2002 - 2003 FIGHTCARD

 
 Photo Sept 24, 02 vs Vancouver
Mike Brown, Round II
 
Well, it's been awhile since Georges dropped the gloves and it's been even longer since he dropped them at the 245 pound mark.  However, as expected it went well. 

The fight was all Georges. Brown hardly threw a single punch.  Georges connected with two very good punches.  One of them landed flush on Brown's ear and I wouldn't be surprised if his hearing is a little worse now than it was a day ago. 

A nice clean decision for Georges in his first fight after losing the weight.  I have to admit I was a little nervous about how the weight loss would effect his fighting but to me it seemed like his punches had more pop behind them and that could make him even more dangerous.


Photo Oct 26, 02 vs Anaheim
Kevin Sawyer, Round III
For the third time in less than one calender year these two went toe to toe.

This one happened on both players first shifts of the game.  The puck was dropped and the gloves came off.  This was quite a good fight.  All Georges early but Sawyer came back and landed what looked to be a pretty solid shot. Georges came back throwing more punches but Sawyer really hung in well.

Give Georges the edge with both guys landing good punches in a very good scrap.


  Nov 03, 02 @ Chicago
Shawn Thornton, Round II
I don't think Georges wanted this fight.  He has been playing alot and with his team up 2-0 this fight was not necessary, but just like the last time these two fought Thornton jumped Georges and gave him no choice.

This time he jumped Georges off the faceoff and was able to get in a few early shots but once Georges got his balance he came back with some good lefts and overpowered Thornton.

Give Georges the edge in this one.  He did a good job coming back from the unfair start.


Photo Nov 08, 02 @ NYI
Eric Cairns, Round II
 
Eric Cairns is one big strong tough guy but he doesn't seem to be a big fan of going with Georges.  Their last fight wasn't much and neither was this one.  Georges got Cairns' helmet off really quick and just started to throw the lefts when Cairns conveniently lost his balance and fell down.  Georges looked to get in about three lefts.  Not the hardest shots but Cairns probably felt them.

 Photo Nov 27, 02 @ Columbus
Jody Shelley, Round III
 
This was Georges first fight since he injured his left wrist.  It was a given that it would happen after the Oilers went up 2-0 early.
The two squared off and when they came together they traded a few decent shots.  Georges lost his balance but managed to get back up and continue.  Neither guy landed anything big.  Could probably call it a draw but could argue edge Shelley. 
I'm not sure if Georges was 100% confident in his wrist and that could have effected him a little.

  Dec 30, 02 @ Phoenix
Darcu Hordichuk
 
A long stare down off of the face off before these two dropped the gloves.  They squared off but Georges slipped on a stick causing him to poke Hordichuk in the eye which made Hordichuk unable to see out of his contact.  Georges,  as always. showed great class and backed off and the linesman came in but it was obvious that they would go as soon as their minor penalties expired.

As soon as these two came out of the box the gloves dropped again but this time, unfortunately for Hordichuk, the contact was firmly in place.  Georges got his helmet off and smoked him with several hard left hands, the last of which appeared to land very solidly.  He may have knocked the contacts clear out of Hordichuk's head with some of those shots.

This was Georges first fight coming off a series of injuries and he looked good.  I was wondering when they dropped the gloves why Hordichuk would fight Georges and I think now that he may be thinking the same thing.


  Jan 02, 03 vs Minnesota
Matt Johnson, Round VII
 
Johnson hit Marchant and in came Georges.  As usual Johnson grabbed on for dear life and showed little interest.  Georges may have landed a left but nothing damaging.  Eventually the two fell to the ice.  You could give Georges an edge for landing the only punch and more importantly for showing an interest in actually fighting and not hugging.

I'm not sure why Georges wastes his time with this guy.  Johnson appears to have no interest in opening up and really going at it.  However, it was nice to see Georges react so fast to a teammate being hit.


  Jan 02, 03 vs Minnesota
Matt Johnson, Round VIII
 
Georges hit Johnson behind the play and skated away.  Johnson caught up and hit Georges and then off came the gloves for the second time in the game.

Johnsons' hugging was even worse in this one.  Neither guy threw a punch but Georges wrestled him down and got the crowd going.  He also got the team going because they played well right after the fight.

Draw in a crappy fight.  Actually pretty much a non-fight.


Photo Jan 13, 03 vs Columbus
Jody Shelley, Round IV
After a Columbus goal and a Shelley hit on Cleary, Georges came out and went right for him.  After a few seconds of indecision Shelley finally dropped the mitts.

Georges grabbed hold and was able to land a couple lefts with Shelley throwing wild rights. Not sure if any of Shelley's landed but at most maybe one weak shot.  The two kind of lost their balance and went down.  Could argue edge to Georges or draw because the fight was pretty short.

These two are becoming a given just like Laraque vs Grimson used to be.  Currently I think that Shelley is Georges main rival, a spot formally held by Grimson.


Photo Feb 11, 03 vs Toronto
Wade Belak, Round IV
Wade Belak is in my opinion a top 10 fighter in the NHL but in this game I lost a lot of repect for him when he pummeled Dan Cleary after a little pushing match.  Probably shouldn't beat on guys like that for no real reason.

On Belak's first shift after that fight Georges went after him as soon as the puck dropped.  I've never seen two guys drop their gloves from farther apart.  When they get together it was a lot of clutching and grabbing like all of their fights have been.  Both guys landed a couple punches but nothing very big since they were in close quarters.  The fight ends as Georges slams Belak to the ice.  I call this one a draw.

Georges looked very frustrated at Belak's holding on.  He was trying hard to break loose but just couldn't.  Belak has been quite successful against Georges but none of their fights have been good.  Belak seems quite content to hold on as tight as he can.


  Feb 18, 03 vs Pittsburgh
Steve McKenna, Round III
 
For the first time in the three times these two have met they actually had a good fight.  With the Oilers down Georges went looking and McKenna accepted.

The fight started with both guys throwing and McKenna looked to land 1 or 2 decent right hands but then Georges got the left going and landed some decent lefts.  As the punches started to land, McKenna got turned around and Georges landed one more good punch to the back of McKenna's head before the refs came in.

Georges could have seriously hurt McKenna when he turned his head but only threw the one punch.  Georges takes the win in this decent scrap.


  Feb 20, 03 vs Detroit
Maxim Kuznetsov
 
No this isn't a mistake. Georges did fight Kuznetsov.  The Oilers were getting pummeled and Georges wanted to do something and unfortunately for Kuznetsov he was the biggest guy in the Wings line up at 6'6"  so he was the one who Georges went after. 

The camera got in a little late and Kuznetsov was holding on for dear life.  He actually did a decent job tieing Georges up but Georges was able to get in some decent shots before the linesman got in.  When the fight ended Kuznetsov looked like he had a cut or mark under his eye which must have happened before the camera got over.  This was a win for Georges but give full credit to Kuznetsov for dropping the gloves.


  Feb 23, 03 vs Atlanta
Jefff Odgers
 
Georges hammers Snyder into the benches and in come Odgers to his teammates aid.  Odgers was able to get Georges jersey up and land 3 decent shots before Georges is able to get his jersey back down.  But when that jersey came down the hard lefts started flying and Georges landed a bunch of them before Odgers went down. 

A great fight with Georges getting the win.  Jeff Odgers is a smaller guy who is very tough but he was just outmuscled in this one.


 Photo Feb 27, 03 vs St Louis
Reed Low, Round III
 
Probably could have predicted this one.  The first part of this fight was all wrestling before Georges was able to get Low's helmet off.  Once the helmet came off the lefts started flying and Reed started running.  No, seriously! He turned his back and pretty much tried to skate away.  Georges was throwing big lefts trying to hit the moving target but only grazed a couple.  Nothing huge landed but still a clear win for Georges.  He was in control and Reed just cowered.  I've never seen a fight be so one sided where no huge punches landed. 

This was one of the most pathetic performances I've ever seen from a heavyweight.  Most guys will stand in there and trade shots even if they are outmatched, or at worse bury their head, but not run away.  He would have been better off eating those punches than running away in the eyes of most hockey fight fans.


  March 10, 03 vs Toronto
Wade Belak, Round V
 
Wade Belak is the one guy in the NHL that really seems to know how to fight Georges.  In their 4 previous fights Belak has 1 win and the other 3 were pretty much draws with maybe 1 of them having an edge to Georges.  Well, Belak now joins Stu Grimson and Matt Johnson as the only guys to fight Georges 5 times and this time things went a bit different.
 
Georges broke out on what was pretty much a 2 on 0 until Belak hauled down the other Oiler.  Georges went over to him and they started pushing and the gloves came off.  Georges missed with a left then Belak missed with a left.  Georges came back with two lefts, one of which may have landed.  Georges then came back with a big left to Belaks temple and it cleary stung and put Belak down.  This was a really short fight and at first it may not be clear that the punch put Belak down.  However, when you watch the fight again you can clearly see that the punch ended the fight.  If you still can't see that then put it in slow-mo and it is 100% clear.  I have seen people on boards say this fight was a draw.  Not even close and I will not accept any e-mails claiming I'm a homer. Just watch it again.  
 
This was Georges first clear win over Belak and it must have felt good for Georges but the irony could be that there are some rumors that Belak may actually end up an Oiler as part of a Janne Niinimaa deal.  I guess they'd have to dance in practice.

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