http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/hockey/nhl/wires /08/15/2040.ap.hkn.je

Winnipeg Jets C Rypien found dead in home

From SI

COLEMAN, Alberta (AP) - Winnipeg Jets center Rick Rypien was found dead in his home Monday, nine months after he took a leave of absence to deal with an undisclosed personal matter.
An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police called Rypien's death sudden, but not suspicious. Rypien, a cousin of Super Bowl MVP quarterback Mark Rypien, was 27.
"We would like to express our sincere sympathies to the Rypien family as well as Rick's friends,'' the Jets said in a release. "We also appreciate all of the support that has come pouring in from Rick's fans. Rick was a talented player with an extremely bright future. His hunger for the game made him a valued team member both on and off the ice. This loss has impacted us as more than just a hockey team.''
Rypien is the second active NHL player found dead this offseason. Former New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard died in May due to an accidental mix of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Rypien signed a $700,000, one-year deal with Winnipeg last month after spending parts of six seasons with Vancouver. He had nine goals, seven assists and 226 penalty minutes in 119 career NHL games, often dropping the gloves against much larger opponents.
The Canucks announced on Nov. 25 that they had granted Rypien an indefinite leave of absence. It was the second time in three years the forward had left the team to deal with an undisclosed personal matter. Rypien also received a six-game suspension from the NHL last season after grabbing a fan on his way to the dressing room in Minnesota.
Rypien also took an extended personal leave after a rash of injuries two years ago, missing 70 games during the 2008-09 season.


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http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/05/14/ran ger-forward-boogaard-dead -age-2...

New York Rangers forward Derek Boogaard was found dead Friday. He was 28.
Known as the Boogey Man because of his role as one of the game's most physical forwards, Boogaard was found by members of his family at his apartment in Minneapolis. Boogaard spent the first five years of his career with the Minnesota Wild before signing a free-agent deal with the Rangers last summer.
His first season with the Rangers was cut short due to a concussion and a shoulder injury. He played just 22 games, scoring 1 goal, adding an assis and earning 45 penalty minutes.
"Derek was an extremely kind and caring individual," Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather said in a statement. "He was a very thoughtful person, who will be dearly missed by all those who knew him. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and teammates during this difficult time."
In 277 NHL games, Boogaard, a 6-foot-7, 265-pound winger, compiled 3 goals, 16 points and 589 PIM. He was very popular during his time with the Wild, winning over fans with an ever-present smile and an eagerness to help out his new community. He was also loved for his willingness to protect teammates on the ice. He's second on the team's all-time list for penalty minutes with 544.

The Wild released a statement Friday night: "The Minnesota Wild organization sends our deepest sympathies to the family of Derek Boogaard. Derek was a fan favorite during his five seasons with the Wild and will be greatly missed here in Minnesota and throughout the NHL."
As the news of Boogaard's death spread Friday night, it hit the hockey community especially hard.
"The news that we have lost someone so young and so strong leaves everyone in the National Hockey League stunned and saddened, Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement released Saturday morning. "The NHL family sends its deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Derek Boogaard, to those who played and worked with him and to everyone who enjoyed watching him compete."
It was his teammates and his foes, though, who knew Boogaard best. They saw past the intimidating stare and the reputation as the toughest man in hockey.
"Unreal guy - just a really big teddy bear," Wild goalie and former teammate Niklas Backstrom told the Minneapolis-Star Tribune. "Outside the rink, he didn't want bad for anyone."
Boston defenseman Shane Hnidy played with Boogard in Minnesota last season and was clearly upset as he discussed his former teammate and friend after Saturday's morning skate in preparation for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden.
"It's really tough,” Hnidy said. "It hit me pretty hard last night when I heard. I send everything out to his family. It's a tough time for everyone.
"Everyone just saw the big tough exterior, but he was a great guy that really gave back. Especially in Minnesota, he was probably the biggest, most popular player there. He always gave back.”
Boogaard was active in a number of charities during his NHL career. Last season he started "Boogaard's Booguardians," where he hosted military members and their families at all Rangers home games. He also was active with the Garden of Dreams Foundation as well as the Defending the Blue Line Foundation, a non-profit foundation that ensures children of military members are given the chance to play hockey.
According to the Star Tribune, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that an autopsy would be conducted Saturday.
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http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/11/2649423/is landers-beat-penguins-wit h-f...

Islanders beat Penguins with fists and sticks

By IRA PODELL

AP Hockey Writer


Mark Lennihan
New York Islanders' Matt Moulson, front left, and teammates celebrate his second-period goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in an NHL hockey game, Friday, Feb. 11, 2011, in Uniondale, N.Y. Other Islanders are, from left to right: Moulson, Andrew MacDonald, PA Parenteau, Milan Jurcina, and John Tavares. Penguins' Craig Adams, top left, Marc-Andre Fleury (29) Maxime Talbot and Brooks Orpik, upper right, look on.


John Tavares, Matt Moulson and rookie Michael Grabner all scored their 20th goal of the season and the New York Islanders got some revenge against the injury-depleted Pittsburgh Penguins with their sticks and their fists in a fight-filled 9-3 victory on Friday night.

Just nine days after Brent Johnson beat New York 3-0 and knocked out Rick DiPietro in a one-punch fight that left the franchise goalie with broken bones in his face, the Islanders responded with four goals in the first period and four more in the second - with an all-out brawl in the middle of the offensive outburst.

That was just the appetizer for a third-period donnybrook - in which Johnson fought again - that caused a delay of about 15 minutes. With multiple ejections, both benches had only a handful of players on them for the final 12-plus minutes.

New York chased Johnson 3:46 into the second period when callup enforcer Micheal Haley made it 6-0 on the Islanders' 16th shot. As Johnson skated to the backup goalie seat in the tunnel leading to the Penguins' dressing room, he was showered with an avalanche of boos from the unusually large crowd that clearly remembered what he did to DiPietro.

But his night wasn't over. Johnson returned at the start of the third period and got bowled over 1:19 in when Grabner was knocked into him by a hard hit from Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik.

The second huge brawl broke out at 4:47, and Haley had two fights in the melee - first with Max Talbot and then with Johnson after the goalie skated out toward the blue line. Haley charged after him, and both players dropped their gloves and started punching. Eric Godard was also involved, trying to protect the Penguins' netminder.

Haley became an instant favorite among the 12,888 in attendance, who probably never heard of him before Friday. But they chanted his name every time there was another dustup, long after he was sent to the dressing room.

The second major uprising was sparked by New York enforcer Trevor Gillies' elbow that left Eric Tangradi prone on the ice. Tangradi was recalled on Friday from Wilkes Barre/Scranton of the AHL. Godard and Haley, who came up from AHL Bridgeport on Friday, were both ejected with double game misconducts.

Pittsburgh's Craig Adams and Gillies were also booted from the game. Johnson was forced to remain in the net and heard boos and derisive chants during the final minutes.

Travis Hamonic, Jesse Joensuu, and P.A. Parenteau added goals for the Islanders, who earned their second win in two days after beating Montreal on the road in a shootout on Thursday night. Mikko Koskinen earned both wins - his first two in the NHL.

Moulson and Grabner both added second goals to give them a team-leading 21 as the Islanders broke out with their highest-scoring game of the season. Grabner provided the final punch with a short-handed breakaway goal with 2:09 remaining in the game.

Kris Letang, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy scored power-play goals for Pittsburgh, which won at home in overtime against Los Angeles on Thursday and will play at the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon. It hardly mattered in this one that the Penguins were again without All-Stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The melee in the second period came when Matt Martin jumped Talbot in the neutral zone. The Islanders had made Talbot a marked man because of his hit against Blake Comeau in the previous game that has left the Islanders forward sidelined since with a concussion.

Martin's actions sparked fights between unlikely brawlers Josh Bailey of the Islanders and Pittsburgh's Pascal Dupuis, Hamonic and Penguins forward Mike Rupp, and another matchup of Martin and Deryk Engelland.

Bailey was ejected following his first NHL fight along with teammates Martin and Hamonic, and Pittsburgh's Engelland, Rupp and Dupuis. Martin was also hit with an instigator penalty and a separate 10-minute misconduct.

Marc-Andre Fleury allowed two goals on nine shots in 16 minutes, 14 seconds of action in the second period. Johnson then returned for his rough third period. He was slow in getting back to his skates after being down in a snow-angel position for a few moments after being hit by Grabner.

Notes: Haley, who played in his third career NHL game, had 144 penalty minutes in 50 games at Bridgeport this season. ... In addition to the absence of Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins were also without forwards Matt Cooke (suspension), Arron Asham (upper body), Mike Comrie (hip), Chris Kunitz (lower body), Mark Letestu (lower body). ... The Penguins hadn't allowed nine goals since an 9-0 loss at Tampa Bay on Nov. 8, 2003.



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At 12:36 of last night’s second period, with the Bruins holding a 5-3 lead, Brad Marchand had no idea the play had been called offside when he slammed James Wisniewski into the end boards.

BRUINS 8, CANADIENS 6 Standing 8 count

And Marchand had absolutely zero clue that his actions would trigger a sequence that saw Tim Thomas sprinting from one end of TD Garden to the other, ready to engage Carey Price in what would be both goalies’ first NHL fight.

“It was getting into an outnumbered situation,’’ said Thomas, called to duty when Price left his crease to join the jostling. “That’s what I was thinking when I was getting down there. He was more than willing to fight. I had this big old plan. I was going to grab his right, then I was going to throw lefts, because I know he’s bigger and taller than me and has the reach on me. I thought I could do a better job of throwing lefts than him. When we went to grab, he got a good hold of my right arm and I got nothing. So then I was like, ‘Now what do I do?’ He’s got a big right cocked and ready to come.’’

The showdown, which ended when Price hauled down Thomas and got his jersey over his head, highlighted an evening of ill tempers. Nathan Horton (goal, four assists) and P.K. Subban went at each other all night. Andrew Ference threw down with Travis Moen. Johnny Boychuk repeatedly cuffed Jaroslav Spacek. Gregory Campbell fed Tom Pyatt with a string of lefts. Benoit Pouliot decked David Krejci with a right hand that had the Bruins center icing his lower lip after the game.

And, oh yeah, there was an 8-6 Bruins win amid all the belligerence (187 combined penalty minutes).

“It looked like back in the day in the ’70s and ’80s when there were those rivals,’’ Milan Lucic (two goals) said of the hatred. “I’m sure [assistant coach] Doug Jarvis knows all about those. He was in the middle of a lot of them. We’re just happy that we were able to get that win. They’ve been a tough opponent for us lately. We’d lost eight of our last nine before tonight. Most of all, we’re just happy to get those two points and keep getting up in the standings.’’

Ever since the nastiness of Lucic squaring off repeatedly with Mike Komisarek in 2008-09, there had been an easing of the bad blood between the clubs. Things got testy on Dec. 16 when Krejci threw down with Michael Cammalleri in the first NHL fight for both skilled players. On Jan. 8, tempers flared after Max Pacioretty shoved Zdeno Chara at the conclusion of Montreal’s 3-2 overtime win.

Last night, the kettle was screaming at full boil.

“It’s a rivalry you want to compete in and you want to beat each other,’’ said Michael Ryder (two goals). “We don’t want the other team to have the best of us. For Montreal, we knew it was a big game. We knew we had to be emotionally involved. A couple games against these guys, we haven’t done that. Tonight, we wanted to do it. I think we did.’’

Five seconds after Lucic scored his first to give the Bruins a 5-3 edge, Marchand’s check ignited the powder keg. Brian Gionta crashed into Marchand, which brought all 10 skaters together. Then when Price got too close to one pile, Thomas joined the fun. Briefly, when Thomas missed with a lunge and Price had his right fist at the ready, the Boston goalie acknowledged thinking of Brent Johnson one-punching Rick DiPietro and breaking the ex-Terrier’s face.

“Only a little bit when I didn’t get the arm I wanted to get,’’ said Thomas. “He had a good grip on my arm and was free to do it with the big right. The thought crossed my mind that I don’t want to be DiPietro.’’

By the time every piece of equipment was gathered, six Bruins were stuffed into the penalty box, creating a clown-car effect.

“Half of us couldn’t even sit down, we had so many guys in there,’’ said Marchand, who scored one of two goals (Dennis Seidenberg netted the other) in a 12-second span in the first period. “Especially when guys stick up for each other like we did, everyone’s getting in there and it’s good. It’s a good feeling when you’re sitting in the box.’’

The Bruins, up, 6-4, after 40 minutes, saw the Canadiens turn it into a one-goal game when Pacioretty netted a power-play goal at 7:06 of the third. At 9:18, after Zach Hamill drew an interference call on David Desharnais, Ryder’s power-play goal was waved off. It was ruled that Marchand had interfered with Price, when replays showed that he was knocked into the goalie by Yannick Weber. But Ryder gave the Bruins the cushion they needed with a PPG at 10:01 to make it 7-5.

If the game was over by then, the hate was not. At 17:06, after Horton and Subban clashed, Krejci and Pouliot squared off. At 19:19, Ference, Thornton, and Boychuk were nabbed for fighting. At 19:35, Adam McQuaid tried to goad Pacioretty into a fight and was tagged with a roughing double-minor.

“As players, we all had fun in tonight’s game,’’ Lucic said. “I think the fans definitely had a lot of fun watching tonight’s game. We were able to play with a lot of emotion. We were able to keep our heads on straight to get that win. That’s the most important thing.’’

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.

Flyers' tough guy Schultz thinks players should provide their own 'protection'

POSTED: February 9, 2011 By ED BARKOWITZ

barkowe@phillynews.com

One of the problems with hockey today, Flyers' legendary tough guy Dave Schultz was saying, is that players no longer have the freedom to monitor each other.
"There were guys like [Wayne] Gretzky who used to say, 'We need protection,' and now the only protection star players have is the National Hockey League's judicial system: Colin Campbell," said Schultz, whose single-season record for penalty minutes has stood for 35 years. "[But] players can police themselves. There used to be a thing called the code. The code is kind of gone."

Schultz was a key member of the Flyers' Stanley Cup-winning teams in the 1970s. While he scored a combined 29 goals in the two championship seasons, Schultz was most valuable for his role as an enforcer. In 1974-75, Schultz racked up the record 472 penalty minutes and had 25 fights.

"There's still certain rules and [current fighters] follow them," he said. "Like if a guy's hurt, you don't fight him."

But if an opponent took a cheapshot at one of the Flyers' skilled players, he could expect a quick visit from the man still affectionately known as "The Hammer."

"Today, you can drive Danny Briere's head into the boards and get suspended and lose some money," Schultz said. "In my day, you'd have to turn around because there would be guys lined up and you'd have to fight. That prevented a lot of guys from doing a lot of B.S."

Schultz and other proponents of hockey fighting argue that the instigator rule instituted in 1992 actually has made life less safe for star players. The rule gives a penalty to a player for unilaterally starting a fight. As such, retribution for a hit on a star player could wind up costing the aggrieved team even more.

"That's a bad rule," he said. "The instigator rule changed the game. It changed players being able to protect their teammates."

Suspensions and fines also are laughable, Schultz argues. There is no greater deterrent to cheapshots than being forced to fight after delivering one.

"I was only suspended one time," Schultz said. "I head-butted [Bruins' nemesis Terry] O'Reilly because he was holding my hands."

Sounds like O'Reilly violated "the code" and Schultz made him pay. What a concept. *



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Brawl from the bell: Stars, Bruins fight three times in 1st four seconds of Boston's 6-3 win

Photo: AP
Boston's Shawn Thornton (left) and Dallas' brawl during the first period.

By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News


BOSTON — There must be something in the chowder.
For the second time in three seasons, a Stars-Bruins game turned into a donnybrook. And this one didn’t take long. The two sides produced three fights in the first four seconds of the game, a new era sort of record in which all three brawls took place at different stoppages of play.
The NHL’s old stat istics include fights that were involved during the same stoppage of play.
Yet all the truculence didn’t pay off for the Stars, who lost a 6-3 game and suffered a couple of more injuries.
Krys Barch scratched a cornea in his fight and is listed as day-to-day. Adam Burish suffered an oribital bone injury in his fight and might not be available Saturday against Philadelphia . Ray Sawada received a blind-side hit to the head from Boston’s Daniel Paille and injured his shoulder.
Paille received a match penalty, but the Stars couldn’t score on the ensuing five-minute power play.
It was the same overall frustration the team battled when Steve Ott and Sean Avery went wild in a 5-1 loss to the Bruins in 2008. In addition, Dallas’ all-time penalty high of 211 minutes (406 for both teams) also came in Boston in 1981.
“I don’t think anything was discussed, it just happened,” said Ott, who fought Gregory Campbell in the first second of the game. “Both sides were ready. It was a big game.”
It was the latest in a string of big games that haven’t gone the Stars’ way. The loss is the fourth in the last five game for the Stars, who fall to 30-17-5 (65 points). Boston moves to 30-15-7 (67). It follows a 4-1 loss at the hands of Vancouver.
“Of the last six periods we played, four of them were really sloppy, reckless periods,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “We know we can compete with [the top teams], but we have to be a little smarter.”
Morrow brushed off the three fights in four seconds (Barch went with Shawn Thornton, and Brian Sutherby went with Adam McQuaid) as “chest thumping” and said the real problem came in breakdowns in coverage. Boston took the momentum from the hairy start and scored twice in the first 1:20. Starting goalie Andrew Raycroft was beaten by Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron and was pulled after facing just two shots.
Kari Lehtonen came on in relief and allowed three goals on 32 shots.
“Things happen and sometimes things don’t go your way,” Lehtonen said when asked about the Stars allowing 25 goals in the last five games. “I know there were a couple I would have liked back. We just have to move on and play better.”
The Stars will practice in Philadelphia on Friday and might have to call up a couple of extra players. Defenseman Mark Fistric (flu) will probably have to play, and the Stars are likely to bring Travis Morin in from Texas. Morin passed out Wednesday waiting for the Stars’ plane, but he checked out fine Thursday and skated in Frisco.
“We have a group of players in here who will respond,” Ott said. “We need to go out and find that game that pushed us to where we were last month.”

Link

All-Star Game’s a painful, hurtful waste of time

By Stephen Harris / Bruins Beat
Saturday, January 29, 2011 -
RALEIGH, N.C. — Anyone with even a partial understanding of the sport of hockey, and certainly people who have any fondness or respect for the NHL, should look upon the All-Star Game with nothing but contempt.

The event that occurs tomorrow afternoon at the Carolina Hurricanes’ RBC Center isn’t just a waste of time for all involved, it’s far worse than that. This ridiculous game isn’t merely of zero value in promoting the league, it’s actually a giant negative.

It hurts the game.

It sells a product that has absolutely nothing to do with real NHL play. The score will be, what, 14-12, or something like that. Virtually no defense will be played, and the players will go at about three-quarters speed. There will not be a single instance of physical contact that isn’t accidental.

At an All-Star Game a few years ago, one player turned to skate up ice, accidentally bumped into an opponent and knocked him to the ice. Player A then stopped, went back and helped Player B up.

Were an actual check be thrown — as did the Bruins [team stats]’ Terry O’Reilly, who simply couldn’t change his ferocious nature and play the creampuff hockey of this game, did in a game years ago — it would instantly become part of All-Star Game lore, talked about for years to come.

The things that really matter in the NHL has nothing to do with what takes place in this game. This affair puts on values that are antithetical to what hockey is really about.

Think of the familiar catch phrases and words you hear every day from coaches and experienced players:

“Keep it simple” . . . “Win battles”. . . “Go to the dirty areas”. . . “Compete.”

None of those will apply tomorrow. Instead, you’ll see an NBA-style extravaganza of phony and show-offy moves. The most honest team game in the world becomes a display of glitz and ego.

There is only one reasonably competitive All-Star Game among the major sports. Baseball. And that, of course, is because baseball is fundamentally an individual sport, not a team game. It’s one man’s skills vs. another man’s skills.

In the NFL’s Pro Bowl, those players who bother to show up have to do at least a little basic blocking and tackling. It wouldn’t look good if defensive backs simply let receivers run past them uncovered, or offensive linemen didn’t try at least to slow down rushers.

But imagine a Pro Bowl that was flag football — no contact, and the quarterback gets to five-one-thousand to get the ball away.

Basically, that’s precisely how the NHL All-Star Game is played.

It says plenty about the values the league espouses for this whole event that Bruins center Tyler Seguin was one of the rookies invited to take part, and Brad Marchand was not. Think Seguin, and you think big name and fancy skills. Marchand, a no-name, is about non-stop effort, courage and grittiness, along with skill.

Marchand has 13-12-25 totals and is plus-21 in 47 games; Seguin has 7-9-16 and plus-1 in 48. So whom would belong here if this was really about hockey and not a phony show.

The NHL toiled endlessly to try and bring some level of legitimacy to this wretched event. It’ll never work, simply because the players don’t care. They won’t do the one thing that’s so imperative in real hockey: Try.

Tonight’s skills competition is the one element with some value, simply because the players are motivated to win.

But it’s a safe bet that most of them, honestly, would far prefer four days off to coming here for this.


The latest gimmick to drum up interest was having team captains pick the all-star teams, man-by-man, at a much-hyped event last night at the local convention center.

Big deal. Now, if they wanted to try something weird that might actually be fun, have the All-Stars toss their sticks in a pile, separated by forwards, defensemen and goalies, at the start of the pregame warmup.

Then have the captains pick the teams, anonymously, by grabbing sticks, the way it’s always been done for games of pond hockey shinny.

That way you might at least get some interesting teams. That way you may even create an underdog with some motivation, yes, to try.

http://delcotimes.com/articles/2011/01/21/s ports/doc4d391595d604a386 768850....


"PHILADELPHIA – There is some kind of scientific equation that can tell you the exact temperature boiling water needs to reach to blow a lid off of a pot.

What it is might be too complicated to print here. However, the formula to explain a similar reaction in the sport of hockey is far easier to explain.

Take one team that has lost a ton of games recently, whose coach and general manager are on the hot seat, and put it way behind in yet another game it is about to lose.

Take the other team, going in the opposite direction, winning nearly every game, carrying around the best record in the sport, and feeling a little cocksure about its game.

Then sprinkle in one or two checks that could be deemed a little over the line, and BOOM!

That was the recipe for Thursday, a 6-2 win by the Flyers over the Ottawa Senators.

It was the 10th loss in 11 games for the Sens and the 16th win in the last 21 games for the Flyers (16-4-1).

So, when Claude Giroux tried to bury Jesse Winchester with an open-ice hit, the Senators didn’t take it lightly. Nick Foligno attacked Giroux. Darroll Powe and Chris Neil became entangled, and Jeff Carter grabbed Winchester and started throwing punches for the first time in a game since 2007.

“I wasn’t doing anything else out there so I decided I had to do something,” said Carter, who is now 2-0 in his career with his gloves on the ice.

It tipped off a wild third period with fights, checks, shoves, gloves, sticks strewn. It was, as the guy with the homemade signs behind the visiting net proudly displayed on one of his poster board pronouncements, “old time hockey.”
If this sounds familiar, it should. Nearly seven years earlier on the same ice, the same two teams set an NHL record with 419 penalty minutes, almost all of which came in the game’s final seconds, as one fight after another led to 16 ejections and just five skaters were left as available on each side.

This one wasn’t nearly as bad – as only 126 minutes in penalties were accumulated. Nor did it feature Bob Clarke storming down to the visiting team’s locker room looking to get into a behind-the-scenes scrap with then-coach Jacques Martin, calling him a “gutless puke” all the way.

But it did feature plenty of fireworks.

“I don’t fight unless I get (ticked) off,” Giroux said. “Then I just look for the smallest guy on the other team and go after him.”

Foligno’s not the smallest guy by a long shot. But he was the one who went after Giroux initially, so Giroux decided to stick up for himself.

He didn’t fare too badly, either.

The next shift featured a trio of scraps. Scott Hartnell and Jarkko Ruutu was a quickie, as was Sean O’Donnell-Matt Carkner.

But the Neil-Jody Shelley fight was a beauty, with each guy firing off more than 25 punches, to the delight of the crowd.

Neil must have been feeling it, because he was one of four players in the game (all Senators) who participated in the 2004 brawl. Of course, his role back then was to ambush mild-mannered Radovan Somik, resulting in Michal Handzus calling Neil’s antics, “a complete chicken move.”

Even Danny Briere tried to drop his gloves but couldn’t get it done before being jumped by Ryan Shannon.



“I thought I was going to (fight him) but he didn’t give me the chance,” Briere said. “I went to drop my gloves and he just jumped at me. I didn’t know what to do there. I was backing off and wanted time to get my gloves off and he jumped at my neck.”

There was a hockey game mixed in before the fighting started, though. Briere netted his 25th and Richards scored twice to allow the Flyers to jump to a 3-0 lead.

But a late second period meltdown by the Flyers allowed Ottawa to climb back in and draw within a goal.

After hearing it from their coach between periods, the Flyers responded with three goals in the third, and brought their fists to work, too.

Hartnell, James van Riemsdyk and Andrej Meszaros all scored for the Flyers (31-11-5, 67 points), who have the best record in the NHL. "

http://articles.philly.com/2011-01-17/sports/270 33189_1_flyers-fight-matt -c...


"NEW YORK - Lining up across from Sean Avery with just 11 minutes to play last night, Flyers forward Jody Shelley had to show restraint, like boys gazing at the popular girl at the high school prom.

"We had lots of guys that wanted to have a little dance with Avery," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We had lots of guys that wanted to do it, but he just didn't want to respond."

Like that girl in high school who thinks she's untouchable, Avery - the NHL's fashionista diva - made sure he wasn't assaulted in the third period. All talk, no walk.

A period earlier, Avery threw down his gloves with an unsuspecting victim - defenseman Matt Carle - and dropped him with four punches, including three of them that were landed after Carle hit the ice. Carle had never fought in his 5-year career.

"I don't know if I'd really call that a fight," Carle said. "I didn't really know what was going on. I had my jersey wrapped over my head and the next thing I knew I was getting punched in the face and I was on the ice."

"You'd like to settle it a different way," said Shelley, the Flyers' enforcer. "I didn't like the way it went down. But you know he's going to try to suck you in. It was a 3-0 game and I didn't want to take a penalty. It took a lot [of restraint]."

Shelley, like the Flyers, kept his composure - through the line brawl with Avery - and through the two goals the Rangers had scored in the third period to preserve a gutty, 3-2 road win at Madison Square Garden last night.

With the win, the Flyers improved to 12-1-1 against Atlantic Division rivals this season with their third straight victory over the Rangers since that epic shootout decided the Flyers' season last April 11.

Despite being pinned in their own defensive zone for more than 10 minutes of the final frame, the Flyers' determined attitude and willingness to block shots preserved the win.

"We were a little scrambly there," Laviolette said. "We're better than that defensively. I think we could've been tighter. But I thought the last 4 minutes, we tightened it down and did what we needed to do to get the win."

The Flyers held a comfortable three-goal edge for almost the first half of the third period before going into an inadvertent "prevent" style defense that nearly cost them the game. They posted just three shots in the third period on Rangers goalie Marty Biron, the fewest they've had in any single period this season.

Wojtek Wolski, acquired earlier in the week by New York, squeezed a shot behind Brian Boucher with 10 minutes, 47 seconds to play, which snapped what would have been the Flyers' first shutout of the season. Derek Stepan scored just 2 minutes later to put the Flyers on the defense.

"It's a tough way to play," Laviolette said. "They really picked up the game and we stopped playing offensively. The minute you sit back and just try and defend, you're going to find yourself in trouble. We needed to continue to play the game, but all we tried to do was defend. That's going to put you in your zone a lot.

"We just needed to get control of the game again and slow it down."

Then, in the final 5 minutes, the Flyers finally started limiting New York's chances.

"We made it interesting, but we got the win and finished it off," Mike Richards said. "To settle down and not throw pucks away, it's good to see. They maybe had two or three chances [late] and 'Boosh' made the saves. We've been good at closing hockey games out this season and [last night] was another example of that."

Now, with the win in their pocket, the Flyers have a little more than a month until they make their next pilgrimage to Madison Square Garden to allow Avery's antics to stew and for the more "experienced" high schoolers who go to the next base.

"That's the kind of player he is," Carle said. "That's certainly not going to be me getting back at him. I know Jody was pretty upset in between periods with what happened. We'll see what happens."

With the win, the Flyers closed out an important 10-game stretch with a 7-3-0 record, impressive when you consider that nine of those 10 were away from the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers have played just one home game since Dec. 20.

"There was a chance you finished these 10 games and have dug yourself a hole," Laviolette said. "We didn't do that. We gained a little bit of territory."

"This was a big game and we wanted to get it," said Boucher, who made 34 saves. "We were able to hold them off. We're happy with where we're at, but we know there's still a lot of work to be done."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=341348


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It appears as though Brandon Dubinsky will be the only one paying a price for a massive brawl that broke out in the third period of the New York Rangers rout of the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.

While no suspensions were handed down, Dubinsky was fined an undisclosed amount for his role in the brawl where he appeared to grab Oilers' forward Colin Fraser from the bench.

The melee broke out with the Rangers holding a three-goal lead in the third period when Rangers' agitator Sean Avery delivered a tough hit on Fraser, sending him into the boards. Avery was then challenged to a fight by Oilers' defenceman Ladislav Smid. According to reports, Avery declined Smid's invitation, then proceeded to sucker punch him initiating a massive brawl that saw 124 penalty minutes, five misconducts and four ejections handed out.

Smid sustained a concussion on the play and the Oilers were furious with Avery following the game.

"I thought it was pretty gutless," forward Steve MacIntyre told reporters. "It just shows you what kind of guy he is. He'll get his. Somebody who is bigger and tougher ... he'll get what's coming."

Edmonton will have to wait for their chance for revenge as the two teams do not meet each other again this season.