The FDNY vs NYPD Hockey Game Is What Makes Hockey The Beautifully Violent Game That It Is
What makes hockey such a beautiful game is that it's equal parts grit and grace. It's an elegant violence. It is poetic physicality. You need to have speed, you need to have skill, but at the end of the day you also just need to be able to beat the everliving piss out of your opponent.
In the era we live in today, many people are trying to take that violent aspect of hockey out of the game. Hell, those goofy bastards up in the QMJHL essentially banned fighting all together. But if there's one game that is going to save hockey, if there's one game that is going to Make Hockey Violent Again, it's the annual FDNY vs NYPD game that went down this past weekend at UBS Arena.
You've watched the documentary. You know the history between these two teams. No love lost between either of these teams once they're out on the ice together. Brothers in arms on the street, but one of the most intense rivalries the sport has to offer on the ice. Guys who want to stuff the back of the net with pucks, and stuff their opponents skull with some knucks. And holy shit did we get a little bit of everything from Saturday night's game.
Down 5-1 heading into the first intermission? You need to do something--ANYTHING--to get a little bit of momentum heading your way during the break. You can't go into the locker room with your head down and tails tucked between your legs. You need a little something to keep the boys fired up between periods. So this is a good ol' fashioned "somebody hit somebody" donnybrook on our hands here.
What I've always been curious about is the refs in this situation. It's gotta be such a weird dynamic they're dealing with out there. You've got a bunch of cops and firefighters out there but you're the one who has to uphold the law and order, and put all the fires out on the ice. It would be like having to cook dinner for a bunch of Michelin star chefs. And these dudes were going to have their hands full all night.
Now I don't care who you are or what you do for a living, there is one truth of life that you always need to keep in the back of your mind. And that's the fact that the old dudes still playing men's league hockey are always going to be WILDLY stronger than you initially give them credit for. The young buck Antonelli here had to learn that out the hard way. You see some dude out there in his 40's and you think you can take him just because you've got Father Time on your side. Only thing you forgot to consider is the fact that strength isn't just a physical attribute--it's mostly mental. And if you're in your 40s still playing men's league hockey, you're as mental as they come. The whipper snapper gets taken down and gripped up by the linesman before he even got a chance to take his gloves off. Tough look.
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But that's why you don't fuck with the old guys in men's league. You'll always end up looking like a jackass.
Now scuffles between whistles are all well and good. It's a crucial element to hockey remaining violent. As soon as the play is over, the chaos begins. But when it comes to the NYPD vs FDNY game, we want some proper tilts as well. Gloves off, man vs man, let's get it on. And the final minute of regulation was worth the price of admission alone.
You gotta love the theatrics of tossing the buckets to the side. These are two guys who get it. They know what the people want to see, and it's not a couple of guys shattering their hands against plastic helmets. No gloves, no helmets, just a couple of dudes chuckin' em. There were 36 seconds left in the game. Fire already had a commanding 8-5 lead. If that was the final moment of the game, I think everybody could have left happy. But that wasn't enough to settle this rivalry. Not even close. These two teams still needed to send everybody home with some fireworks. Which is exactly what they got with this fight between FDNY's John Perretta and NYPD's Jimmy Hall.
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GOOD FIGHT, GOOD NIGHT.
Holy smokes what a scrap. Perretta throwing heavy rights, Perretta throwing heavy lefts, this dude was unloading a flurry of bombs. Credit to Perretta for the win, and credit to Jimmy Hall for standing in there and answering the bell. Just an all-time fight to go along with an all-time call from our good pal Jake Marsh in the booth.
What a game, what a broadcast, what an event, and what a group of guys laying it all out on the line every single time they clock in to work. These dudes are heroes off the ice, and it's great they get a chance to live the dream for a night on the ice. Bunch of beauties through and through.