Who doesn’t love some good hockey fights? From the moment the sticks and the gloves hit the ice, you can feel the electricity in the air as the crowd roars to life watching the men on the ice take swings at one another. While the role of fighting in today’s NHL has diminished a bit, we still get to see many, many examples of “old school hockey” throughout the NHL season.
All in all, the NHL saw 41 fights in the month of October. Don’t have time to watch them all? Worry not, we’ve got you covered. Here are the 5 best fights from the month of October around the NHL.
#5 – Mark Borowiecki vs Milan Lucic
Let’s face it, no one really likes Milan Lucic. Sometimes just hearing his name is enough to annoy you. But when it comes to fights, Lucic has had enough experience to more than hold his own. Mark Borowiecki gets in a few good shots, but between the good clean connections Lucic gets in, Borowiecki’s jersey getting pulled almost over his face towards the end of the fight, and Milan’s takedown at the end, we’ve gotta hand this one to Lucic.
#4 – Antoine Roussel vs Eric Gryba
This is one of those fights where you kind of scratch your head a little bit. Standing up for your teammates is one thing, but I wonder if, in the moment, Antoine Roussel didn’t realize that Eric Gryba stands almost a full head taller than him and has a much greater reach on him. Roussel made a good initial stand as the fight started, but ultimately Gryba ends up manhandling him pretty easily.
#3 – Adam McQuaid vs Nikita Zadorov
While Nikita Zadorov didn’t get in many hard, clean hits through this fight, you’ve gotta give him props for not letting Adam McQuaid take him down halfway into the fight and rallying back to his feet. McQuaid lands hit after hit on Zadorov before Nikita finally takes him down to the ice.
#2 – Josh Manson vs Micheal Haley
This is probably the closest fight out of this batch of clips. Josh Manson manages to land a couple hits early on in the fight as he and Michael Haley are feeling one another out, but Haley keeps Manson at arms length long enough and frequently enough to cut down the number of blows he takes. Haley lands enough good punches to take the edge in the fight before he loses his footing and they both hit the ice.
#1 – Tom Wilson vs Blake Coleman
You’ve gotta wonder, after watching this clip, if Blake Coleman regrets his decision looking back. It’s always an entertaining spectacle watching a skilled fighter in action, but it’s kind of cringe-worthy watching how much Tom Wilson just wails on Coleman. After getting Wilson’s helmet off his head, Coleman gets his world rocked before finally getting taken to the ice.
