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This Is NOT How Hockey Fights Work

Mar. 5, 2013 10:07am Becket Adams

Screen grab

Ice hockey as we know it has always been a rough and tumble sport. However, that’s not to say elegance has no place in the game. On the contrary, hockey has managed to balance these two elements quite nicely for a while now.

Still, whether you’re more of a fan of finesse or “goons,” when we see the telltale signs of a fight breaking out (gloves thrown off, circling each other, etc.) everyone – and I mean everyone – expects a fight.

That is, unless you saw Francis Lessard of the Cornwall River Kings and Sebastien Laferriere of Sorel-Tracy HC Carvena “clash” last week in the most disappointing face off since the movie “Face/Off”:

That’s it? Not a single punch was thrown? They just skated around each other? Oof, Dave Schulz would be disgusted:

“This video is not to degrade either of the players as both players are well respected players with plenty of excellent fights on their resumes,” reads the video’s description.

Indeed, as The Daily Mail notes, the two players are actually notorious fighters.

“Lessard has 16 knock-about’s logged already and Laferriere has almost double that with 30,” they note.

So we’re not sure what happened here.

But wait! Like any good sports story, there’s redemption. After Laferriere and Lessard served their time penalties, they gave war another chance — and they delivered:

See? Everyone goes home happy.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image screen grab.

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Comments (89)

GUYFROMMAINE
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:37pm
What were they doing? Trying to qualify as a couples team for figure skating?

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- 4xeverything
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:51pm
  They were beautifully in sync with each other weren’t they?
  
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- WillG
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:22pm
  One was scared and the other was glad.
  
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- lanimom229
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:43pm
  Skating with the Stars??
  
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Paladin45ACP
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:29pm
Hockey’s OK, but the season is way too long. Maybe they should have a separate ice fighting league. But they are not very good fighters, so no one would watch.

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- Paool
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:12pm
  With Baseball around you can never say that hockey is too long…It’s also many times over more boring to watch. How many days till football season again?
  
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thegodfather
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:04pm
“Dancing With The Scars”

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Carlinpa
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:01pm
They’re FRENCH, what do you expect?

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fgarvin
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:00pm
They each got 5 minutes for wasting everyones time.

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- darkknight91
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:14pm
  They should’ve gotten game misconducts for that pathetic display. And what’s with the gay horns everyone’s blowing? Sounds like a gay soccer game.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Hut_In_Co
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:58pm
  I was thinkin gay Hockey Players! A!
  
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SquidVetOhio
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:58pm
If you do not see why fighting is not only part of the game but, an IMPORTANT part of the game, then please do not defile the great sport of hockey by watching it. Turn on some figure skating or something.

Fighting in the NHL is why 170 lb Wayne Gretzky was able to have a long career with minimal injury. Because, if you cheap shotted him or even hit him cleanly too hard, Marty McSorley was going to beat the living hell out of you. If you ask me, the NFL should adopt the NHL’s fighting rules and there wouldn’t be so many cheap shots on quaterbacks.

It’s also used as a motivator when you’re team is playing poorly. The players all know it and the fans love it. If you don’t, then don’t watch it and please stay away from it. I don’t need hockey to get wussifed like the NFL has.

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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:00pm
  i’m a big fan of enforcers fighting for the right reasons but not too keen on the contrived pep-rally fights.
  
  Report this comment
- xenolith
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:25pm
  @SquidVetOhio
  
  Cheap shots on NFL QB’s? Are you kidding? Have you been paying any attention to the NFL lately?
  
  If you just yell mean words at the QB today, you get called for roughing the passer.
  
  Great defensive players like Joe Green, Deacon Jones, Reggie White, and Dick Butkus would have never been allowed to be great in this era of pretty boy, Tom Brady.
  
  Report this comment
- lessoneleg
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:27am
  Don Cherry professed exactly that. Don believed that occasionally a fight would break out. But not these orchestrated pro wrestling bouts of useless boneheads.
  When fighting was severely refereed like in early Olympic World Hockey, cheap shot spearing, and **** ends were rampant. Russians made a fine art of carving up a capable European top player. High sticks, clips under the chin, special face washes, ankle chops. You name it. European hockey was the most brutal weapon related hockey on the planet.
  Canadian players were routinely kicked out of European tournaments because they wouldn’t take that guff.
  Today’s goons are exactly that, goons. All they do is take up space on a bench, and valuable seats on aircraft.
  Do you notice, goons are gone once the play-offs come. Teams don’t have time for fighting or major penalties.
  
  Report this comment
- TheirMom
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 4:40pm
  Besides the fights, hockey players are tougher than any other athlete. I could not imagine a football player ever continuing to play with a broken jaw like Jeremy Roenick did against the Dallas Stars. Or putting their body between the goal and a frozen piece of solid rubber coming at them at 90 miles an hour.
  
  Report this comment
Bill Wallace
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:57pm
1. Never have seen refs TRY to get the players to fight. Funny.
2. I can’t stand people who know nothing about the sport using media terms like “staged fights”. Clearly you have never watched more than highlights on ESPN. The way these two squared off is not a “staged fight”. It is how many fights happened throughout the 702, 80s, 90s, and on.

If you don’t like the sport, PLEASE don’t watch. Find something a little more to your style…like soccer. Where the players do the bacon on the ground if you look at them wrong…and then pop back up after they see a red card being handed out.

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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:04pm
  i love both hockey AND soccer (European Soccer that is- The MLS is lame)
  FIFA has been cracking down on the diving lately.
  
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HYPNOTOAD
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:45pm
One of the reasons I hate hockey. These fake fights. The “refs” tried to get them to start swinging even they gave up. I say if you are serious about letting them fight. The refs should hand each one a knife and lets see some blood. Otherwise, knock off this foolishness.

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GoodStuff
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:44pm
This is why nobody takes hockey seriously anymore.

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- ConstLaw
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:24pm
  I was going to say this story is why no one takes The Blaze seriously. In the news today we have: Iran close to having nukes and war drums starting; US gives muslim brotherhood $200 million in military aid for Egypt while in the middle of sequestration; Russia conducting largest nuke drill in 20 years; Ben Bernanke testifying about the problems exiting QE; Obama trying to raise $50 million to get Pelosi as Speaker in 2014 so he can advance his agenda; Dow Jones high on Fed steroids issue. The Blaze does not have one article on these events, but thank God for the fake hockey fight story and the story about the men who played a game of tag for 23 years.
  
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- Disgusted_150
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 10:30am
  I’m pretty sure everyone here looks at Drudge Report too dude…chill out. Explore past the front page and you might see some of these articles you claim aren’t on here…good grief.
  
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Rowgue
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:34pm
That’s actually how most fights were in the old days. Only people that could really fight dropped the gloves, so guys didn’t just run in flailing their arms like idiots hoping to land a punch by some miraculous stroke of luck. They were sizing up the other guy looking for an opening and if it took too long the refs would often get between them before anything happened.

Fights now are mostly guys that have no business fighting and they just hug each other and flail their arms aimlessly. It’s a wild flurry of activity but rarely does anybody actually land a punch anymore.

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PhantomsPhorever
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:12pm
They wear way too much safety gear in Mens Ice Dancing now days.

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eramthgin
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:06pm
This is why I don’t watch hockey. Anyone who fights should be ejected from the game! I don’t believe there is a section in the rule book that describes the rules for having fights. No wonder the sport hasn’t grown larger then it is. They should do away with “icing” as well.

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- Kalshion
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:42pm
  And yet, we see fights in all other sports (Basketball, Football, Soccer, etc..) and they’ve grown despite it *rolls-eyes*
  
  No, the reason Hockey hasn’t grown much has more to do with the NHL and their lackluster leadersihp and money grubbing.
  
  Report this comment
obamanation
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:56am
Atleast it wasn’t as boring as the Andrei Arlovski vs Tim Sylvia fight. It was years ago and I still remember this fight because I paid $50 to see it and it was super boring!

http://youtu.be/AS5r1xjof38

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hauschild
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:55am
Further bolsters my case at the growing number of candy asses these days.

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Wigglesworth
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:40am
Those guys fight like Obama governs.

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mbean
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:30am
The most boring sport in the world, and the fights add nothing. Ice Hockey is dumb.

NBA players are athletes Ice Hockey players are morons.

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- PeteOH
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:44am
  These are how hockey fights will be under Obama’s 2nd term… Scoreless soccer games for our kids, no tackling in the NFL, shorter hoops for the whites guys in the NBA, dogs and cats living together…
  
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- GunSlingerTexas
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:57am
  lol. so you think so. I dont care for basketball, i enjoy shooting hoops with the kids, but I will take my skates off to play on your little court and bounce the orange ball around you any day! Come out on the ice and show us what kind of man you really are. Besides the skill and athletic ability it takes to play ice hockey, which I am sure very few if any basketball players could hack, I am willing to bet that any day on any sheet of ice you will find more adult hockey players that have college degrees than do most basketball players.
  
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- TonyRUS
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:58am
  . . . It’ll be anarchy!
  (courtesy of Ghost Busters)
  
  Report this comment
- AxelPhantom
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:07pm
  Gunslinger, I’m a woman (far from gay BTW), but I have a mean hip-check, count me in. ;)
  
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- madscigrl
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:21pm
  Most boring sport in the world? You’ve got to be kidding me! Learn the rules, learn to keep your eye on the puck, and then say that. A southern girl born and bred, before the NHL’s expansion to the southern US, I fell in love with hockey upon seeing my first ECHL (~3 levels below NHL) game. IMHO, the most boring “major” (i.e. widely followed and televised sport in the US) is baseball. Again, just my opinion. Hockey is fast-paced and the players must have endurance (wearing all of that equipment and playing on skates). Not knocking the NBA (a sport I don’t follow but can appreciate), but saying that hockey players aren’t athletes is uneducated at best and imbecilic at worst.
  
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wkw58
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:30am
Well, they are FRENCH Canadian after all. Makes perfect sense to me.

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- madscigrl
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:35pm
  They appeared to be partaking in some Frenching in the second video. Probably just the camera angle, but it gave me a different perspective on the first. :)
  
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kfogs1957
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:19am
I’m a huge Hockey fan, but that was bad. I’ve seen Lessard and he’s a tough guy, but to drop the gloves and Dance? Not good. That was delay of game if anything.

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:31am
.
After seeing this I am convinced; hockey players are just frustrated LGBT members who have yet to come out the closet…..

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- Caniac Steve
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:35am
  Oh ?? i disagree..
  
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- Rayblue
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:53am
  Puck you.
  
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- rangerskippy
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:09am
  femenism is destroying this nation.
  
  They should both got sit on the bench and chew a pop tart into the form of a pistol, and then shoot jelly filling at each other
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:58pm
  CANIAC STEVE…
  
  dude… Cam is out for almost two months!
  what the hell are we going to do?
  
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lel2007
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:31am
That’s redigulles! Trow da bums out.

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RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:26am
LOL, still far more organized than certain fashion shows.

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COFemale
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:24am
Not even going to watch the video. Two bullies puffing their chest at each trying to prove whose male anatomy is bigger than the others. Does nothing for this female. Children in my book and not dating material. If they do this on the ice, imagine what they would to their wife or girlfriend. No thanks.

Besides curly is not much to look at.

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- AlcoholicMB
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:55am
  Do us a favor, stop commenting on things you have no friggin clue about. I liked some of your observations on other stories, but this one was plain retarded. If retarded is censored, Forrest Gump.
  
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- AxelPhantom
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:04am
  Cofemale,
  
  Hockey fights start for a lot of reasons most often because someone or both are playing dirty, head checks, ****-ending, charging etc and the refs either are not calling it or don’t see it. It is hardly a Johnson contest it is more like standing up for yourself when the government won’t. You don’t know anyone who would do that do you?
  
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- huey6367
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:44am
  That has to be the most ignorant comment I have ever seen on the Blaze. And that is saying something.
  
  Report this comment
- The Knave
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:44am
  “If they do this on the ice, imagine what they would to their wife or girlfriend. No thanks.”
  COFemale
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:24am
  
  What? Where the hell did that come from? Because these guys go at it, arguably to satisfy fans of the game (OK, maybe they just don’t like each other), you make a blanket statement saying they would do the same to a girlfriend or wife? What?
  
  I can’t even begin to know the number of fights I have been party to over the years….having brothers, going to school, college, military, etc..etc…etc. AND defending a women from assault. Yet, at 50 years of age I have yet to strike any female in anger. However, going by your logic, I am to be branded as a possible wife beater? No thanks.
  
  Report this comment
- Bill Wallace
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:01pm
  Obviously you have never watched the sport, and know even less than it.
  
  Many of the “goons” you speak of have degrees. Stu “the Grim Reaper” Grimson is an attorney.
  
  And you compare hockey players with other pro-athletes, and hockey has the nicest, most polite, well-spoken individuals around. You don’t get gun charges like the NFL, no dog fighting rings, no NBA gangsta mentality.
  
  Fisher is married to Carrie Underwood. You don’t hear about wife beating.
  
  And if you watch hockey fights, you might actually notice the tap at the end where the players tell each other, “Good job.”
  
  Please, stick to Sprout. And I hope your kids don’t marry a pansy.
  
  Report this comment
huey6367
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:22am
Whackinoff to Smackinoff. Smackinoff to Tossinoff. Tossinoff to Slapinoff. Slapinoff to Spankinoff. GOAL!!!!!

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00gabooga
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:22am
Without the fights it’s just soccer on ice. Way to make an already boring sport even more boring.

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- AxelPhantom
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:24am
  Yeah, in soccer they routinely hit each other into solid objects at 20mph.
  
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woodyee
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 10:17am
A sheeoot!

Why not just go all the way, and let them use their hockey sticks?

(After all, they’re going to allow them to fight – let alone encourage them, as in the first vid – or just bring an end to the whole thing)

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