If you're like me and your social media feeds are dedicated to almost nothing other than hockey, you might've come across video of an ECHL goalie fight that was making the rounds over the weekend. For most, they probably watched and thought nothing of it. When I saw that it featured the Greensboro Gargoyles, I did a double take and asked, "is that Nikita Quapp?"
As a matter of fact, it was Nikita Quapp. Sunday's tilt between the Gargoyles, the ECHL affiliate for the Carolina Hurricanes, and the South Carolina Stingrays was a spirited one. The game featured 173 penalty minutes and six game misconducts as South Carolina defeated Greensboro, 4-2, on home ice. However, there was only one moment that everyone was talking about.
It has been an interesting few weeks for the ECHL. The league took a pause as the players went on strike right after Christmas, but things were quickly resolved and the league returned to play late last week. The players must've been very ready to play because this was a wild affair when Greensboro and South Carolina took the ice on Sunday.
There had already been two players ejected from the contest when the inciting incident occured. In a 2-2 game late in the second period, a few players took exception to a play around the net, leading to a scrum. Seeing their opportunity, Quapp and Capitals goalie prospect Garin Bjorklund met a center ice to drop the mitts, sending the arena into a frenzy.
It wasn't a very long tilt, and Quapp ended up being pushed backwards by Bjorklund, but it was still a sight to behold. Both goalies were shown the door afterward, bringing new goalies into the game ice cold. South Carolina scored twice in the third period against Ruslan Khazheyev, giving the Stingrays a 4-2 win and dropping the Gargoyles to 7-15-5-1 in their inaugural season.
It's not every day that you see goalies drop the gloves. We've seen some come close plenty of times, and there are some famous examples throughout NHL history, but this one hit a little closer to home with a prospect within the organization squaring off. If you haven't already, seek it out and enjoy a brief yet exciting scuffle.