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January 06, 2007

Hockey's Toughest Ten

Murray Greig of the Edmonton Sun recently took it upon himself to rank to the top 10 tough guys in hockey history.

Its tough to argue with his selections:

1. Gordie Howe

Arguably the greatest forward in the history of the game, Mr. Hockey was also - indisputably - the best fighter.

2. John Ferguson

Fertie had his mile-wide mean streak and ability to throw bombs with both hands made him the league's No. 2 heavyweight (behind Howe) throughout his career.

3. Dave Semenko

Wayne Gretzky's personal bodyguard would have been a force to contend with in any era. Big, incredibly strong and suprisingly mobile on his skates in the close confines of a fight, his specialty was getting an iron grip on the other guy's sweater and then pumping jackhammer jabs to the face to render him senseless.

4. Orland Kurtenbach

Kurtenbach was a master at luring opponents inside to try to tag him, for which he inevitably made them pay by landing the best uppercuts the NHL has ever seen.

5. Bob Probert

Probert's reputation was made in two memorable tilts with Tie Domi

6. Dave Schultz

"The Hammer" was the leader of the infamous Broadstreet Bullies and the player most responsible for the "Philadelphia flu" that mysteriously infected visiting players during warmups at the old Spectrum.

7. Dave Brown

At six-foot-five and 225 pounds, he was usually bigger than the guys he beat up - but he did so with a combination of panache and fluid punching ability rarely seen before or since.

8. Marty McSorley

McSorley was one of the first NHLers to be tutored by a professional boxing trainer, and it paid off in spades.

9. Stu Grimson

Like McSorely, "The Grim Reaper" was another tough guy whose fighting ability improved dramatically over the course of his career.

10. Frank Beaton

Small by heavyweight standards (five-foot-10, 190 pounds), Beaton was a bonafide bomber who could pummel an opponent non-stop for a full minute, then turn around and do the same to another one ... and another one. The WHA was like that.

Greig goes on to named "the best of the rest," including surprisingly Bobby Orr, and the worst.

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