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Rayzor-v-Domi XXV-ish

March 22, 2018, 6:09 PM ET [15 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It started so innocently. It escalated so aggressively.


In the end, the impromptu reunion of Rob Ray and and Tie Domi was pleasant.


Dateline: Buffalo, NY. Thursday March 22.

The Scene: "Cellar Dwellar Cup"

Buffalo Sabres vs. Arizona Coyotes in a head to head battle of the losingest teams in the NHL.

Max Domi, Clayton Keller and the Yotes brought a 6-3-1 record (previous ten games) to Beefalo. The Sabres started slowly and allowed the Desert Dogs to dominate the puck for much of the game. In the end, the Desetrt Dogs won a rather boring and unisnpired effort by both teams by a 4-1 score. The Sabres retained the belt as 31st place team in the NHL. Both teams are hoping to win the NHL Draft Lottery for the opportunity to select Frolunda wunderkind Rasmus Dahlin with the first overall pick at the June entry draft.







While the on ice play was bad hockey, it was an off ice observation and a chirp heard round the hockey world and Twittersphere that pinned the needle on my entertainment quotient.

Here's the deal:


During a TV timeout, Sabres color man Rob Ray was asked to commented by his partner Dan Dunleavy, my friend in sarcasm, rock-n-roll, and hockey on the video of his archrival about Tie Domi being in the house to watch his son play the Sabres.

Without hesitation, Rayzor told Dunleavy “There’s Tie Domi with the toque on. Trying to act younger than he really is”.

To know Ray and Domi is to know that both men hated one another.

Rayzor then regaled Dunleavy with an epic anecdote about a fight that he and Domi had in a hotel room in Montreal. After much prompting from Dunleavy, Rayzor gave up the goods. Ray and Domi were repped by the same agent who put the two fighters in the same hotel room at the NHL Draft. Bad idea. Rayzor said he and Domi exchanged words, and puvhes that night in Montreal.

What the hell was that agent thinking??!

Their bloody battles began in the Ontario Hockey League and then spilled into the National Hockey League. Their fights were the things of legend. Ray played for the Cornwall Royals while Domi played for the Peterborough Petes and Newmarket Saints. Both men had seasons of 250+ PIMs in juniors which meant they loved to terrorize opponents and beat them up.


The Sabres-Leafs rivalry was extra spicy back in the day because the actual game became the under card for the Ray-v-Domi fist fights! Rayzor and Domi never, ever disappointed. The gladiators pounded the snot out of one another with anger and brutality. They were old school players who knew and accepted their individual roles. They were the enforcers. The badasses. Before the NHL instituted the idiotic Instigator Rule, fighting sorted out all of the shenanigans and helped to release the high tension and pressure between the players. Not like the pillow fights, scrum barking and face washing of today's NHL. If you had a beef with a pigeon who ran your goalie or took liberties wiwth your super stars, you grabbed him and punched him in the face 15 times until he and his team took notice. Then, the hockey game began and the pace of play picked up. Don't get me started on the assinine Instigator Rule. I have to remind myself that I grew up in an era when NHLers didn't wear buckets, the majority of fans ripped darts while chugging beers in the lower bowl at The Aud and Sabres fans would never be caught dead cheering for their team to lose games to strengthen their draft position.

I'm old. I'm cranky. Now get the hell off my lawn before I cross check you across the back with my wooden hockey stick.

I digress.


Rayzor chirped Domi hard. I'm certain that Domi received a text or ten, plus Twitter DMs from a friend informing him of Rayzor's chirp of his fashionable toque and desire to dress younger than he really is.




Here's a sampler platter of the hatred and vitriole that Ray and Domi brought to each head to head matchup they played against one another during the their NHL careers.




Ray and Domi fought 24 different times during their NHL careers. They fought approximately 8 times while in junior hockey. That's a lot of knuckle sandwiches!


Late in Wednesday night's game, with the Desert Dogs on cruise control, Tie's son Max Domi challenged Sabres heavyweight Jordan Nolan to a fight.

Bad idea, Max.

Nolan is seven inches taller and weighs 40 pound more than Domi. Nolan wouldl have speed bagged Domi were it not for a technicality. No question about it.

My guess is Max was trying to show old man Tie how to chuck the knucks in the new school.

The experiment blew up in Max's face when Nolan obliged and dove after Domi to begin the fight. In one fell swoop, Max tied up Nolan's left arm and bear hugged him for dear life. The diminutive Domi was seen talking to burly Nolan as the officials intervened. Max likely was say "thanks for not busting my face in front of my old man". Max tapping out likely didn't sit well with the old man. Sabres fans gave Max the business, and rightly so. Don't challenge a pit bull to a fight if you are a Yorkie right.


Like all hockey players, Rayzor has a postgame routine where he walks across the ice and exits at the zamboni doors. This allow Rayzor to head to the parking lot to begin hi sdrive home.

Never in a million years did Rayzor expect to see his old archrival Tie Domi lurking in the shadows in the zamboni entrance as he was heading home after punching out after his shift.

Ray-v-Domi XXV nearly jumped off on Wednesday night. Nearly.

I have to hand it to old Domi, Rayzor was stunned and shocked to get a shot to the chest and Domi's meat hook on his shoulder. Watch the video closely. Rayzor was none too pleased at the surprise approch by Domi. It took Ray a couple of seconds to get his bearrings. Im guessing Rayzor would have dotted Domi's jaw with a righ-left combo were it not for the familiar face of the Sabres team securuty man being close at hand. Luckily for Domi, Rayzor rebounded well and played along with the prank. That exchange could have ended U-G-L-Y for all parties concerned.

This @Ottobot12Pat video popped up on Twitter and documented the whole Rayzor-Domi kerfuffle. Listen for the "You wanna go pretty boy" beak job. Classic.








I was thrilled when Domi liked my tweet about the game within the Sabres-Dogs game.




Domi showed true class and repsect for Ray when he tweeted his version of the "incident".





Memo to Sabres management:


For future Sabres-Dogs games in Buffalo, lets let Razor-v-Domi chirping and punching each other be the headlining main event and the hockey game be the warm up act.



Thanks to Rayzor and Domi for adding some caliente salsa to an otherwise boring Sabres-Desert Dogs game.



Much respect.




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