The 10 Most Insane Hockey Brawls Ever

Flyers vs Canadiens, 1987

Most hockey brawls happen during the game itself, but this one is an exception. The Montreal Canadiens had a pre-game ritual where they'd wrap up practice by slipping a shot across the rink into their opponent's empty net. Philadelphia wasn't having it, and they warned Flyers center Claude Lemieux not to try it. He didn't, but then snuck out of the locker room with Shayne Corson to take the shot anyways. The Flyers locker room emptied to punish this affront, with Montreal soon following suit, and both teams fought on the ice for a solid ten minutes before the game even started!

Vitiaz vs Avangard, 2010

Hockey brawls aren't limited to the NHL. How do you think Russian teams handle themselves on the ice? If your answer was "incredibly violently," you'd be correct. A 2010 match between Avangard Omsk and Vitiaz Podolsk only went four minutes before the benches of both sides emptied onto the ice for some all-out warfare. The referees did manage to get the game going again, but less than a minute later they started fighting again, with players in the penalty box illegally going back on the ice to throw blows. So many players were expelled that the game actually had to be cancelled, and the total penalty minutes were a sport record: 810 between both teams.

Penguins vs Islanders, 2011

Often times hockey brawls are culminations of a whole season's worth of microaggressions, and when the Islanders hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011, Nassau Coliseum was a powderkeg waiting to explode. In a previous game, Penguins forward Maxime Talbot knocked Islander Blake Comeau down with a concussing-causing shot, and this game was seen as an opportunity for revenge. As opposed to other hockey brawls that saw benches empty, this game was just a never-ending series of individual fights, many of which were staggeringly violent.

Senators vs Flyers, 2004

The bitter rivalry between the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers came to a head in 2004 in a record-setting game for penalty minutes - a staggering 214! Things started going off when Rob Ray and Donald Brashear, the tough guys from each respective team, started duking it out. When Ray started to lose the fight, his fellow Senators jumped the rail and turned it into an all-out melee that even saw goalies Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime throwing blows. After things got settled down for the face-off, the team's two centers started fighting again, bringing both teams back onto the ice for a second round.

Nordiques vs Canadiens, 1984

Known as the "Good Friday Massacre," this was a brawl with serious history behind it. In 1984, the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens were facing off in the NHL playoffs. Just seconds before the end of the second period, the two teams started a brutal slobberknocker that resulted in Jean Hamel being knocked unconscious via a smash to the eye and Mario Tremblay reducing Peter Stasny's nose to a bloody mess. Officials got the situation under control, but when the third period began the two teams started brawling again, with the refs barely able to restore order and get the game back on track.

Canucks vs Flames, 2014

Here's a recent brawl so you don't think that the glory days of hockey violence are behind us. When the Calgary Flames played the Vancouver Canucks in January of 2014, both teams decided to open the games with front lines consisting of their most violent players. The results didn't surprise anyone, but what was really amazing is how little time it took for punches to be thrown. Just two seconds after the whistle, both lines had thrown down their sticks and started fighting. After refs restored order, a combined 142 penalty minutes got laid down and eight players were ejected.

Bruins vs Rangers, 1979

Hockey fans are just as crazy as the players, so every once in a while a brawl escapes the ice and heads into the stands. When the Bruins came to New York for a game in Madison Square Garden, a fan managed to cut Bruins winger Stan Jonathan's face with a rolled-up program and grabbed his hockey stick. This brought the rest of his team into the stands for a wild fracas that peaked with Mike Milbury grabbing the offending fan's shoe and smacking him in the face with it.

Red Wings vs Avalanche, 1997

The Detroit Red Wings had bad blood with the Colorado Avalanche spawning from Claude Lemieux taking out Kris Draper in the sixth game of the 1996 Western Conference finals, so when the Avalanche stepped into Joe Louis Arena in front of a crowd of rabid Red Wings fans the next year, things quickly got bad. A total of nine fights broke out over the course of the game, but the turning point came when Red Wings enforcer Darren McCarty got Lemieux alone on the ice and dropped him with a right hook, bringing him down and driving brutal knees into his torso. With bloodstains still on the ice, other teammates got into the action, and both sides suffered heavy injuries in this revenge brawl.