Steve "The Boss" Bossé and why hockey enforcers are badass

[tsube]

 

[Sharkey]

But like.. Just for anything? Or do there have to be a cause ?

Sometimes two enforcers will fight at the beginning of the game to try to "set the tone". Sometimes there will be a fight after a goal and one enforcer will challenge another as a way of trying to swing momentum back to his team. It doesn't happen much anymore, but plenty of fights used to happen at the end of a game in previous decades as a way of trying to "set the tone" for the next game between the two teams. Only rarely do two enforcers fight because one of them made a dirty hit on another player. Besides the fighting that they do, enforcers are generally some of the cleanest players in the game with only an odd exception.

In the league Bosse used to play in, the LHAN, a lot of the fighting that takes place there is strictly to entertain the crowd. It was a league that built and promoted on the fighting that took place. The enforcers in that league were also the highest paid players as well since there were pretty significant cash bonuses for each fight they were involved in. During the 2006-07 season in that league Bosse was involved in 49 fights while only playing in 27 games. Basically averaged almost two fights a game, which you won't see happen anywhere else but the LNAH. From 2003 to 2006 Jacques Dube had 215 fights in 178 over three seasons in that same league. 215 fights in three years. That's utterly insane. But these guys had to do what they had to do to pay the bills and they became folk heroes of sorts in Quebec while doing so.

 

[Sharkey]

Here's Bosse's old rival from the LHAN, Jon Mirasty, taking part in one of the best hockey scraps I've ever seen against Jeremy Yablonski. What's funny is that Mirasty & Yablonski are said to have been really good friends who grew up together in the same small town in Saskatchewan;

 

[P0rkchop]

Where is the Bully Beatdown reference? Hockey players used to be pretty tough

 

[Sharkey]

I remember years ago when I was a kid. Telling my friend about a hair brained idea of what the NHL should do. Where once a year. Either post season or pre season. They host an NHL fight night. Where all the enforcers come out to face one another on opposing teams. No hockey. Just hockey fights in uniform and on ice skates. In a hockey rink. I even said it could be on PPV and it would sell.

Is this a good idea or was my 12 year old self kind of delusional? Haha. I came up with the idea 20 years ago. Hockey has changed. NHL that is. They don't have fights like they used too.

They had something like that before. I can't remember what it was called, but it was a PPV event of hockey fights. Tournament style. There wasn't any then-current NHL enforcers that were in it, though. A couple of old NHL enforcers were from what I remember. Lyndon Byers was in it I think. Link Gaetz I think. I believe it was either Dean Mayrand who won the whole thing. Or maybe is what Mike Sgroi. Mayrand played in the same league in Quebec as Bosse for a few years and they fought each other a few times. Bosse went 2-1-2 against him according to the voting at the DYG website.

 

[Sharkey]

Here's a news clip of that hockey fights PPV I mentioned up above. It was Mayrand who ended up winning the whole thing.

 

[Final Say]

I never thought hockey goon style would translate well to MMA, but Patrick Coté and Steve Bossé may be on to something. He KO'd Tehuna TFO with a short right. Meanwhile, the average enforcer will take 10 in the face and keep swinging... and do it again in the next game. Mind you, Bossé was a very undersized enforcer. MMA is probably easy compared to what he was used to.



Edit: I know Patrick Cote was never a hockey enforcer. I meant the free-for-all swing fest he used to KO Saunders looked just like a hockey fight.

I also realize the obvious fact that goon-style alone wouldn't go far in MMA. The UFC probably put Bosse in there as a sacrificial lamb for the Aussie crowd. It was good to see him get his 15 minutes in MMA.

Oh man, that right hand was on the button, directly across the chin as Te Huna was moving into it


Anybody on the planet would be KO'd by a shot like that

 

[TStoner]

Don't forget about Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fight Site. I think it was dropyourgloves.com had a fantasy league for picking who fought who I'd get so pissed when the Wild would scratch Boogaard when they would play the Duck, Oilers, or the flames and screw up my picks.

As a minnesota boy, I both love and miss the boogeyman. Good ups for the mention.

 

[Rational Poster]

I never thought hockey goon style would translate well to MMA, but Patrick Coté and Steve Bossé may be on to something. He KO'd Tehuna TFO with a short right. Meanwhile, the average enforcer will take 10 in the face and keep swinging... and do it again in the next game. Mind you, Bossé was a very undersized enforcer. MMA is probably easy compared to what he was used to.



Edit: I know Patrick Cote was never a hockey enforcer. I meant the free-for-all swing fest he used to KO Saunders looked just like a hockey fight.

I also realize the obvious fact that goon-style alone wouldn't go far in MMA. The UFC probably put Bosse in there as a sacrificial lamb for the Aussie crowd. It was good to see him get his 15 minutes in MMA.

I still think it's crazy the refs just watch when this kind of thing happens...

 

[Ballsaque]

Sometimes two enforcers will fight at the beginning of the game to try to "set the tone". Sometimes there will be a fight after a goal and one enforcer will challenge another as a way of trying to swing momentum back to his team. It doesn't happen much anymore, but plenty of fights used to happen at the end of a game in previous decades as a way of trying to "set the tone" for the next game between the two teams. Only rarely do two enforcers fight because one of them made a dirty hit on another player. Besides the fighting that they do, enforcers are generally some of the cleanest players in the game with only an odd exception.

In the league Bosse used to play in, the LHAN, a lot of the fighting that takes place there is strictly to entertain the crowd. It was a league that built and promoted on the fighting that took place. The enforcers in that league were also the highest paid players as well since there were pretty significant cash bonuses. During the 2006-07 season in that league Bosse was involved in 49 fights while only playing in 27 games. Basically averaged almost two fights a game, which you won't see happen anywhere else but the LNAH. From 2003 to 2006 Jacques Dube had 215 fights in 178 over three seasons in that same league. 215 fights in three years. That's utterly insane. But these guys had to do what they had to do to pay the bills and they became folk heroes of sorts in Quebec while doing so.

LOL that is amazing. That's allowed by the rules and everything?

 

[Paynebringer]

MMA didn't seem too easy when he got KO'd stiff as a board

That was a nasty head kick KO straight into instant rigamortis.

 

[Which Doctor]

 

[Sharkey]

LOL that is amazing. That's allowed by the rules and everything?

Yep. They are penalized, but if it's mutual consent type of fight the two who are involved have to sit in the penalty box for 5 minutes. That's it. A player is allowed to have 3 fights in a game before he gets a game misconduct penalty and is sent to the dressing room for the rest of the night. The rules are very lenient in allowing fights to take place. They do have pretty stiff penalties for players who start fights against players who are not ready or are unwilling, though. I believe it's 2 minutes for instigating, 5 minutes for fighting and then a 10 minute misconduct in cases such as those. The vast majority of hockey fights are mutual consent, though, and most are prearranged agreements right after the puck is dropped for a faceoff.

 

[Sharkey]

Us Canadian folks are a tough bunch. Or as Rogan said when talking with Cerrone on his podcast, we are a country made up of "real men" unlike the US which has "a bunch of pussies" (Rogan's wrods, not mine).

 

[beefcake180]

MMA didn't seem too easy when he got KO'd stiff as a board

I fucking love Thiago Santos. That dude needs a top 15 fight.

 

[MusterX]

I never thought hockey goon style would translate well to MMA, but Patrick Coté and Steve Bossé may be on to something. He KO'd Tehuna TFO with a short right. Meanwhile, the average enforcer will take 10 in the face and keep swinging... and do it again in the next game. Mind you, Bossé was a very undersized enforcer. MMA is probably easy compared to what he was used to.

Yea that's mostly because they are on skates. Producing KO power usually requires rotation of the hips and shoulders. You will also hear references of fighters "really sitting down on their punches." That means its going to take your head off if it connects. Hard to do that in hockey on ice skates. Sometimes a guy gets knocked out but most of the time they take 10 punches to the face and keep going is because they aren't getting punched by a professional fighter. It only took Nate Diaz, for example, one well place 1-2 combo to put McGregor on queer street and Nate is not even known for punching power.

 

[Turf Skirmish]

I never thought hockey goon style would translate well to MMA, but Patrick Coté and Steve Bossé may be on to something. He KO'd Tehuna TFO with a short right. Meanwhile, the average enforcer will take 10 in the face and keep swinging... and do it again in the next game. Mind you, Bossé was a very undersized enforcer. MMA is probably easy compared to what he was used to.



Edit: I know Patrick Cote was never a hockey enforcer. I meant the free-for-all swing fest he used to KO Saunders looked just like a hockey fight.

I also realize the obvious fact that goon-style alone wouldn't go far in MMA. The UFC probably put Bosse in there as a sacrificial lamb for the Aussie crowd. It was good to see him get his 15 minutes in MMA.

Years ago I watched a special on fighting in hockey, and some enforcer was training his hockey fighting on a punching bag, and doing MMA style endurance and strength drills. I found it disturbing that someone was training so diligently for fighting instead of playing. That's why I've had difficulty getting behind Bosse in the UFC, due to the hockey goon past, but after seeing how he didn't drop on his opponent and land unnecessary shots when he was out, I gained some respect for him.

Also, Wendel Clark was the man! (Not that he was a goon, just a legit tough guy)

 

[Ballsaque]

Yep. They are penalized, but if it's mutual consent type of fight the two who are involved have to sit in the penalty box for 5 minutes. That's it. A player is allowed to have 3 fights in a game before he gets a game misconduct penalty and is sent to the dressing room for the rest of the night. The rules are very lenient in allowing fights to take place. They do have pretty stiff penalties for players who start fights against players who are not ready or are unwilling, though. I believe it's 2 minutes for instigating, 5 minutes for fighting and then a 10 minute misconduct in cases such as those. The vast majority of hockey fights are mutual consent, though, and most are prearranged agreements right after the puck is dropped for a faceoff.

So in principle, the Enforcer could smash one of the smaller, but faster forwards or whatever (I don't know hockey at all) and take the penalty, but possible injuring the forward in the process?

 

[Sharkey]

So in principle, the Enforcer could smash one of the smaller, but faster forwards or whatever (I don't know hockey at all) and take the penalty, but possible injuring the forward in the process?

Nah, he can't really do that. Enforcers live by something called "the code" which generally doesn't allow for stuff like that. If an enforcer tried what you described he would lose the respect of his fellow players, his team, and the league as a whole. He'd probably be out of pro hockey soon after. Enforcers are almost never bullies. They basically stick to fighting their own kind.

 

[TStoner]

I love this thread. The only sport I pay attention to besides MMA is hockey.