Last Night's Action: Assists, Fight Mark Shanahan's Return

Rangers 5, Flyers 0: This game needed 21 seconds to have a fight that ended up with Flyers forward Todd Fedoruk leaving the ice on a stretcher and headed to St. Vincent. While that may do it for some hockey fans, would the game be better if players limited the violence to the legal and clean collisions allowed in the contact sport? No one wants to see someone leave the ice like that.
Looking past that and other fisticuffs, this is the latest chapter in the Rangers' recent upturn. They outscored their opponents 14-1 on their now-completed three-game homestand and saw Brendan Shanahan, the their best player for much of this season, return and assist on two goals. (He was hurt on an accidental collision the last time these teams met.) For a club that needed to make up ground just to be in the playoff picture just games ago, being one point out of the sixth position isn't too shabby. Of course, they're only three points above the cutoff line, so they need to keep it up.

Photographs of the Rangers' Colton Orr fighting with Philadelphia Flyer Todd Fedoruk, who was then knocked out and taken away on a stretcher, by Seth Wenig/AP

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By Tom Boorstein on March 22, 2007 12:12 AM

Comments [rss]

SA

They don't call him Ken DRYden for nothing...

Ken Dryden Jr.

Well, i have to agree with the above comments. However there is no going back to the days of old. Being quebecois and a hockey player from a young age helps in giving me a moral perspective in regards to this sort of violence. Quebec being one of the puritain centers of hockey in the world, promotes and discourages this sort of violence. This ambivalence is typical of Queebs.( as we are called south of the border). I live in NYC now... i play street hockey in the sumer BTSH league. Sportsmanship and politics are hand in hand at the moment in discoouraging this. Neophytes are shocked by this seemingly macho ritual of "fier a bras" (Proud of arms, literally)... in a parallel sport, waterpolo is equally dangerous and violent. There IS a something beautiful and gladiatorial in witnessing to adults bashing helmets. Somehow it works with the sport. These are tough guys who get paid hundreds of thousands a year. They are already wonderfully taken are of by their administrators. I agree that violence is everywhere in this "great nation". America is not europe. Europeens are not sissies. Canada is the uncontested master in regards to world tradition

and of the sport. Gentrification is inevitable. Unfortunately, as a goaltender in the juniors, i would often have to negotiate with players in my crease. To remedy this i would slash their calves .I would get reprimanded but so it=goes in the game. Things move quickly in this sport. Those who have never played on ice at a higher level can't really comprehend this state of being. this violence is a mechanism that is, believe it or not, a tool in any given repertoire of tools in a team. Some teams have a stronger tradition in this respect. Others don't. When the flyers start a fight it is not only in the immediate sense that makes this exciting, it is especcially exciting for those who know flyers tradition. So nostalgia plays a wonderful part in this. I can't stand watching the Montreal Canadians anymore. They play

like wimpy diplomats. But i still always hope that they win the cup in this decade. For they have always won a cup in any given decade since the sport exists. But times are changing and the last bastions of tradition are fading quickly so we will have to adjust i guess....

scotish bravefart

Thanks for proving my point,

white people love to fight.

The real axis of evil, USA/England/Israel

anon

Obligatory:

"You know, I was at a fight once, and a hockey game broke out."

T.R.

I must agree with the previous posters, your comment about limiting the violence in hockey to "legal" contact is obviously the remarks of someone that is not a long time fan of the game and its traditions. Fighting has been a part of the hockey since its beginnings, and it's what long time fans like me have grown to know and love. Of course no one wants someone injured to the point of being carried away on a stretcher, but fighting is part of the game. I'm accustomed to hearing non hockey fans complaining about the violence in the game, but for someone like me who loves the sport, I shouldn't be subjected to that in a hockey write up. Maybe they shouldn't skate on ice either, someone is going to slip and hurt themselves!

blancoballer

White thugs, what else can one say about this "sport"?

ice man

Gothamist, you should not be making general statements about a sport you obviously have no understanding of. Years of tradition and mutual respect are part of the game, including fighting.

section313

These guys drop their gloves, spin each other around and punch each other in the helmets all the time without incidence. Orr's "lights out" punch was an aberration.

Toby

Back a few years ago before they Euro-ssissyed up hockey alienating a lot of fans, such as my self. I want a return to the good old days of rock 'em sock 'em hockey and not this figure skating in pads.

dan

There was nothing wrong with what happened last night with Fedoruk. Orr was performing his role. There were things at play that led upto that fight and while no one likes to see anyone get injured, what happened had to happen. Read the book "The Code", its excellent, sheds light on the touh guys of the NHL in a new way and opens the eyes to some fans to things that would otherwise be unseen during a game...