Former University of Maine All-American goalie Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins got into a goalie fight with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy in the National Hockey League’s Stadium Series outdoor game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Sunday night.
It was the first goalie fight in the 45-game history of the Stadium Series.
But Swayman, who is from Alaska originally, isn’t the only former Black Bear to make history with a fight.
Tereza Vanisova, UMaine’s all-time leading scorer in women’s hockey, tangled with Jill Saulnier last February in the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s first fight.
Unlike the Swayman-Vasilevskiy fight where the goalies dropped their gloves and took off their helmets/masks, Vanisova and Saulnier kept their gloves and helmets/masks on.
Vanisova was playing for Ottawa at the time and Saulnier was with the Boston Fleet.
Vanisova is now with the first-year Vancouver Goldeneyes.
The Swayman-Vasilevskiy fight came during the second period of the Lightning’s come-from-behind 6-5 shootout win over the Bruins.
There was a tussle in front of the Bruins net after Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel jabbed at the puck with his stick to try to pry it free from Swayman, who had squeezed his pads to make a save.
A pair of Bruins pulled Hagel away from Swayman and Swayman took exception and jumped on Hagel and began punching him.
Vasilevskiy skated down the ice to the red line and challenged Swayman so Swayman obliged, skating to confront him.
Both threw off their gloves and blockers and Swayman took off his helmet and motioned to Vasilevskiy to do likewise, which Vasilevskiy did.
They traded a series of punches before the on-ice officials intervened and pulled them apart.
“Fighting the biggest, toughest goalie in the league, so wouldn’t be the first choice, but I’m glad we got the first one out of the way,” Swayman told NESN after the game. “Probably retire after that.”
Swayman joked that he would “probably retire” after the fight and called Vasilevskiy a “worthy opponent.”
He said they had a nice exchange in the handshake line after the game.
“He wanted to win, which is good. So did I. That’s game respecting game,” Swayman said. “We see fights every single game, and just got that one out of the way.”
He said he motioned to Vasilevskiy to take his helmet off because he didn’t want to punch his helmet.
“Glad we didn’t do that,” said Swayman.
Vasilevskiy told ESPN that he saw Swayman “swinging the blocker” at a teammate and it was his instinct “just to run toward the red line.”
“And he accepted the challenge so, thanks to him, he gave me my first fight,” Vasilevski said about Swayman, as reported by USA Today.
Vasilevskiy is 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, which is an inch taller and 30 pounds heavier than Swayman.
“That was just an experience of a lifetime,” said the Russian goalie. “I’ll remember that for a long time. It was unreal.”
