Saturday Night Hockey: Revisiting a Canucks-Flames Line Brawl

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the Canucks-Flames line brawl. And while it's pretty infamous (topped off with then-Canucks head coach John Tortorella looking to get at Flames head coach Bob Hartley during the first intermission), it wasn't the only line brawl that these two teams were involved in.

I have made mention about what was once NHL Eastside Hockey Manager (currently resurrected as Franchise Hockey Manager). The series itself was addicting, and I would - ok, still do - waste hours just playing it. That fact that it keeps track of the amount of time spent on a game is scary.

Anyway, to get back on track, last May when I was playing, there was a line brawl that happened in one of the Canucks-Flames games (full disclosure, the Flames are a human-controlled team, but all games are simulated, so there are no in-game tactic changes that lead to the following events). First lets start with the result.

Alright, so the Canucks were up 3-0 in the third period (doesn't show here, but will be evident later on) before all of a sudden needing to forfeit the game. While the brawl doesn't actually cause the forfeit by the Canucks, it plays a huge part of it. Now for the play-by-play of what happened.

Two apologizes:

1. Sorry for the picture quality. I used my phone, never thought of screen capping.
2. Since I was playing this back in May, I might list the players here under the wrong team. I'll try my best to remember who was playing where.

It didn't take long in the third period for things to get heated. Just 2:16 in and we have Smyth (Canucks) and Hale (Flames) drop the gloves and go at it. Both get shots in before Nilson (Flames) and Vaananen (Canucks) join in the action. Babchuk (Flames) - Goren (Canucks) and Conroy (Flames) - Brown (Canucks) happen soon after. Friesen (Flames) and Tverdovsky (Canucks) join because, hey, everybody is going it. Now we get commentary on every fight at once (I'll recap each punch at the end). So far it looks like Tverdovsky and Hale are winning their respective fights while the Conroy-Brown tilt is a battle of balance.

The brawl continues then BAW GAWD THAT'S LUONGO'S MUSIC! Yes, the last two players on the ice (Luongo for the Canucks, MacDonald for the Flames) drop the blockers and catchers. Note the bar on the right side. You'll want to see how it progresses.

Back to the mayhem! Highlighted here is Goren just going to town on poor Babchuk. Goren is landing punch after punch, while the two times Babchuk is mentioned are both missed punches.

 

Since they first joined together we finally see action from the Luongo-MacDonald tilt. It looks like a mismatch, as Luongo is landing punches while MacDonald wants a wrestling match. In the middle both guys are struggling to keep balance. In the end MacDonald is just trying to hang on until a linesman shows up to help.

After four full pages of punches, the fights are finally over and the penalties are handed out. It's pretty funny some of the commentary on the penalties. Only Friesen, Smyth, Brown, and Nilson are allowed to think about what they done. At the bottom, Luongo is assessed a game misconduct...

...and so is MacDonald. When play finally resumes, both teams are down a line and have their backup goalies in net (Kiprusoff for the Flames, Lalime for the Canucks). For the most part the Flames are controlling the play, desperately trying to get on the scoreboard...

...or injure Lalime, as that works too. A Giordano slapshot was the last thing Lalime faced, as an injury on the play made Lalime leave the ice and result in the Canucks having no goalies left. In this case, the Flames win the game by forfeit.

While the Flames lucked out in this occasion, they probably would not be as lucky if this really happened. The Canucks could either play with an extra attacker (I assume) or dress another goalie, as Rule 5.3 states

...In the event that the two regular goalkeepers are injured or incapacitated in quick succession, the third goalkeeper shall be provided with a reasonable amount of time to get dressed, in addition to a  two-minute warm-up (expect when he enters the game to defend a penalty shot)...

In all, it just proves that, on ice or in games, there's no love lost between these two teams.

Final Punch Count

Note: each attempt counted as one, "some"/"few" counted as two.

Fighter (Team)	Jabs	Punches	Uppercuts	Misses	Struggles or Tie-ups
Smyth (Canucks)	0	4	0	2	0
Hale (Flames)	2	8	2	0	0

Fighter (Team)	Jabs	Punches	Uppercuts	Misses	Struggles or Tie-ups
Vaananen (Canucks)	2	5	3	1	0
Nilson (Flames)	1	4	3	0	6

 

Fighter (Team)	Jabs	Punches	Uppercuts	Misses	Struggles or Tie-ups
Goren (Canucks)	1	9	3	0	1
Babchuk (Flames)	0	0	0	2	0

 

Fighter (Team)	Jabs	Punches	Uppercuts	Misses	Struggles or Tie-ups
Brown (Canucks)	2	5	5	0	1
Conroy (Flames)	0	0	1	0	6

 

Fighter (Team)	Jabs	Punches	Uppercuts	Misses	Struggles or Tie-ups
Tverdovsky (Canucks)	2	3	1	1	4
Friesen (Flames)	2	8	0	3	1

 

Fighter (Team)	Jabs	Punches	Uppercuts	Misses	Struggles or Tie-ups
Luongo (Canucks)	1	4	2	3	1
MacDonald (Flames)	0	3	1	0	9

Lineup Notables

New York Islanders vs. Montreal Canadiens

All Star John Tavares: Mikhail Grabovski (lower body), Lubomir Visnovsky (upper body), and Matt Carkner (Back) are out. Jaroslav Halak gets the start.
All Star Snub PK Subban: P-A Parenteau ("maintenance") and Carey Price (upper body) is out. Dustin Tokarski will be in net.

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Ottawa Senators

All Star Justin Faulk: The Hurricanes are healthy. Anton Khudobin will start.
All Star Bobby Ryan: Chris Neil (lower body), Zack Smith (upper body), and Mark Borowiecki (leg) are out Craig Anderson starts tonight.

Edmonton Oilers vs. Florida Panthers

All Star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Tyler Pitlick (spleen) is out. Viktor Fasth is in net.
All Star Roberto Luongo: Shawn Thornton (groin) is probable. Roberto Loungo starts.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. St. Louis Blues

All Star Roommate of Tyler Bozak : Joffrey Lupul (lower body), Leo Komarov (shoulder) and Peter Holland (upper body) are out while David Booth (head) is probable. Jonathan Bernier is between the pipes.
All Star Vladimir Tarasenko: Martin Brodeur (personal) and Corey Potter (leg) are out. Brian Elliot gets the start.

Calgary Flames vs. San Jose Sharks

All Star Mark Giordano: Sam Bennett (shoulder), Josh Jooris (wrist), and Karri Ramo (upper body) are out while Curtis Glencross (lower body) is doubtful. Joni Ortio will start tonight.
All Star Not Joe Thornton: Mike Brown (lower body) and Mirco Mueller (upper body) are out. Antti Niemi is in net.