Evan Bouchard forced to tap out after Aaron Ekblad held him in a headlock

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Julien Trekker
June 11, 2024 (12:49)

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The Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard was forced to tap out after being held in a headlock for several seconds by Aaron Ekblad during the second game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Last night, in Florida, hockey fans got to see a much more physical game than the first one on the ice of Amarent Bank Arena. It was marked by many big hits from both teams and scrums.

Leon Draisaitl landed a big hit that took Aleksander Barkov out of the game:

"This has to be worth at least a game suspension for Draisaitl. That's some textbook intent to injure."

Warren Foegele received a game misconduct for his leg-on-leg hit on Eetu Luostarinen:

"Foegele gets a five-minute major and a game misconduct. Luostarinen helped back to room.

Nurse went back to the Edmonton room after an earlier hit."

Unfortunately, Aaron Ekblad may have taken things too far. During a scrum, he grabbed Evan Bouchard and held him in a headlock for a while. At some point, Bouchard had to tap out, but Ekblad didn't.

"Something could've gone seriously wrong here and there is no argument that it was anything other than an attempt to choke/injure. There's a reason MMA has a ref with eyes on two guys. Chokes can be deadly."

It's safe to say that as the stakes get higher, and the Oilers reunite with their fans, intensity should rise to a new level on Wednesday for game three.

Source: Hockey Latest
Ekblad takes Bouchard in a chokehold before forcing him to tap out