Ex-NHLer Pat Maroon’s Son Drops Gloves In First USHL Fight, Looks Just Like His Old Man
He probably had a good teacher.
Pat Maroon — known to NHL fans as "Big Rig" — hung up his skates at the end of last season and moved into a new stage of his career as a coach.
What's cool is he joined the coaching staff of the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks, the same team his son was set to debut with this season.
Well, the USHL season is underway, and it's safe to say that the proverbial apple doesn't fall from the proverbial tree.
Anthony Thomas-Maroon is a 6'0", 175-pound forward, and I think the term "power forward" would be rather apropos.
He and the Lumberjacks took on the Youngstown Phantoms on Friday night. With around six minutes remaining in the second period and the Muskegon trailing, Thomas-Maroon laid an absolutely massive check.
Clean too.
However, that wasn't going to fly with Youngstown's Jack Hamilton, who has committed to play at Miami University. He and Thomas-Maroon dropped the mitts.
Man, that was a good one.
It was a clean check, but props to Hamilton for jumping in to defend his teammate, and he had himself a solid bout as well.
Unfortunately for him, Thomas-Maroon got in that one shot that knocked him off his feet and effectively ended the bout.
That was Thomas-Maroon's first fight in the USHL — the top US-based junior league — and it sure looks to my eye like he may have gotten some pointers from his old man at some point.
He sure had more than a few of those in his NHL days.
That fight earned both Hamilton and Maroon five-minute majors as well as 10-minute misconducts.
In the end, Muskegon took a 3-2 win in overtime. The two teams are set to play again on Saturday.
And, given what happened in Friday night's game, I think it's safe to assume that the Phantoms will be skating with their heads on a swivel when Thomas-Maroon is on the ice.