When the Admirals were busy playing yesterday against the Chicago Wolves I missed out on a wee bit of fun that our pals out in the Eastern Conference were up to. The Adirondack Phantoms and Portland Pirates had themselves a line brawl: complete with a goalie fight and a minor bench clearer.
Want to know the end result of all the paperwork for the poor officials? 329 combined penalty minutes. Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say the league might just be reviewing this one. While they do that – let’s look back on some other good ol’ AHL donnybrooks from the past few seasons.
Binghamton Senators vs. Norfolk Admirals: 120 combined PIM’s.
Rockford IceHogs vs. Chicago Wolves: 174 combined PIM’s.
Grand Rapids Griffins vs. Rockford IceHogs: 230 combined PIM’s.
Rockford IceHogs vs. Milwaukee Admirals: 166 combined PIM’s.
If there are any others that need adding to the mix: post a comment and I’ll add it instantly!
Admirals Roundtable 
Rob Flick was the April Fool! I hope he is in prison. I was there to see that in person.
There has been some talk that the Pirates would replace the Phantoms in Glens Falls. Maybe that some bearing on the rather odd brawl.
Rockford in 3 brawls. Flick, Moran and LaLonde; the 3 Stooges of the AHL!
My favorite AHL brawl of all time, Providence at Rockford, March 1, 2008.
The two teams, hardly league rivals, combined for 213 PIMs on a night where a Hannah Montana cast member was in signing autographs (Lots of young kids in the building to witness). There were I believe four different sets of fights, including two brawls at 4:56 of the third period and 12:05. By the end of the game, each team had a little more than two lines of players left on their benches.
Back then I was on my 2008 Baby Bs Palooza, catching the little Boston Bruins in Milwaukee, Rockford and Chicago that weekend. Sadly, I believe it is still the most recent time that Providence ventured out this far west.
Here are just a few of the future/former NHLers that played in that game:
Providence: Matt Hendricks, Matt Hunwick, Adam McQuaid, Byron Bitz & Nate Thompson. Tuukka Rask was dressed (played the night before in Milwaukee), but did not play, or sadly fight.
Rockford: Jack Skille, Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Wade Flaherty (dressed, did not play), Derek Nesbitt and Kris Versteeg.
Here is a little snippet from that game, won by Rockford 5-1.
Jason: GOOD CALL! Never saw this one. As much as I’d like to wag the finger at Rockford again – that was all MacIntyre flipping out that blew it out of proportion.
Still, Rockford what’s up? Let’s chill out for a season or two with these things. :P