Drop The Gloves: Canada's Toughest Hockey League 

Reminds me of the old joke: I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.

Shot 9 times?!?!? That dude is the hockey equivalent of 50 cent

There's tough and there's "I've been in 493 fights, and shot nine times tough" LNAH -Enlist today.

I'm Swedish, watching a film about the Canadian league with french sound and English subtitle, wtf do i do here?

Just figured out why we have free Healthcare

The french language and tough men is a combination that could only happen in Canada.

Fighting is part of hockey, it allows players to defend themselves and their team. You can never change that.

Unless you played you will never understand, these guys love the sport and they love what they do. Fucking beauties

When you aren't good enough to box professionally or play hockey professionally

You don't just play to fight. You play to win, and fight when you need to stand up for your teammates or yourself. That being said, I LOVED this documentary. Not a lot of people understand how these players view the game and how they live their lives. Really well done!

Notice how the people pushing the hardest to eliminate fighting are people who never played?

I used to play against a couple teams from the area when i played junior hockey, the teams we played always wanted to be physical and try to push us around; because we were from the other side of the boarder (which was understandable), but the second you got physical with them they always would try to fight immediately after any hit; they would fight to let send a message that if you hit one of us, you will have someone follow up on it, truest form of a hockey family (always loved it, it made it fun, so you would do it back; kinda like a pissing contest between us all to see who's got whose back more). Don't get me wrong it was a hell of a fun time, but it always seemed like at some point in the game they would stop caring about scoring and just head hunt people. Definitively give credit to these guys, it was always scary when you saw you were going up to Quebec or Montreal for a tournament, its a different game up there. I'll never forget a teammate and friend of mine who is pushing 6'7 on skates finally snapping, it was like someone woke up a sleeping bear first time in my life seeing someone throw two punches and knock two people out. But, there are always down sides to this kind of play, when the game starts to get to the point where the score no longer matters, people get sloppy, people get dirty, injuries happen. I got a bad knee on knee hit my last year before college shattered my hip. But that is the game, you go in knowing that it could happen to you. You move on from the last injury and better yourself for the next time you can go out. Love the sport, love the goons, love it all. Also i own a Laplante sharks jersey.

Ray Emery would fit in with this league.

I played in Buffalo NY and always played at the elite level as a goalie. I attended a tryout in Guelph Ontario, at the time a Junior A team, and could not believe the amount of fights in TRYOUTS. Yes I understood then ( mid 80's) that players knew if they did not fight, they would not make the team and it was back to Junior C club hockey. While I also knew that at that time, Junior A OHL was where most of the next NHL players were coming from, for a lot of guys, making the team meant a paycheck and it kept them out of the factories, mills and farms for work knowing that they had no shot at the NHL due to the NHL going through a major change. From goon hockey to European players starting to come in and the game itself became faster and more about goal scoring than entertainment. I settled for Junior B in the states. That was the beginning of the end of my hockey career. I should have stayed in Canada. LOL. Still the best sport on earth.

So much pain in Eric Laplante's voice. Being drafted in the NHL, he had a winning ticket in the lottery, but made some wrong decisions along the way.

Played the sport all of my youth and always at the highest level for my age , I can tell you with 100% truth that hockey has certain codes and if you play at a high level then you do what you need too do , know matter what ! Fighting helps keep games under controll and without it guys will be chopping each others heads off with their sticks , let them fight and not slash !

This is exactly the USHL back in 81-82. I played for the Waterloo Blackhawks. Came from an elite catholic high school in St Paul Minnesota. The only reason I made the team was because I fought in the first preseason game. What a league. Our coach smoked weed on the bus trips. Daily cocaine, weed, drinking, groupie women. It was a blast!

Fighting should never be removed from the sport, but there's got to be a middle ground. That DDT should never happen.

Lol Donald Brashear. People forget that the NHL was once a fighting league, the LNAH is just an old relic.

"North American Hockey League" Every team is in southern Québec.

ok, lesson learned, dont fuck with Canadian hockey players.

Fighting should happen when players are competing at a high level trying to win. Everyonw who has played hockey understands how frustration can boil over. Fighting for some type of cheap show isnt hockey. The game shouldnt come second to the fighting

"i went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out" Rodney Dangerfield [comedian]

Haha it's the league from the movie goon

This was great! I just wish their games were streamed so we could watch them in the states...Its like going to the fights and a hockey game breaking out....Thanks!

as i Canadian i can say that if your wondering where all the pent up rage ends up its in hockey

This just looks like boston and Montreal in the 70s not that shocking

“Live by the sword, get the best healthcare” -Oh Canada

i played in this league 2 games when i was 19 years old, and never again.

Just a few things to point out. St-Jacques is defenceman, not a forward. And the league average for ticket sales for each game during the playoffs this year, was over 2000 per game this for the first time in about 10 years, with less fights then ever before during the playoffs. The documentary is nice, but please get your facts straight , you're suppose to be journalists. Btw Laval and Trois-Rivières (the two places you been at during the video) have had the worst attendance in the league for 2 years straight, so they aren't exactly the standard bearer for the rest of the league.

Fighting and physicality is at the heart of hockey, everyone needs to get over it. If it's too tough for you leave...

If you were first cut from an east coast league team you'd be pretty pissed off too!

I love seeing fighting in hockey, it's a piece of the sport that could change a teams momentum and the outcome of a game. But if you go to a hockey game or watch it on tv JUST to see the fighting then in my honest opinion you are watching it for the wrong reasons. I'm not saying do away with fighting, so don't get me wrong because I love watching it as much as everybody else but what I am saying is you probably don't care much about the sport if that's the only reason you watch it.

I wish gary bettman would just go to an island with no wifi or any form of communication and just live there for the rest of his life

All you clowns commenting on how it's not real hockey have clearly never been to an LNAH game. The level of play is actually pretty high.

Great movie! Shows a side of hockey that we never see here in Sweden.

People who actually think this shit is better than NHL doesn't have true appreciation for the sport. People who are quick to point out that "Well, in the 70s/80s...." Dude, that sport has evolved. This is no longer hockey. There is no skill in this league. This is just a place where enforcers go to have fun.

How do you make a hockey fight documentary boring

Love to see the physio trying to heal a guy so he can go fight 😅

Fighting and concussions are a risk you have to take when you play hockey. And people don’t just fight because they want to, they fight to protect their team

Gotta give these tough men respect but, because of medical research into CTE, their days are numbered. Selling a few extra beers every game isn't going to pay lawyer's fees if something terrible happens.

Fier d'être québécois

20 years ago I used to go in St-Hyacinthe and Sorel to watch it. I remember the fights between Manuel Frechette and Jon "Nasty" Mirasty, it was an incredible show. The crowd was berserk, some excited and some enraged. My favorite call from a fan was , "Manges y l'foie!!" that would roughly translate to "Bite his liver off!!" 😂. Great times for sure but at some point I stopped going for some reason...

493 fights AND shot up!!! How anyone can argue that hockey is not the toughest ( and greatest) sport played by some of the most tough individuals to walk the earth!?

My dad played in this league in the early 2000s..he told me that his team was owned by a guy from the Hells Angels and before each game. The owner was bringing all the goons in “the special room”(thats how they called it) to give them a “little boost”❄️👃🏼before to go on lol

2:19 it's Kevin Owens!!!

J'avoue qu'un Québécois en tabarnak ça fait peur en criss

8:00 Guy is the white 50 Cent shot 9 times LMAO

What they won’t tell you is that hitting causes more concussions than fighting does, especially with the bigger equipment that skaters wear anymore.

What’s even scarier about fighting is the fact that the guy at 2:20 is still rocking a Bluetooth

Great Hocumentary! Thank you for posting it!

CALISSE quon est des malades : )

Fighting to entertain drunks is stupid, even the toughest guys get really hurt. Longterm injuries are brutal.

My man pulled out the ddt on the ice and now I’m a fan for life

I played in a city league and had to referee a few games , talk about a conflict of interests . There were two big guys who always went at it sometime in the game . They would would even be eye balling each other during the warm ups. They were 6' + and over 190 lbs. . I'm 5' 8" and 140 lbs. and a defensemen . When I referee's their game , I told their coaches and them I would give them 5 min. game misconduct penalties right from the get go . It did not matter ! I had to go to work the next day and it was hard enough to play hockey at night and go to work the next day. At least I had protection as a player . It is part of the game , just as checking is . One thing leads to another and the gloves are dropped . One player we had was amazing ! He was my size and did not wear shoulder pads ( Like Bobby Orr ) , a helmet ( until it was required ) and no shine pads . He was an amazing skater and had a great slap shot . The first time a goon went after him , we held our breaths ! He was out weighted and out sized . Before the gloves hit the ice , he hit the guy with four or five punches and knocked him out cold ! His father was a golden gloves champion boxer and he was boxing since he was 6 or 7 years old. No one bothered him again . We paid his yearly dues to play ! The fans love it and they pay the bills !

It's just impressive to me that they're on ice skates while fighting...

Be scarier to play there than the NHL lol

Omg. Ive seen him play in the ahl with the Barons! 19:00 They are one of my all time favorite teams!

You can play mean and still not fight every minute.

Old time hockey. Love it!

As a fan of a league with a similar skill level, fights are somewhat common here. The crowd always gets into it because we're all hockey fans, that's how the game works everywhere. We don't all go to hope to see out favorite enforcer drop the gloves and fight. We like it for excitement, but that has nothing to do with why most of us go to the games. We mostly go because we love hockey. We love the goals, amazing displays of skill, and for the people of age, beer. Most everybody likes the fights, but to say lots of people show up just for fights is plain wrong. We go because we get to watch hockey. For those who wonder what league I'm talking about: FHL. Go T-Birds :)

I'm old. I could play rough, skate, win faceoffs, set plays and score I really miss it. it is the speed of it. Greatest team sport ever. What I miss is the connection. i miss our goalie and our captain.

There's garage leagues and then there's barn leagues like these peppers.....

If we’re talking about a hockey league with no media attention, look at the Elite League in the UK. Never gets mentioned in the media but attracts up to 10k fans each game

I’m from Quebec and omfg I love hearing OSTI DE TABARNAK CASSE LUI LA GEULE CALISSE

Has anyone else been hooked on hockey fights for months lol they are great

Slap Shot legacy is alive and well in QC!

The concussion doesn't happen from fighting...it's the crazy mid ice/head down bulldozer hits that do it! The league knows this too!

Not really sure why other sports like to allude fighting or a random pile of bodies as "a scrum". A rugby scrum is actually a very intricate play with tight, precise movements that are under a lot of force.

i went see a few game .. with my dad .. with 2 of my highschool teachers ... when i was still in highschool ... we were only talking with SlapShot quotes .... good times.

This is how we play hockey in quebec tabarnack

As a hockey fan from the UK I'm surprised to be honest this league is still going as it has a terrible reputation around the hockey World from the videos I've seen over the years it just looks like wwe on ice.

For love of the game! Extreme edition. Wow.

I remember watching the sharks in 2008, and Danny Heatley was one of my favorites. Every time he got in a fight I was screaming at my screen for him to knock his opponent out. Fights are my favorite part of hockey and I wish the nhl would bring them back

Francis Lessard is certified crazy . Watched him go nuts before in the AHL. along with Dale Purinton

these guys are good hockey players tell how do you think they would do in your beer league?they would dominate and score every game.

The majority of injuries and concussions are not from fighting, they're from hitting the boards or getting checked incorrectly

There's this sport called Mixed Martial Arts - in this sport, there are is no game to distract the fans from the fighting. The object of the game in hockey is to put the puck in the net of the opponent's team - not to put your fists in the opposing team's faces as hard as you can

just hearing the name Brashear brings me back

Maybe the UFC should sponsor this and before each game there can be a fight with ufc judges. The team that wins the fight gets a point lol.

That was a good watch. Very interesting.

Don’t stop the fights in Quebec, let the gloves drop!!!!

Bunch'a Tough FrenchMen! ! lol. Constantly brawling like this can be really mentally traumatizing... as well as physically. How it will effect you're mental state doesn't necessarily matter how tough or mentally 'Hard" you are.. living day to day knowing that you're going to be bare knuckle fighting, taking monster knuckles to the face, getting concussions, breaking hands is a hard reality. BUT just like a boxer or MMA fighter.. it is ultimately THEIR own choice to play & fight. So if that's what they're willing to do.. let em do it.

yup good ole tough boys. make me proud to be canadian. i can't stop crying

Fighting is a part of the game. Fighting as a tactic has been reduced, but the raw emotion instantaneous fights will always be there.

These guys are like the charlsetown chiefs

Full contact beer league. Smh

where can i go see this?

I’m glad for a league like this... we can watch the NHL if we want to see skill and we can watch games in this league to watch some good fighting and hitting

someone show this to don cherry lmao

If people don't like it don't watch, why do snowflakes dictate everything for everyone

the real reason fighting is so rare in the NHL now is that the game is really being built around young players, speed, and skill. Teams have no room for enforcers anymore since their AHL/CHL teams usually have good enough young talent to make real point contributions in the NHL.

Respect to this league

Got a feeling hockey is going to be like basketball in a couple years. Refs love sucking that whistle.

The fact is there arent that many players getting injured in fights and having it in the game makes people more accountable to cheapshots or dirty plays and hence could cut down on injuries that way. It seems way more often injuries happen from dirty hits.... if someone knows they might have to fight after a dirty hit then they may avoid it all together. Im not saying fighting is a good thing, but just the fact that it can happen in the NHL keeps a certain level of respect and order in the game.

what year was this made, please??

This is the road I was headed down, loved being an enforcer slash defense... mess with my center or wing and it's over with!!

The majority of concussions in hockey come from the hits not the fighting

It's like the movie "slapshot"

Back in the 70's and 80's ...as a tender I had a few fights.LMAO I can say they never when I would get up set. But the fans loved every second of it. LOL