Boogaarding The Knockouts Part II
I have written previously of the Wild's impressive new rookie Derek Boogaard and his skills as a pugilist. Those skills were on display last night when he dropped Anaheim Mighty Duck Trevor Gillies with a knock-out uppercut that was worthy of another of my sporting interests, Ultimate Fighting (Is there anything more entertaining that watching Matt Hughes choke out an opponent?)
Naturally, the limpwrists at the Strib don't even mention the incredible fight, but here is a detailed account of the bout.
For those of you who understand hockey fights and have been enjoying them for years, you know how uncommon it is for a fight to end with one of the opponents being knocked silly. Most fights end in a wrasslin' match on the ice with no real damage done or punches landed and the linesmen have to step in to seperate.
But Boogaard, who goes 6'7" and 270 pounds is changing that. Word is spreading around the league that if you challenge "Boogie" you will end up at the minimum heading to the locker room (as Gillies did last night all woozy and disoriented) and perhaps even to the emergency room. Now THAT is an advantage to your team.
How? Because if no one will fight the Tough Guy on your team, that means your skilled players will be left alone to do what they do best and the opposing team's skilled players can be clobbered with impunity (Don't get me started on the ridiculous instigator penalty--it should be changed immediately if not sooner.)
During Gretzky's stunning years in Edmonton if another player as much as looked at Wayne wrong, they had to deal with Dave "Cementhead" Semenko who would ensure The Great One could utilize his skills with plenty of open ice.
So it will be interesting to see if any of the other Tough Guys will continue to challenge Boogie. Here's a list of the top chuckers in the league who have to know that an ambulance ride is a mere drop of the gloves away.
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