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5/21 ICE WARS INTERNATIONAL ON FITE.TV REPORT FROM ALBERTA, CANADA

Ice Wars International

5/21/22 - Enoch, Alberta, Canada

Streaming on FITE.tv

So I got an email from FITE this week and it said the following:

“Who will be crowned KING OF THE RINK?

Don't miss the 8 man heavyweight tournament along with 2 special attraction grudge matches. The winner is CROWNED King of the Rink! Get ready for the best part of hockey, without the hockey!

Here are the 8 man tournament participants announced thus far:

"Diamond Hands" Daniel Amesbury

Justin "Bonesaw" Sawyer

"Cowboy" Kurtis Swanson

Chase Tippin

Corey "Alley Train" Allen

"The Beast" Jean-Francois Lafrance

Travis Levitsky

Our special grudge matches:

Keegan "Paddywhack" McGraw vs  Justyce "Haymaker" Smoke

Travis "Loose Cannon" Cech vs Bo "Jawbreaker" Cornell

*fight card subject to change”

Why yes, I would to consume this content, please.

My immediate response was to hit up Mike Johnson to ask to cover this. If you’ve followed some of my other articles, you know I have a sheer fascination with “strange” sport PPV’s. This definitely qualifies. So here we are! You know everything I know now!

President AJ Galante says you can take the fighting out of the game…but this is no game. This is the first international ice wars, fighting for the title of the King of the Rink and a $15k prize. This is a heavyweight tournament?!? Huge men slapping meat….on ice. Apparently, they ran this type of event about 15 years prior  and this is their attempt to bring this concept back to PPV. 

We have an MMA style octagon…but it’s like a mini hockey rink?!? Kind of amazing.  

Match 1: Keegan "Paddywhack" McGraw vs  Justyce "Haymaker" Smoke (grudge match)

Our fight stats include how many hockey fights these guys have under their belts. Paddywhack has over 200! Haymaker has been suspended for fighting in the crowd! What. These guys are in full hockey attire. 

Are there rules in hockey fights? Smoke grabs the Jersey, McGraw loses his helmet early. The ref stops them to replace their helmets. McGraw doing better on the restart, landing some good shots. Smoke gets the Jersey again and just pounding to the back of the head. 

So it looks like each fight is two 1-minute rounds? The fight rules definitely feel like ref’s discretion.

McGraw comes into round 2 hesitant and Smoke drops him right down. The ref pulls them back up to restart. Smoke knocks his helmet off again! Smoke landing shot after shot to the exposed head. The round ends with both of them trading left hands.

We go to the judges but I FEEL like this should be easy to call…if the judges rule it a draw, we go to a sudden death round.

Winner: Justyce Smoke (Unanimous Decision)

Match 2: Justin "Bonesaw" Sawyer vs “Buckethead” Travis Levitsky (KOTR Opening Round)

Buckethead says he likes to hurt people. Bonesaw? He’s 6’6” and about 300lbs and looks to catch three bodies tonight. 

Sawyer says he’s never been taken down in a hockey fight. Travis does just that in the first 15 seconds. They stand back up, Travis drops him with another hard shot. Sawyer finds his footing and lands bombs to the face. Travis goes down and his nose is a mess and he’s bleeding onto that synthetic ice surface (what DOES that mean? Is it not ice? Is it not cold?). Travis goes back to the corner but the ref decides to rule this a TKO for Sawyer!

Winner: Justin Sawyer 

There’s a janitor in here with a mop and bucket to clean up the blood. He has sneakers on. I don’t understand this synthetic ice clearly. 

Match 3: Chase Tippin vs Corey "Alley Train" Allen (KOTR Opening Round)

These guys apparently fought each other in a hockey game a few months ago. Tippin is looking for redemption after that encounter. Tippin gets the jersey and drops Allen with rights immediately. Tippin hits another hard right, more to the back of the head, Allen goes down again! Tippin is dominating this fight and controlling Allen by the Jersey easily. Allen downed again as the round ends. 

Round 2 kicks off. Tippin with a rabbit punch, swarms with uppercuts and takes Allen right down. Allen tries to come in, he gets the jersey but Tippin drops him to his knees again. Allen swings hard and slips on the synthetic ice. They run out the last ten seconds and this BETTER be an easy call for the judges.

Winner: Chase Tippin (Unanimous Decision) 

Match 4: "Cowboy" Kurtis Swanson vs "The Beast" Jean-Francois Lafrance (KOTR Opening Round)

Cowboy gets the collar and throwing heavy hands but Beast is throwing them right back. Cowboy dragging him back and lands hard. Beast goes down! Trading back and forth. Cowboy has a deep cut over the eye as they break up at the end of the round.

Cowboy with a hard shot and Beast crumbles hard. The check on Beast in the corner and he’s good so we get back to it. Cowboy blasts him off his feet again! The ref checks on him in the corner, Beast wants more! Beast backpedals in the lockup and falls. It’s a slip but the ref stops this mercifully.

Winner: Kurtis Swanson (TKO)

Thanks to FITE TV for answering my synthetic ice question! Apparently it’s a plastic surface that mimics ice? Its a neat thing but I guess that means there’s no actual ice in these ice wars. Weird!

Match 5: "Diamond Hands" Daniel Amesbury vs “The Lion” Derek Parker

Parker has 400 hockey fights and 500 penalty minutes. They get the jerseys and trade fast. Parker lands a bomb and follows Amesbury to the ice. Amesbury backup and connects hard! Parker fires back and crumbles Amesbury back! Amesbury comes right in, Parker throws him to the boards! Amesbury tries to take the back?!? Parker gets cracked and slips back! Amesbury catches him again and they both tumble to the ice. They try to throw shots from their knees as the round closes. WILD round!

Amesbury in and connects to the forehead. Parker goes right down! They’re back up, Parker lands hard and Amesbury goes down! Parker gets the jersey and blasts Amesbury down again. They wrap up and trade back and forth, Parker lands on top! Amesbury lands a right hook and Parker drops again as the round ends! This might go to sudden death?!?

It does! 30 more seconds!

Amesbury comes in and drops Parker with an overhand right! Parker is stumbling a bit, Amesbury landing clean and Parker goes down again! sudden death ends but I think we just saw an upset!

Winner: Daniel Amesbury (Split Decision - Sudden Death)

There’s apparently some disagreement about who is going to fight next so the host buys some time. 

Match 6: Ben “Benny Jets” Kennedy vs Jordan “Moose” Kennedy

This match is brother vs brother! They swing at each other right away! Ben goes down after the initial scuffle. Ben gets turned around in the next encounter. Jordan comes in and lands two clean shots to the face and Ben lands back hard. The ref stops this. It’s a KO after 20 seconds! The brothers hug after the decision is made official.  

Winner: Jordan Kennedy (KO)

Match 7: “Cowboy” Kurtis Swanson vs “Bonesaw” Justin Sawyer (KOTR Semi-Final) 

It’s funny that the announcer reiterates Sawyer’s never been knocked down stat which was broken in the opening round. They lock up and throw some short punches in the clinch. No one is hitting clean but Swanson’s helmet comes free. They land a few shots in the last few seconds. Cowboy is bleeding again. Very even round.

They trade in the clinch again, Swanson loses his helmet. Swanson is stumbling a little but Sawyer is looking gassed too and is bleeding from the nose. It’s very King Kong godzillla at the end of this and it’s hard to tell who won. 

The judges call it a draw. We go to sudden death! 

Do these guys have enough juice for 30 more seconds? Sawyer connects good going into the clinch! They lock up! They trade hard rights at a fast pace for about 20 seconds. The round ends and I can’t tell you who won this. I might give it to Sawyer just due to the amount of times he knocked Swanson’s helmet off. 

Winner: Justin Sawyer (Split Decision - Sudden Death)

President AJ Galente comes out to congratulate both these guys and suggest that they may have to adjust some rules going forward to make this an easier time for the judges. This could have gone either way truly.

Match 8: “Diamond Hands” Daniel Amesbury vs Chase Tippin (KOTR Semi-Finals)

The much larger Tippin gets hit a few times in the nose but connects on Amesbury, blasts him hard and sends him down within 10 seconds. Amesbury already slayed one giant tonight. He gets the jersey and puts the big man on his back with four hard straight shots. Tippin’s nose explodes! His corner tries to stop the bleeding but can’t! The ref calls it! Two frantic engagements and this one is ovah!

Winner: Daniel Amesbury (TKO)

I have to admit, I’m loving the story we’re getting of Amesbury being the smaller man in the tourney but taking down these two big dudes and making it to the finals. 

Match 9: Travis "Loose Cannon" Cech vs Bo "Jawbreaker" Cornell

There’s an 8 inch height difference between these two opponents. Cech comes through Bo’s reach advantage and is here to scrap. He blasts Bo and drops

Him to the ice. They restart, Bo staggers Cech with a straight shot but Cech tackles him! Restart: Cech right in, blast to the back of the head, Bo may have clocked the wall on the way down?!? He’s looking groggy and the ref says he’s done! 

Winner: Travis Cech (TKO)

We have a break before the main event for a special ceremony to honor the inaugural “Ice Warriors Hall of Fame Class of 2022” to honor legends of hockey fights, penalty minute holders, and overall badasses.

Match 10: “Diamond Hands” Daniel Amesbury vs “Bonesaw” Justin Sawyer (KOTR Finals)

Both of these guys have been through wars tonight but Amesbury might be the fresher of the two right now. Sawyer gets the Jersey and tries to keep the smaller man back. Their helmets go flying! Amesbury almost gets his gear ripped off! The refs have to break them up before it spills over the wall. Amesbury’s helmet is broken and they have to fix it for now. They come back, tie up, helmets go flying again, both guys unloading and refusing to go down. Amesbury is looking a little worse for west as Sawyer knows he doesn’t want to let Amesbury land clean. They fight so hard they don’t hear the round horn and the refs have to break them up again!

They get Amesbury’s helmet repaired (or at least taped up) and we go for round 2. Wait what’s going on. Apparently there was 5 seconds left in the 1st round they had to run out. NOW it’s round 2.

Amesbury landing repeatedly! Sawyer has his Jersey but Amesbury has found his range! They crash into the boards! The refs break it up and pull them apart! Did Sawyer go out on his feet? The ref calls it a TKO!

King of the Rink Tournament Winner: Daniel Amesbury

They give Amesbury a sparkly crown! He says he won this 2 weeks ago in his head. AJ Galante grabs the mic and says Amesbury now has a target on his back. He brings out one of the judges, John “Nasty” Mirasty who says at the next event, they’re gonna bang. AJ Galante thanks everyone for the support and says they WILL be back. Amesbury is fanboying out a little at the challenge of Mirasty. His posse in the crowd give him a hero’s welcome as the king goes to celebrate with his subjects. And that’s it for Ice Wars! I don’t know if you could tell…but this was bizarre annnnnnd I think I loved it. You can check the replay on FITE! Until next time!

 

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