“I don’t like being called the tough guy. Not me. It so happened that while I was playing NHL, then I often had to shake my fists. Because of my height, I was often bullied by other hockey players. He also had to periodically stand up for his partners. Tough guys used to raid me, and I just responded. So there may be an opinion that I am also a tough guy. Let me tell you right away: This view is wrong.

Evgeny Artyukhin throughout his career was a hostage of his own size and was constantly the target of professional fighters who wanted to prove that they could resist such a strong hockey player in a battle with him.

There are about 10 fights in the history of the general striker, but some of them deserve special attention. Take their fights, for example, with Chris and Josh Gratton – one cousins ​​who only played in the NHL, the other touring half the world and changing dozens of clubs. It is quite possible that Artyukhin was the first hockey player in history who managed to fight with two brothers during his career. And it was 5 years apart.

The first opponent of our hero was Chris Gratton. Eugene played for Tampa in the NHL at the time, defending his opponent Florida’s colors. Interestingly, Chris was never known as a tough guy and had pretty good stats – the cousin of the future Vityaz fighter scored an average rack per game. However, this did not prevent him from clashing with a general opponent in the middle of the third period of the match “Tampa” and “Florida”, held on February 28, 2006.

Gratton showed that he was brave and incapable of retreating – otherwise his cousin’s personal lessons were unaffected. Despite the fact that in the first half of the fight Artyukhin had a tangible advantage and dealt numerous blows to the opponent’s face and head, Chris did not hesitate and did not fall on the ice. On the contrary, the Panthers forward took the initiative towards the end of the match, making it difficult to determine the winner. If there were special judges who won awards in fights in hockey, they would pretty much have to strain their brains over the outcome of that fight.

“We communicated well with Gratton afterwards because we played on the same team a little bit later. He turned out to be a good guy. Understand that everything that happens on the ice stays there. After the game, the hockey players of both teams go to the same gym and work calmly. Did I have a conflict? No.”– said Russian in 2010.

Then Eugene did not even suspect that a year later, already in Russia, Chris would clash with his brother in a tough battle. And unlike the Florida forward, Josh was a pure executioner and an expert at just fighting, not playing hockey.

It all happened at the end of the first period of the match between SKA and Barys. The initiator of the fight was Gretton, who attacked and first hit Artyukhin. Yevgeny had no choice but to accept the challenge of the tough guy of the Cossack club.

“I go to the bench at the end of the shift, he’s holding me. “Leave me alone,” I say, “I won’t fight anymore, I’m tired. Next shift.” To which: “But I do not care”, and at a moment when I am not ready, he strikes a blow … “ – said the SKA striker.

As a result, Gretton won a convincing victory on the points and let his opponent bleed. And if for many fans the nature of such a poor performance by Artyukhin during the fight was incomprehensible, then everything fell into place after his announcement – if Evgeny was a little fresher, it is quite possible that he would have had a chance to reveal it. good resistance against a professional fighter. Petersburg club’s head coach, Milos Riha, said at the post-match press conference that he did not approve of Gratton’s actions, who only went on the ice to throw off his gloves.

“I forbade Artyukhin to fight, but every match someone goes to him. Someone is always preparing a fight. We play hockey, this is our favorite game. These guys go single shift – I don’t get it. There are such games when the voltage is high, the players “meet”. But here everything was done on purpose, this is not a hockey moment. I’ve already talked about this, it’s just that these warriors need to be released from the League. Pity, I called the Czech Republic, everyone is laughing at CSKA buying Vero. Some Canadians go to Artyukhin every match, he needs to be ready for a fight. You should play hockey, it’s a nice game where you don’t need those things. Well, there are games where the tension is very strong and you can fight. But fights like today are deliberate!” – Rzhiga was enraged.

Despite frequent fights and constant attacks from opponents, that season for Artyukhin was the most productive in his career – one of the best power forwards in the league scored 23 (16 + 7) points in 47 games and became the leader of the SKA.