Okay, the headline is absolutely clickbait, but we can’t stop laughing at what happened during the Utica Comets-Hershey Bears game on Sunday night. With the Comets winning the game 1-0, New Jersey Devils‘ Nikita Okhotiuk was ready to fight winger Mason Morelli in the second period. It looked like they were both ready to go, but the fight didn’t go as planned.
Okhotiuk is a big guy. He’s no Kevin Bahl, but at 6’1 and close to 200 lbs. he’s not exactly someone to easily mess with. Mason Morelli has almost the exact same measurements. This should be a good matchup when it comes to fighting. The difference is Okhotiuk has kind of a history where he can beat players up. Just look at what he did to a player while he was playing in Juniors for the Ottawa 67’s.
#NJDevils prospect Nikita Okhotyuk (2019 2nd/61st) with a HUGE hip check that leads to him absolutely manhandling a General in a fight. Okhotyuk connected with a heavy right to open the fight pic.twitter.com/2xGxUhmbXP
— MukhamadullinSZN (@NewJerseyDevi1s) January 19, 2020
So, when the Devils and Okhotiuk took on the Comets, and the fight happened, this happened.
If you blinked you missed Nikita's fight pic.twitter.com/znVzavTXSH
— Utica Comets (@UticaComets) February 28, 2022
Yeah, as you can see from the video, Okhotiuk when to lock up with Morelli, but he could never get a hand on him. Then, he just tries to swing on him like a boxing match, and he fails to hit him. Despite never landing a punch, Morelli goes down in a heap.
To be honest, if we saw that same uppercut attempt from Okhotiuk, we’d go right down too. That swing was scary.
It’s still pretty funny to see the state of fighting in hockey today. One might argue that Okhotiuk got a slap in, and that caused Morelli to go down. Morelli himself might say that, but we all know what happened. It was the smart decision to go down.
The Comets won the game 3-1 on two goals by Ryan Schmeltzer. It was a fun matchup as the Comets really needed two points after losing the first two games of the weekend. What was really interesting was seeing how Okhotiuk plays the game. The Devils could use some grit on the NHL side. Okhotiuk is someone who could make the team sooner rather than later if a few other parts of his game develop.