Mats Sundin vs Gary Roberts (March 9, 1996)

[TomB]

Sami Helenius from Finland, Krzysztof "The Polish Hammer" Oliwa from Poland, David "Crap" Koci from Czech Republic and Evgeny "Artie the Animal" Artyukhin from Russia. Oliwa was the only one of those who had anything resembling a career in the NHL (164 fights and 1447 PIM in 410 games!) and is afaik the only Polish citizen to have his name on the Stanley Cup. He was also arrested for domestic violence in 2007 but I can't find any info on if he was sentenced or not.

Latvia's Raitis Ivanans also.

 

[afrobomber11]

David Koci?

 

[Hobnobs]

Dirty Gary and Sundin doesnt even flinch. That guy was pure swedish steel

 

[Hobnobs]

Ulf fought 81 times to Doug's 37. I'll agree about Ulf, I never said he was a "good fighter" though, just that he did fight quite a bit.

Ulfie wasnt a bad fighter either. Best swedish fighters are probably Duoglas Murray, Fredrik Svensson, Johnny Oduya, Mats Hallin, Landeskog and Jonathan Ericsson.

 

[Magic Man]

Are there any Finnish, Czech, Russian, Slovak heavyweights? Except Chara I can't think of many. Andrei Nazarov? Fighting just isn't part of European ice hockey culture. If you want to hit people in the head/face you're either into boxing or MMA. Mauler Gustafsson is pretty good. Not as good as Olli Jokinen though.

Alexander Svitov
Ronald Petrovicky
Jarkko Ruutu

All good middleweights off the top of my head.

 

[Stephen]

It's great to see star players play chippy and dirty and otherwise stand up for themselves.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Here's also a fight while with the Nordiques, vs Dave Hannan. Doesn't exactly show any punch prowess.

Good to see the smaller Dave Hannan beat Sundin in what was, a somewhat mediocre fight.

Good to see Buffalo win anything these days.....

Even if it is from the past....

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Are there any Finnish, Czech, Russian, Slovak heavyweights? Except Chara I can't think of many. Andrei Nazarov? Fighting just isn't part of European ice hockey culture. If you want to hit people in the head/face you're either into boxing or MMA. Mauler Gustafsson is pretty good. Not as good as Olli Jokinen though.

Nazarov was a heavy.

Alexander Svitov could throw them.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Ericsson doesn’t do it very often for some reason, but when he was in GR he was a very good fighter.

Probably because it's not that much fun.

 

[KasperTheGrittyGhost]

Probably because it's not that much fun.

I’ve been boxing since I was 7 years old man, can’t say I agree with you there

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

I’ve been boxing since I was 7 years old man, can’t say I agree with you there

Different strokes, brother.

 

[BlueStorm]

Sundin just hugged his right arm and hoped it didn't get loose. Roberts would have destroyed him.

 

[Communal Blood]

I remember reading in an article that during this altercation that Roberts called Sundin a "p***y Swede" and Sundin called Roberts a "Plumber".

 

[FerrisRox]

Man, is that it? There has to be a Swedish heavyweight we aren't thinking of. Is Ulfie #1 then?

I'd put Douglas Murray ahead of Ulf.

 

[Rogue Winger]

An old post, but...

Okay, excuse me for not remembering that guy and his 155 NHL games as a spare defenseman.

155 games with 26 fights. Considering Helenius was a player clearly without NHL skill level, those are actually pretty respectable numbers of games "played".

The thing with Finnish Sami Helenius is that he is one of the few Europeans who made it to NHL level as an enforcer. That is a very rare feat in itself. (Ulf Samuelsson, Jarkko Ruutu etc, had some fights, but they were somewhat skilled agitators, not enforcers or heavy weights of any kind)

Polish Krysztof Oliwa (a better fighter than Helenius) and Russian Andrei Nazarov (a worse fighter than Helenius, but a better player) are the other two European enforcers who played in the rough era.

We should remember that before making it to NHL level enforcer all 3 of those guys had to win many minor league fights first.

Helenius was a bit too nice guy for his role, though. Probably followed "the code" too strictly, but was pretty fearless. Faced off with prime Georges Larague in toe-to-toe without helmet (and got beaten badly)

Oliwa's character was somewhat opposite. He later faced criminal charges as he beat his girlfriend with a hockey stick.

Andrei Nazarov has later made himself known with some crazy antics as a coach in KHL. Like beating his teams doctor or something like that.