Home : Ice Hockey :A Premium On Muscle
Through its formative years, organized hockey had become notorious for its robust, often vicious, quality. One reason for this was the frontier spirit in Western Canada. Hockey sprouted in dozens of rough-and-tumble prairie towns where lawlessness was as common as the autumn frost. As a result, bloodshed on ice was not uncommon, and some of the early stars - such as Bad Joe Hall and Sprague Cleghorn - were as renowned for their wood-chopping as their scoring prowess. In 1923, Cleghorn hit Ottawa Senators player Lionel Hitchman in the head with his stick. Charged with aggravated assault, Cleghorn was found guilty and fined $50. I don't go to a Hockey game to see the fights, a rough, tough, hard-checking game suits me just fine. I would like to say I don't stand when a fight starts, but I do, I can't help myself. But if you're wondering why there is fighting in Hockey, let me explain this way:
In 1959 we had Gordie Howe vs. Lou Fontinato. This fight may be the only time one man destroyed a season for an entire team. Detroit Red Wings Hall-of-Famer Howe was behind the net, mixing it up with opposing defender Eddie Shack, when New York Ranger goon Fontinato barreled in. His first punch missed, so Howe grabbed the neck of Fontinato’s jersey and started pummeling his mug. "Whop, whop, whop,” was the sound Life magazine described. "Just like someone chopping wood.” Detroit trainer Lefty Wilson could hear it all the way from the Red Wings’ bench. "With every blow, you could hear something break—squish, squish.” The Rangers went on to lose six of their last seven games and fell out of the playoff race. New York coach Phil Watson blamed Howe: "We never got over Louie’s pasting. His nose looked like a subway hit it.” This was Howe’s last big fight—not because he was old (he retired as a 52-year-old grandpa in 1980) but because word got out that if you valued your face, you didn’t mess with Gordie. In 1987 at a World Junior Hockey championship game, Canada was leading 4–2 in the second period when Soviet Pavel Kostichkin slashed Canuck Theoren Fleury, prompting the squads to punch the détente out of each other. After several minutes of escalating battle, the refs left the ice—and turned off the lights. Not even zero visibility could stop the war, which raged on for 20 minutes. The near-certain gold-medalist Canucks and the also-ran Russkies were both tossed from the tourney. Said a Canadian official, "We won the fight but lost the medal.” In the dark, who could tell? According to defenseman Dave Shand, "Kordic might have been the toughest guy in hockey, but totally wacko. He’d spear you in the face for nothing.” Maybe because Kordic was wired on cocaine, booze, and steroids? Kordic won the Cup in 1986 with Montreal before being traded to Toronto, Washington (where he logged 101 penalty minutes in seven friggin’ games), and finally Quebec. On the night of August 8, 1992, a drugged-up Kordic fought with nine cops at Quebec’s Motel Maxim. (Yo!) The Mounties eventually subdued him, needing two pairs of handcuffs to restrain his arms. Kordic died on the way to the hospital.
Win A Hockey FightThink you’re brave enough to drop the gloves with the best of ’em?Detroit Red Wings tough guy Darren McCarty, whose infractions include a legendary pummeling of most-hated-man-in-hockey Claude Lemieux says. “There’s more strategy to fighting than people think. It’s not a bar fight; it’s more like a duel in the Old West. You square off, you go at it, and when it’s done, it’s done.” Here’s how to keep your honor—and your remaining tooth—intact. Know your etiquette, fighters fight fighters. “If you’re not a fighter, don’t act like one,” McCarty says. “You’ll get your head knocked off.” Fights are often spontaneous, but if you can, send an invitation. With his team behind, L.A. King Adam Deadmarsh asked McCarty to help give the Kings a lift before their next game. Says McCarty: “I could have said, ‘I’ve got a bad hand tonight, catch me next game,’ but I was OK, so we went at it.” Retired NHL dueler Joey Kocur concurs. “You make it a fair fight—you don’t jump somebody. Tough guys square off and face each other.” And may the best mauler win. Do your research, Brendan Shanahan can score goals and get bloody, but…“Those top guys, I’m not in their class,” he admits. “They know who’s lefty, who’s righty, and who can punch with both hands.” Want a field test? “If you want to know if a guy’s a lefty or a righty, grab his shoulders,” Shanny advises. “The side of your face that gets sore tells what he is.” Remember, you’re on ice; throwing a roundhouse could send you flying. Keep your punches short. “Dumb fighters have punch-in-the-face contests,” Shanahan says. “Those guys are fun to watch, but they’re not in the league for long.” Don’t be afraid to get hit, “I let my opponent punch first,” says Kocur. “Then his head comes forward and makes a nice target.” Grab his jersey inside his dominant elbow so you can twist his arm and block most of his punches. “It’s like fighting a guy with a boa constrictor in one hand and an anvil in the other,” Shanahan says. Or pull his collar toward you. “I’m probably going to get hit,” says Kocur, one of the best punchers of all time, “but I’ll hit him harder than he’s going to hit me.” Beware: A good fighter might pull the Tie Domi trick—ducking his face so you hit his knuckle-crushing forehead as he laughs at you. Know when to say Mommy! “Everyone has a plan until they get hit,” Shanahan says. “Once you take one on the button, it’s instinctive. Tuck your chin and start swinging.” Losing’s one thing…being a loser is different. “Keep fighting,” Kocur says. “It’s the guys who turtle and hide that lose respect. Take it like a man.” How do you know when the fight’s over? Once the official steps in, back off. “I’ve seen guys not punch until the linesman comes in,” Kocur adds. “That’s chicken-shit.” It all comes down to respect. So pound away—and buy the guy a milk shake when he gets his jaw wired shut.
How to Take the Perfect Wrist ShotIn hockey it’s a lot of fun to be the goon, but a few missing teeth and a smashed nose don’t exactly impress the ladies. Women, of course, prefer a man who knows how to score, and the best way to get the puck in the net is with a dominant wrist shot. Rather than ask you to take our word for it, we dragged Philadelphia Flyers captain and six-time NHL All-Star Eric Lindros out on the ice to teach us how to take the shot that’s his bread and butter. Take it from him: “The wrist shot is simply the most important shot in hockey.” Sure, you might not be able to shoot like Eric Lindros but now at least you can say he gave you a few tips.
What makes the wrist shot so lethal is its deadly combination of accuracy and quickness. “Accuracy is definitely more important than power, and a wrister is your most accurate shot,” Eric says. “Winding up and taking a slap shot usually gives the goalie too much time to get in the right position—goalies are so good today, you need a shot you can get off quick.” Since a defenseman won’t often give you a clear look at the net, once you see an open spot not protected by the goaltender, take quick, careful aim and don’t take your eyes off the target. Once you know where you want the shot to go, keep your weight over your back skate and pull the puck back behind your center of gravity. The point here is to get as much power as you can while simultaneously keeping the puck away from the defenseman. “Sometimes you can’t use your body at all and you’ll have to shoot off your wrong foot,” Eric points out, which will undoubtably sap strength from your shot. To ensure that you get as much power and accuracy out of the shot as possible, make sure the puck is cupped in the middle of the curve of your stick blade. Sweep the stick forward, shifting your weight from your back leg to your front leg together with the motion of the stick. “It’s not so much upper body strength as legs” that puts the power behind the wrist shot, Eric says. As the puck passes your front skate, snap your wrists over as though you were swinging a baseball bat. To strengthen your wrists (“You guys aren’t gonna make a masturbation joke, are you?”), try Eric’s technique: “My brother and I would practice with weighted pucks in our garage. Of course when we moved out there was a little woodwork to be done.” As your weight carries forward over your front foot, turn your body into the shot, letting your back leg extend behind you for balance. Follow through with your wrist, pointing the stick at your target. This is where you decide the shot’s direction: If you curl the toe of the blade over the shot, the puck will go low; keep the blade open and you’ll roof it. “Most NHL goals are scored low,” Eric points out, “but when you’re playing in the beer league, with lots of good-looking women in the crowd, that top-shelf goal is pretty tough to resist. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Links & Recommended Sites | Oneliners, Stories, etc. |
| Questions? Anything Not Work? Not Look Right? My Policy Is To Blame The Computer. |
| About True Blues | Link To Us | Site Navigation | Site Map |