Opinion: Top 10 goalie fights in NHL history

The one thing that truly separates the NHL from the NFL, MLB, NBA, and MLS is the frequent amount of fighting that occurs during games. Everyone who watches hockey for the first time is always stunned when players go after opposing players after a whistle and drop the gloves to repeatedly punch each other until one falls to the ice.

In other sports, the referees or umpires will rush to break up any physical altercation the second things escalate, but in hockey, they allow the players to duke it out and even encourage them to resolve their issue right there on the ice. Unfortunately for goalies, things seem to be changing.

While rare - there have been only 43 total recorded since 1954 - in my opinion, goalie fights are the most entertaining things to watch in all of sports. Watching the most tame, unproblematic and protected guys on a hockey team getting mad enough to skate 200 feet across the entire rink to beat the snot out of each other is always so electric and hilarious.

With all of their padding, it’s like watching sumo wrestling on ice. Even the skaters will usually stop dead in their tracks after going at each other just to watch them fight.

In recent years, the referees have stopped goalie fighting altogether, as there are always two of them to keep them on their side of the ice whenever they try. Since Los Angeles Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper and Boston Bruins' Jeremy Swayman were denied from going at it two weeks ago. It seems that we have seen the last NHL fight between our favorite masked men. With that being said, let’s take a look back at the top 10 goalie fights in NHL history.

{NOTE: The fight winner is in bold.}

No. 10: Corey Schwab vs. Tommy Soderstrom (12/9/1995)

In a game between the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, Devils’ forward Bill Guerin laid a huge hit on Islanders’ defenseman Rich Pilon behind the Islanders’ net and Pilon tripped him to the ice.

Guerin got frustrated and repeatedly punched him in the head and back like a crazed older brother before snatching his helmet and starting an all-out line brawl (which will be the cause of most fights listed).

After the refs are unable to hold Guerin back from the brawl, Islanders’ goalie Tommy Soderstrom skates over and grabs Guerin from behind, much to the displeasure of Devils’ goalie Corey Schwab, who rushes over to Soderstrom. He takes off his trapper and blocker and proceeds to throw punch after punch, nonstop at the maskless Soderstrom, who tries to block them with his glove without getting a single punch in. Schwab and Guerin’s intensity, Soderstrom’s impressive determination to stay on his feet, along with the legendary Doc Emrick on the call, make this fight an easy choice for the top 10.

No. 9: Mike Smith vs. Cam Talbot (2/1/2020)

The most likely last goalie fight in NHL history was one of chaos and truly embraced one of the greatest rivalries in sports. Calgary Flames’ goalie Cam Talbot laid back on the puck to freeze it, and Edmonton Oilers’ forward Sam Gagner dove toward the net and put his stick under Talbot to poke at the puck after the whistle. What ensued turned the Battle of Alberta from a slogan to a real-life historical event.

Talbot quickly gets to his knees and punches Gagner twice with his blocker before getting to his feet and pushing another Edmonton player into the boards. This leads to a line brawl, including two separate fights among the skaters.

Witnessing all of this is Oilers’ goalie Mike Smith, who patiently waits for Talbot to come fight him at center ice. Talbot sees this and skates over, where the two proceed to duke it out. They grab each other’s jerseys and Smith throws five punches to Talbot’s head, landing three in a row while Talbot throws a couple of body shots before Smith gets him down and punches him again to end the fight.

No. 8: Rick DiPietro vs. Brent Johnson (2/2/2011)

I know what you're thinking. This fight was extremely short and didn't even last 10 seconds, but that’s the exact reason it’s on this list. It was colder than the ice it had on.

Losing 3-0 late in the third, Islanders’ goalie Rick DiPietro laid a dirty hit on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke, sending him into the boards and chaos soon erupted. While the Islanders and Penguins went after each other in the corner, Penguins’ goalie Brent Johnson decided to take matters into his own hands and stick up for his teammate by fighting DiPietro himself. In a true “I’m him” moment, Johnson landed a single wicked left hook to the side of DiPietro’s head, instantly knocking him to the ice.

The aftermath was ugly for DiPietro as that punch was strong enough to fracture his face and even worse, give him another concussion, something he had been struggling with his whole career. He would miss the rest of the 2010-11 season and only play 11 more games in his NHL career before calling it quits in 2013 after being released by the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, cementing the former first-overall pick as one of the biggest draft busts in NHL history.

No. 7: Ray Emery vs. Braden Holtby (11/1/2013)

This one would definitely be in the top five if it had more than one willing participant, but even then, it was still entertaining enough to earn the number seven spot. With the Philadelphia Flyers taking a 7-0 beating courtesy of the Washington Capitals in the third period, goalie Ray Emery decided to do some beating of his own.

After Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds and Capitals’ Tom Wilson dropped the gloves, Emery saw his chance to take out his own frustrations by skating the length of the ice to scrap with Capitals’ goalie Braden Holtby.

Holtby, who clearly had no interest in fighting and was then forcefully grabbed and pulled to the ice by the Flyers’ netminder, who escaped the clutches of the linesman. If you assumed based on this description that “Holtbeast” was no match for “Razor,” you would be correct.

Emery swung Holtby around like a rag doll into the boards, violently punched him in the back of the head many times and slammed him to the ice before he got a real chance to fight back, which started a chaotic line brawl between the two teams. Emery received an instigator and a leaving the crease penalty on top of a game misconduct, but honestly, when being thrashed on the scoreboard like that, it’s hard to even care.

No. 6: Garth Snow vs. Steve Shields (5/3/1997)

This brawl was chaotic to its core. As a line brawl ensued between the Flyers and Buffalo Sabres, Flyers’ goalie Garth Snow got in the face of Sabres’ forward Rob Ray. Sabres’ goalie Steve Shields didn’t like this and skated up the ice to fight Snow, who was more than ready to go except the linesman didn’t let them as he held Snow back.

After Ray did a WWE-esque takedown of the Flyer he was fighting, Snow and Shields decided they were going at it whether the linesman liked it or not. Snow went after Shields, and neither one batted an eye to the ref in between them as Snow ripped Shields’s mask off and they started throwing punches over the linesman’s head.

The linesman then let them go and Shields violently punched Snow multiple times before getting him over to the Buffalo bench and pulling his jersey off.

Once Shields had officially won, two referees tried to separate them which took 11 seconds to do, as Shields was not satisfied. Although a shorter fight, the free-for-all feel, the hilarity of the linesman fighting for his life in between these two behemoths and a legendary call by Rick Jeanneret make number six the perfect spot for it on this list.

No. 5: Ron Hextall vs. Felix Potvin (11/10/1996)

What do you get when you unnecessarily take a slapshot from the other end of the ice as time winds down against the 1996 Philadelphia Flyers? You get the most violent goalie in NHL history extremely pissed off.

Although a member of the Flyers Hall of Fame, Ron Hextall was known for being a dirty netminder, always looking to pick a fight with skaters and other goalies. He is still the only goalie in NHL history to rack up 100 penalty minutes in a single season, and he did this three years in a row.

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Felix Potvin, on the other hand, was not at all known for fighting and was more known for being a very quiet and reserved goaltender who simply got the job done.

So when the taller, bigger, and more aggressive Hextall came sprinting across the arena to go after Potvin, everyone watching thought Potvin was about to be beaten to a pulp. Boy, did he prove everyone wrong.

Potvin was ready for him as soon as Hextall left his crease, matching him punch for punch and ripping off both Hextall’s mask and jersey.

He managed to hold his ground for 50 seconds against the most aggressive goalie of all time until both of them got tired from all their equipment and stopped. The simultaneous strikes that both goaltenders threw, along with the shocking outcome of this scrap, leave a strong start to the top five.

No. 4: Dan Cloutier vs. Tommy Salo (4/4/1998)

On April 4, 1998, Dan Cloutier decided to do what no goalie had or has ever done since: attempt to fight the entire opposing team. After New York Rangers’ forwards P.J. Stock and Darren Langdon went after Islanders’ defenseman Zdeno Chara, a massive line brawl ensued. Langdon then took on Chara himself, while Stock, a known enforcer, took on forward Mariusz Czerkawski, a playmaker who didn’t fight much.

Seeing that this was a fight Czerkawski could not win, Islanders’ goalie Tommy Salo decided to try and tag team Stock. Unbeknownst to him, Rangers’ goalie Dan Cloutier was feeling psychotic that day and was already on his way over with one target in mind. He violently grabbed Salo and tried to pull him to the ice.

After getting his jersey pulled off, Cloutier got Salo down on the ice and beat the living daylights out of him, looking like Luke Skywalker against Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi if he had used his fist instead of a lightsaber. After a while, he finally skated away, but he wasn’t satisfied. Dan Cloutier wanted more.

Since he lost his jersey in a fight, meaning he was already kicked out of the game, Cloutier decided to go over to the Islanders' bench to challenge the whole team to a scrap. After this, one referee had seen enough and backed Cloutier up to prevent any physical altercation, although he and the Islanders had a lengthy minute-and-six-second verbal argument before Cloutier finally skated to his own bench.

This fight was straight out of a Waffle House, and its pure entertainment value, along with Cloutier completely snapping on everyone, makes this an easy choice for the four spot.

No. 3: Mike Vernon vs. Patrick Roy (3/26/1997)

One of the greatest goalies in NHL history loved himself a good fight, especially against the rival Detroit Red Wings. While the camera focuses on Red Wings’ enforcer Darren McCarty punching Colorado Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux, Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy and another Red Wings player jump into frame and knock each other to the ice.

Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon skates over and attempts to pull Roy out of the bottom of the pile of players on top of him in order to fight. A jerseyless Roy gets up, catches his breath and starts going at it with Vernon after he spins an Avalanche player to the ice. From start to finish, this fight is merciless as even though they’re both visibly exhausted, they keep violently punching each other until Roy finally falls and rips Vernon’s jersey off in the process.

In a very evenly matched fight, it was Vernon who eventually got the victory as he took Roy down to the ice. This was the epitome of fighting in hockey and although it was absolutely fantastic to watch, there are still two more that I think rise above it.

No. 2: Ray Emery vs Martin Biron and Andrew Peters (2/22/2007)

He’s back. Before he became a Flyer and gave Holtby the beating of a lifetime, Ray Emery was an Ottawa Senator and showed the world what an absolute psycho he was. After a pile of players trying to fight each other was created at center ice, Sabres goalie Martin Biron decided he was going to go over and scrap with Emery who was known to get in a few fights in the minors.

Emery drops his blocker and his glove, then Biron takes off his mask to reveal a huge grin on his face like a true supervillain. At that moment, Biron knew he had messed up.

Before Biron could even get one punch in, Emery violently strikes him five times before pinning him to the ice. As Biron grabs Emery’s right pad to trip him and get free, Sabres’ enforcer Andrew Peters decides he can take Emery to avenge his goaltender. The only fight more rare than a goalie fight is a goalie fighting a skater and that’s exactly what happened next.

Peters skated over and grabbed Emery’s collar. Emery, still smiling from ear to ear and laughing, took the challenge head on as he used his hefty equipment to dodge the majority of Peters’s punches, before the refs broke it up.

This fight is the only time in an NHL game that a goalie fought both another goalie and then a skater back to back, but not the first time that Ray Emery had ever fought a skater.

The fact that Emery was visibly having the time of his life during every second of it makes me laugh every time I watch it and made this well deserving of the No. 2 spot. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing while out on the ice and he loved every second of it. Rest in peace, Razor.

No. 1: Patrick Roy vs Chris Osgood (4/1/1998)

Here it is, No. 1. I can safely say that this is the greatest goalie fight of all time. One year after Patrick Roy lost to Mike Vernon, his Avalanche were playing the Red Wings again and their new starting goalie, Chris Osgood. As another line brawl ensued between these two teams, Roy saw his chance to get his revenge and wanted to go after Osgood as the ref held him back. He let him go after a few seconds and a fired-up Roy punched the palm of his hand as he skated toward center ice.

In a near-minute-long scrap, Roy and Osgood traded violent punches, with Roy pulling Osgood’s jersey off and throwing long, charged right hooks to his head. What made this fight extra special was the atmosphere, as both netminders gained the upper hand at various points in the fight inside an extremely amped up Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Roy’s extra violent strikes won him the fight, however, it was Osgood who managed to bring Roy to the ice as the sold-out arena cheered even louder and chants of Osgood’s nickname “Ozzy” rained down from the stands in support of the Detroit netminder.

Everything about this fight was perfect. The lead-up where Roy visibly threatened Osgood, the two each rebounding from almost losing their balance, and the Detroit crowd being unmatched in any goalie fight that has ever taken place. Patrick Roy vs Chris Osgood is truly the greatest, most entertaining and most gratifying goalie fight in NHL history.

Brady Welsh is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email bdw5435@psu.edu.