Friday, March 6, 2009

BAD BOY of Winter: Derek Boogaard (Minnesota Wild)


I'll start this off by saying that I was actually kind of tentative about who to "do" this week for "bad boys." With the trade deadline on Wednesday and all, I was worried that whoever I chose would just be traded by the time this got posted. Well, in typical fashion I procrastinated, so I'm "fishing in a full pond" as it were.

There's actually quite a few tough guys in Minnesota. Boogie is just one of them. He's quite an amazing specimen at 6'8" and 270lbs. (What a big boy you are...)

Once when trying to check another player on the ice during the Wild's 2001/02 prospects camp, Boogaard missed him and crashed into the boards with such force that he went through a pane of glass and over the boards. Boogaard stepped back onto the ice seconds later and a replacement pane was adorned with a drawing of a person [
VIDEO HERE, trust me it's hilarious.]

Last but not least, his brother Aaron plays (or did play at least, I was to lazy to look this up) with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Baby Penguins.

Boogaard's best known for the knockout of fellow enforcer Todd Fedoruk in a fight during a game against the Anaheim Ducks which helped spark debate over increasing the punishment for fighting in the NHL (I know you all know that I for one don't necessarily think this is necessary, as long as it's a fair fight, let it go), During this fight, Boogaard landed a brutal punch to the cheek sending Fedoruk to the ice. As a result, Fedoruk had to undergo surgery to reconstruct his shattered cheek using titanium plates. Fedoruk and Boogaard would later become teammates in Minnesota during the 2007–08 season. This epic fight is posted below for your viewing pleasure.


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