NHL enforcer Eric Boulton interview/feature

Published in Inside Hockey Magazine and The Examiner – March 3, 2009

Originally from Detroit, Tom is a Los Angeles based writer covering the NHL. His NHL material has been published in several national magazines including The Hockey News (Canada) and USA Hockey Magazine as well as the New York Daily News, Washington Times, Men’s Book and 360 Thrashers Magazine. Contact Tom at tom@tomferda.com

ATLANTA – Like it or not, many NHL fans come out to see the fights. There’s a reason hard-nosed players like Donald Brashear, Riley Cote and Jared Boll are fan favorites. They represent what hockey is; a tough sport.

Atlanta Thrashers forward Eric Boulton is also no stranger to fisticuffs. After recording 131 points (65g 66a) and 1,374 penalty minutes in 319 minor league games, Boulton journeyed his way to the NHL where he has established himself as one of the game’s respected enforcers.

Recently, I sat down with the 7-year NHL veteran to get his feedback on the possibility of fight rule changes in the league.

“It’s unfortunate and sad what happened to that young man,” said Boulton, referring to the recent death of Don Sanderson who died from injuries resulting from a fight in the OHA. ”I think there could be a few rules put in place, like not removing the helmet and maybe implementing a rule that you can’t toss a guy [to the ice] in a fight. That’s where an injury can occur with a guy banging his head on the ice.”

During a recent interview NHLPA director Paul Kelly said they may suggest some rule changes, for example, if a helmet comes off during a fight, the fight should be immediately stopped by the referees.

I asked Boulton if it is realistic to expect two players in the heat of the battle to suddenly stop throwing punches if a helmet comes off, “No absolutely not [realistic]. I don’t like that rule at all. I don’t know how you would ever enforce that,” said the Halifax, Nova Scotia native. “Keep the helmets on, make sure guys don’t take them off before the fights; but that’s the only rule change I would suggest.”

In the NHL where there is no mandatory visor rule in place, players normally keep their helmets on unless they agree to remove them for dramatic effect to entertain the crowd. Boulton loses his head protection on occasion during his altercations but feels if that happens in the middle of the fight, they should let it go.

“The main thing in my opinion is never [purposely] take your helmet off,” said Boulton. “Helmets have been coming off during fights for years. Guys just should never remove them intentionally.”

While many people believe a ‘code of ethics’ does not exist at the minor league levels regarding fighting, Boulton feels an unwritten “code of ethics’ does exist between most NHL fighters.

“I would say 99% of the guys are respectable of each other and their jobs,” said Boulton. “We all know it’s a hard job to do and you need to have that respect. I’ve seen a lot of that this year, if a guy goes down, not hitting him or if a jersey goes over a head, not hitting him and stuff like that. I’ve also [occasionally] seen a few guys hitting a guy when they’re on the ice and definitely that stuff shouldn’t happen. That’s where guys get hurt.”

While many NHL players would dread taking on a 6-ft, 3-in. 234-lb. enforcer like Washington Capitals Donald Brashear, Boulton referred to his minute-long, toe-to-toe brawl with Brashear the night before like it was just ‘another day at the office’.

Boulton who is accustomed to bringing Thrashers’ fans to their feet with his rugged style, talked about the most severe injury he ever suffered in a fight.

“Worst injury [from a fight] was a little crack in the face, a broken bone between my nose and my eye here,” he explained while pointing at the crooked spot on his upper bridge. “I had to put on a visor and played with it on for 6 weeks then took it off, it was nothing serious.”

Broken nose. Nothing serious. Just another ‘day at the office’.

Contact Tom via email: tom@tomferda.com