Is a bizarre new trend emerging in the NHL? Back on Monday, January 19th, Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky dropped the gloves against San Jose Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, creating the rare and precious hockey phenomenon known as the goalie fight.
WE GOT A GOALIE FIGHT 🚨‼️
BOBROVSKY AND NEDELJKOVIC 🤯
On Sunday, not even two weeks after the Bobrovsky-Nedeljkovic bout, we got yet another goalie fight. During the second period of the NHL’s Stadium Series game between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman and Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy squared off at center ice before the crowd in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.
STADIUM SERIES GOALIE FIGHT 😱
Whenever a goalie fight happens, the collective reaction among hockey fans is some combination of glee, joy, and laughter. But not everyone in the hockey world appears to be a fan of these netminder fisticuffs. Take, for example, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube.
“I mean, why are they fighting?”, questioned Berube when speaking with the media on Monday. “Why aren’t the players fighting? That’s the way I look at it. I don’t get it, to be honest with you. I’d rather my goalies not fight. Guy pokes your goalie? One of the players should be doing something about it.”
Craig Berube on goalie fights: “I mean, why are they fighting? Why aren’t the players fighting? That’s the way I look at it. I don’t get it, to be honest with you…. I’d rather my goalies not fight. Guy pokes your goalie? One of the players should be doing something about it.”
Berube’s attitude towards goalie fights represents the NHL’s long-standing position on the role of goaltenders in on-ice brawls. Fighting is not typically the domain of the goalie, which is what makes goalie fights such an infrequent occurrence. Whenever a goalie does enter into a donnybrook, though, it’s usually against another goalie. Our two most recent goalie fights can shed light as to why.
In both fights, one of the goalies (Nedeljkovic and Swayman, respectively) made the uncommon decision to jump into a scrum. The opposing goalie, seeing that his team is at a numbers disadvantage due to his counterpart’s involvement, feels the need to skate the length of the ice to even things up. The two goalies then pick each other out as natural combatants, and away they go.
Whether you’re for or against them, these recent goalie fights are likely just a blip rather than the beginnings of a new normal.
