The NHL's Greatest Goalie Fights in History: Goaltenders Gone Wild

In one of the weirdest, most unexpected goalie fights of all time, Thomas Vokoun and Mikka Kipprosov engaged in battle in front of a raucous Calgary Flames crowd.

At first, it looked to be closer to a cat fight than an actual brawl, but as soon as the helmets came off the two traded punches and, surprisingly, managed to provide a very entertaining affair.

We'll give the nod to Vokoun who landed a few good hits in there, but the win really goes to the surprised fans that got to enjoy a goalie tilt.

And what better place to have it then at center ice?

As Greg Millen said, "Who ever thought, goalies from Europe having a fight. It's pretty good isn't it?"

Pretty good indeed, but something tells me this was the first and last fight for each.

This brawl had some quality action; not only did we get to enjoy a goalie fight at center ice, but there just happened to be a fight going on in the Atlanta bench, well, one of the players was anyways.

The bout with the goalies started after everyone else on the ice had partnered up, so Ty Conklin decided to get in on the act as well. I'm not sure if he fully believed fellow netminder Pasi Nurminen would fight with him, but that question was answered rather quickly.

The two danced at center, both landing a few solid punches and Conklin even got a nasty grab of his counterpart's hair as well, just for good measure.

In the end they both cooled down and got it out of their system, and as backup goalies, I'm sure no coach was really holding his breath too heavily.

The win goes to Conklin, but Nurminen put up a good effort.

And in the end the CBC announcer said it best; "Wow, what a card. You couldn't get any better at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas!"

Yep, ice is certainly hard to find down in Nevada, but when you show up in Edmonton, there are plenty of fists on frozen water.

Two goalies who were not exactly superstars in the league sure gave us a stellar fight to remember. Well, it was stellar for one of them anyway.

In a game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders scrum around Tommy Soderstrom's net began and immediately barreling from the opposite end of the ice came Devil's goalie Corey Schwab.

He grabbed Soderstrom from behind and the two of them started going at it.

You could tell from the get-go that Schwab was much more into the fight than his partner, because from start to end Soderstrom got completely filled in.

It eventually came to a stop when the referees jumped in before someone was actually hurt, a very specific someone.

You could make the argument that this wasn't actually a fight, since Soderstrom never actually got his glove off, and literally tried to catch the punches; although, he managed to catch the majority with his forehead.

Either way, it was greatly entertaining and worthy of a spot on this list.

No question who won the bout, as far as who had the more successful career—well, the jury is still out on that one.

This goalie fight had absolutely everything a fan could ever dream of.

In a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres in what started out as a scrum in front of the net turned into all out line-brawl, and what has to be one of Sabres' announcer Rick Jeanneret's most memorable calls.

As things heated up near Garth Snow's crease, he and Rob Ray got into it before Sabres' netminder Steve Shields came barreling down the ice to protect his team-mate, "Shields says, 'Oh,no,you don't!'" screamed Jeanneret in an excited fury.

The linesman seemed to have things under control and separated the two, but they met up once again and began pounding each other over-top the ref. Eventually, the man in the middle gave up and let the two goalies go at it.

And thank goodness he did.

In a short-but-sweet display of goal-tending fury, the two punched it out in front of, and almost in, the Sabres bench.

We'll have to call this one a tie between the two, because they both showed great persistence to get the refs to let them go, and we'll give the win to Jeanneret, who made this fight a memorable one.

Undoubtedly, all who participated in this bout will remember it for a very long time, especially the ref who got caught in the middle.

"And this crowd is going bananas!"

Classic.

Nov. 21, 1998 saw this tussle take place in Boston in a game against the Washington Capitals.

As things got heated Byron Dafoe and Dale Hunter grabbed onto one-another up along the boards, while Olaf Kolzig decided to get on the action and come down to the fun side of the ice as well.

He and Eric Belanger went at it as well, each landing some solid punches before the two goal tenders found each other and decided to dance.

The fight was short and sweet, hardly a punch thrown, but the fact that Dafoe was Kolzig's best man earlier that year made things even better.

I'm sure cooler heads prevailed after the game, and no doubt the met up for some post-game drinks. I'm sure their conversation was much different than the one they had at the wedding though.

We'll give the win to Dafoe, just because he pulled Kolzig out of the pile and gave us yet another wonderful goalie fight to enjoy.

Rangers vs. Islanders.

When the two New York teams meet up, something is always bound to happen, and certainly did in this game.

As a fight broke out in the Islanders zone goal tender Tommy Salo decided to jump in on the melee and get his two-cents worth. Apparently, Dan Cloutier, from the other end of the ice, didn't like the idea of this, so he decided to come down and join the crowd.

In a blur of blue, Cloutier came flying by, grabbing onto Salo as the two went into the spin-cycle.

Neither goalie looked to be doing much until Cloutier got his counter-part onto the ground, and it was all over.

The Rangers netminder landed more than ten solid, flailing punches to the head of Salo, who was simply trying to protect himself at this point.

Eventually, Cloutier saw he had won the bout and stopped the beat down, only to then challenge the entire Islanders bench.

You had won your first fight Dan, better to stick with that and run.

It was probably the most lopsided fight between two netminders of all time, but unfortunately for them, neither ended up doing anything much from here in their careers.

At least your fight lives on forever and maybe a certain playoff goal from center ice by Niklas Lidstrom too.

Feb. 22, 2007 saw one of the most talked about goalie fights in recent memory, because Ray Emery ended up fighting more than one guy in the same sequence.

The build-up to it all was extremely intense, as Chris Neal crushed then Sabres' forward Chris Drury with a huge open-ice hit that put Drury down hard and bloodied, This started a melee that carried over to the next shift.

It was a case of the "you hit our star, so we'll hit yours" mentality as Ottawa had out Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, so Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff decided to send a message.

He sent out tough guys Adam Mair, Patrick Kaleta, and Andrew Peters to get after the Sens best players, but there was no way he could have seen what would happen next.

As the skaters dropped the gloves at center ice, with everyone pairing up, it was Sabres goalie Martin Biron who called out Sens netminder Ray Emery to join him in the middle to drop the gloves, err, glove and blocker.

What wasn't a shock at all was the fact that Emery was more than willing to join his foe at center and duke it out, and the smile on his face told the whole story.

With yet another classic call, Rick Jeanneret described the fight as only he could; with panic-like excitement.

After the two combatants fell and stood back up, Biron was visibly satisfied, while Emery was far from it, and Peters decided to take on Emery for round two. Each landed a few punches, but both were clearly tired from their previous encounters and the referee was able to separate them.

Needless to say, Emery enjoyed the moment, as did all those watching; and now as a member of the always boisterous Philadelphia Flyers, it wouldn't be too surprising if we once again see him go pound-for-pound with a fellow puck-stopper.

We can only hope.

Another classic battle between two teams who downright hate each other.

The stage was set and the rivalry was in full effect as the two teams met late in March for one of the most memorable brawls of all time.

Darren McCarty, Claude Lemieux, Adam Foote, Peter Forsberg, and Brendan Shanahan. They were all on the ice, and all apart of the madness that followed.

As the two teams met at center ice, both Mike Vernon and Patrick Roy came down to help out their respective teams.

Roy and Shanahan met with a bang, as both leapt at each other, meeting while still in flight and flinging off to the side while Foote and Vernon wrestled to the ground.

Soon, Vernon and Shanahan were double-teaming Foote, until Roy notched and came over to grab the Wings goalie to dance. As they traded punches you could tell it was pure hatred running through each battle-tested warrior.

As it all ended, and the players were sent off the ice, everyone in the building stood and cheered the battle they just witnessed, truly a classic.

It wasn't the first brawl between the two teams in those rivalry years, and it definitely was not the last.

In a rivalry that is always nasty, this Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers game is one that went down in history.

The game was rough, the players were losing their cool, and eventually it boiled over into an all out attack.

You could tell as soon as the brawl started, Ron Hextall wanted a piece of Felix Potvin.

In fact, Hextall always wanted a piece of someone, but he actually got his wish this time. He charged down the ice headed straight for the Leafs goalie who was ready and waiting.

What ensued was one of the best fights ever between two netminders. It was so good that the rest of the players fighting stopped to take in the action. Each goalie ripped the other's mask off and began connecting hard with bombs to the face.

Neither man backed down and they fought until their arms couldn't move any longer.

It ended in what looked to be a moment of prayer between the two, probably thanking the Lord for the epic battle they just provided the fans for generations to come.

Hextall and Potvin, two names that will be forever connected thanks to one outstanding fight.

Was there ever any doubt?

Arguably, the best goalie fight of all time. Chris Osgood and Patrick Roy gave us an April fools night to remember.

What started as yet another classic Red Wings/Avalanche brawl turned into Roy challenging Osgood to a fight, but the referee would have none of it. As the official held the Avalanche netminder back, Osgood inched his way up the ice.

This fight was destined to happen, and soon the referee realized he had no choice in the matter, and let the boys go.

Osgood got a few early punches in, but Roy soon took over and got the jersey off and began unloading punches. The two went on for almost a minute before they went down in a heap in front of Detroit's bench.

So late in the season, so late in the game, in the biggest rivalry of it's time, Roy and Osgood duke it out in what has to be the best goalie fight of all time.

With the effort by the two teams and the two players, we'll call this fight a tie since the real winners were the fans.

"You don't see anybody sittin' down, do ya?"

No sir, no you do not.

Goalie fights in the NHL: a rare occurrence when it happens, but as fans of the game we just can't help but stand up and cheer.

Rumble young men, rumble.