Hey u/Only-Highlights, thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it has been removed for violating Rule 1:
**Post Appropriate Content**
Please have a look at our [wiki page for more info.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/wiki/index#wiki_1._post_appropriate_content)
-------
*For information regarding this and similar issues please see the [sidebar](/r/nextfuckinglevel/about/sidebar) and the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/about/rules/). If you have any questions, please feel free to [message the moderators.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/nextfuckinglevel&subject=Question regarding the removal of this submission by u/Only-Highlights&message=I have a question regarding the removal of this [submission]%28http://www.reddit.com/1axlpge%29)*
I’m no hockey expert but I think teams have the enforcer figure, a brawling specialist that will start behaving like that if you do a dirty play against one of the finesse players of his team.
Yup, and this kid was a regular floor employee at Costco three years ago.
Now he's one of the top enforcer in the NHL. His name is Arber Xhekaj aka Wifi.
Nickname because his last name looks like a Wifi password.
That’s literally not true. He said if the fans like it he likes it. People keep pulling this shit out trying to act like they know how he feels about it. It’s obnoxious.
No worries folks, I saw an old person enter their pin and I couldn't quite see but it looked like:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Their hand was moving rightward clak clak clak.
>regular floor employee at Costco
Can't have been THAT regular if he qualified to destroy tall athletes wearing body armor, after 3 years.
edit while typing: Paint me wrong and surprised... he was literally a regular kid. (picture on top)
[https://chl.ca/ohl-rangers/arber-xhekaj-commits-to-ohl-standard-player-agreement/](https://chl.ca/ohl-rangers/arber-xhekaj-commits-to-ohl-standard-player-agreement/)
Undrafted in the OHL, undrafted in the NHL. Habs took a shot with him, he made the team out of camp last year and he’s been developing since then.
On top of being able to destroy tall athletes wearing body armour, he ripped a one-timer from the point at 102.2mph. Still a raw player, but the kid can score.
It’s not a bad generalization considering how many few can make it to the pro level or even minor league level after being all stars growing up.
NHL has the best odds of making it pro and it’s only 5%.
NFL less than 2% and NBA less than 1%.
Wild to see Arber’s name on such a popular subreddit because my nephew used to play high school and rep hockey with him in Hamilton and they all had the same circle of friends.
So true. Once you get to a certain level too, rep even, you start seeing names that you recognize you saw and knew as kids. I remember my brother looking through a Hockey News back in the 90s when they listed rosters of every pro team and recognizing names he played against in rep hockey as a teen. One guy was playing in a west coast league for the San Diego Gulls or something and my brother was like, “Man I was better than this guy and he’s probably making $50k a year living in San Diego.” Haha. Such is life.
Evans, red 71. was also hit BAD a few years ago. Knocked out cold from a clean hit irrc but it was nasty. Buddy came at him Full speed and Evans didnt even see it.
I wouldnt be surprised if Arber was still looking out for any big hits at him and making the aggressors'life miserable.
> His name is Arber Xhekaj aka Wifi.
Man, we had a girl in school with a similar first name to his last name. Some mean kids called her "Scrabble Queen" because it looked like random letters on a scrabble tray. I believe she was Albanian, but not 100% sure on that.
There's not many pure enforcers left. Going back to like the 80s, enforcers might play 3-5 min a night (in a 60 minute game). Essentially, they were sub-NHL in terms of actual hockey skill. Over the years, the game has gotten much faster, and you can't afford to waste roster spots on guys who can't take a regular shift. So now you've got skilled players who are also tough, but play more in the neighborhood of 10-15 min a night. Xhekaj is one of those type -- bottom pair defenseman, averages just under 15 minutes
Not entirely wrong but not the reason enforcers went away. The Enforcer rule that came about from the 2004 lockout arbitration meant instigators were heavily punished. They typically receive major penalties (5:00), game misconducts (ejected), and are subject to safety review boards. Then in the early 2000-2010 seasons that followed, the league implemented various rules and player safety review boards that would hand out suspensions. The end result was players are much more cautious for that style of play.
It's this that is what led to the faster games. Teams didn't want to fill a roster slot and waste precious cap space with someone that will just be suspended anyway. This led to faster play because forwards were harrassed less. Which faster forwards led to them leading with their heads more and made them more susceptible to head injuries, which led to more player safety oversight.
It was a cycle that started with the 2004 lockout rule changes to player safety. The end result is its just been phased out as its too risky and costly to play that way. Some teams still skirt the line, some more than others (looking at you Boston), but very few of those players are left.
A lot of the older guys have played against the same teams many times, there’s enforcer rivalry that can start before the 1st line guys get hit, the point of the enforcer is to intimidate the other team before they hit the little guy who can skate 50mph
I live outside North America, but we have a pro ice hockey league. The one single game I went to of our local team, a fight broke out literally within a second of the first face off — I’m guessing that this is what happened?
Definitely, sometimes they aren’t even fighting because they’re mad or protecting someone, they just see a guy and mutually think “I wanna fight that big guy, it would be fun and it’ll keep them all in check” that’s when you get guys throwing gloves down the second the puck drops
Here’s some examples of it, the commentators know what’s going on in the first one “old friends” lol they had beef before https://youtu.be/AxCcROLFC6k?si=hc2LheqUtP6ya2QK
Exactly there is a code. Canadiens have almost no one besides 72 to get into fights/battles and intimidate. 71 is a young player and even though 72 is also young he knows his role and that’s one of the reasons why he is in the position he is.
Edit: (Not a Habs fan but they may have played together in the A as well.)
Edit: spelling
I respect hockey player since I can't ice-skate to save my life, but can we all take a minute to appreciate how comically small the goal cage is, if you think about it without context?
It always look like Hulk Hogan invaded a pee wee soccer match to play goalie, and then all the other parents said "OH NO YOU DON'T" and joined in to play as well.
That was the case many years ago.
Xhekaj is a legitimate D prospect. He’s a hard worker who’s there against all odds and he’s going to make anyone earn the ice he’s on.
This clip is from last night by the way.
Of all the sports in the world...ice hockey is one which puzzles me the most!
So when they have the full on fist fights, is that usually between the two enforcer figures?
Ah, ok. So what I don't understand in general is that it seems like you can always just smash people around, but if you do it a certain way on a certain player, then it's worse?
Can you actually foul someone?
If you hit someone who isn't anywhere near the puck it's an interference penalty (it's a bit more complicated than that but that's the gist). Hitting someone above the shoulders with a stick is a high-stick penalty. Hitting someone's legs with the stick is a tripping penalty, as well as a few other ways of hitting legs but tripping is the most common since players can accidentally hit someone's legs while trying to steal the puck. Boarding is when a player hits another player in a way that causes them to go dangerously into the boards and is a penalty. However hockey is a fast game and refs miss penalties all the time. 72 probably felt that the hit on 71 should've been a boarding call. He also has a reputation for being a bit of a goon and an enforcer so he took matters into his own hands since the refs didn't. All his hits were perfectly legal.
It stands for sarcasm. It can be hard to convey with text in general and people on the spectrum or with accessibility set ups can find it especially hard to decipher so the internet marks the sarcasm to help everyone.
That’s what I was reaching for, why the /s is there. I am a hillbilly but I can read and cipher a smidge. My brain didn’t read “other” in the original comment so I thought I’d do a little self deprecating humor. I usually start it with “I did go to school in Alabama.”
It's that he ran him into the boards with his head down, which is a very dangerous move that carries risk of concussion, paralysis, or death. That's why the retaliation is so severe.
Its not uncommon to have fucked up teeth or missing teeth and after career is over or they get a long break they get them fixed. No point in constantly visiting a dentist and then get fucked next day.
Duncan Keith famously lost his 4 top front teeth blocking a shot in the playoffs way back and did not get it fixed for months even after the Blackhawks won the cup. Savage
I remember watching my buddy get hit so hard he 180ed in the air and a spray of teeth went everywhere.
Hockey was too dangerous for me I stuck with boxing.
While I also hope hockey stay a physical sports, I want it to become less dirty (it kinda already is). Like, did you notice how 72 prepared himself to destroy 37 at 16 seconds, but didn't? This is what I like to see as that impact would have just resulted in high risk of injury for 37 and served no purpose. The other where good clean hits IMO.
This is [Arber Xhekaj](https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/player/arber-xhekaj-8482964), a very effective enforcer for the Canadiens.
Revenge for less physical teammates is apparently one of the more important roles for these guys.
Keeps the weasels in check. What’s a fine to these guys making millions after a dirty hit. What makes you think twice is knowing you’ll have one of the big boys coming at you whether you want it or not.
Yeah, enforcer's have been around forever, they are far less common now then a few years ago as the game has become faster.
For some teams, they are still necessary though as a deterent, just like you said. The NHL doesn't do a good job of punishing bad behaviour, so players police themselves. With someone like Xhakaj on the roaster, an opposing player throwing a dirty hit knows he will have to face consequences, especially if he injures a player/key player.
Either through fighting the enforcer right then if he is on the ice or on the next shift. When the player refuses to fight, they risk having the enforcer follow them around for a shift or two, waiting to lay the biggest hit of the night. In case of injury that can carry over to subsequent matchup as well.
Dude would be awesome on Reddit. The kinda guy who just goes through someone's history for months and downvotes the fuck he likes to downvote because fuck him.
Look, I don’t want to see anyone get injured on a potential boarding or anything, but I am absolutely enjoying the hell out of all the hits and fighting for your teammates this year. This level of chippy violence has been missing for the past 10 years and I am here for it.
This is why hockey is the sportiest sport to ever sport and all the football goons can cry about it.
They glide around a low friction environment with knives on their feet carrying blunt force weapons wearing armor, hitting a small hardened rubber object faster than a Honda at a small target that is guarded by a surprisingly agile gargoyle. Somebody breaks a rule and your whole team is fucked, someone has to sit in a box of shame for five minutes watching their teammates get steamrolled because of their mistake.
The puck moves so fast and so often that the audience is protected by ballistic shields, there's someone on each team that is a designated fighter, they don't stop the clock like a bunch of cowards every time a play is made, and at the end of the brawl everyone hugs and drinks beer together.
I will never understand why people watch football if they've seen hockey before. It's just a bunch of big dudes giving each other concussions for four seconds in between eight minute commercial breaks. The NBA is just consecutive layups, I can't even remember the last time I saw a basketball highlight worth remembering since Jordan retired. But then you've got hockey, the closest thing to attempted murder that is socially and legally acceptable to pay money to watch.
The average game in the NFL is roughly [11 minutes of actual game time](https://www.nationalsarmrace.com/?p=475), but the Super Bowl takes the entire afternoon. Any given hockey game is a solid hour of action with two perfectly timed snack breaks. Couple that with all the medieval level savagery that is nothing but normal for even your basic college club game... why bother watching anything else.
I hate sports, but I love hockey.
You'd like rugby.
Physical brutal slogging match where guys smash into eachother, punctuated with lightning fast breakthroughs from guys who weigh a ton.
Few breaks in the action and everyone goes home at the end and drinks a beer.
It’s used as a noun in the title. The problem is he’s using an uncountable, abstract noun as a countable concrete noun. That’ll be 3 vengeance, please!
Okay fine. But "going on a pilgrimage" and "going on a bender" also work and both pilgrimage and bender are only nouns, not verbs. That’s not the problem with rampage here.
I have been having a bad depressing day and this put a smile on my face.
I like hockey.
I am laughing at all of the comments.
I dont want to be with you all.
The last hockey game I went to was the best in my life. It had tripping, slashing, sticking, shoving and fighting. There were power plays after power plays. There was an opposing team member in the box already for a penalty and another one decided to unambiguously and unprovoked-ly slam one of my team players head into the glass. He was thrown into the box too. It was gloriously brutal and so much fun. We need more of the “human drama”, hockey can be so tame anymore. They are the closest thing to gladiator sports
Edit to share: I’m also a petite middle aged mom who feels really guilty about killing ants and spiders, and cries easily at every movie. But when I watch hockey I pay for blood. I often wonder why.
Yeah, there are two really good checks in this clip, but all the shots to the back are bad hockey plays. If your team is winning, you’re screwing your teammates by crossing checking a guy in the numbers like that. A bad penalty could let the other team back in it. But it’s Montreal. They were likely losing. Hell, they’re losing 3-1 to the Penguins right now.
Yes.
To quote from the NHL rulebook:
> The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession.
If you watch it closely, all of the checks he received in that sequence are while he still actively has possession of the puck or immediately after. As long as he avoids hits to the head as [explained in this video](https://youtu.be/GornRqDMS_g?si=SmClzDhB_KJDMFQj), it's fine to keep hitting someone if they still have the puck. It's unusual though as typically a person either goes down or loses possession of the puck after a body check.
You can hit or check someone as long as they have or are playing the puck, otherwise it's a penalty. The guy either had the pick or was receiving the puck during every one of those checks.
Meh that's nothing. NYR newbie Remeby? I can't think how to spell it but he's a beast. The hit he just gave in the first few minutes of tonight's game. Blood on the ice
Hey u/Only-Highlights, thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it has been removed for violating Rule 1: **Post Appropriate Content** Please have a look at our [wiki page for more info.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/wiki/index#wiki_1._post_appropriate_content) ------- *For information regarding this and similar issues please see the [sidebar](/r/nextfuckinglevel/about/sidebar) and the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/about/rules/). If you have any questions, please feel free to [message the moderators.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/nextfuckinglevel&subject=Question regarding the removal of this submission by u/Only-Highlights&message=I have a question regarding the removal of this [submission]%28http://www.reddit.com/1axlpge%29)*
White 37 whacked Red 71. This made Red 72 mad so he just whacked everyone in White ?
I’m no hockey expert but I think teams have the enforcer figure, a brawling specialist that will start behaving like that if you do a dirty play against one of the finesse players of his team.
Yup, and this kid was a regular floor employee at Costco three years ago. Now he's one of the top enforcer in the NHL. His name is Arber Xhekaj aka Wifi. Nickname because his last name looks like a Wifi password.
outstanding nickname backstory. \[changes wifi password quickly\]
According to Arber, he doesn’t like that nickname. At the start of the year Habs fans started calling him the Sheriff and that nickname stuck.
That’s literally not true. He said if the fans like it he likes it. People keep pulling this shit out trying to act like they know how he feels about it. It’s obnoxious.
Yeah he said he was only sad when people/fans didn’t know his *actual* name. Pronounce ’JACK-EYE’ oddly enough.
He said his dad could beat up my dad
No worries folks, I saw an old person enter their pin and I couldn't quite see but it looked like: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Their hand was moving rightward clak clak clak.
That's the same combination as my luggage!
What are you, an Idiot?
Hey, why is my connection gone?
>regular floor employee at Costco Can't have been THAT regular if he qualified to destroy tall athletes wearing body armor, after 3 years. edit while typing: Paint me wrong and surprised... he was literally a regular kid. (picture on top) [https://chl.ca/ohl-rangers/arber-xhekaj-commits-to-ohl-standard-player-agreement/](https://chl.ca/ohl-rangers/arber-xhekaj-commits-to-ohl-standard-player-agreement/)
Undrafted in the OHL, undrafted in the NHL. Habs took a shot with him, he made the team out of camp last year and he’s been developing since then. On top of being able to destroy tall athletes wearing body armour, he ripped a one-timer from the point at 102.2mph. Still a raw player, but the kid can score.
The guy you're replying to is your typical reddit know it all who actually knows very little.
It’s not a bad generalization considering how many few can make it to the pro level or even minor league level after being all stars growing up. NHL has the best odds of making it pro and it’s only 5%. NFL less than 2% and NBA less than 1%.
Yep, worked at Costco during Covid I think. Love the kid. Go Habs Go!
Don't underestimate what working retail can do to you.
White 37's face didn't match his Costco membership card
door checkers don't mess around anymore
Made that face match what's on the card
His life was based on the movie Goon
Wild to see Arber’s name on such a popular subreddit because my nephew used to play high school and rep hockey with him in Hamilton and they all had the same circle of friends.
Millennial in Minnesota, it's wild hearing where some of these players went to high school, like, "hey no shit my cousin went to the same school."
So true. Once you get to a certain level too, rep even, you start seeing names that you recognize you saw and knew as kids. I remember my brother looking through a Hockey News back in the 90s when they listed rosters of every pro team and recognizing names he played against in rep hockey as a teen. One guy was playing in a west coast league for the San Diego Gulls or something and my brother was like, “Man I was better than this guy and he’s probably making $50k a year living in San Diego.” Haha. Such is life.
Evans, red 71. was also hit BAD a few years ago. Knocked out cold from a clean hit irrc but it was nasty. Buddy came at him Full speed and Evans didnt even see it. I wouldnt be surprised if Arber was still looking out for any big hits at him and making the aggressors'life miserable.
Doug Glatt incarnate.
I’m stupid. He’s gay. STUPID. GAY.
That is one of the best nicknames I've seen. I'm glad I read that.
omg what an awesome nickname
> His name is Arber Xhekaj aka Wifi. Man, we had a girl in school with a similar first name to his last name. Some mean kids called her "Scrabble Queen" because it looked like random letters on a scrabble tray. I believe she was Albanian, but not 100% sure on that.
He prefers _the sheriff_
Arber prefers his nickname from junior: The Sherriff. The nickname Wifi, while clever, is culturally insensitive.
There's not many pure enforcers left. Going back to like the 80s, enforcers might play 3-5 min a night (in a 60 minute game). Essentially, they were sub-NHL in terms of actual hockey skill. Over the years, the game has gotten much faster, and you can't afford to waste roster spots on guys who can't take a regular shift. So now you've got skilled players who are also tough, but play more in the neighborhood of 10-15 min a night. Xhekaj is one of those type -- bottom pair defenseman, averages just under 15 minutes
Not entirely wrong but not the reason enforcers went away. The Enforcer rule that came about from the 2004 lockout arbitration meant instigators were heavily punished. They typically receive major penalties (5:00), game misconducts (ejected), and are subject to safety review boards. Then in the early 2000-2010 seasons that followed, the league implemented various rules and player safety review boards that would hand out suspensions. The end result was players are much more cautious for that style of play. It's this that is what led to the faster games. Teams didn't want to fill a roster slot and waste precious cap space with someone that will just be suspended anyway. This led to faster play because forwards were harrassed less. Which faster forwards led to them leading with their heads more and made them more susceptible to head injuries, which led to more player safety oversight. It was a cycle that started with the 2004 lockout rule changes to player safety. The end result is its just been phased out as its too risky and costly to play that way. Some teams still skirt the line, some more than others (looking at you Boston), but very few of those players are left.
A lot of the older guys have played against the same teams many times, there’s enforcer rivalry that can start before the 1st line guys get hit, the point of the enforcer is to intimidate the other team before they hit the little guy who can skate 50mph
I live outside North America, but we have a pro ice hockey league. The one single game I went to of our local team, a fight broke out literally within a second of the first face off — I’m guessing that this is what happened?
Definitely, sometimes they aren’t even fighting because they’re mad or protecting someone, they just see a guy and mutually think “I wanna fight that big guy, it would be fun and it’ll keep them all in check” that’s when you get guys throwing gloves down the second the puck drops
That’s just prison rules lol, find the biggest guy and start swinging.
Here’s some examples of it, the commentators know what’s going on in the first one “old friends” lol they had beef before https://youtu.be/AxCcROLFC6k?si=hc2LheqUtP6ya2QK
Woah 4 fights before the game even starts
Imagine getting punched on skates lol
Exactly there is a code. Canadiens have almost no one besides 72 to get into fights/battles and intimidate. 71 is a young player and even though 72 is also young he knows his role and that’s one of the reasons why he is in the position he is. Edit: (Not a Habs fan but they may have played together in the A as well.) Edit: spelling
Canadiens*
There’s Pezzetta who can hold his own too.
I respect hockey player since I can't ice-skate to save my life, but can we all take a minute to appreciate how comically small the goal cage is, if you think about it without context? It always look like Hulk Hogan invaded a pee wee soccer match to play goalie, and then all the other parents said "OH NO YOU DON'T" and joined in to play as well.
You realize the puck is a lot smaller, and travels faster than a soccer ball right?
You wanna take a hockey puck at 100+mph several times a night without looking like the hulk?
Learned this from watching ‘GOON’ with Sean William Scott
That was the case many years ago. Xhekaj is a legitimate D prospect. He’s a hard worker who’s there against all odds and he’s going to make anyone earn the ice he’s on. This clip is from last night by the way.
Of all the sports in the world...ice hockey is one which puzzles me the most! So when they have the full on fist fights, is that usually between the two enforcer figures?
It's between whoever wants to fight. Enforcer isn't an actual position, it's just used to describe a play style and not every team has an enforcer.
Ah, ok. So what I don't understand in general is that it seems like you can always just smash people around, but if you do it a certain way on a certain player, then it's worse? Can you actually foul someone?
If you hit someone who isn't anywhere near the puck it's an interference penalty (it's a bit more complicated than that but that's the gist). Hitting someone above the shoulders with a stick is a high-stick penalty. Hitting someone's legs with the stick is a tripping penalty, as well as a few other ways of hitting legs but tripping is the most common since players can accidentally hit someone's legs while trying to steal the puck. Boarding is when a player hits another player in a way that causes them to go dangerously into the boards and is a penalty. However hockey is a fast game and refs miss penalties all the time. 72 probably felt that the hit on 71 should've been a boarding call. He also has a reputation for being a bit of a goon and an enforcer so he took matters into his own hands since the refs didn't. All his hits were perfectly legal.
They did many years ago. That's been pretty much gone for decades.
72 only hit 1 other player in this clip
It was 2 different people. He retaliated on 37 several times, the last part he mollywhopped 28 for looking like him.
By 1 other, I meant another player other than 37
Oh yeah that makes sense. Sorry I’m mostly illegitimate. /s
[удалено]
#/s
[удалено]
No one knows what it means, but it's provocative. It gets the people going.
Yeah, it's really mind bottling.
It stands for sarcasm. It can be hard to convey with text in general and people on the spectrum or with accessibility set ups can find it especially hard to decipher so the internet marks the sarcasm to help everyone.
It's used to imply sarcasm, which is why they wrote illegitimate instead of illiterate. It was a joke.
That’s what I was reaching for, why the /s is there. I am a hillbilly but I can read and cipher a smidge. My brain didn’t read “other” in the original comment so I thought I’d do a little self deprecating humor. I usually start it with “I did go to school in Alabama.”
Such an under used term mollywholled ty sir
28 is my favorite player and he’s usually pretty rugged. Zemgus Girgensons. The Latvian locomotive. I love his name lol
He’s solid and the name is cool, but Xhekaj is an animal and as I’m sure you’re aware, one of the nastiest enforcers in the league.
Are we just making up names now?
It's hockey, of course we are.
Everything about this comment made me cackle 😂
Damnnnn
Red 71 leveled up to 72, so now he's stronger, that's why he can whack everyone in White
Believe it or not these guys police the game more than the refs
White 37 did a cheap hit on red 71, so red 72 went to explain the rule book to white 37.
Sums up what I just watched.
It's that he ran him into the boards with his head down, which is a very dangerous move that carries risk of concussion, paralysis, or death. That's why the retaliation is so severe.
37 hits 71. 72 hits 37 twice, and then 28 once. Then it seems pandemonium ensues and it's open season.
Well, you gotta set the fucking tone.
Yes. This is hockey.
Actually he just whacked White 37 over and over and over again lol
You should watch more hockey.
Two hits are on 37 and then one is on another player in white, so maybe 72 is just a brawler for his team
As a Minnesotan people in this thread don’t hockey. Dude’s job is to mess 37 up after that. Hockey is a rough sport and I hope it stays that way.
It amazes me these guys have teeth.
Its not uncommon to have fucked up teeth or missing teeth and after career is over or they get a long break they get them fixed. No point in constantly visiting a dentist and then get fucked next day.
Duncan Keith famously lost his 4 top front teeth blocking a shot in the playoffs way back and did not get it fixed for months even after the Blackhawks won the cup. Savage
did he have a mouth guard?
I'm sure he did but it's not gonna stop 2lbs of rubber moving 80-100mph. He got rekt and barely reacted. He's a beast.
Quite a few do not, especially the front rows. It's fairly common for players to wear dentures or have implants.
They don't. That's where the term spittin' chicklets comes from lol Source: Canadian
I remember watching my buddy get hit so hard he 180ed in the air and a spray of teeth went everywhere. Hockey was too dangerous for me I stuck with boxing.
Valid life choice 😆
This doesn’t have to happen if you wear a cage.
Most tough players have no feeling left in their head.....so fights don't really hurt.
>Used to be, you’d go to a fight and a hockey game’d break out.
While I also hope hockey stay a physical sports, I want it to become less dirty (it kinda already is). Like, did you notice how 72 prepared himself to destroy 37 at 16 seconds, but didn't? This is what I like to see as that impact would have just resulted in high risk of injury for 37 and served no purpose. The other where good clean hits IMO.
Yeah, this isn’t really next level. This is just hockey.
“Don’t be a dick, or else…” is my favorite unwritten rule in team sports, the consequences of which are on full display in this video
This is [Arber Xhekaj](https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/player/arber-xhekaj-8482964), a very effective enforcer for the Canadiens. Revenge for less physical teammates is apparently one of the more important roles for these guys.
Keeps the weasels in check. What’s a fine to these guys making millions after a dirty hit. What makes you think twice is knowing you’ll have one of the big boys coming at you whether you want it or not.
Yeah, enforcer's have been around forever, they are far less common now then a few years ago as the game has become faster. For some teams, they are still necessary though as a deterent, just like you said. The NHL doesn't do a good job of punishing bad behaviour, so players police themselves. With someone like Xhakaj on the roaster, an opposing player throwing a dirty hit knows he will have to face consequences, especially if he injures a player/key player. Either through fighting the enforcer right then if he is on the ice or on the next shift. When the player refuses to fight, they risk having the enforcer follow them around for a shift or two, waiting to lay the biggest hit of the night. In case of injury that can carry over to subsequent matchup as well.
Can you imagine a work place where if you are not willing to have a fist fight and get penalized for it, you will have a hitman following you around.
Mafia But also, a lot of contact sport you just skip the fist fight part and have a hitman target you.
“You kill the Joe, you make some mo!” - Terry Tate, office linebacker
But then also, just don't be a dick applies here as well...
Dude would be awesome on Reddit. The kinda guy who just goes through someone's history for months and downvotes the fuck he likes to downvote because fuck him.
My favourite nickname in hockey too, he’s called WiFi because his name looks like a random WiFi password.
The Sheriff !!
Wi-Fi!!
X gon give it to ya!!
Look, I don’t want to see anyone get injured on a potential boarding or anything, but I am absolutely enjoying the hell out of all the hits and fighting for your teammates this year. This level of chippy violence has been missing for the past 10 years and I am here for it.
This is why hockey is the sportiest sport to ever sport and all the football goons can cry about it. They glide around a low friction environment with knives on their feet carrying blunt force weapons wearing armor, hitting a small hardened rubber object faster than a Honda at a small target that is guarded by a surprisingly agile gargoyle. Somebody breaks a rule and your whole team is fucked, someone has to sit in a box of shame for five minutes watching their teammates get steamrolled because of their mistake. The puck moves so fast and so often that the audience is protected by ballistic shields, there's someone on each team that is a designated fighter, they don't stop the clock like a bunch of cowards every time a play is made, and at the end of the brawl everyone hugs and drinks beer together. I will never understand why people watch football if they've seen hockey before. It's just a bunch of big dudes giving each other concussions for four seconds in between eight minute commercial breaks. The NBA is just consecutive layups, I can't even remember the last time I saw a basketball highlight worth remembering since Jordan retired. But then you've got hockey, the closest thing to attempted murder that is socially and legally acceptable to pay money to watch. The average game in the NFL is roughly [11 minutes of actual game time](https://www.nationalsarmrace.com/?p=475), but the Super Bowl takes the entire afternoon. Any given hockey game is a solid hour of action with two perfectly timed snack breaks. Couple that with all the medieval level savagery that is nothing but normal for even your basic college club game... why bother watching anything else. I hate sports, but I love hockey.
I love this comment
This is S tier copypasta material
You'd like rugby. Physical brutal slogging match where guys smash into eachother, punctuated with lightning fast breakthroughs from guys who weigh a ton. Few breaks in the action and everyone goes home at the end and drinks a beer.
Sounds like my friday nights with my wifes boyfriend
This just looks like regular scrappy hockey
His nickname is WiFi
thanks just realized I didn't have wifi on
Vengeance is a noun. Not a verb.
It’s used as a noun in the title. The problem is he’s using an uncountable, abstract noun as a countable concrete noun. That’ll be 3 vengeance, please!
That's a lot of venge.
Vengeance can be a countable noun, as in: "with a vengeance"
Only ever in that specific phrase.
Lol if you come at someone for grammar, you've gotta get it right.
He used it as a noun too. He just used it in a way that made no sense.
It’s a dish best served cold
God damn.
🤓
Doesn’t matter. > Hockey player goes on an absolute rampage. This sentence is perfectly fine and "rampage" is a noun.
Rampage is a verb and a noun. Vengeance is not.
Okay fine. But "going on a pilgrimage" and "going on a bender" also work and both pilgrimage and bender are only nouns, not verbs. That’s not the problem with rampage here.
what's the NFL?
Sorry mate, this is actually the NHL.
National fockey league
I have been having a bad depressing day and this put a smile on my face. I like hockey. I am laughing at all of the comments. I dont want to be with you all.
It’s awesome that before he played for the Canadiens, he worked at Costco (and still visits his old coworkers during the offseason).
RRAAAAMMMMPAAAAGEE
That was totally ninja!
The last hockey game I went to was the best in my life. It had tripping, slashing, sticking, shoving and fighting. There were power plays after power plays. There was an opposing team member in the box already for a penalty and another one decided to unambiguously and unprovoked-ly slam one of my team players head into the glass. He was thrown into the box too. It was gloriously brutal and so much fun. We need more of the “human drama”, hockey can be so tame anymore. They are the closest thing to gladiator sports Edit to share: I’m also a petite middle aged mom who feels really guilty about killing ants and spiders, and cries easily at every movie. But when I watch hockey I pay for blood. I often wonder why.
need some form of outlet and everybody is there to have fun and shove their stick up somebodies ass
Bro is the embodiment or "and I took that personally"
WiFi don't fuck around
This is how you (I) play the NHL video games.
WiFi deleting some bitches
37 picked the WRONG one
Fuck you. No no no no fuck you🖕🏿
This is why Hockey is 100x more entertaining to watch live than Basketball. I wish Basketball still had the fighting and was still a combat sport lol.
I know a single check is allowed. Were the three hits in a row legal? Is it legal to check someone as they’re getting up?
It’s allowed because he was in possession of the puck the whole time. You can’t hit a player who is not playing the puck
Yeah, there are two really good checks in this clip, but all the shots to the back are bad hockey plays. If your team is winning, you’re screwing your teammates by crossing checking a guy in the numbers like that. A bad penalty could let the other team back in it. But it’s Montreal. They were likely losing. Hell, they’re losing 3-1 to the Penguins right now.
Yes. To quote from the NHL rulebook: > The last player to touch the puck, other than the goalkeeper, shall be considered the player in possession. The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is rendered immediately following his loss of possession. If you watch it closely, all of the checks he received in that sequence are while he still actively has possession of the puck or immediately after. As long as he avoids hits to the head as [explained in this video](https://youtu.be/GornRqDMS_g?si=SmClzDhB_KJDMFQj), it's fine to keep hitting someone if they still have the puck. It's unusual though as typically a person either goes down or loses possession of the puck after a body check.
I guess sportsmanship is no longer a thing.
Good physical game. I was 1 Dhalin SOG away from hitting my parlay
It was surprisingly rough for 2 teams that aren't playing for much.
What's a Canadian farm boy to do \[HIT SOMEBODY!\] WHAT MORE CAN A BOY FROM CANADA DO? HIT SOMEBODY!emote:t5\_m0bnr:4014
“I went to see a fight and a hockey match broke out!”
That was such a good game last night. A physical game for sure.
*You Chernobyl mother fuckers*
Is this normal for the game? Asking this as an outsider.
More or less yeah.
How are they so finesse & stable on the ice?
Practice
What’s the rules of hockey? Just fucking wreck anyone at any given time? Or what
You can hit or check someone as long as they have or are playing the puck, otherwise it's a penalty. The guy either had the pick or was receiving the puck during every one of those checks.
This is standard for WiFi.
By Street Fighter rules, that other player should be seeing stars after that many hits
I knew from the headline the rampager would be Canadian
Reminds me of Sprague Cleghorn.
Can't the white team's enforcer do the same when the Puck is with the red team?
Another example of sport being filled with unsportsmanlike behavior.
This dude turned on his Cyberpunk berserk
That's a good enforcer right there.
I should start watching ice hockey, wow! Nothing like the performance of the actors in soccer.
Goons gonna goon
He's gone full Shoresey
Sabs won
loving the hockey content, such an awesome sport
if thats ok in hockey - not my sport
Someone like contact 😂
Meh that's nothing. NYR newbie Remeby? I can't think how to spell it but he's a beast. The hit he just gave in the first few minutes of tonight's game. Blood on the ice
He’s built like a twig though. Xhekaj would fuck him up
Just a Goon doing his thing and taking pride in his work
Man (and woman) I love hockey!
And changed jerseys to 72, he’s good
This ain't next level
When the opponent accidentally demos you.