If you saw Tony Twist hop over the boards in the mid-90s, you knew exactly what was about to happen. It wasn’t going to be a highlight-reel goal. It wasn’t going to be a crisp tape-to-tape pass. Honestly, for the guys on the other team, it was basically a survival drill.
Tony Twist hockey fights weren't just scraps; they were high-impact collisions that felt more like heavyweight boxing than a game of puck.
Most enforcers in that era were "vibe" guys—they’d wrestle, trade some shots, and maybe pull a jersey over someone's head. Not Twist. The man had "tree-trunk legs" and hands that he literally conditioned by punching concrete floors for 15 minutes before games. Yeah, you read that right. Concrete. He wanted his knuckles deadened and his hands hard as rocks because when he swung, he wasn't looking to "win a decision." He was looking to end the night.
The Raw Power of the Twister
What most people get wrong about Twist is thinking he was just another big guy. At 6'1" and 245 pounds, he wasn't even the tallest enforcer in the league. But he was arguably the heaviest hitter. Ask Mike Peluso. In December 1993, Twist landed a right hand on Peluso that didn't just knock him down—it practically folded him.
He had this terrifying ability to generate power from a short distance. While other guys needed a big wind-up, Twist could catch you while you were still trying to find your grip.
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Why Opponents Feared the St. Louis Legend
- The "Concrete" Training: As mentioned, his pre-game ritual of punching the dressing room floor is the stuff of nightmares.
- Short-Range Explosiveness: He didn't need a lot of room to ruin your week.
- Pure Enjoyment: Unlike some tough guys who hated the "job," Twist openly admitted he liked the combat.
Tony Twist vs. Bob Probert: The Heavyweight Title
You can't talk about Twist without talking about Bob Probert. If Probert was the king, Twist was the guy trying to burn the palace down. They had a legendary rivalry that spanned multiple seasons, specifically peaking during Twist's time with the St. Louis Blues and Probert's stint with the Chicago Blackhawks.
In one of their most famous tilts on December 13, 1996, Twist jumped Probert before the big man could even get his gloves fully off. It was a calculated move. Twist knew you couldn't give a technician like Probert any breathing room. He landed several heavy rights before Probert could even set his feet.
Did it look a bit like an "instigator" move? Sure. But in the world of the 90s NHL enforcer, if you weren't first, you were usually horizontal. Twist won that round decisively, which was a rare feat against a prime Bob Probert.
The Stats That Don't Show Up on the Scoresheet
Looking at Twist’s career stats is kinda hilarious if you don't know the context. Over 445 NHL games, he scored exactly 10 goals. He once went 180 games before netting his first one! But nobody cared about his shooting percentage.
He racked up 1,121 penalty minutes. That’s basically 18 full games spent sitting in a small plastic box thinking about what he'd done. But for the Blues and the Quebec Nordiques, those minutes were an insurance policy.
Notable Sparring Partners
- Rob Ray: A technical fighter who famously used to lose his jersey to win fights. Twist didn't care; he'd just hit the skin.
- Gino Odjick: A wild, unpredictable brawler who gave Twist some of his toughest "natural vs. natural" battles.
- Jim McKenzie: One of the most underrated heavyweights who went five rounds with Twist over the years.
The Legal Battle Over a Comic Book Mobster
Here is a weird bit of trivia that usually shocks people: Tony Twist actually won a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the creator of the Spawn comic books.
Todd McFarlane, the artist behind Spawn, created a mob enforcer character named Antonio "Tony Twist" Twistelli. The character was a child-kidnapping, cigar-chomping dirtbag. The real Tony Twist wasn't a fan. His mom actually found out about it when some kids showed up at her house in British Columbia with "Tony Twist" toys.
After a decade of legal back-and-forth, Twist was eventually awarded a $5 million settlement in 2007. It's one of the most famous "right of publicity" cases in sports history.
A Career Cut Short by a Harley
The saddest part of the Tony Twist story is how it ended. It wasn't a fight that took him out. It was a motorcycle accident in the summer of 1999.
He was riding his Harley-Davidson when a car cut him off. Twist smashed into the car and suffered a shattered pelvis. Doctors said a "normal" human would have died, but Twist’s massive leg muscles absorbed enough of the impact to save his life. Still, his hockey career was over at age 31.
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The St. Louis Blues had actually told him just hours before the crash that they weren't renewing his contract, making it a double-blow of a day.
What We Can Learn from the Enforcer Era
The era of the pure enforcer is basically dead in today’s NHL. You won't see guys like Twist today because the game is too fast, and the roster spots are too valuable to give to a guy who plays five minutes a night and averages two goals a decade.
But there’s a reason fans still search for old VHS clips of Tony Twist hockey fights. There was an honesty to it. You knew exactly what he was there for, and he did it better—and harder—than almost anyone else in history.
If you're looking to dive deeper into this era of hockey history, here is how you should approach it:
- Watch the McKenzie Fight (1992): Many consider this his most technical "masterclass" in terms of balance and leverage.
- Compare Him to Modern "Tough" Guys: Watch a fight from 2024 and then watch Twist vs. Peluso. The difference in impact force is staggering.
- Read "The Code": Twist wrote the foreword to Ross Bernstein's book The Code, which explains the unwritten rules enforcers lived by. It’ll give you a lot of perspective on why he did what he did.
The game has changed, but the legend of the Twister remains a permanent part of St. Louis and Quebec hockey lore. He wasn't just a fighter; he was the ultimate deterrent.