Despite this fight’s relatively anti-climatic ending, it is a perfect fight of the week on which to end the 08/09 regular season. It involves a pairing of two of the better heavyweights in today’s NHL, one in David Koci who was stirring the pot by harassing the Penguins’ Maxime Talbot the length of the ice, the other in the form of Eric Godard, performing the role of enforcer to a T by intervening in the aforementioned abuse and taking Koci to task. Godard wasted no time, firing off five quick rights to punish Koci. After a Koci right they lose their balance and bounce back up, trading right hands until they get into the spin cycle and the officials break things up.

Other fights considered:
Zenon Konopka vs Eric Boulton Apr 11, 2009
Jody Shelley vs Raitis Ivanans Apr 11, 2009
Brian Boyle vs Theo Peckham Apr 7, 2009
Wayne Simmonds vs Warren Peters Apr 6, 2009

As the first period winds to a close in Edmonton, Rick Rypien and Zack Stortini drop the gloves and square off. Outweighed by nearly 40 pounds, Rick Rypien shows no fear, showcasing his trademark lightning fists by tagging Stortini with a huge left hand. The left connects flush with Stortini’s chin, buckling the big man’s knees. Stortini shows his perseverance by bouncing back up without hesitation, readying and instantly throwing with his right. Rypien, in contrast, is more than content to throw with both hands. Landing haymakers with the left and uppercuts with the right, Rypien does an exceptional job against a much bigger opponent. 

Other fights considered:
Sidney Crosby vs Keith Ballard Apr 5, 2009
David Koci vs Mitch Fritz Apr 4, 2009
Sheldon Brookbank vs Rick Rypien Apr 2, 2009

It’s not very often you see a fight that lasts a minute and twenty seconds. It’s even less often you see a fight in which both fighters exclusively throw left handed. What are the odds of seeing both together, in one tussle? Well Riley Cote and Joel Rechlicz provided just that in Uniondale on March 28th. And not only was the fight unique stylistically, it was quite entertaining. Rechlicz opened with some left handed bombs, and as they made their way towards the boards, Cote answered with a few southpaw shots of his own. The two continued to trade lefts for nearly another whole minute before the linesmen could find a moment to intervene.   

Other fights considered:
Colton Orr vs Eric Godard Mar 28, 2009
Jim Vandermeer vs Jared Boll Mar 26, 2009
John Scott vs Joel Rechlicz Mar 25, 2009

After shedding the mitts in the Nashville end, it was San Jose‘s Brad Staubitz who looked more like the Predator in this one, stalking his prey in the form of Jordin Tootoo all the way to the neutral zone. They latched on and neither man wasted any time getting started, both throwing toe-to-toe jackhammer left hands. It didn’t take long for Staubitz to gain the upper hand, landing big, flush lefts at will. These Staubitz lefts quickly switched to right handed uppercuts as Tootoo began to keel forward, bloodied and bruised. 

Other fights considered:
Joel Rechlicz vs Mike Fisher Mar 21, 2009
Jody Shelley vs Brian McGrattan Mar 17, 2009
Jamal Mayers vs Ryan Craig Mar 17, 2009

Wade Belak continued his impressive showing this season during last Tuesday?s game between the Caps and Predators, sending Donald Brashear down to the ice with a left hand in their fight. It was Brashear?s worst loss in a while, and maybe his worst ever. (Although that does say something about his career fighting-wise) He took his time skating back to the penalty box and didn?t return to the game, not because of a woozy head, but due to his knee buckling while he fell to the ice.

Other fights considered:

Warren Peters vs Ben Ondrus Mar 14, 2009
Patrick Kaleta vs Arron Asham Mar 10, 2009

After Andreas Lilja suffered a concussion in a recent fight against Shea Weber, the Red Wings had no choice to recall Aaron Downey from the AHL in order to provide some much-needed toughness. Downey wasted no time in getting in his first fight of the season, dropping the gloves with Blues sparkplug Cam Janssen last Tuesday. A bout now receiving “Fight of the Year” talk ensued.

Other fights considered:

Jim Vandermeer vs Eric Boulton Mar 8, 2009
Wade Belak vs Riley Cote Mar 7, 2009
Krys Barch vs Sheldon Brookbank Mar 6, 2009

It started off slow, but last week’s heavyweight bout between Eric Boulton and Donald Brashear ended with the two going back and forth with multiple punches of note landing for each. A solid bout for sure.

Other fights considered:

Jody Shelley vs Georges Laraque Feb 28, 2009
David Koci vs Steve MacIntyre Feb 24, 2009

Many spirited scraps took place this past week, but none gave us the definitive ending that B.J. Crombeen‘s tilt against rookie Derek Dorsett did. After Crombeen got out to an early lead, Dorsett fired back with a flurry of wild shots. However a short right hand from Crombeen then caught Dorsett by surprise and sent him down to the ice. The rookie was wobbly afterwards but eventually skated off under his own power.

Other fights considered:

Mark Stuart vs Gary Roberts Feb 22, 2009
Boris Valabik vs Jody Shelley Feb 21, 2009
Aaron Voros vs Cam Janssen Feb 16, 2009

Lots of options, albeit mostly one-sided, to choose from courtesy of last week, but Donald Brashear‘s epic battle with Colton Orr this past Wednesday night at MSG takes the cake without a doubt. The fight was a change of pace for Orr, who usually finds himself on the losing end of things against Brashear, but certainly more than held his own in this one.

Other fights considered:

Tim Jackman vs Arron Asham Feb 14, 2009
Cam Janssen vs Wade Belak Feb 12, 2009
Matt Bradley vs Aaron Voros Feb 11, 2009
Colton Orr vs Michael Rupp Feb 9, 2009

For the second time this season, Zack Stortini was involved in a “Fight of the Week”, probably much to the chagrin of the critics of his style. This time it was against Cam Janssen. It was a decent, long bout that saw both fighters stay active throughout, and had Janssen landing some hard shots.

Other fights considered:

Tim Gleason vs Daniel Carcillo Feb 7, 2009
Eric Godard vs Alex Henry Feb 3, 2009
B.J. Crombeen vs Jared Boll Feb 3, 2009