Who is the best hockey fighter of all time?

[Jim65]

I know I'm gonna miss some, Bob Probert, Nicky Fotiu, Behn Wilson, Dave Richter, Terry O'Reilly were pretty good. Bob Gassoff was tough in a too short career.

Clark Gillies had a long fuse but was deadly when you pissed him off.

Old timers say John Ferguson was tough as nails.

[Shoeless Moe]

Agree with Murph, Schultz was the Best in the 70's.

Probert was the baddest man on the planet in his hey day.

I also liked Tie Domi - head & jaw of steel


Great YouTube Doc on the Boogeyman - Derek Boogaard

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Jim65

I know I'm gonna miss some, Bob Probert, Nicky Fotiu, Behn Wilson, Dave Richter, Terry O'Reilly were pretty good. Bob Gassoff was tough in a too short career.

Clark Gillies had a long fuse but was deadly when you pissed him off.

Old timers say John Ferguson was tough as nails.

Fotiu for me. Not a huge guy but MASSIVE hands. Also one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Was an autograph guest at a show I promoted a few years back.

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Fotiu for me. Not a huge guy but MASSIVE hands. Also one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Was an autograph guest at a show I promoted a few years back.

Fotiu's fight with Steve Durbano, with Steve mooning the Rangers fans was an all-time classic.

[Butch7999]

Domi and Robbie Ray about even in the concrete skull department, and both worthy nominees in the pound-for-pound category
(neither of them particularly large specimens). A lot of, er, head-to-head confrontations between the two,
slight edge to Ray.
One really impressive guy getting no love here so far is Sandy McCarthy. Even other goons/enforcers lauded above
declined to tangle with him.

[mcgwirecom]

As a big Flyers fan of the 70's you have to say Dave Schultz. He and Terry O'Reilly were the big names in fighting. I think Dave still has the record for penalty minutes LOL.

[irv]

Way before my time but I have heard, pound for pound, Forbes Kennedy was someone many didn't want to tangle with?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-s6uT16S8A

So many names come to mind. Stu Grimson, the Grim Reaper, The Boogey Man, Derek Boogaard, (as already mentioned) Colton Orr, Brashear, George Leraque, George Parros, Eric Lindros, and of course, Wendel Clark, one of my all time favorite players. Not many come any tougher than what Clark brought.
(Wendel Clark and Joey Kocur are cousins in case some of your didn't know that and that is why they never fought one another.)
Turn this one up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7XgYSoK1go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF3wVJPdAs4

[Jim65]

Interesting stat, Al Secord is the only player to score 40 goals and have 300 PIMs in the same season. 44 goals- 303 PIMs

[steve B]

Originally Posted by mcgwirecom

As a big Flyers fan of the 70's you have to say Dave Schultz. He and Terry O'Reilly were the big names in fighting. I think Dave still has the record for penalty minutes LOL.

The neighbor hood I grew up in when I first really got into cards was perhaps a bit "backwards"
Phil Esposito having 70 goals one year as seen in past stats? Cool.
Dave Shultz with 348 Penalty Minutes!!!!
(he set the record at 472 during my first big year of collecting. )

One of the best bits of radio was when they had the winter classic in Fenway one of the guests was David Shultz. Who was interviewed on the morning show I liked by Lyndon Byers.

The discussion turned to penalties of course... may not have the exact quotes exactly right...
LB So I tried breaking your record one year.
DS I know, I was rooting for you.
LB How did you do it? Before the season was even close to over I could barely raise my arms. (probably 87-88, when he only had 236... so not such a great run at it...)
DS Well, I had a lot of game misconducts.

Hockey sure has changed since then.

[Huysmans]

Best fighter throughout the game's history??

While it's almost impossible to compare different eras and players, some of the "toughest" are certainly known and would include....



Eddie Shore. The Bruins defenceman accumulated 900 stitches throughout his career, had fractures to his back, hip and collarbone, had his nose broken 14 times, his jaw cracked 5 times and every tooth in his mouth knocked out. As a rookie with Boston, he had a reputation as a tough guy, with Art Ross putting that to the test. He enlisted notorious bruiser Billy Coutu (Coutu is the only player in history to be banned from the NHL for life after chasing and beating a referee after a game) to charge Shore, and after the pair viciously collided, Eddie's ear was almost completely detached. According to legend, the ear was reattached while Shore watched with a mirror, refusing anesthetic. It should also be noted that a young Shore was mentored in mayhem by a veteran HOF star widely regarded as the all-time roughest and toughest player in history....

Sprague Cleghorn. Enjoying a professional career that spanned from 1909 until 1928, the Peg took part in over 300 fights, and was notorious for his violent play. He famously blindsided a rookie King Clancy with a crosscheck to the temple, knocking him completely out, and when Clancy awoke in the hospital, Cleghorn was there in the room - but not to apologize, but to warn Clancy, basically stating, "you know you got what you deserved" (Clancy had tapped his stick on the ice calling for a pass as a teammate would, with this fooling Cleghorn as he made the pass without looking, allowing Clancy to head up the ice and score. This would have been seen as a huge slight or show of disrespect). He would then be referred to as "Mr Cleghorn" by Clancy throughout the remainder of his career, with the story retold in Clancy's autobiography. Sprague himself also claimed to be in over 50 incidents where opponents where carried off the ice on stretchers. He was interviewed by Macleans magazine after his playing days in 1934, and when asked if the modern game was better than in his era, he stated that while he couldn't say for sure if the players were better or worse, he did say that without a doubt they were nowhere near as tough. He noted players complaining about being slashed, and that in his day, slashing was only objectionable if done to the upper body, face or head! It's also interesting to note that according to sources, Evelyn Byng, Viscountess Byng of Vimy, was so mortified with his violent play that she donated the Lady Byng Trophy to the NHL in 1924 to award sportsmanlike play.



In an era when men were men and were hard as nails, these two were a few of the last of that now-gone breed.