It was hockey all the checking and hits, things like that.. Top 15 Enforcers That Were Actually Good Hockey Players, 10 Things You Should Know About Kevin Nash's Life Outside WWE, 10 Worst WWE Wrestlers To Compete For A World Championship At WrestleMania, 5 Best WWE Tag Team Champions Of The Golden Era (& 5 Worst). If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free), Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. He died of heart failure and was later found, like Fleming, to have been living with CTE. Ray had 15 straight seasons of 90 or more penalty minutes, including back to back 350 penalty minute seasons from 1990-1992. Philadelphia Flyers Top 5 Enforcers of All Time. The role of the enforcer has diminished since rule enforcement changed following the 200405 NHL lockout to increase game speed and scoring. But did you know he had 1685 penalty minutes over his 1767 game career? [12] New York Times sportswriter John Branch covered Boogaard's death and the epidemic of chronic traumatic encephalopathy that has come as a result of frequent head trauma sustained by hockey enforcers. Kocur established himself by earning the most penalty minutes in the NHL during his first season. Currently he co-hosts the Smash and Twist show on 590 the Fan in St. Louis. He was also asturdydefenseman that could movethe puck and had a cannon of a shot from the point. This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. As most fans know, the Blues have a rich history of tough guys and brawlers alike, but here is the cream of the fighter's crop. Williams spent more than 4,400 minutes in the penalty box during his 14-year career (regular season and playoffs combined). McSorley won two Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, where he racked up 32 fighting majors over the two campaigns. Dial up a Probert fight video on YouTube and watch the way he grips onto and tees of on opponents. Tahir "Tie" Domi (born November 1, 1969) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. Schultz is renowned as one of hockey's greatest enforcers and holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a single season, at 472. Standing at 5'11", he was not the biggest guy but he had a crazy chin. All Domi started his career with Toronto, beforemaking an impact for the New York Rangersand leadingthe league in penalty minutes after being traded to Winnipeg. He. Despite his limited ice time, Twist still managed to put up six 10-fight seasons including a career-high 15 fights during the 1992-93 season. During his final full season of play, the Kings 1986-1987 campaign, Williams netted 16 goals and tallied 358 penalty minutes. Not only did Shanny pot over 1,300 career points in his career, but he tallied 2489 penalty minutes as well! Discussing Bobby Robins and Zac Rinaldo, Steve Lepore of Rolling Stone wrote the two are what's known throughout hockey as classic enforcers. Probert spent his career split between Detroit and Chicago, but he is best known for his years cruising the ice at Joe Louis Arena, where in 1987, Probert racked up an impossible 398 penalty minutes in one season! Enforcers sometimes take boxing lessons to improve their fighting. Most of the enforcers named above were generally considered "nice guys" in their everyday life. In the age of NHL Disciplinary Committee reviews and video replay, this role has been diminished, but fighting can still serve as a valuable tool for players to use to motivate their teammates and get the crowd back into a game. While never much of a contributor on the offensive end of the ice, Tony Twist mastered the art of throwing hands. 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Fighting has been a part of the NHL for as long as the league has existed. McSorley finished his career with 3,381 penalty minutes in 961 games played, good for fourth all-time in NHL history. Tiger Williams, Bob Probert, Chris Simon, and Tom Wilson are examples of enforcers who showed an occasional scoring flair, with Williams and Probert playing in the midseason All-Star Game. At present in the National Hockey League (NHL), teams generally do not carry more than one player whose primary role is that of an enforcer. Not bad for a "goon.". Derek Boogaard died at the age of 28 from an accidental mixture of painkillers and alcohol. Les Boys (1997) - 6.7. In the current season, fights have occurred in only 38% of NHL games, the lowest of any point since the 1968-69 season. Call 'em hockey goons if you dare, enforcer type skaters are often one of the most popular players on their respective teams both with fans and with their teammates. His real name was Dave. Terry OReilly spent his entire career protecting his teammates while playing for the Boston Bruins. Ice hockey is notorious for brawling - at least in North America's National Hockey League. We definitely have to walk a fine line when writingthis list, in terms of what exactly constitutes as an enforcer. Tie Domi: Always a fan favourite while he played in Toronto, Domi was one of the premier enforcers in the 90s. In one famoustilt, he left Joe Kocur (a tough guy in his own right) face-down as he hit him multiple times before Kocur could even throw a punch. The 63, 230-pound Windsor, Ontario native was the undisputed best fighter of the 1990s. He bettered the 250 penalty minute mark an impressive 10 times. For his career, Schultz averaged more than four minutes per game in the penalty box: the highest rate ever. As a matter of fact, he didn'teven wait for his first regular season game. OReilly fought five bouts against Dave Schultz, Torrie Robertson, and Tiger Williams, which proved he was capable of going toe-to-toe with some of the toughest players in hockey history. In the Flyers cup-winning 1974-75 season, Schultz spent an absolutely ludicrous 472 minutes in the sin bin. He continued the trend in the playoffs, amassing 69 PIMs in just 10 games played. Without further ado, here at the top 15 enforcers that were good hockey players! Unique lists featuring pop culture, entertainment and crazy facts. McSorley was also a participant in an epic 100 second duel with Bob Probert that is one of the greatest fights in hockey history. In one scrap in 1976, O'Reilly took on Dave "The Hammer" Schultz. An enforcer's job is to deter and respond to dirty or violent play by the opposition. Newspapers Limited, 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, Conversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Top 5 Biggest Enforcers to Ever Don the Note. Full Bio. Nilans 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 campaigns are the stuff of penalty minute-accumulating legend: His tallies for those two years: 338 and 358 minutes, respectively. Tommy Davis. A "Gordie Howe hat trick" is a player scoring a goal, assisting on a goal, and being involved in a fight during a single game.[8]. Sadly, Probert died of a heart attack in 2010, and his brain was donated to the Sports Legacy Institute, which revealed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a side effect of his brutal profession. McSorley won two Stanley Cups in his career, but unfortunately he may best be known for his vicious slash against Donald Brashear that ended in a lengthy suspension. Williams was a capable contributor on the offensive end, but he excelled when it came to fighting and he racked up fighting majors at an alarming pace. In west Philadelphia born and raised, on the playground was where I spent most of my days. Rypien, who drew 226 penalty minutes in 119 regular-season games with the Vancouver Canucks, had been living with depression. In one legendary melee, he scaled the boards, jumped into the crowd and proceeded to beat up a fan because he punched his teammate Stan Jonathan in the face. Semenko was "The Great One's" more notable bodyguard (and we wonder why nobody really messed with him like people do with Crosby nowadays) and Semenko was such a beast that it was as if he packed iron in his fists. Yes, Domi averaged about 3.5 PIM per game over his career. Schultz is renowned as one of hockey's greatest enforcers and holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a single season, at 472. Best known for playing with the Detroit Red Wings, Kocur was an intimidating figure with a devastating right hand that he used with great frequency. In 1984, he managed to rack up 10 points in 19 games en route to the Oilers winning their first Stanley Cup. Second, it is either a momentum stopper or a momentum starter. Tocchet then developed into one of the games premier power forwards, with five30 goal seasons. Bob Probert: One of the most imposing enforcers of all-time, Probert weighed in at 63 and 225 lbs of pure muscle. Enforcers are different from pests, players who seek to agitate opponents and distract them from the game, without necessarily fighting them. Its one of the unique elements of the most popular sport played on ice that teams carry goons on their rosters whose primary duty is to maintain order, protect his teammates, and kick ass when necessary. During the 1977-1978 season, he led the Bruins in points (90) and penalty minutes (211). There is not much room for players who strictly fight, now that things like the salary cap and analytical matchups dominate the way teams are built from the ground up. Schultz began wearing boxing wrist wraps in order to prevent injury to himself while fighting, but the league quickly outlawed the practice when it began to catch on. Free shipping for many products! Me neither Simon was actually a veryreliableforward in his earlier years in the league. This film focuses on how the Red Army's veteran coach Anatoli Tarasov. The deaths of noted enforcers like Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak and Rick Rypien, among others, set off a chain reaction of events that have brought us to this point, where the role of the "fighter" has essentially disappeared from NHL rosters, give or take a few teams that still feel the need to keep some hired muscle on the end of their bench. Team Physician. He averaged 4.12 penalty minutes per game, which is second all-time. 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