Now’s a good time to get to know Kevin Westgarth. He’s 24, a graduate of Princeton — much like former Kings enforcer George Parros — and Westgarth totaled 191 penalty minutes in 69 games with Manchester this season. That’s not completely easy to do. Westgarth projects as a future King, although for the moment Raitis Ivanans fills a similar role.
Here are Westgarth’s bios on hockeydb.com and hockeyfights.com.
Don tracked down Westgarth this week and did a really cool feature. He found eight of Westgarth’s fights on YouTube and had Westgarth “analyze” them. Don, it seems has a future as hockey’s Larry Merchant, doing post-fight interviews…
There’s also a Q&A with Westgarth coming soon, but for now, definitely give this a look…
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Kevin Westgarth’s Fight Central
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Opponent: Steve MacIntyre/Providence (10-6-07)
Opponent: Steve MacIntyre/Providence (11-27-07)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: Steve MacIntyre is just a big monster. That opening night fight was a pretty good one. I landed a pretty good punch, and it was my first fight since last season and I was also trying a few new things, which is kind of risky against a big guy, I think he is listed at 6-6, 265. He’s a good fighter, very good technically and he uses his size to his advantage. I know in the November fight he definitely popped me good a couple of times. He is a fighter I have a lot of respect for. He plays the game hard and tries to hit and use intimidation to the best of his ability. He is just a very respectful fighter.
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Opponent: Jonathan Tremblay/Worcester (2-29-08)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: I think I ended up fighting Tremblay three times this year. He’s a pretty good fighter. He’s a lefty too, which is a little different. I never really change the way I approach it, thinking you have to take something to give something and I’m fine with that.
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Opponent: Jesse Boulerice/Philadelphia (1-13-08)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: That was a great fight. I know our announcer Ken Cail definitely liked it. The video is kind of funny because it kind of starts after the fight. I was controlling early on in the fight and he was holding me off pretty decently. I was kind of attacking, basically getting the back of his head. And that is one of the things I am working on, a little patience, and that was a great fight as an example. The other funny thing is the Philadelphia announcer. I watched that fight with the volume up and you would have thought I was dead from the sound of it. I wasn’t sure if we were watching the same fight. It was a long fight. When our five minutes were up, and we had both been talking in the penalty box, we were both saying we could have sat for another 10 minutes.
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Opponent: Francis Lessard/Hartford (11-4-07)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: (Note: One of the few clips where Kevin keeps his helmet on) That (why he has his helmet on) relates to Lessard himself. In that fight I had asked him to go and he said no. Then he jumped me, which wasn’t unexpected because I kind of dealt with him a little last year. That is just a lack of respect for the game and players (by Lessard). (On Westgarth connecting on 15 straight punches): That was a nice fight because I kept connecting in good places, his ear, or right underneath his visor.
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Opponent: Micheal Haley/Bridgeport (12-22-07)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: He had fought earlier in the game and he came up and asked me, so that was fine. He is a great middle or even light weight fighter. He took on Drew Bagnall and myself in that game and did very well in both. He connected quite a bit and was very slippery. I think he ended up hurting his hand on my head, so I guess that is something I can take a certain amount of pride in.
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Opponent: Drew Fata/Bridgeport (4-2-08)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: That tilt was pretty good. I think I got him decently at the end. It was at the end of the game and we were winning 5-1. I hit him and he asked to go. It was at the end of the shift. We were both kind of waiting for that one big hit and I think I got him pretty good at the end. I got him a little better than he got me.
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Opponent: Simon Ferguson/Portland (10-27-07)
WESTGARTH COMMENTS: Yeah, that was kind of funny because he thought that I had hit him. He had passed the puck and someone hit him pretty good. It was by our bench and I skated by right after. There was a bit of a scrum and I went to check what was going on and all of the sudden I feel these hands on the back of my jersey. He kind of jumped me, which is fine, but it didn’t work out too well for him. He’s another little rat. He plays the game a little more honest than others, but he is definitely an annoying little pest. That kind of felt good in some ways.
