Continuing our series at khl.ru of the most popular action clips from the sixth KHL Championship, we give you the five most frequently viewed fights of the season.
This attempt by Josh Gratton to teach Alexander Svitov a lesson did not go entirely to plan, and probably put an end to the Canadian’s career in the KHL. While an experienced and respected fighter, he was clearly unprepared for this contest with the big Kazan man, and as a result suffered a crushing defeat from which he has never fully recovered.
Ilya Kovalchuk’s undoubted superstar status has certainly not made him soft, and he did not hesitate to join Jonas Holos in some hand-to-hand combat after Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-final series. It seemed the Petersburg captain was just letting off steam after the defeat and wanted to show the Railway guys that the battle was far from over. Nothing unique about the fisticuffs, admittedly, but the presence of Kovalchuk lends a little star quality to the incident.
There was an explosive start to this showdown between Dinamo Minsk’s Artur Gavrus and Traktor’s Igor Valeyev, although the pair’s team-mates and the officials managed to intervene before a clear winner could be determined. Still, full marks to both players for enthusiasm.
Perhaps it was frustration at the failure of Donbass to finish off the series against Riga in Game 6 which caused Clay Wilson to confront Marcel Hossa. If so, then the sight of blood on the Slovak’s face might have brought the American some comfort.
Living legend Sandis Ozolins was clearly annoyed that the Avangard players were not suitably awestruck in his presence, so first he tried to hammer some sense into Omsk captain Denis Kulyash, and then, just a matter of seconds after leaving the penalty box, found himself in another tussle with Maxim Goncharov.
