Calgary Flames

Flames Defenceman THROWS DOWN Against Australian NHL Forward

Published

4 weeks ago

March 28, 2024

The Calgary Flames fell 5-3 to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night. Amid a game full of high pace, blow-for-blow offensive action, newcomer Joel Hanley found himself dropping the gloves with St. Louis Blues forward Nathan Walker. A bout that both combatants will certainly take note of. After all, round three may be just around the corner.

Joel Hanley and Nathan Walker drop the gloves! #Flames | #STLBlues
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/sG4SrdfP4c

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 29, 2024

Claimed off of waivers on March 5, 2024, the 32-year-old Hanley has been putting in the work to solidify a regular spot on the Flames blue line. On Thursday afternoon, the Flames announced that fellow defenceman Oliver Kylington would be a game time decision due to an undisclosed injury. By the time warmups rolled around, head coach Ryan Huska confirmed that Kylington would take the night off and Hanley would slot in on the top pairing alongside Rasmus Andersson.

The Keswick, Ontario product ended up almost beating a personal record in terms of single game ice time. His 20:46 was only topped once. A 22:00 deployment while playing for the Montreal Canadiens on April 9, 2016.

Born in Cardiff, GBR, but moving to Sydney, Australia, when he was two, Nathan Walker is the only Australian to play a game in the National Hockey League. At the age of 13, Walker’s Slovakia-born coach capacitated a tryout in the Czech Republic. Nathan appeared in various Czech pro and development leagues for six seasons before heading to North America to play when he was invited to the Washington Capitals development camp in 2011.

Chipping away their trade in the AHL, both Hanley and Walker have taken major steps towards a permanent NHL role in the past two seasons. Walker, 30, managed to stay on the Blues for the entirety of the 2022-2023 regular season without being sent down, and Hanley, 32, hasn’t been sent down since the 2019-2020 regular season.

The two have fought once before. Another tight-gripped, wild affair taking place on November 28, 2022.