Every Friday, FanHouse sifts through the rubble and picks the best NHL fight, with the help of HockeyFights.com.
Sometimes, one fight just isn't good enough. Such was the case in Calgary recently, as the Flames and Canucks met for one of six matchups between the division rivals this season. It took just 2:32 for two fights to break out. Even though there were two good scraps going on at once, there was a clear winner for our Fight of the Week honors.
Derek Boogaard has two career NHL goals. It's not like Wild coach Jacques Lemaire uses him for his skill. Boogaard is on the ice to protect the Minnesota Wild's skill guys, and he's there to be a physical presence.
He took that role a bit too far on Friday night. Boogaard used his huge elbow as a weapon, sending Calgary Flame Brandon Prust crumpling to the ice. The hit has earned Boogaard a five-game ban.
Steve Ott is a tough guy. Not in the Derek Boogaard sense, because Ott has a ton more skill, but still tough. He has already set a career high with 12 goals in just 44 games played, and Ott has won the respect of his teammates because of his willingness to take punishment in order to make plays around the net.
Ott can also be a bit of an agitator, as seen at the end of Saturday's 4-3 loss to Anaheim. He took a couple extra whacks at Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer, drawing the ire of goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and enforcer Travis Moen.
Two NHL heavyweights threw down Wednesday night in St. Paul.
Minnesota's Derek Boogaard never shies away from a fight, and it's a rare day when Jody Shelley of San Jose does. The two got together for an entertaining scrum during the Wild's 3-2 overtime win.
Early in the fight, you could see something fly through the air after a Boogaard punch. Wild television analyst Mike Greenlay first thought Shelley had been bloodied. If you watch the end of this clip, however, it is pretty clear that Boogaard actually broke a chunk off Shelley's helmet.
Rookie goaltender Cory Schneider made 16 saves in the Canucks 2-1 win on Friday night, picking up his first career win against the Minnesota Wild.
Vancouver outshot the Wild by a 14-3 margin in the first period, and took advantage of -- according to the box score -- 15 Minnesota giveaways to escape with the victory. Kevin Bieska picked up his fifth goal of the season in the first period, while Jason Jaffray scored his first of the season at the 3-minute mark of the second period.
Mikko Koivu scored Minnesota's only goal of the night, while Niklas Backstrom turned aside 29 shots in the loss.
The win is only Vancouver's second in six games since the loss or Roberto Luongo, while the Wild had won three of four coming into action on Friday.
The best action of the night was probably the assortment of brawls in the first and second periods, resulting in the two teams combining for 56 penalty minutes during the game, and the ejections of Derek Boogaard and Darcy Hordichuk.
While it didn't rise to the level of epic bout, I am compelled to stand up and notice when a pair of super heavyweights like Derek Boogaard and Wade Belak decide to throw down like they did last night in Florida. I missed NHL on the Fly: Final last night, so I didn't hear about the fight until this morning while I was listening to NHL this Morning on XM Radio while driving my car to work.
While the fight was all well and good, the guys at NHL Home Ice really did a great job of playing the theme to Rocky underneath the radio call of the fight. In fact, I'd dare say that the listening to the bout on radio was far more exciting than actually watching it.
Since Derek Boogaard plays only about three or four minutes a night, he ought to have plenty of time to work on his thespian skills. I mean, it's not like he can get away with improving his chess game or practicing Spanish while Jacques Lemaire is looming over his shoulder.
Well, The Boogie Man's big moment has come as he's the star of the above commercial about a hockey equipment store. What happens when a goon wants to test out the latest equipment to ensure it's good for a game?
I'll give the big man good marks for personality, but he needs to work on being meaner. How can a goon not know how to act tough and angry? You can almost see him trying not to laugh in just about every scene.
Perhaps they ought to have switched the generic actor for a Mattias Ohlund lookalike, eh?
For most of his career, the oft-maligned Chris Osgood has been panned as a mediocre goalie that has had the fortune of playing behind great teams. Despite having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup ring, and compiling nearly 350 wins on his resume, Osgood's career 90.7% save percentage pretty much streams "Decidedly Average Goalie".
Well, Osgood was recently thrust into the Red Wings' #1 role after Dominik Hasek's magical groin done got broke, and The Wizard of Os seems to be kicking ass and taking names. Last night's 3-0 shutout over the St. Louis Blues has Osgood sitting with a pretty 10-1 record and a SV% near 93%. Compare this to Hasek's 85.8SV% (Whaaa??), and the Wings must be in no hurry for Hasek to heal.
The world of goaltending, in whole, seems to be upside down. Tim Thomas, Martin Gerber, and Pascal Leclaire are leading the league in SV%, while Hasek, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Martin Brodeur languish in the depths of sucktitude.
What the hell is going on? My hockey pool wants to know :(
When Aaron and Derek Boogaard take a wannabe tough guy to school, they usually do it on the ice.
The venue switched to the classroom this week when the Boogaard brothers - who make the Hansons of Slapshot fame look like lightweights - staged their inaugural hockey fighting camp at a Regina training centre.
The clinic included more 30 registered players from age 12 to 18 who signed on to receive a crash course from two of the toughest customers in the game.
"We're out here to show kids how to look after themselves when they're on the ice," said Derek Boogaard, a 25-year-old enforcer with the NHL's Minnesota Wild.
"We're showing them the little things that would help them out, rather than them learning the hard way and getting hurt."
While fighting has declined in the NHL, there is still a demand for tough customers that no how to handle themselves in a scrap. Instead of the usual goons, teams want players like Travis Moen: bangers who can crash and pot some offense once in awhile.
Still, I wish these kinds of schools didn't exist. Not that I am against fighting (I love hockey fights), but the best fights happen against players who aren't trained and practiced.
The more fighters train, the more they simply tend to wrestle and dance around. I want the old school fights with haymaker after haymaker.
Every Friday, FanHouse sifts through the rubble and picks the best NHL fight, with the help of HockeyFights.com.
Derek Boogaard has two career NHL goals. It's not like Wild coach Jacques Lemaire uses him for his skill. Boogaard is on the ice to protect the Minnesota Wild's skill guys, and he's there to be a physical presence. 
Steve Ott is a tough guy. Not in the Derek Boogaard sense, because Ott has a ton more skill, but still tough. He has already set a career high with 12 goals in just 44 games played, and Ott has won the respect of his teammates because of his willingness to take punishment in order to make plays around the net.
Rookie goaltender Cory Schneider made 16 saves in the Canucks 2-1 win on Friday night, picking up his first career win against the Minnesota Wild. 
For most of his career, the oft-maligned Chris Osgood has been panned as a mediocre goalie that has had the fortune of playing behind great teams. Despite having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup ring, and compiling nearly 350 wins on his resume, Osgood's career 90.7% save percentage pretty much streams "Decidedly Average Goalie".
