Tony Twist and Kelly Chase was a feared duo in the NHL in the 1990’s. But in the minors, they were even more feared – even off the ice. Like that one time when Tony Twist knocked out a guy at a stop sign – all dressed in hockey gear.
Few NHL teams have had the amount of toughness as the St. Louis Blues in the 90’s, with Kelly Chase and Tony Twist leading the way. But there was also Chris Pronger who never backed down from anybody, and Geoff Courtnall.
Toughest team in the minors
But before scaring opponents in the NHL, Twist and Chase were teammates in the minors, playing for the Peoria Rivermen, who then was a part of the IHL. But Twist and Chase were not the only tough guys on the Rivermen roster. During the 1988-1989 season, the Rivermen had eight players with over 100 penalty minutes.
READ MORE: Kelly Chase once challenged a referee to a bar fight
Drive to practice
As a guest on the podcast Ice Guardians Pod, Tony Twist sat down with former Blues teammates and hosts Kelly Chase and Brett Hull. During the episode, the trio share a lot of memories, and one in particular stands out from when Twist and Chase played for the Rivermen. Life in the minors are not as glamorous as in the NHL, so in order to practice, the Rivermen had to get dressed at their home arena, and then drive to the practice facility.
Tony Twist car fight at stop sign
During one of those drives to the practice facility, Twist and Chase got into some trouble at a red light.
”This guy road raging Twister. Twister gets out of the car in his hockey equipment. There are like four car loads of guys going to practice in hockey equipment. Twister goes to the car, the guy goes to get out. Bang, bang. Now, the guy falls out of the car but the guy’s feet are still in the freaking car. The guys pile into the car, like ’nothing more to do here.’ We get back in the car. Really hard for the police to find us. Twelve idiots dressed up in hockey gear in four cars, knocking a guy out at a stop sign,” Chase recalls on the podcast.
Eventually, both Twist and Chase got called up to the NHL where they played 445 and 458 games, racking up 1 121 and 2 017 penalty minutes. Quite the numbers!
READ MORE: That one time Tony Twist fought his own teammate
