Yes - I am a proud, knuckle-dragging hockey Neanderthal.
Deal with it!
Thankfully, this season the Flyers found a way to be good (well, good enough to squeak into the playoffs on the last day of the season) and tough (2nd in the NHL in fights, with 77). Believe it or not, that is actually a Broad Street Bullies-era fisticuffs total, although still well below the mid/late-'80's era when the Flyers were cranking out around 100 fights per season.
In fact, let's kick this off with a little 'Tocchie Hockey' - Rick Tocchet vs. Boston's Cam Neely (a.k.a. Sea Bass), circa December 1986 or thereabouts:
And who could ever forget Ron Hextall going ape on Chris Chelios in Game 6 of the 1989 Wales Conference Finals? Sure, it cost Hextall the first 12 games of the '89-'90 season, but darn it if it wasn't worth it:
Speaking of Hextall, how about a little rock 'em, sock 'em goalie robots? Hextall was always itchin' to drop the gloves, and he jumped at the chance to pound on the Leafs' Felix Potvin on November 10, 1996:
Of course, the mid-'90's gets me to thinkin' of the Eric Lindros glory years. A perpetual candidate for the Gordie Howe hat trick (goal/assist/fight in the same game), here's Lindros vs. the Kings' renowned enforcer Marty McSorley, from November 21, 1995 (this may be the one where Lindros was later accused of biting McSorley's ear, I'm not sure):
Ooh, here's a good one: Dan Kordic vs. Rob Ray (pre 'Rob Ray Rule'), February 23, 1996. Check out Hextall, trying to goad Ray into dropping the gloves. Didn't take much convincing.
Gotta throw one really old school Flyers fight in here. Let's go with Dave Schultz vs. the Leafs' Dave Dunn, April 19, 1975:
Flyers vs. Senators, March 5, 2004. JACKPOT! The teams combined for 419 penalty minutes in this game, an NHL record.
And let's throw in one from this year. Ian Laperriere set his career high in fights this season (see below), but I'm going to go with Aaron Asham. I like his style - he seems to favor 'gentleman's fights', i.e., somewhat premeditated, right off the face-off and with a little square-off before the punches start flying. This is from January 1, 2010 vs. the Rangers' Aaron Voros:
Here are all the Flyers' fighters from this season (click to view fight cards and videos):
- Ian Laperriere (25)
- Daniel Carcillo (17)
- Aaron Asham (14)
- Scott Hartnell (7)
- Mike Richards (4)
- Riley Cote (4)
- Simon Gagne (1)
- Chris Pronger (1)
- Claude Giroux (1)
- Daniel Briere (1)
- Darroll Powe (1)
- Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (1) (now with the Detroit Red Wings)
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