SB Nation User Blog: JDunman

Tales of the Tape: Minnesota Wild 10/31/09, Sidney Crosby vs. Marek Zidlicky

JDunman — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:14:38 -0000

Halloween is an odd time of the year. People dress up in all kinds of strange outfits, kids are encouraged to take candy from strangers, and Sidney Crosby gets himself into a fight. Good for him.

After Crosby was knocked into the boards by Marek Zidlicky, he may have been feeling slightly irked. Then when the puck came back around and Zidlicky was back up in Sid's grill, Sid decided to give Zidlicky a slash, and got one back for his efforts. Finally, the tensions came to a head and the two went at it.

Well, more like Crosby went at it. With helmets shaken off, Crosby started pounding on Zidlicky and pulled his jersey over his head, Kenny Wu style. The linesmen were very, very quick to get into this melee and split the two up, and each man got 7 minutes - 5 minutes for fighting and 2 minutes for slashing.

And this brings up an issue I've never really thought about. When someone like Eric Godard or Colton Orr drop the gloves, the linesmen let the two go at it until one either goes down or exhaustion forces them to stop. However, when Crosby jumped in swinging, the linesmen were in almost immediately. I honestly haven't gone looking to see if this is common for the 'star players' around the league, or this was an isolated thing, but there was definitely a different reaction here.

Up next for the Pens is the Anaheim Ducks, who had three fights against Phoenix last night. Two of which came from James Wisniewski, who received an instigator and misconduct for his first fight, and still came back for a second. In 82 fights last season, the Ducks only had one against the Pens - a win for Paul Bissonnette.

Poll

Who won the fight?

Tales of the Tape: Florida Panthers 10/23/09, Chris Kunitz vs. Keith Ballard

JDunman — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:24:27 -0000

It's been a while since we've seen a Penguins fight, which I suppose may have been needed after the triple feature against Toronto on October 10. So what has Eric Godard gotten himself...wait, Chris Kunitz? Really?

Meeting up in the Florida goal, Ballard is all over Kunitz, and even manages to take get his helmet off. The two exchange a few shoves before the gloves come flying off. And then they take a nice little tour of the ice. Okay, not really - but since their equipment was sitting near the goal, it was a little odd to see them skate off to the blue line.

Ballard connects with a jab and grabbing for the jersey, so Kunitz responds by bringing down the hammer to the back. A bit of struggling, and Kunitz hits a low uppercut to the chin (that may or may not have hit pads) and connects with the back of Ballard's head, taking him down to a knee. Ballard uses the momentum shift to swing Kunitz of his skates, and proceeds to hit while Kunitz is struggling back to his knees. The linesmen are a little late getting in at this point, and separate the two.

I'm thinking Kunitz on this one. He got the better blows in during the fight, and staggered Ballard, but Ballard used the opportunity to swing Kunitz off balance and hit him on the ice - which isn't cool at all.

This is Chris Kunitz's second fight as a Penguin, and his first during the regular season (the other coming in postseason against the Flyers - go figure). He's not a regular fighter, but he definitely can hold his own when he goes. You may remember Keith Ballard as the guy Sidney Crosby attacked last season.

Next up is Ottawa, who have had six fights in three games, half of which from Matt Carkner.

Poll

Who won the fight?

Chris Kunitz

64 votes

Keith Ballard

12 votes

Draw

36 votes

112 votes | Poll has closed

We miss you, Biz-Nasty.

JDunman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:39:40 -0000

We miss you, Biz-Nasty.

Tales of the Tape: Toronto Maple Leafs 10/10/09, Special 3-fight edition!

JDunman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:19:12 -0000

When you hear that a Penguins game has had three fights in it, you'd expect the opponent to be the Flyers or the Rangers. Imagine my surprise when I checked the game against Toronto and spotted three fighting penalties. Three! That's one more fight than the Pens had against the Leafs all last season!

It probably would have been a good idea to space these out yesterday, when there was an entire day off, but I was preoccupied, so we're going to put all three of them here. The first one is before the jump, with the other two following.

Eric Godard vs. Colton Orr

Totally called it. Godard and Orr fought four times last season, so it's no surprise that the two would get down to it fairly quickly. Like 2:19 in the first period quickly.

Not one of their better fights, honestly. Some back and forth punches to the helmets before Orr falls backwards to the ice. Now the question is did Godard's hit cause Orr's fall, or did Orr simply slip to the ice trying to dodge Godard's hit? I'm going with the former, giving Godard the win here. This is the subject of the entry's poll, as I can only post one per entry...and the other two really aren't very debatable.

Craig Adams vs. Jamal Mayers

Remember last time when I said Craig Adams wasn't a usual suspect for fighting? Looks like someone took offense, because here he is again, this time dropping his gloves against Jamal Mayers. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite so well this time around.

Quick blows started this one off with Mayers seeming to get a shot or two more to connect with Adams' head. After a bit of struggling with the grip, Mayers goes for the hiptoss takedown, but Adams blocks. Not such a good idea, as Mayers responds by punching Adams in the face and knocks him down in the other direction. We've all learned an important lesson here. Sometimes it's better just to get tossed around. Loss for Adams.

Michael Rupp vs. Jay Rosehill

Perhaps looking to avenge his face-punched teammate, Michael Rupp took on Jay Rosehill in the second period.

Rupp started off strong with a couple of good blows, but as the two got their holds on, Rosehill utilized the sneaky trick of jabbing with the fist holding the jersey. Rupp tried to get back into it, but took another jab before trading some pretty heavy swings (and misses) back and forth. Quite likely dizzy from all the spinning, Rupp let Rosehill get in a little too closely and took some shots that knocked off his helmet and dropped him to the ice. Loss for Rosehill.

Of course, if you don't agree with my calls on these two fights, feel free to yell at me in the comments.

So with a win and two losses, it wasn't the best showing for the Pens. Ottawa has only thee fights thus far this season (compared to the Pens' 7), with two of them coming from Matt Carkner. Spending last season in the AHL, he had one fight against the Baby Pens, going up against Aaron Boogaard.

Poll

Godard/Orr - who won the fight?

Eric Godard

73 votes

Colton Orr

16 votes

Draw

21 votes

110 votes | Poll has closed

Tales of the Tape: Philadelphia Flyers 10/8/09, Craig Adams vs. Ian Laperriere

JDunman — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:54:56 -0000

When the Penguins and the Flyers meet up, it's not a matter of if a fight will break out, it's a matter of when. It wasn't one of the usual suspects, though...at least not on the Penguins side. Rather than Eric Godard, it was Craig Adams going at it with Philadelphia's resident goon (or at least one of them) Ian Laperriere.

This one broke just over a minute into the game right out of a faceoff. Lappy connected several times with Adams' helmet, but Adams came back with a punch that didn't exactly connect, but helped get Lapperriere's helmet off. That's as far as it got, though, because as Lapperriere shifted his weight, Adams pushed him down to the ice. Very quick, and not much to look at.

This won't be the last time you see a Penguin fight a Flyer this season, and chances are Lapperriere will be involved again. Adams isn't known for his fighting (he only had two fights last season, both before he came to the Penguins), but you'll definitely see one of the Penguins pound on a Flyer again.

As for this one? Since neither player really got any kind of an advantage and it ended so quickly, I'm calling it a draw. Hopefully we'll see something better when the Penguins meet the Maple Leafs tomorrow. After all, we get to see our old buddy Colton Orr again, and we all know what happens when he's involved.

Thanks to hockeyfights.com for the video!

Poll

Who won the fight?

Craig Adams

72 votes

Ian Laperriere

13 votes

Draw

56 votes

141 votes | Poll has closed

Tales of the Tape: New York Islanders 10/3/09, Jay McKee vs. Brendan Witt

JDunman — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:48:49 -0000

(EDIT: I really feel like a jerk for not having mentioned this a long time ago, but all the videos posted for Tales of the Tape come from HockeyFights.com. It's a fantastic site for all the hockey fighting clips and stats that you could possibly want. It's been a huge help for me, so give it a look!)

It would seem as if the Penguins are trying to show each reason to get into a hockey fight. We had the two heavyweights go in game one, and now we have the 'stick up for your player' fight. Take a look.

Brendan Witt nailed Ruslan Fedotenko pretty hard, causing Evgeni Malkin to come at him with a shoulder and Pascal Dupuis to start a bit of a tussle. Finally, Jay McKee pulled him back and locked up. Unfortunately, McKee didn't do much from that point, tussling a bit before getting some shots back from Witt who stood up for himself quite well. Witt got his arm free and landed some blows, keeping McKee's arms unable to swing well. McKee pulled off Witt's helmet at the end, but by that point, the linesmen came in to split the group up.

While Witt did not get penalized further than five minutes for fighting (and he shouldn't have - it was a clean hit on Fedotenko), the Pens certainly did. Malkin got two minutes for interference on his hit to Witt, and McKee received five for fighting, ten for misconduct and two for instigating. So the debate of course becomes was it worth attacking Witt for the hit on Fedotenko? I'd say yes and no. I am a proponent of sticking up for guys that take heavy hits (not that Fedotenko can't stick up for himself), but McKee went about it very badly. Dupuis was already dealing with Witt when McKee pulled him in. Bad move, and it got him 12 extra penalty minutes.

As for the winner of the fight? Neither got a clear advantage, so I'm going with a draw.

Poll

Who won the fight?

Jay McKee

27 votes

Brendan Witt

37 votes

Draw

47 votes

111 votes | Poll has closed

Tales of the Tape: New York Islanders 10/3/09, Michael Rupp vs. Tim Jackman

JDunman — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:53:13 -0000

There are certain teams that I expect the Pens to end up fighting when met. The Flyers come to mind right off the bat. The Rangers are not surprising, nor are the Capitals. The Islanders? Not so much. Especially not two in one game. Well, that's what I get for assuming - game 2 of the season saw two of the Penguins newest faces end up getting fighting majors. We'll start with the first.

The fight broke out at 9:32 of the first period. Michael Rupp started throwing blows against Tim Jackman of the Islanders. Both threw several right hands, with Jackman knocking off Rupp's helmet before they went into a tender embrace. Jackman threw a couple more punches before Rupp reached in and pulled off Jackman's helmet. A couple more blows from either side, and the linesmen finally came in and pulled the two huggers apart.

Based on the early blows, I'd have to give this one to Jackman. He landed more blows and knocked off Rupp's helmet. Still no takedown, but based on several comments I got last season, that may not be a bad thing.

I suppose it should be noted that Michael Rupp fought 16 times last season for the Devils. His first fight of the season was a loss against our very own Eric Godard. How about that? Jackman had 19 fights in the NHL, though none of which were against the Penguins.

We'll take a look at Jay McKee's first Penguins fight against Brendan Witt later in the day. Stay tuned for it.

Poll

Who won the fight?

Michael Rupp

40 votes

Tim Jackman

40 votes

Draw

64 votes

144 votes | Poll has closed

Tales of the Tape: New York Rangers 10/2/09, Eric Godard vs. Donald Brashear

JDunman — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:52:02 -0000

Welcome to the first edition of Tales of the Tape for the 09-10 season! For those of you just joining us, Tales of the Tape pops up whenever a Penguin decides to drop the gloves and go at it with an opposing player. I provide a video of the fight, give some analysis then declare a winner. After doing so, I put up a poll to see whether the Pensburgh community agrees with me. This is the third season for it, and Frank and Hooks have yet to kick me out. So let's get to it!

When Donald Brashear moved into the Atlantic Division, it was pretty much a given that he and Eric Godard would be trading blows. The two wasted little time, dropping the gloves at 11:55 in the first period.

The fight didn't start well for Godard, as Brashear moved in quickly and connected with some quick shots to the head, then pulled Godard in by the jersey to keep him off balance. Godard managed to stay on his skates, and after a bit of ~~hugging~~ grappling, Godard finally started connecting with shots of his own. From that point, it was all Godard. He knocked Brashear's helmet off and got an uppercut that seemed to graze Brashear's forehead. After a little more grappling, the two seemed to agree to end hostilities and headed to the box. Godard got the cheers of the crowd, and Brahsear got to dabble the trickle of blood off his forehead. Yes, I used both 'dabble' and 'trickle' within two words of each other.

What a fight to start the season off with! This is an example of two guys paid for their fighting skills, doing what they do best. Of course, we won't be seeing many fights like this (hugging majors are no laughing matter), so enjoy it while you've got it. Godard got hit hard at the beginning, but with his shots that took off the helmet and drew blood, this one goes to Godard. Good start for him.

Poll

Who won the fight?

Eric Godard

181 votes

Donald Brashear

14 votes

Draw

48 votes

243 votes | Poll has closed

Watch GameCenter subscription closely...even if it's over

JDunman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:17:36 -0000

Last season, my brother and I signed up for NHL.com's GameCenter LIVE. We had used it the season before and enjoyed the service. Last season, however, I found myself repeatedly frustrated with it as Penguins games were often blacked out for no reason (that I could find), and unlike the season before, I could not watch any of the Penguins' post season games. Other post season games came in fine - but no Pens. Needless to say, I was not amused.

Long story short, the season ended and I relaxed with the thought that I would not be dropping any more money on a headache for this season. Imagine my surprise when I found they had billed me the full amount for this season's services. Turns out, they have an automated annual renewal service inacted without any kind of notice to the person paying. It really is my own fault - I should have spotted it earlier. So now I'm dealing with having to canel the service to get my $160 back, as well as having to call a phone number to cancel the resubscription 'service'.

Moral of the story? Make sure something's really gone before you toss it from your thoughts.

See you when the gloves drop.

Hossa out until December?

JDunman — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:32:58 -0000

Hossa out until December?

Are we supposed to not be bitter at Hossa anymore? I can't really decide, but here you go anyway.

Sucks for Chicago.