It says a lot about an enforcer if they were able to fight the best man in his wedding three times in his career.
It was never—well, rarely—personal for Tony Twist. Fighting was his job, and he did it better than most.
If there were a heavyweight champion in the NHL during the 90s, Twist would definitely have been one of the contenders.
Twist dropped the gloves with some of the toughest guys in NHL history, and many claim he’s the hardest-hitting enforcer ever.
Twist was that kind of guy who would exchange some heavy jabs and then smile on his way to the penalty box. And yes, be your buddy and drink beer with you after the game.
Twist could also lay some huge hits, but fighting was his trademark. On average, Twist fought once every four games, winning most of them. And it wasn’t a coincidence.
Twist left nothing to chance, and in a piece for The Athletic, the Blues’ cult hero revealed some of his tricks in getting the best of his opponents.
”I immersed myself in the job to make myself feel as comfortable as I could so none of those other feelings would overtake my ability,” wrote Twist.
”Always in the gym, always studying. Anytime there was a fight on ESPN, I was recording it.”
But he didn’t just stop there. Twist had other people tape his opponents’ fights for him, and when on the road, he got a hold of the videos to study his opponents.
”Whenever we went to another city, I’d trade tapes with guys who collected the fights. I would meet this guy, Joe Lozito, at the rink, and he’d give me Jersey, both New Yorks, Boston, all the guys in that area. It was research.
”I’ve fought the guy 100 times in my head before I even hit the ice. My style wasn’t changing. I wanted to kill you. But it made me feel better, where I was head-wise.”
