With Leather isn’t afraid to share a good goalie fight, be it the Military Appreciation Night test of strength, the Party In The USA junior hockey brawl or simply Jonathan Bernier Mayweathering Ryan Miller. If you love these fights as much as we do, hold on to your butts: the NHL could be outlawing goalie fights as we know them after Friday night’s brutal Capitals/Flyers showdown.
If you didn’t see the game, the Washington Capitals routed the Philadelphia Flyers 7-0. A line brawl broke out, Flyers goaltender Ray Emery skated the length of the ice to fight Caps goalie Braden Holtby, Holtby refused and Emery just beat the shit out of him anyway. Here’s the scene, complete with “if he didn’t want to fight he should’ve rolled up into a ball and not tried to defend himself” YouTube comments from horrible Philly sports fans:
At some point during Emery’s rampant punching and the ref just standing there with his hands on his hips, NHL higher-ups went, “nnnnnyeah no” and organized a meeting. Per Winnipeg Free Press columnist Gary Lawless:
I hope everyone’s exciting for the Emery Rule. If this goes down, NHL goalie fights can only happen via wormhole, assuming the ice gets folded up in the middle. Thanks a lot, PC Police/science.
[h/t to the Nosebleeds]
