In-Fighting

The 30 GMs of the NHL are meeting this week, and fighting is to be the main topic of discussion. Pro-fighting Brian Burke of Toronto decided the best way to approach this subject was to challenge any other GM who disagrees with him to a fight. I'm sure Paul Holmgren is firmly in the pro-fighting camp as well, but I'm sure just about every Flyers fan would pay good money to see our GM beat the crap out of Brian Burke.

Hockey fights are sort of unique in sports skirmishes, because unlike baseball, basketball, or even NASCAR throwdowns, there's really not usually much animosity or genuine dislike there. Fighting in hockey is just what you do. It's always been part of the game and probably always will be. And in the extremely transient NHL, former sparring partners often wind up sitting on the bench. Or current sparring partners, as was the case with R.J. Umberger and Jim Dowd about a year ago, who fought in practice and had to be broken up by Steve Downie. Wonder if it's a coincidence that none of those three are with the team any longer...

Flyers haven't had any incestuous thrown downs that we know of this year, but it doesn't mean none of the 20 guys on the current roster have ever gone at each other.

I dug up three such regular season tussles between current brothers in orange, all of them with a common, unsurprising participant. And they all happened in early-mid November, for what that's worth (not a whole lot).

In chronological order:


Arron Asham (NYI) def. Mike Richards (PHI) 11/10/2005


Arron Asham (NYI) def. Mike Richards (PHI) 11/9/2006


Riley Cote (PHI) vs. Arron Asham (NJD) 11/8/2007 (draw)