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Fighting will always be
Blog from Door 19
by Seanna Murdock
From the very beginning there has always been an element of violence in hockey. It is an acceptable part of the game, if it wasn't then there wouldn't be a designated penalty for it. The very first match that I went to Mark "the mo train" Morrison had a frantic fight with Luke Stauffacher.
and the electric atmosphere as a result of it had me hooked. From that moment i was a Giants fan. I wanted to experience that every week, the passion, anger and loyalty to a team.
From then on characters like Malcolm Macmillan, Mo Train, Jason Rushton, Sean McMorrow and Mike Hoffman to name a few have all dropped the gloves and delighted the crowds. Last season Mike Hoffman was hired to be collateral damage, we needed a tough guy, someone who could take on all comers, little did Todd and Doug know that he could actually play, score and he soon became a fan favourite. Doug had him reigned in, no silly penalties unless it was action was needed. We all knew what he could do, the now legendary video of Hoff K.O.-ing Nolan Yonkman with one punch and busting his hand in the process.
Hoff was a fighter pure and simple as was the 'marmite' sheriff. Love him or hate him Sean McMorrow jumped straight from the goon who couldn't play hockey for Belfast to the goon who couldn't play hockey for Dundee. Ummm....how did a forward who could barely skate or score goals be in continual employment? He was a fighter. he could strike fear into opponents. he put bums on seats. its good for business.
This season each team have their own wannabe hard men, the Giants have their fair share of wind up merchants; Lloyd, Roberts and Dowd are all big hitters who have little patience and like to throw their weight around. The designated enforcer Adam AK47 Keefe isn't getting much of a fight, with the other members of the team not needing protection. Saturday night against the Braehead Clan was an angry choppy match from start to finish, there was an underlying bad feeling after the decision to overturn the check to the head call against Benoit Doucet regarding Sam Zajac.
Zajac was gunning for Benny the minute he stepped onto the ice, not surprisingly it got physical and punches were thrown. Once again the on ice officials got involved and wouldn't let the fight run it's course. The linesman fell on top of Doucet and injured him. If the players were allowed to fight it out then injuries like this wouldn't happen, but the clumsiness of the lino just made the situation 100 times worse.
The Clans fans said it was divine retribution, Zajac missed 4 matches; a defence man (who's iffy at best) who has 0 goals and 1 assist this season, so Doucet is injured and will most likely be out for the rest of the season. Yeah right.... Benny was a valuable member of the Giants and the difference between him and Zajac is that he will actually be missed. Benny who had 16 goals and 17 assists before his injury, but yeah-that's an equal trade!
The testosterone on the ice is palpable and tempers get frayed, a fight is inevitable and gets all of the anger out of the way. But officials are getting in the way, breaking up the fights before they can happen. Yeah there have been a lot of deaths in the ice hockey community over the past few months but there is no evidence to suggest that the deaths have anything to do with on ice physicality. The state of the officiating and refereeing in general is destroying fans confidence and to be honest it may deter new spectators from making a return visit.
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
