Hockey players have a knack for putting on brave faces, when most of us would shiver like scared dogs if forced to fight with the sport’s most fearsome enforcers.
(Seriously, kudos to Adam McQuaid in the face of Ryan Reaves.)
During Wednesday’s NBCSN telecast, Keith Jones and Mike Milbury shared some amusing stories about their memories of especially wonky fights, as you can see in the video above this post’s headline.
To summarize:
Keith Jones: Really wishes he didn’t face Rich (“Richie”) Pilon. As former GM of the Islanders, Milbury backed up the talk of Pilon being a very tough guy.
Mike Milbury: Milbury reminded us that he provided “moral support” as John Wensink emphatically challenged (and then waved-off) the Minnesota North Stars’ bench. Milbury explained that, while Wensink was tossed from the game, Milbury and others ended up being the ones to actually answer for that flamboyant display.
As Kathryn Tappen notes, it seemed like Milbury did pretty well for himself in the ensuing brawls.
These anecdotes got me thinking: how often did Jones and Milbury exchange in rounds of fisticuffs?
By Hockey Fights’ count, Milbury got into 64 fights during his career. Milbury scored 49 goals and 238 points over 754 regular-season games, ending up with 1,552 penalty minutes. (In the playoffs: 28 points and 219 PIM over 86 games.)
Jones played in 491 regular-season games, compiling 258 points and 765 PIM. In 63 playoff games, Jones generated 24 points and 120 PIM.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.