We almost didn’t have hockey this year, I prepared myself to be painstakingly depressed for months on end as the only sport on TV daily would’ve been basketball. There is no fighting in basketball, well there are no rules that allow fighting to happen I should say. There are no glove saves, no kick saves at least baseball has some kind of saves. There is especially no Pavel Datsyuk skating past all five Nashville Predators to score a goal.
Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and even with a shortened season, there was violence galore for all of us to feast upon.
10. Tanner Glass vs Arron Asham
I love the Rangers, I hate seeing them lose fights, the less I say about this the better.
9. Aaron Volpatti vs Matt Beleskey
I think my favorite part about this fight is Matt Beleskey’s helmet getting knocked off and then watching his hair flow as he attempts to sprawl to avoid a Aaron Volpatti double leg.
8. Joe Thornton vs Jamie Benn
Who doesn’t love seeing two of the more skilled forwards in the league matchup? Thornton always got a wrap of being “soft,” but here he proves everyone wrong.
7. Colton Orr vs Deryk Engelland
Ahh yes, our good friend Colton Orr. This was somewhat of a special fight not only because it was a hell of a fight, but because the last time they squared up Orr ended up getting detached from reality when Engelland knocked him out.
6. Canadiens vs Senators Line Brawl
Full line brawl? Everyone loves a full line brawl.
5. B.J. Crombeen vs Zac Rinaldo
Full disclosure, I am a diehard New York Rangers fan, which means I loathe the Flyers. I want nothing more than for them to lose every single game that has ever existed, which is why it was so hard to put my bias aside and include this on the list. In the end, I couldn’t deny the thrashing that Zac Rinaldo gave to B.J. Crombeen.
4. Rockford vs Grand Rapids
You may ask yourself, ‘but Gary, this is an AHL fight, not a NHL fight. How did it make the list?’ My reply to that would be simple, it’s my list and I can do whatever I want with it.
3. David Dziurzynski vs Frazer McLaren
We featured this fight back in the day when it first happened, in fact I believe this was the first hockey fight we ever posted on Middleeasy, so it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
2. Eric Boulton vs Colton Orr
This is Colton Orr’s second appearance on the list, and I probably could have made a top ten of his fights just this past year. There is an amount of violence that Colton Orr holds both in his chin and in his fists that is unparalleled in the NHL today.
1. Patrick Bordeleau vs Brian McGrattan
I always compared Frye/Takayama to a hockey fight, two guys grabbing onto whatever they could just to draw the opponent closer. If there was a NHL equivalent to it, this is the fight. Ladies and gentleman I present to you, the NHL fight of the year, enjoy.
