Crunch’s Sugden shows he can mix it up with big boys

Saturday, September 24, 2005
Aaron Portzline

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

At long last, Brandon Sugden got to throw down his gloves and put up his dukes.

Sugden, a Blue Jackets minor leaguer, has been the Syracuse Crunch enforcer the past two seasons, racking up 535 penalty minutes.

He has wanted nothing more than to impress the Blue Jackets during training camp with his ability to fight against NHLcaliber brawlers, but the opportunity didn’t arise until midway through the second period of the Blue Jackets’ 3-2 win over Detroit on Thursday.

That’s 10 days of camp and no fights.

"My roommate (right winger Joe Motzko) is happy," Sugden joked. "I won’t be beating up on him anymore."

Sugden took care of Detroit’s Dan LaCouture. It wasn’t pretty, at least for LaCouture.

Sugden, after dancing for a minute to get a read on the lefty LaCouture, landed four big rights, then flipped LaCouture aside like a rag doll.

"Obviously, he isn’t a heavy, heavy, heavyweight," Sugden said. "But it was a fight.

"I asked him and he said he wanted to go. I give him props for showing up, putting on a show."

The merits of fighting in the NHL have long been debated, but the Blue Jackets’ physical play and energy level clearly picked up after Sugden’s fight.

"That’s my job," Sugden said. "Well, part of it, anyway.

"Hopefully, you win the fight big and you get the boys up."

During the first week of camp, Sugden and Blue Jackets enforcer Jody Shelley were kept on the same team during intrasquad scrimmages to keep them from fighting each other.

Sugden, though, knows a return to Syracuse is likely.

"Obviously, (Shelley’s) got the job I want," Sugden said. "Hey, maybe there’s room for two (enforcers) on the roster, because I don’t think I’m knocking him out of his spot."