Two new signings for the Bears

The Bears have signed a goon and a prospect today. Brandon "Sugar" Sugden is the goon; Dylan Yeo is the prospect, if you couldn't tell.

Yeo had a good year in the ECHL, and I hope that he'll find room on our crowded blue line this year. Sugden is the player that I'm excited about. I have a great fondness for heavyweight fighters. The defining moment of my hockey career came during my 8th grade year. Watching my local team, the "North Dakota" North Stars, play the hated Blackhawks one night, I saw this:



By the way, the station broke for commercials three times before they got the ice cleared. (The above YouTube clip shows less than half of the fight time.) And if that wasn't enough, a month or so later, my local college team was playing the Wisconsin Badgers, and this happened:



And my love of the fight began. Youth hockey had always been rough. When a mite misses a check, he's really not averse to throwing a stick at your skates. Bone rattling board checks weren't uncommon. Face washes were a fact of life. After those two incidents, everything in youth hockey in North Dakota changed. Everybody on the team can get in on a tussle. Really?? Count us in! Plains hockey at it's best.

Let's just say that being the tallest and strongest guy on the team, I had my role in life written for me. Hit everyone that had the puck, just had the puck, is about to receive the puck, and anyone who was behind the ref. This type of play gave me a decent varsity high school career and a look from Div III colleges. I gave up the game at that point, big fish, small pond story and joined the military, but my love of the fighting part of the game has never died.

I can appreciate skill, though I never had much. I can appreciate speed, same story. I absolutely love the grinder. The guy who has to work harder than everyone else on the ice and only gets 4 shifts a game. The guy who the coach sends out against the best player with the unsaid instructions. When you only get 5 minutes a game and you're out against the skill guy, you know what to do. Run him over, and over, and over, but don't let him score. These are the meat and potatoes guys of the game. Usually only appreciated by their teammates, they are the heart of a club. I hope that Sugdan is as good as advertised. Based on his one punch of Bonvie in this video, I think he might be.




Oh, and if the Bears can't decide on an anthem singer, Chris Rahn found out that Mr. Yeo can be an adequate fill in.