Habs defenceman had never been in a hockey fight until turning pro and joining the AHL’s Laval Rocket three years ago.
The Canadiens’ Jayden Struble admits he went home and watched a replay of his fight with Ottawa’s Nick Cousins after Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Senators at the Bell Centre.
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“I watched it, yeah,” Struble said with a big smile after practice Monday in Brossard. “It still fired me up when I watched it. Just hearing the crowd and seeing the guys … it still fires me up.”
Struble dropped the gloves just over a minute into the third period with the game tied 2-2 and landed a couple of solid right hands on Cousins, who fell to the ice. Cousins went to the locker room with a bloodied face and didn’t return to the game.
The fight was payback for what Cousins did to Canadiens rookie sensation Ivan Demidov during a pre-season game in Quebec City on Sept. 30. Struble also showed that the Canadiens — the youngest team in the NHL — won’t be pushed around or intimidated.
Late in the third period of the pre-season game that the Canadiens won 5-0 over the Senators, Cousins delivered a vicious two-handed slash to Demidov’s right hand after he had lost the puck. The NHL fined Cousins $2,148.44, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. The punishment — like most penalties from the NHL’s Department of Player “Safety” — was a joke for a deliberate attempt to injure Demidov.
Payback is a bitch, as they say, and Cousins found out Saturday.
“I think we’re a close group,” head coach Martin St. Louis said after the game. “I think we’re a pack. We have guys that can step up and take care of business and look out for one another.”
Fighting plays a much smaller role in the NHL these days and there are only a handful of players remaining who are in the league just because they can fight. The Canadiens have three guys who can play and fight — Arber Xhekaj, Josh Anderson and Struble.
“I think the days of the guys just being on the bench in case … I think those days are over, personally,” St. Louis said after practice Monday. “But you still need those guys, but they got to be able to play — and we have that.
“I think you still need a little bit of policing out there,” St. Louis added. “I think the staged fighting … I’m OK with that being out of the game. Because historically you have the two tough guys and they’re going to get their fight early and probably play 5-6 minutes. I think I’m OK with that being out of the game. But to have that still part of the game, I think it keeps guys honest.”
It’s important to offer a deterrent to guys like Cousins, who is the definition of a hockey rat and might think twice now before slashing Demidov again.
The face of Senators’ Nick Cousins during media interviews today in Ottawa after his fight Saturday night at Bell Centre with #Habs Jayden Struble. pic.twitter.com/T2THnEqvVU
While Xhekaj and Anderson learned the art of hockey fighting while playing junior, Struble played at Northeastern University in the NCAA, where there is no fighting in large part because players wear full facial protection instead of visors. Struble said he got into a few fights as a kid growing up in Rhode Island, but his first-ever hockey fight came two years ago when he was with the AHL’s Laval Rocket and fought Joseph Gambardella of the Utica Comets.
“It was an awful fight,” Struble recalled. “I was just throwing absolute haymakers, kind of off-balance. I still had one glove on. But I’ve gotten better, for sure.
“On-ice fighting is completely different,” added Struble, who has now had five regular-season fights in the NHL, according to hockeyfights.com. “It’s something you got to get used to. But I think I’m doing a pretty good job.”
Struble is built more like a football player than a hockey player at 6 feet and a chiselled 207 pounds. One of the reasons former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin selected Struble in the second round (46th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft was his physical strength. During the NHL Combine that year, Struble finished first in the bench press, grip strength (with both right and left hand), the standing long jump and one of two Wingate Cycle Ergometer tests.
Struble grew up as a big Boston Bruins fan and loved Milan Lucic as a tough guy. After turning pro, Struble figured fighting was something he could add to his tool belt. He has received some tips from Xhekaj and also sometimes wrestles with his 6-foot-4, 240-pound teammate before or after practices to learn more about different grips.
“That helps for the initial part, but you really just got to actually get into a couple (of fights) to see,” Struble said. “It’s different. You got adrenalin, everyone’s watching. You’re throwing real punches, you’re not just wrestling. It’s an adjustment factor, for sure.
“I always kind of knew that it was going to come at some point,” Struble added about fighting. “You just have to get into fights to get more comfortable. I’m a strong guy, I like to be physical, I like to do that. It’s just a matter of being comfortable, getting into a couple and gaining that comfortability on the ice.”
What’s it feel like after winning a fight like the one against Cousins at the Bell Centre?
“It’s unbelievable,” Struble said. “There’s nothing like it.”
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