Tie Domi retired as one of the best enforcers in NHL history.
He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, and Winnipeg Jets over a 16-year NHL career, and he’s the player with the most fighting majors in league history, with 333.
Domi started playing hockey at a young age, and at the 1986 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection, the Peterborough Petes drafted him in the seventh round, 102nd overall.
Domi spent his first year in major junior as a part-time player with the Petes, and he delivered on the hype.
Domi was drafted as a tough guy and didn’t disappoint anyone. In his first exhibition game, he only lasted nine seconds until he started a fight.
And it was only the beginning. It quickly became clear to everyone on the Petes that Domi loved fighting, and he saw it as his job to drop the gloves.
Having tough guys was something Dick Todd, a former coach of the Petes, loved.
”Dick Todd’s teams always had lots of guys who could protect the guys on their team,” Jody Hull, a former player for the Peterborough Petes, told The Athletic.
”(The Belleville Bulls) were built the same way. They had a lot of guys not afraid to drop the gloves.
Jody Hull especially remembers a fight between Tie Domi and the infamous enforcer Troy Crowder.
”Tie was in a fight with Troy Crowder. Troy has 6 inches, if not more, on him and he’s at centre ice fighting Tie,” Hull said.
”Tie literally stops and looks over at the Belleville bench and (Bulls coach) Larry Mavety, and he’s laughing. He says to Larry, during the fight, ’Is this the toughest guy you’ve got?’”
Jody Hull and Domi’s other teammates were shocked.
”As teammates, we’re looking at each other and saying, ’Can you believe Tie is doing that?’
”That’s how Tie was. That’s how Tie made his mark. He had a big smile on his face. He enjoyed what he was doing.”
Mark Freer was also on that Petes team, and he remembers Domi’s tilt with Crowder like it was yesterday.
”I was watching the fight and Tie said, ’Is this the toughest guy you’ve got?’ I turned to Jody Hull and said, ’Great, now you and I are going to have to fight in the next shift because he just pissed their whole bench off.’”
