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Cam Janssen challenges Krys Barch to a fight via Twitter

Cam Janssen, Krys Barch

St. Louis Blues’ Cam Janssen, left, and Dallas Stars’ Krys Barch fight in the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

AP

People set up plenty of things with each other on the Internet. Sometimes, a timid couple will plan a first date through winky emoticons and instant messages. Maybe someone will find a job on Craig’s List.

But rarely will you hear about people setting up a fight, especially two guys who aren’t hiding behind some sort of pseudonym.

That’s exactly the odd case with St. Louis Blues enforcer Cam Janssen and Dallas Stars tough guy Krys Barch, as the two basically made a play date (or maybe a punch date?) on Twitter today.

In case they decide to take it down, I thought I’d get a screen shot of each comment in case a Shadowy Figure attempts to make the exchange evaporate into the Google Cache ether. First, let’s start with the challenge issued by Janssen.

(Do click on this link to his Twitter account to marvel at the cleverness of his background photo, which actually is the same AP picture you see above.)

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James O’Brien

Barch did not seem phased by the digital gauntlet throwing, though, as he casually accepted Janssen’s challenge.

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James O’Brien

Perhaps the strangest thing, though, is that agent Scott Norton helped to fan the flames on Twitter, as well. Here is one of his comments on the situation.

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James O’Brien

Odd stuff, but hey, it might be easier to sell tickets to the next Stars-Blues game considering the fact that a heavyweight bout is nearly bound to happen.

Judging by the fact that the league instituted an instigator penalty, one must think that executives are far from pleased with what is a pretty amusing scenario for everyone else involved. Could we see the first ever Twitter-related penalty in NHL history?

One thing’s for sure: this won’t be the first time these two tangled. Check out this brutal, haymaker-filled bout the two engaged in a November 2009 game. (The folks at Hockeyfights.com awarded Janssen “the win” with 58 percent of the votes.) We’ve seen a lot of ground broken on Twitter in the last few years, but will someone have to update “The Code” to legislate 140 character barbs going forward?

Finally, since you made it this far, here’s a video of a three minute fight featuring Cam Janssen. It’s not the bout with Barch, but are you really going to complain about a fight like this? Enjoy.