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Flyers–Senators brawl
123 Total
Ottawa Senators 111 3
Philadelphia Flyers 311 5
Date March 5, 2004
Arena Wachovia Center
City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Flag of the United States United States
Attendance 19,539

The Flyers–Senators brawl was a line brawl that occurred during a National Hockey League game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators on March 5, 2004. The two team's combined penalty minutes, 419, were the most in a single game in the history of the league.[1] The game was played at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., which is the home arena of the Flyers.

The line brawl was initiated by Philadelphia left-winger "enforcer" Donald Brashear and Ottawa's right winger Rob Ray with approximately 1:45 left in the third period, the Flyers leading the game 5 to 2.[1] Once the fight between the two players ended and they began to skate to the penalty box, the rest of the players on the ice for each team, including goaltenders Robert Esche and Patrick Lalime began to fight.[1]

At the next faceoff, Philadelphia's center Michal Handzus and Mike Fisher, the center for Ottawa, immediately began to fight. Approximately 30 seconds after that fight, another fight broke out involving all of the players on the ice, with the exception of the two goaltenders.[1] Finally, a fight broke out between Patrick Sharp of Philadelphia and Jason Spezza of Ottawa. The game ended with a final score of 5–3, the Flyers winning.[1]

By the end of the game, 20 players had been ejected for their role in the brawl, leaving a combined total of five players on the team benches.[1] The officials of the game took about 90 minutes to sort out all of the penalties that each team had received. In the end, the Flyers had 213 team penalty minutes and the Senators received 206, combining for the record total of 419.[1]

Continuing the fighting from the game, Flyers General Manager Bob Clarke had to be restrained from going after Ottawa coach Jacques Martin after the game, taking issue with his handling of his team.[2]

Previous incidents[]

The brawl was likely to have been initiated because of a previous incident between the teams. About a week before the brawl, the Flyers were in Ottawa for a game against the Senators. During the third period, Flyers winger Mark Recchi was following Martin Havlat of the Senators when he crossed into the Philadelphia defensive zone.[3] As this happened, Recchi hooked Havlat, causing both of the players to collide and fall into the boards.[3] When Havlat got up from the ice, angered by Recchi's hook, he took his stick above him and slashed Recchi, hitting him in the face.[3]

Havlat was given a five-minute major penalty for attempting to injure Recchi, along with a game misconduct penalty. He was later given a two-game suspension by the NHL due to the incident. He was also forced to give up US$36,585.36 of his salary as he was already suspended previously for kicking Eric Cairns of the New York Islanders during a game earlier in the season.[3]

Revenge was also mentioned after the game by Ken Hitchcock, then the head coach for the Flyers. During a post game interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, making the comment "Someday, someone's going to make him eat his lunch. This is something, in my opinion, that the players should take care of."[3] Mark Recchi also mentioned revenge, not specifically from the Flyers, during an interview with the CBC. "It doesn't surprise me coming from this guy. He's that type of player. He's done it before. It might not come from our team. But he better protect himself," said Recchi.[3]

Penalty summary[]

Penalty summary[4]
Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM
1st PHI Tony Amonte Holding – Obstruction 05:17 2:00
2nd OTT Mike Fisher Tripping 03:57 2:00
OTT Todd Simpson Holding 06:06 2:00
PHI Radovan Somik Slashing 13:08 2:00
OTT Mike Fisher Hi-sticking 17:07 2:00
3rd OTT Daniel Alfredsson Roughing 09:03 2:00
PHI Alexei Zhamnov Roughing 09:03 2:00
OTT Bryan Smolinski Roughing 12:18 2:00
PHI Patrick Sharp Roughing 12:18 2:00
OTT Todd Simpson Slashing 14:21 2:00
PHI Patrick Sharp Too many men/ice - bench 15:57 2:00
PHI Donald Brashear Instigator 18:15 2:00
PHI Donald Brashear Roughing 18:15 2:00
PHI Donald Brashear Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
PHI Donald Brashear Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
PHI Donald Brashear Misconduct (10 min) 18:15 0:00
PHI Donald Brashear Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
OTT Rob Ray Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
PHI Branko Radivojevic Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
PHI Branko Radivojevic Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
PHI Branko Radivojevic Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
OTT Shaun Van Allen Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
OTT Shaun Van Allen Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
OTT Shaun Van Allen Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
PHI Danny Markov Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
PHI Danny Markov Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
OTT Todd Simpson Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
OTT Todd Simpson Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
PHI Robert Esche Goalie leave crease 18:15 2:00
PHI Robert Esche Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
PHI Robert Esche Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
PHI Robert Esche Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
OTT Patrick Lalime Goalie leave crease 18:15 2:00
OTT Patrick Lalime Fighting (maj) 18:15 5:00
OTT Patrick Lalime Game misconduct 18:15 0:00
PHI Radovan Somik Fighting (maj) 18:18 5:00
OTT Chris Neil Fighting (maj) 18:18 5:00
PHI Mattias Timander Fighting (maj) 18:18 5:00
OTT Zdeno Chara – served by Martin Havlat Instigator 18:18 2:00
OTT Zdeno Chara Fighting (maj) 18:18 5:00
OTT Zdeno Chara Misconduct (10 min) 18:18 0:00
OTT Zdeno Chara Game misconduct 18:18 0:00
PHI Michal Handzus Fighting (maj) 18:21 5:00
PHI Michal Handzus Misconduct (10 min) 18:21 0:00
PHI Michal Handzus Game misconduct 18:21 0:00
OTT Mike Fisher Fighting (maj) 18:21 5:00
OTT Mike Fisher Misconduct (10 min) 18:21 0:00
OTT Mike Fisher Game misconduct 18:21 0:00
PHI Mark Recchi Fighting (maj) 18:45 5:00
PHI Mark Recchi Game misconduct 18:45 0:00
OTT Bryan Smolinski Fighting (maj) 18:45 5:00
OTT Bryan Smolinski Game misconduct 18:45 0:00
OTT Wade Redden Fighting (maj) 18:45 5:00
OTT Wade Redden Misconduct (10 min) 18:45 0:00
OTT Wade Redden Game misconduct 18:45 0:00
PHI John Leclair – served by Simon Gagne Holding 18:45 2:00
PHI John Leclair Fighting (maj) 18:45 5:00
PHI John Leclair Misconduct (10 min) 18:45 0:00
PHI John Leclair Game misconduct 18:45 0:00
PHI Patrick Sharp Fighting (maj) 18:47 5:00
PHI Patrick Sharp Misconduct (10 min) 18:47 0:00
PHI Patrick Sharp Game misconduct 18:47 0:00
OTT Jason Spezza Fighting (maj) 18:47 5:00
OTT Jason Spezza Misconduct (10 min) 18:47 0:00
OTT Jason Spezza Game misconduct 18:47 0:00
OTT Jason Spezza Game misconduct 18:47 0:00

Citations[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Maaddi, Rob. "Flyers bully Senators in 5-3 victory", USA Today, March 6, 2004. Retrieved on 2009-05-03. 
  2. "Bob Clarke still fuming over Flyers-Sens brawl", CBC Sports, March 7, 2004. Retrieved on 2009-10-06. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Senators' Havlat suspended for two games", CBC Sports, March 5, 2004. Retrieved on 2009-05-03. 
  4. Ottawa Senators vs. Philadelphia Flyers - Boxscore - March 05, 2004. ESPN (2004-03-05). Retrieved on 2010-03-19.

References[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Flyers–Senators brawl. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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