Fedoruk, hurt by Boogaard, became a friend

MINNEAPOLIS -- A single punch will forever link Todd Fedoruk's NHL career and legacy with Derek Boogaard.

Boogaard's devastating blow shattered Fedoruk's face in a famous fight in October 2006. Fedoruk played three more seasons with four different teams, but his career was never the same.

Fedoruk could have harbored hostility toward Boogaard, but a strange thing happened. When Fedoruk was claimed off waivers by the Wild in November 2007 and became Boogaard's teammate, the two became friends.

"There are certain things about character and personality that mirrors each one of us in the NHL at that level of fighting,'' Fedoruk, 32, said when reached at home in South Jersey on Sunday. "The common ground of honor and respect for the other guys, it goes without saying. There was never an uncomfortable feeling."

In the wake of Rangers forward Boogaard's passing -- he was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment Friday -- Fedoruk said he was shocked, saddened and devastated for Boogaard's family.

When Fedoruk walked into the Wild dressing room for the first time since the fight with Boogaard, 20 interested onlookers were waiting, he said, to see what happened "when these two meatheads hooked up." Fedoruk cracked a joke to Boogaard and the friendship instantly was sealed.

What Fedoruk remembers most fondly was Boogaard's tender relationship with Fedoruk's children.

"He took to them easily, and I think you can always judge a man by how they are with kids," Fedoruk said. "That was one thing I've seen in him. Kind-hearted, such a big heart. That's how you know a guy is one of the good guys."

Fedoruk also praised Boogaard's dominance among fighters in the league.

"I think in his prime, he was number one,'' Fedoruk said. "I don't think there was anyone tougher in the league. There were few and far between who wanted to fight him.

"He fought with passion and vigor. He wanted to destroy you, as a fighter would. People knew that and knew he was capable of that. They were prepared to deal with him but never wanted to."

Fedoruk's own reputation as a fighter was well established by the time the 6-2, 232-pound Ducks left wing squared off with the 6-7, 265-pound Boogaard in 2006. But Boogaard "was the one guy to bring down," Fedoruk said.

"The shot that he gave me -- how bad of an injury it caused, career-ending, maybe -- really put him on a level where people realized 'this guy is dangerous,' '' said Fedoruk, who had reconstructive surgery to repair a shattered cheekbone after the punch.

Boogaard ably fulfilled the "guardian-type quality" as the team enforcer, which made him beloved in the Wild dressing room, Fedoruk said.

"It's the special things you have to have in caring for your teammates in a certain way," he said. "He became such an elite fighter that you wanted him on your side if you had to go to war . . . [His teammates] knew he really cared about them and wouldn't let anyone hurt them."

Boogaard's Rangers career was cut short by a concussion suffered in a Dec. 9 fight with the Senators' Matt Carkner that limited him to 22 games this past season. Fedoruk only wishes Rangers fans in New York could've gotten a better glimpse of who he was.

"The way he was in Minnesota, the way the fans took to him and the way he helped shape the identity of the team, hockey fans love that," Fedoruk said. "New York fans, they would have embraced him. It's a shame he didn't get the chance to get them on his side. He'd have had a tough time walking down the street."

With Jim Baumbach