponent name.

The Sharks’ leading fighter last year was Staubitz (6’1”, 210lbs, 3-3-6, signed with Minnesota) with 12.  The Sharks’ leading RETURNING fighter is Clowe (6’2”, 225lbs, 8-1-2) with 11 last season.  Following them were Shelley (6’3”, 230, 3-3-4, signed with Philadelphia) with 10, youngster Frazer McLaren (6’4”, 225lbs, 2-3-3) with eight, Scott Nichol (5’9”, 180lbs, 1-1-2) with four and Douglas Murray (6’3”, 240lbs, 1-1-0) and Jay Leach (6’4”, 220lbs, 0-1-1 as a Shark and 0-2-1 overall, now in the AHL) each with two.  Single-fighters included Jed Ortmeyer (6’0”, 200lbs, Loss, now in the AHL), Manny Malhotra (6’2”, 220lbs, Win, signed with Vancouver), Kent Huskins (6’3”, 210lbs, Loss), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (6’1”, 200lbs, Draw), Torrey Mitchell (5’11”, 190lbs, Draw), Jason Demers (6’1”, 185lbs, Draw), Niclas Wallin (6’3”, 220lbs, Draw) and Devin Setoguchi (6’0”, 200lbs, Win).  They made one key fight addition, adding the 15 fights of my favorite former Blue (and my former favorite Blue, too) Jamal Mayers (6’1”, 214lbs, 7-3-5 with Toronto and Calgary last season).

Contesting in this year’s 13 fights for the Sharks have been Clowe (1-1-2) with four, McLaren (1-1-1) and Mayers (0-2-1) each with three, Nichol (1-0-1) with two and Murray (Win) with one.

If I had my druthers, I would bet on a rematch between Crombeen and Clowe, but if Janssen plays, do not be shocked if he goes after either Clowe or Staubitz . . . or vice-versa.  And I’d really like to see what Nichol has, as I really haven’t seen much of him as a fighter but it appears he’s trying to get in the mix.  Other than someone like Vladimir Sobotka, who doesn’t fight, there doesn’t seem to be the right matchup for him here, though.

Keep the home winning streak alive, you say?  Don’t mind if you do, gang.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

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.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

One large Latvian. Image via insidesocal.com

With Cam Janssen and George Parros scratched for Thursday night’s affair in Anaheim, members of each team had to pick up the slack as far as fisticuffs go.  And since both squads go 10+ deep as far as fighters are concerned, there was no doubt it would happen – and it did.

The only fight from that game worked out to the St. Louis Blues’ advantage, because let’s face it – if Chuck Norris David Backes is gonna drop the gloves, he might as well take one of the Anaheim Ducks’ best players with him.  This time it was Corey Perry, and Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights users unanimously picked Backes as the winner of the bout.  That pushes his record in fights this season to 2-1-0, with both wins coming in the last week.  ‘Atta boy, David!

This season, the Los Angeles Kings are on the lower end of the NHL’s fighting spectrum: compared to 32 Blues fights, there have only been 16 by the Kings.  Then again, when you’ve been playing as well as the Kings have this season (that is to say, out of their minds), you can get away with such inactive fists.

Big Latvian winger Raitis Ivanans has taken part in a cool half of the Kings’ 16 fights.  Built like an NFL tight end, the 6’4″ 255 lb beast is NOT the kind of guy you want to meet in a dark alley with an ill temper.  Ivanans is 3-1-4 on the season, according to Fried Chicken and friends.  Two of those victories were over certified NHL goons (Jody Shelley of San Jose and Jean-Francois Jacques of Edmonton), while Parros was the other combatant in one of the four draws.  The only three other fighters on the team with more than two fights this season are defenseman Sean O’Donnell (0-0-3), winger Wayne Simmonds (0-1-1) and defenseman and alternate captain Matt Greene (0-2-0).  Notice there are no victories among those three fighters – the Kings are 3-5-8 this season, which means Ivanans holds all three fight victories for the Kings this season.

Fight-wise, there’s not much to look forward to in this game, unless it’s initiated by Ivanans or a member of the Blues.  If the gloves come off, let’s hope The Note chooses wisely this evening (i.e. anyone other than Ivanans.  PLEASE!).

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights.

Open your eyes, Cam! Image via photos.upi.com

Well . . . wrongly, I did not foresee Jody Shelley throwing down against Cam Janssen last night.  With that fight, add one draw to Janssen’s total for the season – he is now 6-1-2 on the year.

Some hockey insiders (and outsiders too) consider the Ducks as the most physical team in the National Hockey League.  You certainly couldn’t call them Hollywood sissies, that’s for sure.

When you think of the Ducks and fighters, the first name that pops up is George Parros.  He’s not your typical economics degree holder from Princeton.  Standing 6’5″ and weighing in at a beastly 230 pounds, the big winger is an imposing figure with fists of iron.  Judging by his 2-5-6 record (according to Fried Chicken and his followers), he will take on anyone, anytime, anywhere.  Oh, and he has the most awesome mustache among NHL players, hands down (the best mustache in the league still belongs to Joel Quennville).  Whether said mustache is better than Chris Mason’s playoff beard from last year . . . this reporter will abstain from that argument.

Other fighters to look out for . . . Mike Brown (1-2-3, including a loss to BJ Crombeen on October 17th at Anaheim), Kyle Chipchura (1-2-1 with ANH, 0-1-1 with MON, 1-3-2 overall) and Troy Bodie (0-1-1, was just called up December 28th).  The totals show that Anaheim has been in 37 fights this year, with fights from 13 different players.  It’s like they have grease on the inside of their gloves – they come off easy with these guys.

The dream fight matchup of the evening is Janssen against Parros.  Parros has a mighty reach advantage on Cam, but as we know, you can’t count Cam out of ANY fight, which he proved again last night.  A Parros-Brad Winchester fight might be a bit of alright as well, where the size is practically even-steven.  The same is true of Crombeen and Chipchura.

Strap on your helmets and anchor down the expensive china tonight, gang . . . it’s gonna be a finesse player’s nightmare tonight.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Don't let Cam's smile fool you . . . he's out for blood! Via blues.nhl.com

When trying to figure out how to contribute, a light flashed in my head.  What’s one of the most overlooked aspects of elite hockey since the 1980′s?  Why, fighting, of course!

Gary Bettman has seemingly done everything in his power and “ultimate wisdom” to try to ouster this segment of the game in his reign as commissioner, which is a shame for so many reasons that I won’t even detail them here.  “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?!?!”, Bettman says.  The kids will be fine, Gary.  Pipe down, will you?

The fact is, if you look at the scores from the open-ice era of the 1980′s – when fighting was prevalent and bench-clearing brawls were not only within the rules, but virtually par for the course – you’ll notice that goal-scoring was much higher THEN than it is NOW.  Why?  To me, the answer is simple: there were fewer cheap shots taken at skill players back then, because if you so much as looked at the Wayne Gretzky’s or Mario Lemieux’s or Bernie Federko’s the wrong way back then, you were sure to get a fist embedded in your temple later by the team goon.  (Something could be said about the lack of a neutral-zone trap back then, but I can’t buy it completely.)  This opened the ice for the skill players to do their thing and make plays.  Hockey was such a simple team sport back then, and it was fun to watch!

Today, as most of you are aware and more-or-less because of the silly strange rules in place meant to curb hockey violence, the fisticuffs serve more as a momentum-changer than punishment.  Quite often, coaches send their best fighter(s) out when the team needs a spark.  Sometimes, the opponent obliges and sends their fightmaster(s) out there, and they exchange swords (and fists) to the delight of the crowd.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  But that’s the nature of the beast.

I did a bit of research today at Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights to get a bit of a tale-of-the-tape to tonight’s Blues-Sharks tilt.  These guys know their stuff about fights, and they’re based in the St. Louis area.  I’m sure they’re great people.  So what did I learn from them?

As far as number of fights contested, the Blues and Sharks are pretty even this season – the Sharks have fought 33 times to the Blues 32, which sounds about right considering the mentality of both clubs.

Unless absolutely unavoidable, the Blues do NOT want to fight Ryane Clowe.  He’s been in six scrapes this season (including one on December 3rd with BJ Crombeen in San Jose), and according to the registered voters at hockey-fights.com, he’s won all six of them.  The only Sharks player to get into more fights has been Frazer McLaren, who sports a W-L-D of 2-3-3.  However, he was sent to Worcester on Saturday to help make room for the Sharks’ next two most prevalent fighters – Jody Shelley (soreness, flu) and Brad Staubitz (face) – as they returned from IR.  Shelley, whom many Blues fans are familiar with, is 3-2-1 this year, with Staubitz at 1-2-1.  With both coming off injury, don’t anticipate a scrap from either of those two.  Then again, as most of us know, Shelley REALLY likes to throw down, so expect anything, I guess.

Without looking at the stats, you’d probably assume that the Blues’ leader in fights is Cam Janssen, right?  Well, you’d be close, but wrong.  BJ Crombeen is 5-4-1 this year in 10 fights, while Janssen is a robust 6-1-1 in 8 fights.  So Janssen has the most wins, but Crombeen has shed the gloves more often.  Then again, Janssen HAS been in the owner’s box a lot more than Crombeen this season.  Carlo Colaiacovo (1-0-2) and Brad Winchester (2-1-0) round out the top four fighters (Didn’t expect to see Carlo’s name in there, did you?  Neither did I.).

The Blues and Sharks have gotten into two tussles this year – one the aforementioned Clowe-Crombeen tilt, the other a victory by Janssen over Staubitz in St. Louis.  Contrary to popular belief, Janssen did NOT break Staubitz’s face in that fight . . . that came a few days later via a wayward puck.

My dream fight matchup in this game would be Douglas Murray (6’3″, 240, Swedish National Team defenseman, 1-0-0) against Winchester (6’5″, 230).  The size and reach is about even, but alas, Winchester will probably be in the press box tonight where he probably NEEDS to be until he figures out how to contribute positively to the Blues.  Maybe Murray will scrap with Janssen or Crombeen.  I’m sure they’d both be more than willing.

Honestly, I don’t expect there to be fisticuffs in this game, but I’ve been shocked before, so we’ll see where it goes.  In any matter, most Sharks-Blues games in the last decade have been physical affairs, and I don’t see this one being any different, so be ready.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!