SI

Referees Refused to Let Kings and Bruins Goalies Fight

There hasn't been a goalie fight in years.

Stephen Douglas

Jeremy Swayman and Darcy Kuemper tried to fight during the Kings - Bruins game on Sunday.
Jeremy Swayman and Darcy Kuemper tried to fight during the Kings - Bruins game on Sunday. / Sprotsnet YouTUb
In this story:

The Los Angeles Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 7-2, on Sunday. Despite the fact that it was a hockey game with a lopsided score, there were no hockey fights. Not that the players didn't try.

At one point in the second period both goaltenders dropped their gloves and tried to meet at center ice for a good old-fashioned goalie fight. Unfortunately for the paying customers, league officials got involved as the referees and linesmen grabbed both goalies and refused to let Boston's Jeremy Swayman and LA's Darcy Kuemper actually fight.

What an incredibly disappointing decision by the officials here. This is basically like telling Halley's Comet to find another route through the solar system.

According to an Associated Press article from a year ago, there hasn't been a single goalie fight since the start of the pandemic and there have only been three in the last decade. At this point stopping a goalie fight is like depriving the world of a historically significant event. Who knows how long we'll have to wait for the next one.

More on Sports Illustrated

Published
Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

Home/NHL