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Enthusiastic crowd for Hockey Enforcers battle
Canadian Press 8/27/05

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — Link Gaetz, who appeared to be one of the crowd favourites as the inaugural Battle of the Hockey Enforcers threw their first punches Saturday, went down twice in the opening fight and lost to Steve Reid.

A crowd of about 2,000 people in the 6,000-seat arena, including dozens in ice-side VIP seats costing $200, greeted the first fight enthusiastically as Gaetz and Reid skated onto the ice and awaited introductions.

The fighting ice area was reduced to blue line to blue line with temporary side boards and a referee and two linesmen supervised the rules.

Big-screen monitors were set up at each end of the arena and a female host on the pay-per-view station introduced each fighter as if it was a boxing match, giving their height and weight as the crowd listened to the fighters' comments that were pre-recorded the day before.

Gaetz, who played a few seasons in the NHL with Minnesota and San Jose, took several hard shots from Reid and went down twice. He appeared dejected at the end, shaking his head as the announcer gave the decision to Reid.

Prince George resident Gary Olinek was happy to be in attendance.

"I'm looking forward to seeing it,'' said Olinek, sitting in his $52 seat prior to the event.

"But I don't need to see someone getting their head bashed in.''

The crowd clearly loved the show, cheering and screaming whenever one player caught the other with a hard shot to the head. When some of the fighters took too long to start throwing punches, the crowd let them know with resounding boos.

When the second fight, between Mike Sgroi and Jason Simon, was stopped early because Simon appeared to be taking a beating, the crowd shouted obscenities and drowned the public address announcer out with boos.

The hype was in full volume as each fighter entered from a corner of the arena with a blast of dry ice enshrouding them along with screams from the crowd.

The one-ice officials tried to keep the fisticuffs from getting ugly. The 60-second fights were stopped whenever one man's helmet came off, or whenever one fell to the ice.

A panel of judges seated on the side boards decided the winners, with some fights being declared unanimous and others a split decision.

In the early going, the clear local favourite was city resident Trent Potskin, who got the fans to their feet several times in his unanimous win over Eddie O'Toole.

Firstly, Potskin should have lost to O'toole.

Secondly, the crowd didn't love the whole thing. They were yelling "BULLSHIT BULLSHIT" after the second fight was stopped prematurely.

Thirdly, the entire thing was disorganized and the fights were shitty and they were UFC type gloves and there was a 43 year old guy WHO SAID HE HADN'T BEEN ON SKATES IN 15 YEARS!!

Derek Parker fought 5 times I think and only lost one controversial decision to the eventual winner. Sgroi fought twice and somehow was in the final against Mayrand.

It was pathetic because most of the fighters ended up quitting after losing a fight. Link Gaetz lost 20 pounds and still came in at 255. Link couldn't stand up and wasn't even hit hard and somehow they said he couldn't continue because of a concussion? It was a poor event.

BTW, I watched at a friends house and he got a discount so I didn't really have to pay much to see it. I had low expectations and somehow they weren't even met.