Goalie fights are extremely rare nowadays. Referees aren’t keen to let it happen, almost immediately stopping the two sides when they try to engage. Two goaltenders don’t just choose to go at it. It typically stems from the players in front of them engaging in scrums or full-on line brawls.
It has been over 25 years since the world has been blessed with two NHL goalies fighting. For Flyers fans, they’ve seen their goaltenders fight a few times. Ron Hextall was known for his temper in net and wasn’t afraid to go after anyone. He fought five times during his career and it didn’t matter if you were a goaltender or a skater.
The Flyers had another goaltender who wasn’t afraid to drop the gloves. While only one came in a Philadelphia jersey, Ray Emery is credited with 10 fights in his professional career, with three of them coming in the NHL. His last came with the Flyers in 2013 when he dropped the gloves with Braden Holtby. Though, it’s unfair to say Holtby had anything to do with the fight.
Things were getting ugly in Philadelphia and they were down big to the Capitals in the third period. Shortly after Joel Ward made it 7-0 in the third period, everything broke loose. The faceoff carried on as normal until some physicality in the Capitals zone led to Wayne Simmonds and Tom Wilson dropping the gloves.
It was a simple fight between two heavyweights. That was, until it wasn’t. Suddenly, Emery charged down the ice and came after Holtby, who was not a willing participant in the fight. Unfortunately, Emery didn’t care and repeatedly punched Holtby, hardly giving his opponent a chance to react.
This sparked even more fighting as Vincent Lecavalier dropped the gloves with Steve Olesky and Brayden Schenn fought Alexander Urbom. The final total of penalty minutes between the two sides after the brawl? 54 minutes. Unsurprisingly, Emery took the cake with 29 of those minutes. He earned a fighting major, instigator, penalty for leaving the crease, a regular misconduct, and a game misconduct.
And by the way, Emery was named the third star in this game. Holtby, despite recording a shutout, was not named one.
Having been in that building during this game, you might think that a 7-0 dismantling at the hands of a division rival wouldn’t be fun to watch. But seeing this all unfold made it one of the best games to watch. Take it from someone who was in that exact building to see this.
Despite what Emery did, he would not face any supplemental discipline because there was no rule in the rulebook that the league could point to in that situation. Aside from the fight itself, he was given the proper in-game punishment for leaving the crease and the instigator for starting the fight. A suspension for instigation doesn’t happen until a player has done it three times.
Emery didn’t help himself with the comments he made afterward, but again, he couldn’t be suspended for what he said. Even if he mentioned he essentially told Holtby to “protect himself” when the latter didn’t want to fight.
Emery would tragically pass away in 2018 at just 35 years old after drowning in a lake in his hometown of Hamilton. It came hours after participating in a charity event by former Flyer Zac Rinaldo. By all accounts, Emery was a great teammate and was a perfect mentor to Steve Mason, the team’s other goaltender at the time.
And while his fight may be viewed in different ways by different people, it showed how much he was willing to stick up for his teammates.
That will always be remembered.