Most hockey fights happen during games when teams want to even the score or retaliate for a bad hit. But during Blues practice Tuesday morning, it was two teammates who dropped the gloves and threw some hard punches.
According to the Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and former Capital Zach Sanford were in an intense battle drill and tempers boiled over.
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Bortuzzo has been in 22 fights compared to Sanford’s one, and he definitely got the best of his younger teammate.
Sanford got one punch in early, but Bortuzzo rained multiple haymakers down on Sanford’s head before the two were separated by assistant coach and retired enforcer Steve Ott.
Blues’ interim head coach Craig Berube said it was frustration boiling over. After a summer of promising trades and acquisitions, the Blues have been struggling. They’re currently second to last in their division and have been booed off the ice multiple times by their home crowd.
Berube on Bortuzzo-Sanford fight: “That happens. Guys are frustrated and they should be. So sometimes in practice it boils over and things happen … that’s what happens because they do care and they want to be successful and they want to win.” #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 10, 2018
NHL reporter Lou Korac said the fight wasn’t a friendly one and didn’t settle things between the two.
At the end of the fight, Bortuzzo stormed off, Sanford threw his helmet and chucked his stick towards Bortuzzo. This wasn't your playful little scrap. #stlblues
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) December 10, 2018
The Blues’ next game is Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers at home. Hopefully, they put as much energy into battling their opponents as they do each other.
Headline photo: FOX 2 St. Louis
