Top 7 Tough Guys in Hockey: The Fighters on Ice

Many men watch hockey exclusively in the hope of seeing a lot of powerful techniques and fights in it. We decided to compile for you a list of the 7 most famous tough guys in the history of world hockey. For those who do not know, a tough guy is a hockey team player whose main task is to eliminate the enemy in any possible way (by fighting, forceful reception, sometimes even flicking the puck, or hitting with a club). Check out now our list of the top 7 tough guys!

Top 7 Tough Guys in Hockey: Chris Simon (Canada)

Now 49-year-old Chris plays the role of a loving father, bringing up his 4 children. And slowly forgets about hockey. However, during his stormy youth, Simon was still that rude. In the 90th NHL Draft, Chris was selected in Round 2 by the Philadelphia Flyers. And since then, he has firmly taken his place in the ranking of tough guys. For a couple of years, Chris even managed to play in Russia. For Vityaz, for Dynamo Moscow, and Metallurg Novokuznetsk. In the latter club, he ended his glorious career. Bet99 Sportsbook is one of the best online gambling sites in Canada where you can place your bet on any sport.

He Fought with Fans and Referees: Andrei Nazarov (Russia)

Now a practicing coach, nicknamed “Russian Bear”, during his time as a player, he was famous for his very “memorable” character. Both on and off the court. He started playing hockey for Dynamo. In three seasons, he managed to score 89 penalty minutes, while having only 17 performance points. In 1992 he went to try his hand abroad and began to play for the San Jose Sharks. Of course, fights were not complete there.

Perhaps, thanks to his rough play, Andrei managed to spend 12 seasons in the NHL. Becoming one of the most colorful tough guys with a Russian passport, who managed to play outside of Russia. Having finished his hockey career, Nazarov did not pacify his ardor. While coaching Vityaz, Andrei once kicked one of the fans with his stick.

Top 7 Tough Guys in Hockey: Jeremy Jablonski (Canada)

Another Canadian who left a mark on Russian hockey. He started his career at Edmonton Ice. During the 98-99 season, already playing for Kootenay Ice, Jeremy received serious head injuries during a fight on the ice, which did not allow him to play for one and a half seasons. In 2003, Jablonski received the unofficial title of one of the most formidable tough guys in North American hockey. In the same year, after spending only 8 minutes on the court, he had a fight with Fedoruk from Philadelphia, for which he was sent off for 5 minutes.

Moreover, Jablonski wanted to test his strength in a duel with Donald Brashear, but was refused. Arriving in Russia in 2011, Jeremy received a 56-minute penalty for a fight in his debut match. A little later, he roughly attacked the goalkeeper of Magnitogorsk Gelashvili, for which he received 5 penalty matches. But do you think his adventures ended there? After serving the suspension, Jeremy started a massive brawl with the Dinamo Riga players and again received 5 penalty matches. After that, having beaten half of the KHL, the leadership of the federation decided to disqualify Yablonski until the end of the championship. But a little later, missing the fights, Jeremy returned to the ice, reducing his fine.

One of the Toughest Guys: Jon Mirasty (Canada)

One of the members of the Vityaz gang in 2011. In his first season at the professional level, playing for the Tri-City Americans, he took part in 40 fights, having spent 67 games on the ice. After that, Mirasty wanted to finish hockey and go to work as a simple security guard in a nightclub. But later he signed a contract with the Bakersfield Condors team, in which he earned 360 penalty minutes in 57 matches. Eh, what kind of guard was lost at that time.

In 2007, Jon decided to quit hockey again and start practicing mixed martial arts. And he even managed to fight one time, during which he was knocked out in the first round. After that Mirasty finally decided to stay in hockey and signed a trial contract for 25 matches with the AHL Syracuse Crunch. There he quickly became a favorite of the public, and not even because of his fights.

On December 20, 2012, Jon became involved in the greatest fight in the history of modern hockey: he and Jablonski struck each other 115 blows. After that, Jon calmly went to finish the game in Russia. By the way, there he was reunited in the same team with Jablonski. This is how hockey brings people and seemingly irreconcilable rivals closer together … For two they fought so many battles for their club that it became scary for the rest of the hockey players who fell under this North American pressure. Mirasty even managed to accuse the KHL players of cowardice. After that, he tried many times to provoke opponents into mass fights, but the judges did not allow him to do this. 

Ice Hooligan: Darcy Verot (Canada)

Initially, he was famous for his excellent play on the “penny”. But the bias towards fights began with him upon arrival in Russia. For three incomplete seasons at Vityaz, Darcy has scored over 1000 penalty minutes. By the way, he also took part in the famous fight with “Vanguard”, he was cut in particular with Jaromir Jagr himself. We also remember him for the rude action against the CSKA player Nikita Filatov. First, Verot hit him with a club on the shin from behind and then hit him in the face with his fist. For which he was disqualified for 4 games. However, in the 11-12 season, he already ended up in the very same CSKA, having managed to fight all the famous tough guys from Russia.

The Biggest and The Toughest: Evgeny Artyukhin (Russia)

The most famous Russian tough guy. Artyukhin fought Nick Boyton, Chris Thorburn, Zdeno Hara, Chris Gratton, and almost every player in the Finnish national team.

Evgeny always went to the site not to bring benefit to his team, but to pile someone well. Now his ardor has subsided a little, and he modestly plays for HC Siberia. Bet on hockey on the online sportsbook sites in Canada. Bet99 Sportsbook offers all the matches of NHL and KHL with the best odds.  

Top 7 Tough Guys in Hockey: Alexander Svitov (Russia)

Another representative of Russian hockey among tough guys. He started fighting on ice back in the 2000s. For the period from 99 to 2010, playing for Avangard Omsk, Alexander scored 740 penalty minutes. Svitov managed to fight in the NHL as well. Typing there 1250 penalty minutes in total. Still, in America, he liked to fight more. Despite his size, Alexander plays very usefully as a center forward. In the KHL, he was remembered for his victorious fight against Darcy Verot. When he, together with Artyukhin, went out on the ice as part of the Russian national team, everyone became scared. 

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