Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ryane Clowe says he didn’t want to fight Morrow

We covered plenty of the highlights from the Dallas Stars’ thrashing of the West-leading San Jose Sharks from Tuesday night, but we really didn’t get into meat behind the game. The Sharks actually came out playing well in the game, but Kari Lehtonen made some big saves early and the Stars were able to get ahead with a power play goal. From there, it was a snowball effect as Dallas continuously outplayed and outworked San Jose en route to a big 8-2 win.

There was also some extra-curricular activity that needed mentioning. It all seemed to start with Ryane Clowe’s hit of Stephane Robidas in open ice. It wasn’t exactly a blind-side hit, but it did seem to come well after Robidas had released the puck.

There were some ensuing fights in the game, one involving Clowe and Krys Barch, until Robidas was tossed from the game for a boarding penalty on Clowe that left him with a bad cut above his eye. It wasn’t necessarily a vicious hit -- and certainly not as bad as Wisniewski’s hit on Seabrook -- but it was boarding and Clowe was hurt, so Robidas was rightfuly given a misconduct.

What’s interesting about the situation is how Clow apparently turned down the chance to fight Brenden Morrow immediately after the original hit on Robidas. From David Pollack of the San Jose Mercury News:

“He moved the puck and I hit him with my shoulder,” Clowe said of the play, which didn’t warrant a penalty.

After that, Clowe said, Brendan Morrow skated by and asked him to fight.

“I told him I wasn’t going to fight him, that I’d fight Barch,” said Clowe. “I probably should have fought him (Morrow), but I have a hard time fighting guys who are the top players on other teams. I don’t know.”

Morrow isn’t exactly a pushover when it comes to fighting, but I guess that Clowe felt it would be disrespectful to take on a top player on the other team. He certainly stood up for himself and the hit by taking on Barch, I guess. At the time, the game was just 1-0 in favor of the Stars so this wasn’t a case of the Ducks just looking to get after the Stars in a blowout, although that came later.

I guess you have to respect Clowe here. I’d still like to see him take on a player that challenges him, even if it’s the other team’s captain. If he pounds him, well then that’s Morrow’s fault for getting into something he couldn’t handle.