They simply don’t make them like Tony Twist anymore. Twist is a St. Louis Blues legend and one of the most feared enforcers of all time.
When Ross Bernstein wrote the book The Code: The Unwritten Rules Of Fighting And Retaliation In The NHL, Twist was honored with the assignment of penning the foreword.
That speaks volumes about the status Twist earned throughout his ten years in the league.
In a piece for The Athletic, Twist revealed exactly how he earned his spot in the NHL, and it was a wild ride.
Twist was just 20 years old when he arrived for his first training camp in 1988. Brian Sutter was the coach, and Twist needed to impress him.
He knew he wouldn’t make jaws drop because of his goalscoring, so he had to fight.
”So I’m going down the elevator, and I look at Todd Ewen and say, ’I guess you and I are going tomorrow, huh?’ He says, ’I don’t have to fight you,’ and I said, ’The f— you do,’” wrote Twist.
Todd Ewen wasn’t a nobody. He was an enforcer who retired with 1,914 penalty minutes.
”My second shift of my first scrimmage, I went after Todd, and he wouldn’t fight,” wrote Twist.
”So my next shift, I left my gloves, stick and helmet on the bench, went to center ice, and I’m doing the chicken with my arms. I’m calling his name and saying, ’bok, bok, bok!’ So we fight, and it was a good fight. There was no winner, but I got cut over the eye. The trainer said, ’You’ve got to get stitches.’ I said, ’Put a couple Steri-Strips on it, and we’re going out there to do it again.’
You think Twist was done? Think again.
”It’s training camp, so I’m in the same locker room with Todd, and he says, ’I’m not fighting you again.’ I said, ’The f— you are!’ So I grab the Steri-Strips as I’m walking out of the room and said, ’I’ll see you outside!’”
Tony Twist ended up fighting six times that preseason. Although he didn’t get a chance in the NHL immediately, he had set the tone.
”My skill set was brutal. Was I a liability? Probably. There were games where I never touched the ice. But my second training camp with the Blues, Todd was suspended for the first 10 games, and they needed a heavyweight.”
