The NHL is a league widely recognized outside of its diehard fan base as the one professional sports league out of the major four in which you can beat the fuck out of someone’s face and not get immediately ejected or suspended. We talk a lot about growing the game these days, and it surely has been growing, with league revenue at an all time high and the salary cap set to increase, and nothing gets the NHL more likes and retweets than a good fight video. Goalies don’t tend to fight often, considering they play nearly 200 feet apart from each other, but they have, and when they do, the league drowns in attention and the footage is used as promotional material for months, years, even decades to come (See: Roy vs Osgood from 1998)
Last night, tensions between the Kings and the Bruins boiled over in LA, and in the midst of a scrum on the ice, goalies Darcy Kuemper and Jeremy Swayman made their way to center ice to put on a show of their own. The crowd went nuts. The Kings ended up winning 7-2 at home, but a goalie fight in itself is worth the price of admission for fans in attendance.
The fun police had other ideas. As the gloves and blockers hit the ice, the fists went up, and Kuemper and Swayman tried to skate towards each other, the referees grabbed them in what seemed like a panic and kept them separated. To give you an idea of the level of disappointment this resulted in for fans, take a look at some of these tweets that followed that decision.
If goalies want to fight, they should be able to fight. It’s that simple. What a way to make a fan for life out of any first time fan at a game. Instead, 18,000+ in the Crypto.com Arena got blue balled (it’s still the Staples Center to me.)
This fight between Mike Smith and Cam Talbot from the Battle of Alberta was five years ago. This is what they took from us.
The referees in last nights game were Graham Skilliter and Chris Lee. Do what you will with that information.
Have a good week, everybody.
The Morning Skate 