Hockey Fun!

I was reading in the paper this morning about the Canes latest goalie. It turns out that the new guy is familiar with our #1 goalie, Cam Ward. They fought each other in 2004 when they were both in the minors. They were the two opposing goalies in a game which saw a bench clearing brawl. At least they can laugh about it now.

This is one of the many reasons that I love hockey. So people who don't understand the sport think that the fighting is barbarian. It isn't. Fighting is just a way to fire up the team, to get your teammates back into the game. I will never forget my 2 favorite hockey fights:

1. The 2000 playoffs - Carolina was not doing well in the opening round against New Jersey (they were getting their butts kicked). Since there was no hope of them winning game 3 of the series, they just decided to duke it out. Everyone got into it, and there were fights all night long. At one point, the then goalie, Arturs Irbe, just left the crease, went to center ice, and jumped a guy. They lost game 3, but came back to win game 4. Unfortunately, they lost the following game and were eliminated from the playoffs.

2. The Raleigh Ice Caps - this game was many years ago, when the only hockey in town was the minor league team that played at the fairgrounds. I went to several games, but one really stands out in my mind. When all was said and done, there were about 7 players ejected from the game (very rare) and there were 103 minutes of penalties. The Caps did win in the end, by some ridiculously large score. I think it was one of the best games I have seen.