Top 50 Most Legendary Fighters to Lace Up for the Canucks

[IBatch]

Brashear was a better fighter then Gino. That became pretty apparent within a few bouts when he came from MTL - and it didn’t take long before Gino was sent packing - which sucked given he was a fan favourite.   Brashear was named fighter of the decade for the 2000’s, and fighter of the year three consecutive years while with us by THN and Tuff Guys a magazine dedicated to enforcers of the era, arguably the best there ever was at that point they became supersizes and took martial arts on top of boxing lessons and was the heavyweight champ after Probert (who he fought 9 times in his career) ... he never inspired the fans the same way Gino did - no chants - but he did his job better then anyone.  With the exception of beating that blowhard Domi maybe.    Some say Laraque eventually took the belt - but not from him literally as their bouts were even - exchanges wins, losses and draws..but didn’t hold it long ... beat Boogard when he was beating everyone else.    If this was a list about my favourite fighters he would still be on it - but as far as best fighters pretty hard not to give it to him...74-3-6 with us...and fighters tended to stay away except for the truly tough ones after he dominated and broke Gino’s record.  Felt a little bad for McSorely and Probert - you could tell they wanted to beat him so bad (and Probert talks about it in his book - also didn’t like that he held on and wouldn’t open up much) but just couldn’t handle him.   Strong guy, and an exceptional fighter all-time on any team.

 

Also maybe we could add McCallister ... ha ha was at a game where he beat Parker in a great tilt, when he first was around ... at the same time Brashear was pounding the crap out Odjers (and again felt a bit bad for him - so way way out of his class - needed EXTRA bandaids on his nose after that). 

[Baratheon]

I voted Odjick! 

 

If we're doing nominations then I guess I'll throw Jovo in there!  He didn't fight often but when he did holy haymaker batman!  Deadmarsh fights obviously come to mind.

(as a side note Brashear would almost FOR SURE win a fighting tournament between all of these guys.  That's not how I would vote however)

 

[Nuxfanabroad]

Don's fav: Petrol Shriek-Oh!

[Kevin Biestra]

Added the forgotten legend Glen Cochrane to the poll.

[IBatch]

3 minutes ago, Baratheon said:

I voted Odjick! 

 

If we're doing nominations then I guess I'll throw Jovo in there!  He didn't fight often but when he did holy haymaker batman!  Deadmarsh fights obviously come to mind.

(as a side note Brashear would almost FOR SURE win a fighting tournament between all of these guys.  That's not how I would vote however)

 

Jovo was scary when he fought - all offense zero defense.  Hurt him a few times early in Florida - but here he was animal.  Deadmarsh had a lot of heart, that punch for sure shortened his career.   
 

Also I’m bad at reading - was thinking this was the “best “ fighter of all time - so went with Brashear - well because like you I’m pretty sure he’d make quick work with a lot of this list.  He did play a fair bit with us / and probably made some of those late 90’s teams the toughest ever .... why did we add Ciccone?  Crowder?  Because your not supposed to get beat in the alley when your bad too - because that’s embarrassing (which is probably the only thing that bugged me about this rebuild. And Gudranson and his 2 fights a year doesn’t cut it).   Going to change my vote to Gino.  Then next round Williams ... sorry Brash - loved you too and will never forget you trying to shut Domi up a couple times (he won but it didn’t matter ha ha - for fun you-tube it / took a worse beating then Probert vs Domi 2.0).  

[IBatch]

9 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Added the forgotten legend Glen Cochrane to the poll.

Wonder if Horderchuk did enough...Darcy can’t spell his name.  He fought Paros and managed to beat that main eventer 4 out of 5 times - while a Canuck ..  didn’t think much of him while he was here given he wasn’t that big and didn’t have the same reputation as other enforcers of the era...Brad May would be a good one for sure...he did some really good work with us and other teams 

Edited May 3, 2020 by IBatch

[IBatch]

25 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Added the forgotten legend Glen Cochrane to the poll.

Couldn’t remember if I did watch any Canucks games with Kurtenbach- but  have taken notice to those that have and remember... read a boxing trainer considered him one of the best of his era..didn’t fight often but his reputation as a Ranger was feared and carried over ...ranked as a top 9 toughest Rangers all-time and that’s an original six team..othe

Edited May 3, 2020 by IBatch

[Coconuts]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

Brashear was a better fighter then Gino. That became pretty apparent within a few bouts when he came from MTL - and it didn’t take long before Gino was sent packing - which sucked given he was a fan favourite.   Brashear was named fighter of the decade for the 2000’s, and fighter of the year three consecutive years while with us by THN and Tuff Guys a magazine dedicated to enforcers of the era, arguably the best there ever was at that point they became supersizes and took martial arts on top of boxing lessons and was the heavyweight champ after Probert (who he fought 9 times in his career) ... he never inspired the fans the same way Gino did - no chants - but he did his job better then anyone.  With the exception of beating that blowhard Domi maybe.    Some say Laraque eventually took the belt - but not from him literally as their bouts were even - exchanges wins, losses and draws..but didn’t hold it long ... beat Boogard when he was beating everyone else.    If this was a list about my favourite fighters he would still be on it - but as far as best fighters pretty hard not to give it to him...74-3-6 with us...and fighters tended to stay away except for the truly tough ones after he dominated and broke Gino’s record.  Felt a little bad for McSorely and Probert - you could tell they wanted to beat him so bad (and Probert talks about it in his book - also didn’t like that he held on and wouldn’t open up much) but just couldn’t handle him.   Strong guy, and an exceptional fighter all-time on any team.

 

Also maybe we could add McCallister ... ha ha was at a game where he beat Parker in a great tilt, when he first was around ... at the same time Brashear was pounding the crap out Odjers (and again felt a bit bad for him - so way way out of his class - needed EXTRA bandaids on his nose after that). 

That's a pretty solid argument 

[Baratheon]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

Jovo was scary when he fought - all offense zero defense.  Hurt him a few times early in Florida - but here he was animal.  Deadmarsh had a lot of heart, that punch for sure shortened his career.   
 

Also I’m bad at reading - was thinking this was the “best “ fighter of all time - so went with Brashear - well because like you I’m pretty sure he’d make quick work with a lot of this list.  He did play a fair bit with us / and probably made some of those late 90’s teams the toughest ever .... why did we add Ciccone?  Crowder?  Because your not supposed to get beat in the alley when your bad too - because that’s embarrassing (which is probably the only thing that bugged me about this rebuild. And Gudranson and his 2 fights a year doesn’t cut it).   Going to change my vote to Gino.  Then next round Williams ... sorry Brash - loved you too and will never forget you trying to shut Domi up a couple times (he won but it didn’t matter ha ha - for fun you-tube it / took a worse beating then Probert vs Domi 2.0).  

Yeah Brashear was a beast.  He wasn't always the most exciting but probably the best.  He even had an MMA fight and he smoked some poor guy in like 20 seconds or something like that.

 

Biestra phrased it "Legendary" though!  That's gotta be Gino!  I can still hear the chants in my head.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Voting Gino Odjick.

 

Nominating Rick Rypien.

[Dumb Nuck]

Was gonna pick Tiger but yeah, as someone said, Gino beat death, hands down gets my vote.

[RRypien37]

Bruh...really?

 

The most legendary fighter was Rypien. Not even a debate. Give him the respect he deserves and add to the list...

 

Honorable mention to Gino and Brash. 

[Davathor]

Didnt have option for Wellwood so I picked the Pressure Cooker

[Kevin Biestra]

3 minutes ago, RRypien37 said:

Bruh...really?

 

The most legendary fighter was Rypien. Not even a debate. Give him the respect he deserves and add to the list...

 

Honorable mention to Gino and Brash. 

 

Bruh, if it makes you that unhappy you can always make your own poll to entertain people during the pandemic.

 

And Rick Rypien is more legendary than Gino and Tiger Williams with no debate...come on.

[GB5]

vote Gino - Really only ever one other scary tough guy on the Canucks which was Crowder.

 

Like to see Diduck up there

[IBatch]

10 hours ago, RRypien37 said:

Bruh...really?

 

The most legendary fighter was Rypien. Not even a debate. Give him the respect he deserves and add to the list...

 

Honorable mention to Gino and Brash. 

Maybe he was respecting him by leaving him off the list - just to avoid the inevitable difficult explanations as to why he wasn’t as good a fighter as some of his predecessors.  Or just for is explanation earlier (Maki) ... which is good enough for me.  Quality of competition matters, as does unfortunately longevity, and we also have Walker and Keane on that list - one had as good as or a better fight then any of Rypiens given who it was (Petit), the other was the most feared fighter not in the league before joining it (Keane) and considered one of the best middleweights of his entire generation...ugh.   The heavyweights of most eras would have punched through Rypiens arm block - even Sortini got wise to it throwing his ridiculous forearm “shivers” and why that guy stayed as long as he did (not long) is anyone’s guess.  A better heavy - Carkner - took less then five seconds to drop him.   Neal did fine and Brashear gave him probably one of the biggest beatings of his life. 
 

 

Earlier I said RR should be a top ten all-time middleweight- which says a lot given Keane, Corson, Jonathon, Wendel Clark, Tiger Williams and even Domi who was one inch shorter and 5-6 pounds heavier most of his career...those guys fought the best of the best at some point or the other and for a lot longer...so I’m probably been a homer - but as a homer have to consider everyone else who played for us.   30 fights is quite a bit for sure - but for five players on this voting list it was matched or bettered in around one season of play. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by IBatch

[Kevin Biestra]

5 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Quality of competition matters, as does unfortunately longevity, and we also have Walker and Keane on that list - one had as good as or a better fight then any of Rypiens given who it was (Petit)...

 

And we also shouldn't forget Petit himself was a Canuck.  Never should have traded him.

[IBatch]

2 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

And we also shouldn't forget Petit himself was a Canuck.  Never should have traded him.

Out of everyone on this list Stern comes to mind as a guy who fought for us and against us probably the most - but that Walker vs Petit was one of the best by the guy wearing the Canuck sweater at the time...Ronnie fought 39 times in under 100 games for us...pretty incredible when you look at it that way..then became a regular combatant against us in CAL..Paul Kruse and Sandy McCarthy that was one tough team too. I guess Hunter went  the opposite way which kind of evened things out.

[189lb enforcers?]

 

Stern was awesome.

When we got Diduck, I was so happy. 

Too many names to get them all on the list. 

 

Even DD deserves some notice. 
 

Huggy Bear Brashear wasn’t my favourite. 
 

Some of the guys who were the most feared fighters on the list were mainly tough elsewhere and had slowed down when we got them. 
 

Babych and Snepts were two guys, like Orland, who could fight but didn’t have to. Not many fighters tapped the pads of Diduck for a fight. 
 

I think the best fighter ever for us would have to go to Coxe, just based on the quality and frequency of opposition, same with Gino. I know I could add Huggy Bear here, but won’t. 
 

I’m still disappointed that the Canucks never made room to go after hometown WHL hero, Lucic, who would be way up on this list and would have Children’s Hospitals and statues built in his honour, had he been a Canuck. 

 

Link Gaetz laced ‘em up for us in camp. That guy was tough... not Sedin “I can take a beating and keep on ticking” tough, but tough in the way of fight. 
 

Ohlund had to fight some pretty tough customers too, not that he was a fighter. Edler couldn’t do much of any of what Ohlund did on teams that were pretty crappy. 
 

I have too many thoughts, stories, instances, player meets and stats or videos to share for how much time and effort I have today.
 

I have to vote Gino. He paid the price for me as a fan the most. 
 

Rick Rypien vs Basil McRae. 
That is a fight I’d pay to see. 

 

[189lb enforcers?]

Lol Matt Cooke