Aaron Ashum | Jay Beagle | |
Height | 5’ 11” | 6’ 3” |
Weight | 205 lbs | 215 |
Previous Fights | 82 | 0 |
# of Teeth Lost during Fight | 0 | 1 |
I didn't feel the need to go into detail regarding the fight last night until Barry Melrose got involved and got me all fired up.
Here is what Melrose said:
“Beagle came out and he’s not a fighter, Beagle’s not a tough guy, but he’s trying to get his team fired up. It was a close game at the time, he went after Letang. Letang is as good a defenseman as there is in the game, Pittsburgh can’t have any liberties taken against a player of Letang’s stature right now with the injuries to Crosby and Malkin just coming back. Asham sticks up for his teammate, he lets Washington know that you’re not gonna take liberties against our best players, I’ll stand up for ‘em, and right there he really sent a message to the Washington Capitals.”
“And the people that are against fighting, right there is what fighting is for. It was a message sender. There was a reason that fight happened. It wasn’t just violence. It wasn’t just two guys trying to put on a show. Asham was sending a message to the Washington Capitals, Beagle was trying to send a message from Washington to Pittsburgh. And right there you see the value of a fight in the game. It changed the game around for a while, Pittsburgh took control of it after that, ended up tying it up and it went into overtime where Pittsburgh lost. Protect the skilled players. The player is the deterrent. The referee’s not protecting the player, the player’s protecting players on his own team.”
The Cause
First of all, Beagle may have been trying to get his team fired up, a job of all 4th liners, but he did not go onto the ice looking to send a message. If you watch the replay, you see Letang initiates Beagle by giving him a stealthy shove and then when they face each other, Letang shoves Beagle again. Beagle responds by shoving him back. Yes, his hands came up towards the face of Letang and it was a penalty, but there was no way Beagle was "[taking] liberties." Why would he? The Caps are up 2-1 in a really close game...Beagle would be the stupidest player in the world to be thinking "Man, I have to change the momentum of the game--we need a lift. I'm going to go stir some shit up" No, he instead needed to be thinking (and likely was), "I need to play solid defense and not take a penalty." Letang got the best of him and it should have ended there.
The Effect
Asham apparently took the play as Beagle going after the Pens stud defensemen, so he goes after him looking for a fight. Asham really has nothing to lose here and probably does not expect Beagle to engage. For some reason, Beagle accepts the fight. I suspect Beagle did so only because he was frustrated about taking a penalty and did not want to look like a pussy. Had he thought this through, he may have reconsidered. I'm sure everyone has seen the fight by now, but if not, long story short, Beagle gets his ass kicked.
The Aftermath
After the fight, Beagle is lying on the ice bleeding and Asham acts like a douchebag and taunts towards the crowd. Asham does admit to being a douchebag after the game.
Melrose talks how this changed the complexion of the game. Uh I don't think so....because the Caps ending up winning the game. The Pens had 7 shots on goal before the fight, and 11 afterwards, which included four minutes in powerplay. The Pens dominated the entire period and the fight didn't change much of anything.
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I guess I am not surprised that the fight is getting so much attention. Usually extreme violence is the only coverage hockey ever gets. This was a situation where no one was in the wrong and it just so happened Beagle got into a bad situation. Fighting is a part of hockey.
However, as I said in my game recap....
Next time the Caps play the Pens....watch out
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