ANOTHER HOCKEY FIGHT

If the NHL wants to get higher ratings and more interest from non-mullet heads maybe they need to stage one of these every night. Similar to what ESPN and NASCAR does with their non-athletes and tells you about these so called "behind the doors" fights that take place between two rednecks and a car to drum up ratings at least the NHL has the balls to put it right in front of your face. There is a teabag reference in there some where, I will let you make it. I'm not exactly sure who the clear winner of the fight was between the Canadiens' George Laraque and the Bruins' Shawn Thornton but it is always fun to see two big guys go at it with so much force and bravado that it almost pushes them off the ice and onto the benches.

Last week I attended the season opener for the Atlanta Thrashers and got to see the good guys beat the Caps 7-4. All of the goal scoring was exciting of course but Philips Arena gets so much more energy when two competitors decide to drop the gloves and exchange haymakers. The NHL needs to embrace the fighting part of the game and market it because people like you and me love to watch it. I kind of miss the days when NHL Tonight was on ESPN2 and you could see the latest Tony Twist fight and/or Bob Probert mauling some rookie's face.

Video HT: FanIQ