Who is the best hockey fighter of all time?

[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.

[cardsagain74]

Yeah, Sprague is such a positive example of "when men were men".

When he wasn't blindsiding someone with a shot that could've maimed them (which is usually a dick move, and Clancy's breach of code was not an exception to that), he was beating his first wife with crutches from an ankle injury.

Tough is great. Being a POS isn't.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by cardsagain74

Yeah, Sprague is such a positive example of "when men were men".

When he wasn't blindsiding someone with a shot that could've maimed them (which is usually a dick move, and Clancy's breach of code was not an exception to that), he was beating his first wife with crutches from an ankle injury.

Tough is great. Being a POS isn't.

Doing bad things doesn't negate one's toughness or strength.
That should be common sense.
No one said he was an angel. It was mentioned numerous times he was violent.

[edjs]

Randy Holt getting 67 PIMs in one period:

https://youtu.be/-hMesmZTSz8

[jiw98]

Gordie Howe. The Howe hat trick, a goal, a assist, and a fight. Over 2000 penalty minutes, all though not anywhere near the record for penalty minutes, its a lot for goal scorer. Howe was tough.

[Butch7999]

By the way, while the definition of the phrase "Gordie Howe hat trick" exemplifies Howe's on-ice style,
Howe himself never once in his interminable career actually had a "Gordie Howe hat trick."