Brashear refusing to fight McSorley (all three times)

Byron Bitz

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Apr 6, 2010
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Was this the reason Mcsorley clubbed him over the head with his stick? Because he kept refusing to fight him? Seems like a bit of an over reaction.
 

blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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Well what's the context? What is the score of the game at this point? Brashear sees McSorely is in a rage. Why fight when you can put your team on the powerplay. Looks like Brashear did the smart thing

Regarding the kid announcer I have seen many instances where they'll do a make a wish foundation type thing where a childs wish is to announce a game and they'll work with the local broadcast team to make it a reality.
 
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ChuckLefley

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Jan 5, 2016
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In the first clip, I believe they had a kid in the booth and let him announce. Perhaps a contest winner or a sick kid.

I still think, when you watch McSorely hit Brashear in the head, that he was trying to hit him in the shoulder and misjudged it badly. Still terrible.
 

salibandy2581

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Nov 30, 2018
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I still think, when you watch McSorely hit Brashear in the head, that he was trying to hit him in the shoulder and misjudged it badly. Still terrible.

If you look at the video of the slash, Brashear's shoulder dips as he's making a slight turn and McSorley's slash grazes his shoulder before whacking him in the head. Without that dip, that hits him in the shoulder.

That said, Marty should have been aiming a lot lower.
 

Your Boy Troy

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Sep 19, 2013
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I always had the vibe that Brashear never enjoyed his role as an enforcer. Watching his fights from his Montreal days cringe inducing, legitimately terrified when he was squaring off.

Meanwhile, McSorley was a polar opposite. He took pride in his role, and would push boundaries in order to send a message.
 

Nick Hansen

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Sep 28, 2017
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I always had the vibe that Brashear never enjoyed his role as an enforcer. Watching his fights from his Montreal days cringe inducing, legitimately terrified when he was squaring off.

Meanwhile, McSorley was a polar opposite. He took pride in his role, and would push boundaries in order to send a message.

I've always thought that the designated fighter in hockey has been perhaps the most sad role in all of sports.

Any way. Brashear's supposed to go against Rob Ray, a fierce fighter, but what the hell is he doing here? Gives credence to your observation...

 
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Rogue Winger

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Meanwhile, McSorley was a polar opposite. He took pride in his role, and would push boundaries in order to send a message.

That is why I liked him. McSorley took his role as the enforcer very seriously and is apparently still proud about the role (not meaning the Brashear incident). It was not just about the fighting, but protecting teammates, trying to win and intimidating the opposing team in every way possible.

Marty had basically it all for the role: decent hockey skills, IQ, size, stamina (which was incredible) and above all: he was an extremely fierce and relentless, which made him so tough. He was always ready for anything.

On the other hand, McSorley was sometimes himself dirty and savage, but at least implicitly he admits that much of the warrior code is just about the survival of the fittest, not solely about the honor.

This is one of the best and most unapologetic interviews about the enforcer (or even goon) role I've seen. McSorley also talks fondly about Dave Semenko, who was briefly his mentor in Oilers:
 
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sr edler

gold is not reality
Mar 20, 2010
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I've always thought that the designated fighter in hockey has been perhaps the most sad role in all of sports.

I just found/find it so gimmicky. As a Euro, I caught a game live in 98–99 between NSH and CHI and I remember there was some fight in that game. Now when I look at the box score on hockey-reference I see it was actually two, both in the first period. Reid Simpson vs Denny Lambert (who and who?), and Bob Probert vs Patrick Cote. Witnessing the game, I just never understood the context of the fights, they just seemed very random and pointless. I got a very WWE-ish vibe from it.
 

timbermen

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Nov 14, 2017
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I've always thought that the designated fighter in hockey has been perhaps the most sad role in all of sports.

Any way. Brashear's supposed to go against Rob Ray, a fierce fighter, but what the hell is he doing here? Gives credence to your observation...


He lost his balance obviously, happens alot in hockey. Brashear won those the fights with MsSorley, McSorley won the biggest POS in hockey award. How many times did Brasheat have to beat him up? McSorley was like he had rabies, he wanted revenge so badly. Brashear should have just giving him that left hand McSorley had no answer.
 

TheDawnOfANewTage

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Dec 17, 2018
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I always had the vibe that Brashear never enjoyed his role as an enforcer. Watching his fights from his Montreal days cringe inducing, legitimately terrified when he was squaring off.

Meanwhile, McSorley was a polar opposite. He took pride in his role, and would push boundaries in order to send a message.

Ya man, enforcers get unfairly stereotyped- I remember some vicious ad hominem type stuff against John Scott after the Eriksson hit- one article on yahoo in particular commented that "he seems like the kind of guy who pets rabbits to death" or some such drivel- dude's got a mechanical engineering degree for god's sake. Then there's Boogaard, man "Punched Out" is a brutal little mini-bio.

Anyways, why do people hate Brashear so much? Don't remember him ever doing anything dirty honestly.

edit- also, so Brashear refused to fight 3 times. So what? The code is stupid. Players should not follow that code. You don't wanna fight, you don't have to fight. I really hate that "old school" mentality, glad it seems to be dying out.
 

TheDawnOfANewTage

Dahlin, it’ll all be fine
Dec 17, 2018
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I just found/find it so gimmicky. As a Euro, I caught a game live in 98–99 between NSH and CHI and I remember there was some fight in that game. Now when I look at the box score on hockey-reference I see it was actually two, both in the first period. Reid Simpson vs Denny Lambert (who and who?), and Bob Probert vs Patrick Cote. Witnessing the game, I just never understood the context of the fights, they just seemed very random and pointless. I got a very WWE-ish vibe from it.

Seriously, at 10-11 years old I was confused by the connectivity of it all- our tough guy fights your tough guy because someone else hit your star player.. wait, what? How does that make sense? Then they often just danced about avoiding big shots because they don't want pudding brains by the age of 35.. it was a weird era. I didn't get pumped for fights, just confused as to why they were happening. Stupid tilts still happen, of course, but at least now there's usually a direct connection between the fight occurring and the players doing the fighting.
 
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someguy44

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Apr 6, 2004
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He got his due later. I will never forget the justice that was dished out by Mcsorley. Head Slash ftw.

Nope. That had nothing to do with the original video and everything to do with McSorely being a total moronic arse (Brasher was an arse too, but not a dumb one like McSorely was).

In their actual fights, Brasher destroys McSorely with ease.

And this is the whole story of that incident (via a short video).
 
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streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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Brashear was always a clown.


McSorley wasn't a clown but he was extremely dirty, some really nasty spears in the 80's and early 90's.
 

DaaaaB's

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Apr 24, 2004
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Funny how the video doesn't show Brashear hitting Byron Dafoe earlier in the game causing Dafoe to miss the rest of the season. Also doesn't show Brashear taunting the Bruins bench. Plus McSorley was aiming for his shoulder not head. I can guarantee you that Marty was more respected around the league than huggy bear.
 

someguy44

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Apr 6, 2004
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Funny how the video doesn't show Brashear hitting Byron Dafoe earlier in the game causing Dafoe to miss the rest of the season. Also doesn't show Brashear taunting the Bruins bench. Plus McSorley was aiming for his shoulder not head. I can guarantee you that Marty was more respected around the league than huggy bear.

Don't care if he was aiming for the head or shoulder as no player should ever use his stick as a weapon. McSorely 100% lost a lot of respect by trying to injure someone with his stick after losing his fight.

Brasher is no saint, but there is 0 justification for McSorely to use his stick as a weapon.
 

DaaaaB's

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Apr 24, 2004
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Don't care if he was aiming for the head or shoulder as no player should ever use his stick as a weapon. McSorely 100% lost a lot of respect by trying to injure someone with his stick after losing his fight.

Brasher is no saint, but there is 0 justification for McSorely to use his stick as a weapon.
Ya well getting slashed on your shoulder pad doesn't really hurt. Every player that has ever played hockey has probably used his stick as a weapon at some point.

What's worse is pinning a guy on the ice and repeatedly punching him in the face which is exactly what Brashear did when he played in the LNAH.
 

puckIuck

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Jan 11, 2018
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4 years later the nucks would be dishing it out with bertuzzi crushing moores head into the ice. some dark moments in that arena
 
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