Best fighter?

Who is the most imposing fighter in the WHL this season?

Matt Kassian hands down.

The other top guys are Triston Grant, and Matej Trojovsky.

Matt Kassian hands down.

The other top guys are Triston Grant, and Matej Trojovsky.

Hands down like he wins most/all? Future NHLer or not?

Hands down like he wins most/all? Future NHLer or not?

Yeah he wins just about every fight. Some say he took a loss to a non-fighter earlier this season (it was on the road and I wasn't able to find a video clip) so I wasn't able to see it. But then again I heard this from the home town fans. So I'm sure there was some homerism.

Either way the guy has beaten some of the toughest in the league. Zack Fitzgerald, Matej Trojovsky, Garth Collins, Myles Stoesz, John Flatters, Shane Halifax, and absolutely destroyed Tommy Maxwell. He is feared to say the least. Most teams in the WHL had a "don't fight Kassian" rule for a good portion of the season.

He is huge, and he can throw with both hands. He seems to have equal power with both the left and the right. He has worked real hard on his overall game and last I checked he was ranked 118 out of north american skaters.

He will definitely get drafted and does have a shot, IMO. With his size he is a project worth working on for any team.

He isn't just a 4th line tough guy either. He was used regularly on the PK, and since being traded to Kamloops he has seen PP time as well.

nice to hear. Kip Brennan type perhaps?

nice to hear. Kip Brennan type perhaps?

Bigger. Kassian is huge. And he is still fairly young too. Plenty of time to grow...

1)Kassian.....

Trojovsky
Grant
Halifax
Fitzgerald
Gauthier
Haw

Fitzgerald is slipping. Considering this past Sunday he got his butt whipped first by Coburn, then by Halifax.

Fitzgerald is slipping. Considering this past Sunday he got his butt whipped first by Coburn, then by Halifax.

I agree. Fitzgerald hasn't been impressive this season at all.

1)Kassian.....

Trojovsky
Grant
Halifax
Fitzgerald
Gauthier
Haw

Although I think Gauthier is a tough kid and will be tough in years to come, he is not the toughest on his team. That would be 6'6 220 pound Garth Collins.

Has any of these three Kassian, Trojovsky,Grant ever fought each other? If so how did it go?

Has any of these three Kassian, Trojovsky,Grant ever fought each other? If so how did it go?

Kassian and Grant have never fought. And never will (at least at the junior level) since this is Grant's last season in the WHL.

I guess it is possible that they could fight if Kamloops and Vancouver somehow end up playing in the playoffs. But that is extremely unlikely. So I wouldn't expect that to happen.

Grant and Trojovsky have fought a few times. I can think of 2 off hand. Trojovsky won the 1st one (in 03-04) and Grant won the 2nd one this season.

Kassian fought Trojovsky this season and beat him.

Although I think Gauthier is a tough kid and will be tough in years to come, he is not the toughest on his team. That would be 6'6 220 pound Garth Collins.
Agreed. Just look at the fight cards of the two.

Yeah I forgot about Collins. He went toe-to-toe with Kassian earlier this year - It was a draw. It was a staged fight too, which is always fun.

I think it will shock a lot of people how high Kassian goes in the draft ... I'd give pretty good odds he goes on the first day (not that I'd necessarily rate him that highly, but I think some teams definitely will). He's IMO the best enforcer prospect to come along in almost a decade since guys like Laracque, Parker, Worrell, Johnson were taken in the mid-1990s. It isn't just that he's a great fighter (which he is) - his skating ability, work ethic, and defensive play are all excellent for a player of his ilk. Plus, unlike a lot of enforcer prospects who are hotheads and nutjobs, he really seems to have his head screwed on straight and knows how to play the role. Not many dumb penalties, fights at the right times, no off-ice issues.

Cripes the Kassian-Cunning trade was awful ...

I totally agree.

Kassian is very good at keeping his compsure. He is aggressive only when it is necessary. That doesn't mean he hasn't taken stupid penalties before, but as a whole he is very good in that aspect.

His skating has improved so much from last season.

Hay didn't use Kassian enough in Vancouver. Kamloops has and he has scored 3 goals (while he had 0 with Vancouver) plus he was given an "A" almost instantly. He has been a huge asset in the dressing room.

Very nice kid as well. Very down to earth with a good head on his shoulders.

Cunning continues to do pretty much nothing for Vancouver... :banghead:

Hodichuk_24...

How did you score the Weber-Kassian fight??

I have Trojo ranked #2 in the WHL... that kid is awesome.

The thing I like about Trojo is obviously he's a good fighter. But he's an amazingly nice guy, and down to earth with a FREAKIN COOL tatoo...lol....anyways...He and Scott Bowles have probably been the best part of the Cougars trades they made at the deadline. Trojo has been great the past few weeks if you ask me. Sure he won't put up a lot of points, but he won't take ANY **** either which is defintely something the team has been missing for the past couple seasons.

He's been played in all situations, and it's really unfortunate he's a OA'er this year because I'd love to have him back next year! lol He is so vocal on the ice, and isn't a terrible skater for a guy his size. Really a good leader.

Hodichuk_24...

How did you score the Weber-Kassian fight??

I have Trojo ranked #2 in the WHL... that kid is awesome.

Kassian won it. Weber hung in there though.

Unfortunately I had to watch the fight through a webcast so it wasn't the best quality. Luckily a guy I know has it on tape. I should be able to see that version in a few months.

Hopefully Grant and Trojovsky hook up a few more times before the season ends. The Giants only have 5 more games left and 3 of those games are against the Cougars starting tomorrow night. Unfortunately two of those games are in Prince George so we won't be able to get the fight on tape. Hopefully they save a good scrap for the Vancouver game... :handclap:

I'm pretty sure they'll go...almost 100% actually...lol...should be good tilts too...and not just the fights.

I figure if the Cougars want to even SNIFF the playoffs, they need to take 4 of a possible 6 points from the Giants...NOT an easy task...

Oh well...I'm hoping for a couple Trojo/Grant fights...preferably Saturday night...as I doubt I'll be at the game tomorrow...

I'd put Kassian at number one...and he's young too...hopefully he will be allowed to keep fighting

he's also a decent hockey player, which is always a good thing since there's not much room for goons in today's hockey

Pound for pound the best fighter in the league might be Colin Fraser. I love his guts and willingness and he's an awesome player.

I'm pretty sure they'll go...almost 100% actually...lol...should be good tilts too...and not just the fights.

I figure if the Cougars want to even SNIFF the playoffs, they need to take 4 of a possible 6 points from the Giants...NOT an easy task...

Oh well...I'm hoping for a couple Trojo/Grant fights...preferably Saturday night...as I doubt I'll be at the game tomorrow...

I hope so. Be sure to give me a recap if they do go. I'll do the same for the game in Vancouver on Tuesday night.

I agree. Prince George has to at least get 4 points to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Luckily they play the Giants twice on the road and the Giants are a terrible road team.

Well Grant and Trojovsky didn't fight, in either game. Sucks...

Grant hasn't been fighting lately. I heard he was being challenged by Deines at the start of the game tonight. Grant has beaten Deines earlier this season so he shouldn't be backing down...

He backed down several times from Gary Sylvester of Kelowna a few weeks ago as well. I'm getting a little fed up with him.

The last time he fought was in January. Nearly two months... :madfire:

Well Grant and Trojovsky didn't fight, in either game. Sucks...

Grant hasn't been fighting lately. I heard he was being challenged by Deines at the start of the game tonight. Grant has beaten Deines earlier this season so he shouldn't be backing down...

He backed down several times from Gary Sylvester of Kelowna a few weeks ago as well. I'm getting a little fed up with him.

The last time he fought was in January. Nearly two months... :madfire:
I have a weird feeling Hay put a restriction on him, becuase now that he's scored 20 goals, he is actually a bit of an offensive player and is somewhat key on the power play in front of the net or battling in the corners.

I wish the Giants never traded Kassian.

There really wasn't much of anythnig in the way of fights at all this weekend...I mean, Zalasky and Brule were scuffling....and Trojovsky jumped....Watt Ithink...not sure....THAT imo was ugly....But the Giants couldn't do anythnig with it...They ended up with a 2 man advantage, but pissed that away by taking a penalty, and really not getting too many quality shots to the net.

I do have to give the Cougs credit tonight, especially Parker...blocked A LOT of shots. Was very good to see...at one point, PG was outshooting Vancovuer 20-9 mid way through the 2nd.

I thought tonights game was really quite good/entertaining...Brule got jeered quite a bit as he came off the Ice tonight after his ejection. That being said, that was about the extent of his emotion tonight...lol. He just seemed REALLY disinterested out there...I was a little dissapointed, but what can you do.

For you Giants fans wondering...I'd say the only goal that Jennings SHOULD HAVE had was teh first one...after taht, the goals were generally scored on goal mouth scrambles.

Now the cougs have gotten half of what tehy needed. Now they just need to take 2 more points...I'd be happy with them taking it against EITHER Vancouver or Kelowna this week personally. Hell...take both and I'd be extatic headed into next weekend against Loops. As long as the Blazers keep losing all will be well

The fight people maybe think Kassian lost might have been in Red Deer back in January.
Kassian got surprised (boardering on jumped) by Tanner Gillies and lost the first half of the scrap, but he kept his compusure and after taking a few shots, dominated the second half of the fight.
Here's the catch, Global Red Deer did a story on the Rebels and Global Edmonton picked it up, but they only showed the first 10 seconds of the fight when Gillies was throwing. They "Missed" the part where Kassian came back and basically was one step away from throttling Gillies.
Later in the game, which was a 7-0 blowout, Kassian went around looking for someone to drop the flippers and with nobody willing to join him him on a dance floor, he promptly grabbed Joel Hentiuk and almost killed him about 25 feet away from the Rebels bench... this resulted in Brent Sutter blowing a gasket.
Ironically that fight didn't make it in the Rebel feature on Global.

I have a weird feeling Hay put a restriction on him, becuase now that he's scored 20 goals, he is actually a bit of an offensive player and is somewhat key on the power play in front of the net or battling in the corners.

I wish the Giants never traded Kassian.

I tend to agree. Grant has seem to play with a different type of attitude. He took some punches in the Portland game from Coburn and Funk and didn't retaliate, and he has refused to fight guys that he normally would. It is sad though. All the players on the Giants used to talk about how much they liked it when Grant would fight because it would pump them up so much. But since the Kassian trade the team has been terrible. Less fighting, and a much worse record. I haven't kept up to date with their record but last time I checked it was well under the .500 mark.

I think they need Grant fighting more often. But what do I know...

Thanks for the info Chris and you too Bob. Much appreciated! :)

There really wasn't much of anythnig in the way of fights at all this weekend...I mean, Zalasky and Brule were scuffling....and Trojovsky jumped....Watt Ithink...not sure....THAT imo was ugly....But the Giants couldn't do anythnig with it...They ended up with a 2 man advantage, but pissed that away by taking a penalty, and really not getting too many quality shots to the net.


What Trojovsky did tonight was pure chicken s***. It's one thing to drop your gloves and pound on an unwilling opponent, but it's another thing to sucker a guy from behind, THEN pound on the unwilling opponent.

That whole play was **** up from the start. Zalasky was molesting Brule from the far blue line all the way to the net. I give Watt credit for stepping in for his superstar (no matter how bad Brule was playing). The Cougars totally started that whole thing, I still don't know how McLean (referee) came out of it with a 4-on-4 situation....but as we both couldn't believe Brule got gassed after getting abused like a stepchild, then fighting Zalaski basically because he had no choice, it came to me a few minutes later that Brule and Zalaski's fight was the second fight in the same stoppage, making the Game Misconduct automatic.

That being said, I still disagree with it. The WHL's rule on fisticuffs says that if the second fight is instigated, the automatic game is waived for the other player (instigator still hits the shower). Given that Zalaski was doing his Michael Jackson impression on the younger Brule for 150 feet (fitting the distance travelled criteria for the instigator rule), I would consider that instigating the fight, leaving Brule in the game.

The only other thing that McLean did wrong, is leave Trojovsky with just 5 and a Game. He should have had an extra 2 minutes for being the aggressor. You cannot have a one-man fight with only 5 minutes of timed penalties assessed. Hell, I don't really even know where Trojovsky's Game Misconduct came from, reading the WHL Rulebook on Fisticuffs. McLean obviously didn't give him anything extra for the sucker punch that started the fight.

Oh well. It was fun to watch. Hopefully the Cougars can make it interesting....then again, I get in free for the BCHL playoff games next weekend. :p:

I still don't know how McLean (referee) came out of it with a 4-on-4

The only other thing that McLean did wrong :p:

Van, is that really you? Actually admitting the ref screwed up a couple of things?

Don't get me wrong, I know reffing isn't an easy job, but I have never seen such terrible reffing as a few of the games I have witnessed this year.

With that being said, I have to admit that Pat Smith performed one of the best reffing jobs I have seen this year when P.A. was here on Friday night.

The thing is though, Mclean, I thought, was doing an excellent job last night. The game had flow, and everything was going well. There wasn't a lot of **** after the whistles and there weren't a lot of penalties, and if there were penalties they were deserved. Neither Lambert or Hay were getting on him. It was nice to see....but in some freak occurance I think he sorta f'd up that situation. As it turned out, I believe Vancouver did get a 5 on 3 for a couple seconds because of another penalty, but they negated that pretty quickly. And then the Cougars killed the rest off.

Pat Smith is one of my favourites in the WHL. Not to be confused with Al, whom I do not like at all...

Overall, I don't think the reffing is terrible in the WHL. You have to remember, it's a developmental league for not only the players, but the refs too.

Van, is that really you? Actually admitting the ref screwed up a couple of things?

Don't get me wrong, I know reffing isn't an easy job, but I have never seen such terrible reffing as a few of the games I have witnessed this year.


I never shy away from calling a referee on mistakes. What I don't do, is say things like "he sucks", "he should be fired", etc. A lot of fans seem to take it personally when referees make mistakes.

Reality is, as Chris mentioned, that McLean did a fine job last night. He just didn't get the one situation right, and part of that was based on my own opinion of the play sitting from the stands. I watched Zalasky molest Brule for a good 10 seconds before the scrum, but did McLean? Most likely not.

I think Stefan Meyer should be up there. Ive seen him fight probably about 5 times and he hasnt lost a fight yet and he hasnt exactly fought 16 year olds. Nobody hears about his fighting abilities because hes to important to his team to be off the ice for 5 mins!

I think Stefan Meyer should be up there. Ive seen him fight probably about 5 times and he hasnt lost a fight yet and he hasnt exactly fought 16 year olds. Nobody hears about his fighting abilities because hes to important to his team to be off the ice for 5 mins!

Meyer shouldn't be considered because he isn't even in the same weight class as guys like Kassian, Grant, and Trojovsky.

Meyer shouldn't be considered because he isn't even in the same weight class as guys like Kassian, Grant, and Trojovsky.

Meyer is pretty big at 6'2'' 210. As big as Grant.

I think meyer and grant would be a pretty even tilt. The fight could go either way

I think meyer and grant would be a pretty even tilt. The fight could go either way

Wow...

Well we disagree big time. Grant fights heavyweights. Meyer usually sticks with the middleweights. He would be very much out classed if he were to fight guys like Kassian, and Grant.

I have nothing against the guy but he shouldn't be fighting those types. Unless of course he proves he is able to do so. He has yet to do that.

Meyer is pretty big at 6'2'' 210. As big as Grant.

Grant is bigger than that. Not height wise, but size and thickness. I've seen some websites list him under 200 lbs. That is a joke. Grant is very solid...

I have film of Mitch Love beating the tar out of Triston Grant (last season) as well as Halifax, Desautels (sp.?), Randall Gelach. This year he fought a great fight (essentially a draw) against FitzGerald in Seattle (they were both absolutely throwing them). His penalty minutes have dwindled this year, and he is trying to play with more discipline, but he is tough as nails and smaller than many of the guys he throws with.

I have film of Mitch Love beating the tar out of Triston Grant (last season).

I've been told about that but haven't seen it. Grant has beaten Love before a few years back.

Too bad Love is being too much of a p*ssy this year to fight more often. He has to fake like he is going to drop his gloves to goad another guy into a penalty. Such a gutless move. I hate it when players do that. Usually it is the coaches that tell the players to do that but regardless it is cheap and gutless.

Love is tough, but isn't nearly active enough to be considered here, IMO.

Grant is bigger than that. Not height wise, but size and thickness. I've seen some websites list him under 200 lbs. That is a joke. Grant is very solid...

whl.ca has him at 6'2'' 190 and giants.com has him at 6'1'' 220.

Hordi, you may be right about Love's inactivity this year, maybe he doesn't rate the list this season.

I do believe it is coaching that is keeping him out of it. The thing is, when the games are close, nobody wants the instigator penalty. When a game is out of hand, everyone is happy to drop the gloves. The 'Tips have been in so many close games this year, I think the coaching staff is stressing discipline.

The other night, late in the third, either a tie game or 'Tips up by one, JD Watt and Love were having words. Watt dropped the gloves, took a swipe, and Love smiled and skated away. Watt started flapping his arms like Love was a chicken and not only got the only roughing call, but an extra 10 for his chicken dance! (I thought it was funny, and don't think he rated the misconduct penalty).

Love it or hate it, the 'Tips won that game and I'm sure Love would have liked nothing more to have popped him.

Hordi, you may be right about Love's inactivity this year, maybe he doesn't rate the list this season.

I do believe it is coaching that is keeping him out of it. The thing is, when the games are close, nobody wants the instigator penalty. When a game is out of hand, everyone is happy to drop the gloves. The 'Tips have been in so many close games this year, I think the coaching staff is stressing discipline.

The other night, late in the third, either a tie game or 'Tips up by one, JD Watt and Love were having words. Watt dropped the gloves, took a swipe, and Love smiled and skated away. Watt started flapping his arms like Love was a chicken and not only got the only roughing call, but an extra 10 for his chicken dance! (I thought it was funny, and don't think he rated the misconduct penalty).

Love it or hate it, the 'Tips won that game and I'm sure Love would have liked nothing more to have popped him.

Yeah, I watched that game. The thing that pissed me off though was that Love started it. He was the one that went after Watt hooking and holding him down the ice so Watt figured he wanted it. Then Love turtles and refuses to drop the gloves. Love has done that a few times to Myles Stoesz this year too.

I know Love is tough, but I don't like how he does this. Instigator or not he doesn't need to. He just goes out of his way to do it to draw a penalty and that is a cheap, IMO. Draw a penalty the right way by working hard and making the other team hook, hold, or trip you. Not that way.

Anyway, with the way Everett plays they are going to be involved in many close games. So I can understand that.