Good morning, class. Our guest today is Jody Shelley of the San Jose Sharks, who will display the technical nuance of a hockey brawl by demonstrating the "sweater punch" against Eric Godard of the Pittsburgh Penguins:
Sweater punch ... jersey jab ... whatever you want to call it, this was textbook by Shelley. The pugilism fans on HockeyFights.com agree, overwhelmingly giving Shelley the win and breaking it down like the delightfully named "slshbleed" did here:
That is the way to use the sweater punch. They teach boxers to throw a jab and follow the jab with a straight right to the same spot that they throw the jab. That is what Shelley did. Shelley is having a good year so far.
Godard is too capricious. When he lands the big right he hurts people. Too many times, he can't get anything going like in this fight.
The game last night, a 2-1 win for the Sharks, left Penguins Coach Michel Therrien worried about production from all over this lineup. Pittsburgh's 11 shots on goal were tied for its worst total in franchise history, and Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin "appear to be pressing in the form of sloppy turnovers and penalties born of frustration."
One last note for hockey fight fans: Coach Wayne Gretzky of the Phoenix Coyotes has decided to move Todd Fedoruk (941 career PIMs) to the top line with Shane Doan and Olli Jokinen. Somewhere, Clark Gillies is smiling.
