Ryan Wilson

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.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights