The Penguins and Islanders’ beef was brutal, contentious, and somehow only 10 days long

[@NolanEgbert]

Never thought we'd get a beef history on Isles-Pens! Fight night at the Coliseum in 2011 was a clear culture shift for the Islanders in hindsight, really started to change the country club atmosphere around the team

[@N_manMETA11]

It went from a country club atmosphere that doesn't care about winning to a country club atmosphere that doesn't care periof 😂 [Hires Lou Lamoriello]

[@connercoughran4677]

You know a hockey beef is kickass when a video covering said beef gets a goddamn age restriction less than 5 minutes after the video was posted Edit: I made this comment as a pissed-off 17 year old. I turned 18 recently, and I just got around to watching this. This beef is indeeed kickass

[@isparky42i]

It wasn't the only one that got age restricted, Cortland Finnegan and Andre Johnson video also got age restricted too, and it wasn't age restricted until how long? 🤦

[@Kurzov]

Common L KZbin, but 100% true

[@RyanUlanowicz]

Remember that Brent Johnson punch like it was yesterday. The Mario statement was such a shock because he was rarely seen and even less heard.

[@coruscant100]

The hockey content has been good. I still feel a Collapse video is needed on how the Flyers went from being Stanley Cup contenders in 2010 to over 10 years of failure and bad management.

[@jeffreyval9665]

I was dumb enough to think they were a team of destiny that year. Coming back from 3-0 and down 3-0 in the first period against Boston in game 7 only for Scott Leighton to give up that championship losing goal in game 6 that my mother would've stopped.

[@dropthatshi]

a Collapse vid on the flyers could go for six seasons and a movie with all the headscratching decisions that mgmt group has made in the past decade lol

[@jeffreyval9665]

@@dropthatshi Philly sports always have the worst front offices and coaches. The Eagles build a great team only to hire Gannon who's the worst DC of all time and Siriani who's just incompetent. The sixers giving max extensions to Simmons and Harris instead of going with Butler, and the Phillies manager clearly isn't a big time coach pulling Wheeler way too early in game 6 of the world series instead of letting him try and pitch his way out of trouble. That proved disastrous and the Flyers are just a mess from top to bottom and are years away from being anything.

[@coruscant100]

@@dropthatshi In fairness, the same could be kind of said for the Knicks and their decisions too. Sure, SB had a Collapse video on them, but stopped at 2008. I was really hoping they'd go deeper about all the other times things went bad for them.

[@sqwurd4610]

@@dropthatshi hey, I understood that reference! Streets ahead indeed

[@PADRII]

If you're going to do this, you need to do the Sens-Flyers brawl in 2004. You can open a steakhouse with the beef that had that night.

[@brandonmaki1187]

THIS

[@RobertMichael]

Lmao

[@dragonkingsports]

Literally had to stop the game every 2 minutes for an all out brawl, it was crazy

[@liguy181]

I was at this game!! I was 8 years old and my younger sister was a pens fan at the time because of club penguin. The pens were visiting, and my mom decided to bring me and my sister to a hockey game. I was in my tavares jersey, she was in her crosby jersey, and none of us knew what we were in for. I became a hockey fan for life after that day

[@calzoneyyy]

i love your sisters reasoning for being a pens fan

[@brientaylorcohen]

Mario Lemieux crying about dirty play while employing Matt Cooke is some expert-level irony.

[@joshbittner]

Evander Kane KO’ing him was the only good thing he ever did in his career

[@countof3everybodyOD]

Was he wrong

[@gmwdim]

@@joshbittner Imagine having a 16 year career and the best moment of it is getting punched in the face and knocked out. Good riddance to Matt Cooke.

[@leeturiano4419]

And that douche Talbot

[@ScottFairley]

@@joshbittner I'm an Oilers fan, he'll need to win the Cup and Conn Smythe in '24 to have a chance of topping the Cooke KO. The game of hockey is better off without Matt Cooke.

[@sollamander2206]

Incredibly well done. Sometimes the explanation for why the Islanders were so furious gets sidelined, particularly the laughing at the injured DiPietro.

[@thequestion6493]

I think Howie Rose made a pretty good point on this in that the Islanders where a team that was getting beat up on by other teams and the league was doing nothing about it and they were finally sick of it and took things into their own hands

[@tRiEtHANDTHeKiDD]

If I remember correctly, the isles just played Calgary and Tavares was on the receiving end of a cheap hit and was visibly hurt. There were no penalties or suspensions. This led to the isles being tired of the league not doing anything and them taking things into their own hands

[@MrCusefan44]

100% true. I think the Islanders reaction in this game caused the league to get slightly more serious about se suspensions for dirty hits (with CTE concerns and fear of future lawsuits also having an impact). My opinion is penalties for cheap hits are still way too lax - but we’re miles ahead of where the NHL was a little more than a decade ago.

[@AdequateEmily]

Love me some secret base hockey content! Wish we got more!

[@jgrasso1219]

As an Isles fan I've never clicked so fast! Awesome video!

[@stevo6891]

Pens fan here this will always be in the NHL history books.. Miss the old Enforcers as well..

[@Watchdog99]

Holy crap you actually posted hockey again. Would like to see more.

[@sirjack528]

Always love the hockey content on here hope to see more in the future!

[@Kid-Pink_88.]

Remember watching that game with Dad & he responded with "so many goals & yet somehow they managed to produce more fights."

[@ryanahr2267]

Still waiting for a mega-vid on Boston-Montreal. Or Montreal-Toronto, now that I think about it. Love it when you do hockey vids, though. My favorite is still the Wings-Avs beef history. I've been a hockey fan from birth thanks to my dad and I was a preteen when that rivalry took off. Still some of the absolute best hockey I've ever seen in my life. The physicality was obviously incredible but there was also just a lot of truly great and intense hockey between the brawls.

[@alifnovaldi5195]

Brutal, contentius, and only 10 days long? Sounds like my ex

[@SentokiO.P]

I love these Rivalry vids. Secret Base goes crazy

[@senorfish2503]

Hockey beef is the best they offer on this channel

[@WarioSaysSo]

Awesome! Love to see som NHL hockey content 😀

[@NormanOtterman]

Guess this rivalry was so violent it had to be age restricted immediately 💀

[@PoopVintner]

Finally some Hockey content on this channel. I’m not even the biggest hockey fan but it’s just nice to see

[@Pocketrocket-pj1us]

If there was more hockey, this channel could go through the roof! It's great already by I'm talkin' stratosphere here!!!

[@jordandupre5726]

OMG THE ISLANDERS FINALLY GOT A BEEF HISTORY VIDEO! THIS ONE IS JUICY!

[@DontBeStupid9]

their series in 1993 was awesome… Ray Ferraro was a beast

[@Pensfan5919]

And somehow, despite bottling that AND the 96 ECF, Barrasso just made it into the HOF. Over Mogilny, Brind'Amour, and Gonchar. Still don't know who Tom has dirt on.

[@DontBeStupid9]

@@Pensfan5919 i know, it’s bizarre…. Mogilny was awesome, but i think that was only for a couple years with the Sabres…. but Brind’AMour for sure… and i guess i can see Gonchar too yea.

[@louisyank5326]

The Islanders hurt us when we were the favorite in ‘93 and 2021, almost did it to us in 2013 too. Our biggest rival outside of Caps as far as I’m concerned in modern times.

[@botanistedward]

Thank you guys for not doing that god awful Blue Moon ad

[@brenislanders]

This one definitely deserved a video, just never thought I’d actually get one😂

[@Pensfan5919]

That 2010-11 season... such a bad year in terms of shifting back the playoff window, and adding to issues that the team still has, despite employing multiple different GMs. Crosby got concussed, Geno tore his meniscus off a missed hit of Victor Hedman, but Jordan Staal then got blamed for not being able to fill the spots of two of the ten best players in the world at the time. Staal was shipped to Carolina, and I'm sure the Pens would rather use him than Jeff Carter, and then the James Neal trade... cause send a top 4 defenseman for a bottom pair defenseman who was a fine and suspension machine and a mid 6 forward who was only as good as his center. That certainly didn't bite the Pens. At least they got Patric Hornqvist eventually out of it?

[@cousinpatsey2471]

You're misrepresenting some things here. Staal wasn't blamed for that; everyone knew he did the best he can. Staal was shipped out because he didn't want to play in Pittsburgh anymore, he wanted to go with his brother in Carolina. The contract he signed in Carolina was almost identical to the reported one he was offered by Pittsburgh. Also, while I'm not saying the Neal trade was good, Niskanen and Neal were both brought on for their upside. They were hoping both players would become great. Eventually both did, Neal for like 3 seasons and Niskanen had a few great years, Pens just couldn't afford him at that point. Neither trade was as bad as you're making it seem.

[@Pensfan5919]

@@cousinpatsey2471 I mean, they flipped Neal in one of the best trades in team history, so there's that, and they flipped Sutter for Bonino.

[@totalgeek19]

Love the hockey content!! PLEASE do a beef history on Eric Karlsson and Mike Hoffman! Such an insane story

[@nicktalmersnieuwoudt9901]

Just came to say thank you for the hockey content! Hope to see more!

[@anthonykemph7048]

Love all the content you guys make!

[@dtimm]

Love the hockey content, do more!

[@willi6036]

The crazy thing is that the DiPietro vs Johnson fight can be looked at as one of the final nails in the coffin of DiPietro’s career. It wasn’t the final one of course, he had a couple other injury problems unrelated to the fight, but if the fight did not happen I truly believe his career would have been longer.

[@Tteaspoon1031]

Anytime I see these two teams on the schedule my mind still brings this up and I tend to tune in. Good video.

[@zaqarius]

yooo I've been commenting for them to do this forever, that's awesome! Thank u so so much! Such a story

[@joemaddox3146]

Beef vids hit different when the players can hit each other

[@wiseguynwc]

As I recall, in Trevor Gillies' first game back from that suspension, he cheap-shotted Cal Clutterbuck of the Wild and caught a fresh ten-game suspension.

[@andyzuleta5344]

Damn 😂

[@Pocketrocket-pj1us]

Question, I was hoping you could help me with. My memory is not what it used to be but wasnt Trevor Gillies, the Son of Islanders, multiple Cup winner Clark Gillies? Was one working for the Pens and the other, the isles? If so, it makes for an interesting subtext, to the situation. Pens and Long Island fans, please help an old man out ;) lol Cheers from Canada P.S. I know this has little bearing on the current subject but weren't these teams involved in the first ever, 3-0 series comeback, that did not occur in the finals, 1975. I beleive it was done by Toronto Vs. Detroit. In the 1942 Final. It's not tough to start a rivalry after what happened, in 75. Then there was the good old Patrick division, guaranteeing many more meetings per year. At one point, 8 times a year!! That's another great way to start, or continue a rivalry!

[@wiseguynwc]

@@Pocketrocket-pj1us That's going back farther than my memory, but I do remember Trevor's father also being a hockey player

[@steelcurtain187]

This was awesome great job

[@xYaBoiii]

I was starting to think this guy left the channel. Good to have em back 🙌🏻

[@stevemosco8187]

honestly, my favorite game of all time. fight night 2011.

[@JackCallSports]

As an Islanders fan I love this!!!

[@chasethedream182]

Omg finally a hockey video!! Love the channel and would love to see some more NHL content.

[@dollartwentychickentendies]

FINALLY some more hockey content! Glad to see it! NOW... Miracle on Ice Rewinder when???

[@Conrailfan2323]

Pittsburgh has always been an arrogant organization. But the most ironic thing out of all of this was Lemieux criticizing the league for the lack of punishment for the Islanders, yet he had Matt Cooke on the payroll. Lmao.

[@Rad_Thibodeaux]

I remember these wars! Great recap 💯

[@emorydaniel9084]

I've been a Pens fan since I was a child in the late 80's. I love all of beef history, and now we've seen: Pens vs Isles, Pens vs Flyers, Pens player vs Caps player, and Pens player vs. Bruins player... Huh, starting to think it's us lol

[@kennycai8695]

"We clean! We clean! The zebras just hate us!" Said by a fan base whose team had Matt Cooke on the roster. The same Matt Cooke who ended Marc Savard's career with a blindside shoulder hit while wearing a Penguins uniform. You know, for someone who is really quick to shout "Myles Garrett! Myles Garrett! Cleveland Browns! Cleveland Browns!" whenever Tom Wilson steps onto the ice, they always conveniently forget that Matt Cooke preceded Tom Wilson by a couple of years, and while Wilson has not ended anyone's career (yet), Cooke little "shoulder tap" concussed Savard so hard that he could never play again.

[@aidanwotherspoon905]

I missed this beef entirely. Thank you for sharing

[@Pitt_4122]

i didnt know i needed this today

[@dbsuper2928]

Secret Base could make a beef video about a small town amateur kickball tournament and I would watch it with fascination..

[@jamesromanelli1807]

I remember watching the game with the Johnson v Dipietro fight live and as an Isles fan I went from being the most excited I’ve ever been to see a fight to the most disappointed I’ve ever been in a matter of 3 seconds. That fight is the perfect summary or Rick Dipietro’s career on Long Island

[@thefridge3831]

Love this story. I'm a Kiwi and at least follows NHL nowadays but I'd never hear this kind of story from history. This is what sports and rivalries are all about - you use whatever motivation necessary. Would love to see you expand to so do A Moment In History with Japan beating South Africa in rugby in 2015.

[@jrosen66]

Now we need a rewind of Nagano olympics where we were robbed of Gretzky vs. Hasek for a chance to move onto the gold metal game

[@danny9405]

Let’s go islanders! More isles secret base please

[@jacobmacdonald1684]

Love the hockey videos

[@willwiegelman3953]

My answer to the question in the caption before watching the video is "because it's hockey. You take care of it and move on."

[@renc3920]

YES!! Love Beef history. I DINNINT expect another NHL based vid though. Need more Beef History and Collapse, boys!

[@QuinnFulton]

Need more of these NHL ones

[@Pranaynaynay]

I listen to DiPietro a lot on the radio (he's in the nyc broadcast area) so it's really interesting to hear of what happened

[@pageperpage]

Wild wish i saw this live

[@xViperGTR]

What’s even more wild was that this was the exact same week that the Bruins Canadiens brawl happened

[@JeremyBruno-kk6ue]

Crazy to think I was 11 when I went to this game and I’ll never forget how crazy it was

[@joelswann4623]

What a beautiful game.

[@ratmiata3240]

I was at that goalie fight game was sickkkkkk

[@MikeMeehan]

this is great but my heart sank a bit 36 seconds in when I realized you wouldn't be mentioning the 1993 playoffs even a little bit :(

[@tehbrowncow]

Can't wait for the SB docu on the oilers kings beef

[@anthonyr25]

You guys should do a rewinder of the 5OT game Columbus v. Tampa in the bubble.

[@churdle92]

Will and hockey beeves, a perfect match. Side note, love the fu Manchu on Gillies.

[@andrecastillo5232]

Welcome back, Secret Base! Next up, I want a Collapse on any of the following teams/athletes: NFL: Barry Sanders' Lions '06 Bears '08 Cardinals Michael Vick's Falcons NBA: Grit n' Grind Melo-Chauncey-Nene Nuggets '06-'07 Jazz '14-'15 Hawks MLB: Showalter's O's '05 White Sox '15 Blue Jays '07 Rockies NHL: '11-'12 Coyotes '10-'11 Canucks Sabers (either '99 or '07) Lundqvist's Rangers Individuals: Joanna Jedrzejczyk Renan Barao Johny Hendricks Jorge Lorenzo

[@Lowekinder]

Obviously as a Pens fan I feel the framing is a little too kind to the Isles, but it was certainly an exciting time that deserves to be remembered.

[@zkid001]

You did an islanders video? In love

[@joked87isback]

Please do a rewind on the Flyers Senators line brawl from 2004.

[@hateEdge83]

That goalie "fight" was a beaut

[@rcarl1473]

I’m a completely novice on NHL but their “Beef” episodes are always the best

[@Sagdog77]

Why’d I just get a secret base ad in the middle of a secret base video

[@fyukfy2366]

Please rewind the immaculate reception!!

[@ThirdEye3pic]

You should do the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers beef from the 90's or the battle of Ontario from the 2000's

[@da1stslimtim]

Reminder for Sharks VS Knights round 1 game 7. The 5 minute major game

[@philminkeesickquayash8988]

I never seen that game, but remember my buddy talking about it... He's a Penguins fan...

[@serisothikos]

1:24 I see Matt Cooke and the Kill Bill sirens go off in my head.

[@Genox51]

LETS GOOOOOOO

[@calbert630]

We were watching the game at the bar, when the score was out of hand we left. By the time we got home and turned it on, we were so confused why the benches were empty My friend has a framed photo of the DiPietro punch in his living room.

[@ShawnMcClurg]

Always love some Pittsburgh beef with some IC Light.

[@jasonbieber6431]

Man, I wish I had seen this a few days ago. It's a good takedown but there's backstory that you didn't add in. (Disclaimer: I'm not here to defend the Islanders or the Pens, just provide context) 1. The League looked the other way with thugs like Matt Cooke ending people's careers, or trying to hurt people intentionally. He got away with it because he was on the Penguins, one of the league's darling teams. 2. At the time, there was a belief amongst not only fans but players (ie; Islanders) that the league didn't care for certain teams, and went out of its way to protect others. Does anyone remember the Colin Campbell memos? The "good ol' boys" network was alive and well at the time. Ask Marc Savard. 3. The league didn't stop nonsense from the Penguins earlier in the season, including the preseason, it just fed into the viewpoint that the league protected teams and didn't care about other teams. Oh, and it wasn't just Matt Cooke who was dirty AF, the Pens lead the league with penalty minutes that year and should have had many more. Maxime Talbot, Mike Rupp, Deryk Engelland, and Craig Adams could easily be dirty and often were. Oh, and Cooke didn't play in the game, because of course not. That's the kind of team the Penguins were at the time. There are also more postscripts to the game 1. Lemieux's comments about the game made the NHL fanbase yell at him- he literally had Matt Cooke on his team. The NHL basically told him to STFU after that. 2. Notice that Cooke stopped taking idiot penalties after that season, and was forced to play actual hockey? This game is why. 3. There was a noticeable shift in how the NHL handled penalties and in-game fighting afterward. Sure, some of it was because the Isles did take things too far, but a lot of it was also in recognition that the Matt Cooke protection racket had to go. 4. In part because of the 2010 memos released but ALSO in part because of this game, Colin Campbell stepped down after the season as VP of Player Safety. 5. The Isles were still rebuilding but no longer faced the kind of in-game bullying that they had to deal with beforehand.

[@Pensfan5919]

"I'm not here to defend the Islanders", then literally does nothing but slob on Garth Snow's knob for multiple paragraphs.

[@jasonbieber6431]

@@Pensfan5919 Thank you for contributing with your homophobic comment on a month-old post.

[@baobeast]

Can we have a Habsburg vs Leafs beef history please?

[@accordingtothebook]

This episode should've started with the 93 series in which the Islanders upset the Pens, Darius Kasperitis and his physicality.... Still brought back good memories from those games.

[@Higherbassist]

A brief beef. A breef.

[@bendankles]

You gotta do oilers - flames Couple years back there was McDavid ainjury from gio Neal and Lucic trade / worth competition Tkachuk hits on zassian + turtle All star game and beef w tkachuk & mcdavid and drai Huge fights game and Goalie fight from goalies AGAIST their former teams Rittich stick flip and downfall Playoff series culminating in an Edmonton win and tkachuk trade / Lucic leaving ending the current era

[@oscaraskerup9802]

Y'all need to do Kirk Cousins vs Mike Zimmer

[@thepowerwithin9865]

I’ll never forget Eric Tangradi getting smacked by Trevor Gillies for doing literally nothing.

[@Pensfan5919]

Ended Tangradi's effectiveness as a hockey player too. But no, let's say that the worst part was Matt Cooke for... playing a crash the net style and a hit that WASN'T EVEN AGAINST NEW YORK

[@dharamveerbhangu]

A video on the collapse of the early 2010s Canucks would be cool

[@markjackson6431]

BEEF HISTORY: Eric Lindros vs Flyers Organization (Bobby Clarke)

[@bretthadfield]

Need more hockey vids…maybe vegas and san jose

[@asssm89]

That was builtnin the 2000's the islanders had some good teams and people forget how much they faced off becak them. I am talking to the just prior to the crosby years. And they had some banger teams in crosbys first years too.

[@xViperGTR]

I think this whole beef started due to the fact of the Islanders players, fans and management fed up with how the league turned away everytime a player of theirs got injured so the Isles got fed up and took matters into their own hands and when they played that road game against the Pens it just became even more showcased how badly they were getting beaten up by cheap shots from guys like Matt Cooke that season

[@mdonnelly96]

Hockey beef hits different

[@Phished123]

The thing i remember most about this is how even Isles fans were flabbergasted at Dipietro coming out to fight Johnson, dude had a laundry list of injuries already. Knee Surgeries, hip problems basically every injury a goalie could have. I believe the broken jaw was the beginning of it all getting really bad for him. Earning him the nickname "Rickety".

[@michaelbmarks84]

It's true, I think the story goes that DP didn't even know Johnson was a lefty and that's why he got blasted to badly. He had no business fighting.

[@nathanmackinnon7405]

god i can’t wait for the tom wilson vs rangers beef history in 10 years

[@nochaserchambers]

You could say that the DiPietro fight summed up his career.

[@ahmertension]

Watching Secret Base's videos got me into American sports, because they do such a great job at breaking down all the context while keeping it simple on the specifics of the sport. It allowed me to pick up what was happening far better than trying to look up and understand the rules/tactics etc would have been. But i remain mystified by ice hockey and its attitude towards fights. It appears that the officials are cool with people squaring up to fight, and from the several videos on this channel, these fights can lead to injuries that decimate playoff runs, which would mean huge losses financially to go with losing out on the season as well. Given how American sports are so particular about money, it is one of the several reasons the casual attitude towards fighting in this sport is so bizarre. Also, how does this not lead to "won't somebody think of the kids" type social outcry that say, people rapping about violence inspire? I have seen fights break out in all types of sports, but it is a rare occasion that is very quickly defused. You don't see refs standing around as guys square up, looking to give each other concussions.

[@NolanEgbert]

Fighting in hockey is meant to exist as a deterrent to extra violence which can cause injury greater than a bruised face (concussion rates are actually very low with fights since they are bare-knuckle). The idea is that if you play dirty, you will be forced to answer for it beyond a fine or penalty minutes. Fighting is down across the league and so have cheap shots . It's not really a measurable science but most hockey players consider fighting a matter of safety in the game

[@ahmertension]

@ryanfalcon thanks for the detailed reply. I still remain largely confused - bare knuckle fights would still lead to broken bones in the hand which would rule a player out I'd imagine? Secondly, playing dirty happens in many sports and the answer is to take the player out of the game. Why would fighting be a better solution, given all other contact sports have successfully eliminated them? I appreciate that there is a historical and social context I would be missing here, so i might be missing something

[@NolanEgbert]

@@ahmertension Happy to try and help explain best I can! On the first point, broken hands/fingers are extremely rare, why this is Im not entirely sure. Might be because the short duration of fights and the force of punches is dispersed a bit more because of the grappling hold that allows for the body or head to lean away from the impact. Secondly, it's probably impossible to eliminate all dirty play because doing so would kill the speed of the game because of an overabundance of stoppages for penalties and the inability for the referees to see everyone all at once. This leaves the players who know what happened to try and fill the gap in enforcement that's left in-between the rulebook and the acceptable level of toughness. The idea is to make sure players are following the rules, both written and unwritten or when the referees aren't looking

[@ahmertension]

@@NolanEgbert thanks a lot! The point about speed makes a lot of sense. The fact that injuries don't seem to happen is surprising, but again your explanation makes sense.

[@poindextertunes]

Perfect. I just got done watching Goon