:roll:Battle of the Hockey Enforcers to debut Aug. 27 in Prince George, B.C.
NEIL STEVENS
June 15, 2005
TORONTO (CP) - John Craighead intends to be the last man standing after the last punch is thrown in the Battle of the Hockey Enforcers.
To do it, he'll have to win five fights in one night, Aug. 27, at the CN Centre in Prince George, B.C., if this oft-postponed event actually takes place.
"Conditioning is going to be a major factor," says Craighead, who says he's ready to rumble. "Anybody who has fought in hockey knows that you have to push the body to extreme limits.
"That's why I'll come prepared."
Promoter Darryl Wolski of Brandon, Man., ran into delays or rejections when he attempted to stage this event in Minneapolis and Winnipeg last year.
In Prince George, arena manager Phil Beaulieu approached Wolski and put him in contact with the local athletic commission, which gave Beaulieu the go-ahead. A rental agreement was subsequently struck. Beaulieu said he's rented the 6,000-seat arena for ultimate fighting contests, which feature martial arts, and has no qualms about accommodating Battle of the Hockey Enforcers.
"We honestly believe this is the beginning of a new spectacle," Wolski said during a Wednesday news conference in a bar at Rogers Centre to announce details.
He intends to put 12 men on the ice in full hockey uniforms, two at a time sans sticks, so they can punch it out for 60 seconds in front of a panel of five judges. Each man will get a flat fee, with additional cash to be allotted to winners. Wolski declined to put numbers on the dollars.
"There's not that much money involved," said Craighead, who flew in from Vancouver for the news conference. "We're not doing it for the money.
"We're trying to put a sport on the map."
He doesn't look at it as promoting violence.
"It will be controlled violence," he said. "Will guys get hurt? Probably, but nobody gets seriously hurt in hockey fights. It'll be like the WWF (of wrestling). It'll be a form of entertainment.
"There's a lot of violence in this world. There's so many things out there breeding violence and hockey fighting is not one of them, that's for sure."
Wolski plans to get it on pay-per-view TV, which gives people an option, said Craighead.
"If you don't want to see it then don't buy it," he said.
It's a business venture, said Wolski.
"It's a capitalist idea," he said. "If left-wing people of the world don't like it, I don't care."
Craighead, nicknamed The Reverend for his quiet demeanour off the ice, played five NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996-97. His idol was Tiger Williams, the most penalized player in NHL history. If anybody remembers Craighead's Leafs cameo, it's because he dropped the gloves with Donald Brashear on a Hockey Night In Canada telecast.
He spent most of his career in the minors, and he played in England the last two years. He's 33 now and operates a popular sport training facility in Langley, B.C.
Other confirmed fighters include Lyndon (LB) Byers, Patrick (KO) Cote, Link (The Missing Link) Gaetz, Frank (The Animal) Bialowas and Mike (The Reel Deal) Sgroi, said Wolski.
Wolski is still looking for additional bodies to fill out his 12-man fight card. He said he's received more than 400 applications but wants to use only pro or semi-pro players.
He's convinced the event will become popular.
"I'm one of those guys who stands up when there's a hockey fight," he said. "When Jordon Tootoo played in Brandon, when that kid fought, it didn't matter if the person was 70 years old or seven years old, they were standing and cheering."
Wolski, who runs hockey tournaments and adult recreational leagues, has been trying to get Battle of the Hockey Enforcers off the ground for 18 months. With all the roadblocks encountered, "I thought I was done six or seven months ago."
He had planned to stage it in Winnipeg last August but cancelled less than two weeks before it was to take place because there were concerns police might lay charges if it was deemed to be an unsanctioned prize fight.
If it gets off the ground, Craighead sees it as a continuing series. He's thankful for one thing, too.
"I got a good night's rest last night because Garth Butcher told me he's not going to enrol," said Craighead.
Byers, 41, a native of Nipawin, Sask., amassed 1,081 penalty minutes in 279 NHL games mostly with Boston, where he now works as a sportscaster for an FM-radio station.
Byers viewed fighting as a skill within hockey when he played and "he feels this will be his skills competition," said Wolski.
Cote, 30, of LaSalle, Que., got into 50 fights in 105 NHL games in five seasons with Dallas, Nashville and Edmonton.
Gaetz, 36, born in Vancouver, served 412 minutes in only 65 NHL games with Minnesota and San Jose from 1988 to 1992.
Bialowas, 35, a native of Winnipeg who spent most of his career in the minors, played three games for the Leafs in 1993-94.
Sgroi, 26, born in Toronto, had 122 penalty minutes in 39 games with the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season.
The CN Centre is the home rink of the WHL's Prince George Cougars.
A bunch of mediocre former NHLers duking it out, oh yeah people are going to pay $20 to see that.
