Fans at the North Charleston Coliseum were treated to one of the rarer instances in hockey on Sunday: a goalie fight.
Washington Capitals prospect and South Carolina Stingrays netminder Garin Bjorklund dropped his stick, blocker, and glove in favor of his bare hands as he duked it out with Greensboro Gargoyles backstop Nikita Quapp. The two pugilistic puck stoppers made a true spectacle of the occasion, choosing to dance at center ice.
Bjorklund connected with his first punch and eventually got the takedown decision. While lying on the ice, the two gentlemanly goalies shook hands before officials pulled them apart.
Bjorklund’s bout came during a stoppage in play that already featured a fight between Ryan Hofer and Greensboro’s Artyom Borshyov. The game devolved into chaos early, as the Gargoyles were called for two separate major penalties: one for elbowing, which saw Wade Murphy ejected in the first period, and another for boarding, which saw Patrick Kyte ejected as well.
The fight came 14:37 into the second period, and Bjorklund had made 19 saves on 20 shots before the rough stuff broke out. The two goaltenders were each assessed five-minute fighting majors and game misconducts for getting into a secondary altercation.
According to HockeyFights.com, Bjorklund hadn’t gotten into a fight during his junior career with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers and AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm, nor had he dropped the gloves as a pro. The 2020 sixth-round pick has spent the past three seasons in the Capitals’ organization, split between the Stingrays, Hershey Bears, and Capitals.
Bjorklund, who the Bears recently sent to South Carolina, was ultimately replaced for the rest of the game by backup Seth Eisele, who made 13 saves in what ended as a 4-2 victory for the Stingrays. South Carolina got goals from Josh Wilkins, Patrick Guzzo, and Simon Pinard (2) in the win.
At the end of regulation, the two teams had racked up a combined 159 penalty minutes. Hofer finished with the highest individual total (21), while Bjorklund (15), Justin Nachbaur (14), Romain Rodzinski (12), and DJ King (10) also finished in the double digits for the Stingrays.
