Watching fights between Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon, and Ron Hextall and Felix Potvin in the 1990s, Martin Biron said he always wanted to be the goaltender who could win a bout as the spunky underdog.
Then he got into one against Ray Emery and asked himself: “What were you thinking?”
Two decades since Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime went at it as part of the Philadelphia Flyers-Ottawa Senators brawl that set the NHL record for penalty minutes, goalie fighting has essentially disappeared from the league.
Photo: AP
That is because there are almost no team-wide slugfests anymore, prohibitive rules and fewer netminders willing to take the risks.
“I think goalies have gotten smarter and they’re like: ‘No, there’s no reason to get in a fight,’” Biron said. “Fighting is not as prevalent as it once was, and you don’t have the kind of brawls that we used to have sometimes where you’re like: ‘OK, I’m going to join in.’”
Biron and Emery in 2007 is one of just seven goalie versus goalie fights since the 2004-2005 lockout and 43 overall dating to 1954, according to HockeyFights.com (there are 141 other times where at least one goalie was involved in a tussle).
The vast majority of these unusual crowd favorites came between the late 1970s and late 1990s during an era when masked men with an edge were all over the place.
“There had to be at least 80 fights a year, so the opportunity was at least once a night for something to break out to extend beyond two guys fighting,” said retired goaltender Glen Hanlon, who got into five scraps in the NHL, including two against another goalie. “Back then, watching the two turtles race to center ice to have a fight didn’t seem that crazy and it was a lot of excitement.”
Not anymore. The most recent NHL goalie fight was between Edmonton’s Mike Smith and Calgary’s Cam Talbot on Feb. 1, 2020.
Stanley Cup winning-goalies Jordan Binnington and Marc-Andre Fleury, tried to throw down during a game between St. Louis and Minnesota in March last year, but officials prevented it from happening.
“If you’re going for it, you’re going for it,” said Binnington, who lost US$65,000 in salary as a result. “Last year was close, and I feel like the linesmen have been told to really not let it happen, which is understandable. They’re doing their job, and that’s what the NHL wants.”
It is an automatic ejection to cross the center red line for a fight along with the potential for fines and suspensions. No team wants to lose a goalie over a fight.
Esche, now president of the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets, said that plenty of goalies want to fight, if the opportunity existed.
So many of them grew up watching Don Cherry’s Rock’em Sock’em Hockey videos or have checked out goalie fights on YouTube.
In his younger days, Darcy Kuemper would watch those videos before games to get pumped up. Fellow Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren can rattle off some of the classics like they are Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier.
“They’re very memorable when you see goalies go at it,” Lindgren said. “Even going back to juniors, my junior partner got into a fight with our rival team. That was a full-out line brawl, and obviously sitting and watching that close was really cool. Certainly something I’ll never forget. When it happens, it’s exciting, and I’m sure all the fans love it, too.”
Parents? Not so much. Biron’s son, Jacob Biron, is a 19-year-old goaltender who has worked on fighting techniques with teammates after practice — just in case — only to be met with a stern rebuke.
“I’m like: ‘Please don’t,’” Martin Biron said. “You’re going to get either hurt by taking a punch or hurt by giving out a punch, and he laughs, but I’m like: ‘Do as I say, not what I did. Don’t even think about it.’”
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Shohei Ohtani on Thursday delivered his first two-homer game of the season and had six RBIs as the Los Angeles Dodgers poured it on with five long balls in a 19-2 victory over the visiting Athletics. Max Muncy, Andy Pages and James Outman also hit home runs for the Dodgers, who left no doubt by taking a 13-2 lead following a seven-run third inning. Muncy and Kim Hye-seong each had three hits for Los Angeles. Dodgers right-hander Matt Sauer led off a bullpen game by allowing two runs in four innings. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski (1-1) finished with four scoreless innings after he
RSS