Ryan Reaves Waits Patiently and Casually blocks a punch in a fight with Scott Sabourin, a breakdown
What Happened
In an October 2019 game in Las Vegas, Golden Knights enforcer Ryan Reaves squared off with Ottawa Senators rookie Scott Sabourin in what amounted to a heavyweight mismatch. Reaves came in with 66 career NHL fights; Sabourin, a longtime AHL grinder finally getting his shot, had zero. After some pre-fight choreography that included Sabourin tapping Reaves' stick and dancing on nervous feet, the two dropped the gloves. Reaves stayed still and patient, then casually caught and blocked Sabourin's punches before landing his own and turning to the home crowd.
Why This Matters
NHL fighting still operates on an unwritten code, and this clip is a clean study of it. Reaves didn't hunt a kid making his fighting debut; he answered when Sabourin asked, then controlled the bout without trying to hurt him. That distinction matters in a sport where enforcers police each other and pick their spots carefully. Reaves was one of the league's most respected tough guys, a role he'd carry through stops in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Vegas before later landing with the Rangers. For Sabourin, simply standing in against a name like Reaves was a rite of passage that earned respect from his own bench. The video also caught Jomboy expanding his breakdown style beyond baseball into hockey, where the frame-by-frame approach to a fight translated surprisingly well.
With 2.4M views, this breakdown ranks 78th of 1,583 Jomboy videos, putting it in the top 5% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Ryan Reaves, Scott Sabourin. Teams: Senators.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentOkay, we're making our way to the NHL. You see this guy, Reeves, jumping in
the air, stopping. He's excited. He's been in 66 fights in his career. He's going
to fight a guy who's been in zero. Nice little push there. Get the whistle.
There he is, Scott Sabrin, the rookie. He's been in the AHL for a while.
He's got zero fights versus 66 fights. This one's brought to you by The Sports
Letter. Looks at him and says, hey, dude, I haven't fought anyone yet. I want
to get my feet wet. You down? Then he hits his stick, and Reeves is
like, I was leaning on that. I was putting all my weight on it. You
made me look like a fool. I'm working on this theory. Whoever throws their gloves
and sticks farther away from them is more scared, and they will lose the fight.
It's a new theory. It's a new theory. The initial circle here is hilarious because
the rookie dude is just dancing. Look at his feet. Look at his
feet. Look at these guys. He's taking a dance class, Tom. They're just itchy feet.
Looks like he's got ants in his skates. It's so just, I don't know, nervous,
weak knees. And then on the other side of things, you got Reeves, who still
is a statue. Just patient. Like, okay, why are you just dancing so much? Are
you going to fight me? You asked to fight me. Get out of here. And
then this is fast motion. We'll slow it down. Get some good punches in there,
Reeves. And then it looks like Sabrin gets some good punches in, so his teammates
are cheering him on. He didn't. We'll get into that. Look at this initial. Catches
the punch. Just a straight -up block to the neck shot, to the helmet spin,
to the back of the head. That one didn't really do anything. And then here
are the punches here. Misses that one. This one, he makes contact, but he goes
all limp wrist on him. That didn't do anything. And then the next couple, straight
miss. That one gets eaten up. So there was nothing on the other side, and
Reeves knows it, and he turns to the fans, and he says, Hey, hey, what
up, Vegas? You like that shit? Cool. A little bump on his head. But for
him, hey, rookie taking on one of the meaner guys in the NHL in his
first fight, good for him as well. This one is brought to you by The
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