Darcy the Fighter (photo via KP.ru)

UPDATE 12/11, 3PM: Suspensions have been doled out. Belokon has been suspended for 13 games, Verot for 12, Gratton for 15, and Larin for 13. Avangard will pay 100k RUR (3.3k USD) to the KHL, and Vityaz will pay 400k RUR (13k USD). Justice is served. Go about your day, citizen.

Editor’s note- Fedor is a total fanboy for Avangard. This is not dispassionate reporting.

We’ve written before about the Avangard-Vityaz rivalry and how it all started back in ’09. After almost two years and two fight-ful games, 12/10/10 begins a new era in the rivalry. For the newbies, here’s a little background:

• Vityaz Chekhov (stars: ex-Cap Chris Simon, ex-Bear Brandon Sugden, ex-Cap Darcy Verot, Josh Gratton) is the toughest team in the KHL, full of provokers and shameless punks. They were rumored to have signed the legendary Chris Chelios a few weeks ago. They are dead last in the West– 8 points behind the next spot, 17 points out of the playoffs. Their coach is the best Russian fighter in the NHL history, Andrei Nazarov.
• Avangard Omsk Region (stars: ex-Cap Jaromir Jagr, Martin Skoula, Marek Svatos, Kari Ramo) is one of the most successful and richest teams in the league.  They are currently fifth in the East.

How is this fight unlike its predecessors? For the first time, one team didn’t fight at all, the Hawks (Avangard’s nickname) were simply pummeled by the Vityazes (Vityaz is a Russian knight). Vityaz started their thugs (Verot, Simon, Sugden, Gratton) and sent them after Avangard immediately following the opening face off.

Get ready to  say “OUCH”.

Roman Cervenka and Martin Skoula of Avangard ended up in the hospital. Also, take a look at Verot’s disgraceful behaviour against Karri Ramo. Avangard scored twice on the resulting powerplay and won the game 3-2.

This is how a KHL site writer from Omsk described the fight in a live update:

On the sixth second of the game, five fighters from vityaz [sic] went for Avnagrd’s “playing” [Ed. Note - Russian term for players who are not fighters] players, guys from Omsk fell as those contiuned to pound them even when they fell.

Avangard released a letter to the KHL requesting lifetime suspensions for all Vityaz’ coaches and players. The point is that– according to the letter– Vityaz had already purchased tickets to Moscow for their fighters because the team know they wouldn’t continue the road trip due to suspension.

We’ll keep you posted as this story develops.

RMNB wish Cervenka and Skoula fastest recovery and hopes that anybody who can be blamed for their injuries will get fair punishment for their actions.

Russian fans are very, very passionate about hockey. If you need proof, look no further than the buildup for the upcoming KHL game between heated-rivals Avangard Omsk and Vityaz Chekhov. Avangard’s best player is former DC malcontent Jaromir Jagr, while Vityaz – known more for its boxing than hockey skill – has former Caps Brandon Sugden, Chris Simon, and Darcy Verot filling out their ranks.

The team’s beefs with each other have been simmering for a while now, stemming from one sad event. During the 2008-09 KHL season, Avangard’s Alexei Cherepanov passed out on the bench during a game against Vityaz in Chekhov. He later died. The cause of his death filled headlines in Russia for years, with both teams getting their fair share of the blame. Wikipedia’s wordy explanation is the most fair:

Cherepanov died in Chekhov, Russia on October 13, 2008 after collapsing on the bench during a Kontinental Hockey League game with his club Avangard Omsk against Vityaz Chekhov. There was 2:55 minutes left in the game. He played a shift with teammate Jaromír Jágr, and the two were talking on the bench shortly after they left the ice, when he suddenly collapsed. After being attended to on the bench, he was carried to the dressing room where he was revived for several brief moments before finally being rushed to an intensive care unit, but it was too late. The ambulance that is normally at all games had already departed and had to be called back; doctors arrived on the scene a full 15 minutes after Cherepanov collapsed, and the battery on the defibrillator used to attempt to shock Cherepanov’s heart back to life was drained. It took approximately 20 minutes to get him to a hospital. While in the care of Chekhov doctors, he was again resuscitated briefly on two occasions. He woke up for another 2 minutes, only to collapse again. Before ultimately dying 2 hours later in the 2nd City Chekhov Hospital. Reports say that the ambulance didn’t have a defibrillator and andrenalin shots with them and that heart massage didn’t help. They still were able to start the heart 5 times and after one of them Cherepanov even got conscious and recognized his teammates, but then his heart stopped again.

The exact cause of his death was originally a cause of dispute, with a regional investigator citing he was diagnosed with chronic ischemia, but medical professionals and league sources stated it was caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Russian lawmakers said the following day that there would be investigations of negligence on the part of the responding paramedics, with the possibility of a criminal investigation being opened as well.

On December 29, 2008, Russian investigators revealed that he suffered from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and that he should not have been playing professional hockey, however this has been disputed by the NHL after Cherepanov’s testing at the NHL Combine. The federal Investigative Committee also announced that a chemical analysis of Cherepanov’s blood and urine samples allowed experts to conclude “that for several months Alexei Cherepanov engaged in doping.” Official sources have stated the banned substance taken was nikethamide, a stimulant, and that it had been taken 3 hours prior to the game in which he died. A report by the Investigative Committee stated that “It is impossible to determine how and with what aim this medicine was administered.” The same report also revealed that Cherepanov was not doping but was instead using cordiaminum probably used to treat his condition. As of 2009, nobody has been charged relating to the death of Cherepanov, however the President, General Manager, as well as a team doctor for Avangard Omsk have all been suspended from the KHL indefinitely. Another Avangard doctor was suspended for 2 years, and the president of the host team Vityaz was suspended from the league indefinitely over health related complaints.

In the teams’ first meeting since the Cherepanov death in the 2008-09 season, the game was cancelled four minutes in by officials when a mega-fight broke out. Over 600+ penalty minutes were given to the players.

Here is video of the brawl from the KHL show “Golevaya Peredacha.” If you speak english, you should fast-forward to the 1:05 mark:

Even the gentlemanly Jagr was forced into fighting:

On September 23rd, the two teams will meet again. It should be interesting.   A YouTube video uploaded by a newly registered user calling himself to MrXtort has stirred up some controversy. I first noticed the video Friday on Sports.ru’s website.

The translation of the type in the video is as followed:

4th home game [of the season for Vityaz]. 9/23. They’ll come to Podolsk [now Vityaz plays in Podolsk, not in Chekhov]. [Avangard logo]. They killed Alexei Cherepanov (newspaper titles about Cherepanov and doping in the background) and tried to blame… VITYAZ! 9th of January 2009. They wrecked the game in Chekhov after Bardin’s [Avangard GM] command… Because he needed to ‘compen$ate’ cansellation of his lifetime suspension [he was suspended during the investigation of Cherepanov's death, but was later discharged]. CORRUPTION, COWARDICE, MEANNESS, DIRT. Enemies are near our gates! HATRED, FURY, REVENGE. All of these for them! 24 inglorious bastards! [photos of Avangard players and GM] 9/23/10. Vityaz – Avangard. 7PM. Blood on the ice.

The most interesting question is who actually made this video? Yeah, the video says it was made by Vityaz fans, but I’ve heard they don’t have guys who are experts in video editing. Some say it’s Avangard fans who want to give their team a reason to fight. But I, a proud Avangard supporter, don’t believe that theory. My opinion is that this was made by some third-party fans (Dynamo, maybe) who hate both teams and want to see them fight.

No matter who is behind it, this is one of the fiercest rivalries in sports, a blood-soaked hatred that makes any Caps-Pens beef look timid.  We’ll be following this story as it develops. What do you make of it?

We Miss You, Sergei.

Anyways, below the fold is a huge table full of stats and information on all the Former Caps in the KHL.

To me, fighting is as much a part of the game as still calling jerseys “sweaters”. Fighting serves its purpose as a deterrent from dirty play as well as physical play against a team’s superstars.

The Washington Capitals have no deterrent right now. None. You can argue that their offensive prowess and efficiency on the Powerplay is the deterrent, and I would agree…but really for contending teams only. My worry is that later in the season, teams out of the hunt that may have a score to settle with the Caps, aren’t going to care too much about giving up a couple of meaningless goals in a game that they’re already completely out of. There will be quite a few more Mike Duco’s in the league at that point looking to make a name for themselves with their teams. I’m not in any way advocating taking an enforcer on the playoff roster, this is strictly a regular season move.

The enforcer is no different to me then a defensive specialist in basketball, they are quintessential role players. It’s because of this that we expect them to win every fight, its what they do…I’m still struggling with what Wade Belek did to Donald last year.

I guess part of me is also tired of losing as well, I respect Brads and Erskine for standing up when it’s needed, but it’s not really fair to them. Why should they have to consistently go against guys out of their weight class? I’m tired of seeing my team pushed around (and or terribly bloodied); I’d like to see Sugden get a shot.

Let’s take a look at some real world enforcer analogies.

• Are you more inclined to push your luck at the bar if one of your friends used to be a college offensive lineman? Of course.
• Do you know anyone who was beat up as a kid when everyone knew their older brother often times got suspended for fighting? Probably not.
• Would you wear a Michael Crabtree jersey to an Eagles game in Philly with a stadium full of snow, if you were sitting next to Mr. T? Well, even if Mr. T was there, you still probably wouldn’t do something that stupid. But you get my point.

By Mark Randle