January 18th, 2014 will live in infamy for hockey fans. To jog your memory, 10 years ago, the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks partook in their infamous line brawl in a meaningless January regular season game. Ten years after the brawl took place, Brian Burke, who was the the Flames’ President of Hockey Operations at the time, offered some interesting behind-the-scenes details on the brawl and why it started.
Hartley told Burke he was starting the enforcers, but only to make a statement
Burke kicks off his segment on the 32 Thoughts Podcast by talking about the morning of the fight and mentions that Bob Hartley told him ahead of time that he was going to start his enforcers but that he didn’t want to start a brawl.
Burke recalls that Bob Hartley came up to him the morning of the game and asked to talk to him. He says that Hartley gave him a heads-up on the starting lineup and told Burke “I want you to know I’m starting the big boys (Brian McGrattan and Kevin Westgarth).” To which Burke asked if the plan was to start and I quote “a rodeo”. At this point, Burke says that Hartley denied any bad intentions and specifically said he told his team: “Tonight you are hockey players, you play hockey, you do not fight”
Burke then pushed Hartley for a reason why he was starting his enforcers if it wasn’t to fight to which Hartley replied he was just trying to make a statement but he did not want a brawl. At this point, Burke said he told his then-assistant general manager Craig Conroy they better get upstairs in the box before the puck drops so they don’t miss anything.
Hartley may have lied to Burke about his true intentions
Despite Hartley promising Burke that there was no intention for a brawl and that he was only starting his enforcers to make a statement, Burke later found out that this wasn’t the truth at all. Burke recalls that during warmups, Westgarth went right up to Kevin Bieksa who was with the Canucks at the time and told him “We’re coming for you as soon as they drop the puck.”
Burke then mentions that he had no idea Westgarth had done that in warmups and he didn’t find out until after the fact when he had already been fined $25,000 by the NHL for instigating the fight. In other words, Burke had no idea the true goal was to start a brawl as Hartley had essentially lied to him.
John Tortorella started his enforcers to match up with Calgary
Burke recalls that someone told him that Tortorella obviously found out who the Flames were starting and decided to counter them by starting their enforcers as well. The way Tortorella apparently put it sounds much better though. Burke stated that Tortorella said: “They’re dressing their idiots, so we’re gonna start ours.” He also mentioned that someone told Tom Sestito, who started the game for the Canucks, that Tortorella had said this.
Burke taught Ladislav Smid a lesson on fighting
Burke then talked about a humorous exchange after the brawl with then Flames defenceman Ladislav Smid. He mentioned that Smid, in particular, took quite a beating during the brawl and afterwards he went up to Smid and asked him how the brawl was and Smid told him “Oh it was very exciting, he punched me seven or eight times” To which Burke replied “It’s more fun when you hit them back Laddy, it’s way more fun to land a punch” and Smid just replied and said: “It was very exciting.”
McGrattan prevented a full-on coach brawl
If you’ve seen the clips of the brawl and aftermath, you know that things got even more heated in the hallway to the dressing room as Tortorella got into it with the Flames roster as they went back to their dressing room. One note, in particular, Burke mentioned was that we should all be thankful McGrattan was standing at the door to the Flames room. Here’s what he said:
“Thank god Brian McGrattan was standing there, cause Tortorella was gonna go in [the Flames dressing room] and go right after Bob Hartley and Brian McGrattan said: “No, I can’t let you go through.”
Brian Burke on the Flames, Canucks brawl
A day worth remembering
Events like these rarely occur in the sport anymore, for better or for worse, and in this case between the Flames and Canucks, both the lead-up and the aftermath made for one of the most memorable games in the modern era.
