P.J. Stock

[steg1989]

This guy is by far, my favorite fighter. He always had a memorable bout in every game he played. The most memorable would definitly be the one against Stephen Peat.

The best in game audio of all time...

"Stock in the gold Stephen Peat in the white, at center ice here in the Fleet Center in Boston. Two guys who can throw punches and their doing exactly that. Holy Jumpin! Folks, this is one of the best hockey fights we have seen in a long time. Punch after punch. Gotta be able to take one to give one and they are…PJ Stock has turned into some what of a cult hero here in Boston"

An article following the Peat fight

Stock flows with punches
By Steve Conroy. The Boston Herald. January 6, 2002.

P.J. Stock was sporting a nice welt under his right eye and small abrasion over his left eye. And, of course, a big smile on his face.

Stock, the B's feisty enforcer, had some tough work to do yesterday and did it admirably, pounding away with the Capitals' Stephen Peat in a second-period bout that lasted longer than many of Don King's productions.

Stock gave away four inches and nearly 30 pounds to Peat, but after all the punching was done, was still proudly standing.

"I love this (fighting). It's awesome. Anybody can score a goal," cracked Stock. "If I wanted to, I could have Joe (Thornton's) numbers, too. But right now I'm keeping my stats at zeroes across the board. But if they want me to, I'll pick it up."

In the fight, Stock gave as good as he got. "We both landed a few," he said. "I'm not strong enough to hold guys out if they're too big, so I'm going to have to take a few to land a few, but sometimes, those guys get a few good ones off."

Stock is becoming quite the fan favorite.

"The fans in Boston here really appreciate it so it makes you want to do that that much more," said Stock. "I grew up in Montreal watching Boston in the Boston Garden with the history that they have here and I know how loud this place can get. And I remember the Boston fans coming up to the Forum in the buses. I know what it's all about."

Stock's earned some kudos on his own bench as well.

"That guy's been nothing but great for our team," said Bill Guerin. "He's definitely one of the leaders on the club. He's a big presence in the locker room. You can't help but hear him. Then he goes out and he does the right thing at the right time. And we all know that when he fights, he goes all out. He's been a great addition."

Along with the Stock bout, Nick Boynton fought Joe Sacco seconds later and Thornton had a flareup with Rob Zettler in the third period.

Another Stock article

B's Stock rises with fisticuffs
By Steve Conroy. The Boston Herald. December 9, 2001.

Everyone knew that P.J. Stock had plenty of grit and toughness. Now you can add panache to the Bruin tough guy's repertoire.

In an entertaining 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at the FleetCenter last night, Stock brought appreciative fans, not to mention teammates, to their feet with a grueling third-period bout against Buffalo's pugilist Eric Boulton.

In the fight, which lasted well over a minute, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Stock gave as good as he got - and he got plenty. He gave away two inches and 30 pounds to Boulton but he was able to land his share of blows and remained on his skates throughout the scrap.

When the linesmen finally stepped between the dance partners, Stock twirled out of the clench, skated to the penalty box and, when the crowd roared its approval, waved to his new fans, which made them all the more jubilant.

"That was just a little salutation," said smiling but lumpy Stock. "I didn't know what I was doing. I guess I got hit so many times in the head I didn't know what I was doing."

Coach Robbie Ftorek said he had told Stock not to fight, but when the opportunity presented itself at 7:10 of the third period with the B's up 4-1, Stock couldn't resist. Earlier in the game, Boulton, who had tangled with Stock several times before in the AHL, tried unsuccessfully to goad Kyle McLaren and then Bill Guerin into battle. Stock made note of that.

"He was going after a few guys who maybe it's not their role," said Stock, in his first game back after missing a dozen with a sprained ankle. "I said I know you're just doing your job, but you can't do it to those guys."

Shortly after that, Boulton and Stock were clenched in the corner.

"I think he was trying to draw me into a penalty and we were a couple of goals up and the last thing we wanted to do was take a penalty to hurt the team," said Stock. "So I had to take the first couple to make sure he was going to fight, just regroup and go on from there."

And from there, Stock learned how much Boston hockey fans enjoy their fistfights. They also gave him some unwarranted advice.

"It was fun right in front of the crowd, banging on the glass," said the animated Stock. "They were giving me pointers. Thanks, guys. . . . There was a guy drinking his Coke, eating his popcorn going 'hit him! hit him!' "

And while he said he didn't want Stock to fight, Ftorek was certainly pleased with the results. And he was happy to see the crowd respond.

"When they get that notoriety or support, it really pleases the guys because that's what they feed off," said Ftorek.

Yet another Stock article

A FISTFUL OF INSPIRATION FROM STOCK
BY KEVIN PAUL DUPONT. The Boston Globe. January 22, 2002.

The zeros next to his name - as in no goals, no assists, no points - are as obvious as the skinned knuckles and assorted dings and divots on his hands.

"Yeah, my mom, she keeps telling me she wants a goal," moaned P.J. Stock, the Bruins' resident Rottweiler, following another afternoon of attack-dog duty yesterday at the Fleet. "I tell her, 'Hey, mom, I'm tryin', I'm tryin',' every day."

Point is, points don't count, or at least they're not necessary for the 26-year-old Stock. For what he does, points are about as relevant as is the teller in charge of employee stock options at the Enron credit union. Boston's rising Stock is all the hubbub here in the Hub of Hockey because of what those hands deliver, which is the kind of scoring effectiveness that doesn't show up on the "G-A-Pts" part of the game summary.

The latest case in point: Stock's early-third-period go-round with Blues winger Reed Low, an acquaintance, shall we say, from their days on opposing benches in the American Hockey League.

"Yeah, we've met before," said Stock. "I was just, uh, trying to get things going."

With the score tied, 2-2, Stock informed coach Robbie Ftorek that he had this urge to stretch his legs when the 6-foot-3-inch Low rolled over the boards. For the sake of a family newspaper, we will further interpret "urge to stretch his legs" as Stock saying, "Oh coach, mind if I try to knock the snot out of their No. 34?"

Given that the Bruins by that point had blown a 2-0 lead and were on their way to nodding off to a league-high seventh overtime loss, Ftorek was happy to oblige.

"And that's not all that unusual," noted Ftorek, recalling his former coaching outposts. "I've had that happen before in LA, New Jersey, here."

Predictably, the Fleet crowd responded just as their predecessors at the long-lost Garden responded to a good fight. Generations go by and the faces in the stands change, just as they change on the ice, but Bostonians love their blood-and-guts almost as much as their Black-and-Gold. Stock, 5 inches shorter and 32 pounds lighter than Low, marched in with head down and traded a long series of rat-a-tat punches with his able and willing dance partner.

"Just give it all," said Stock, describing his style. "That's all - I go for about 30 seconds, and just give it all. The fans enjoy it when I hold and chuck it."

The banging done, and the hootin' and hollerin' at its high, Low raced toward the penalty box - his sign that he was claiming victory. Stock, after a deep breath and equipment adjustment, made his trademark wave to the crowd.

"I don't know what's going on with that," said Stock, asked about his signature signoff. "We started it, and we can't stop it now."

A preseason waiver-draft acquisition - the NHL's version of a Filene's Basement bargain - Stock has used his two hands over the last month or two to carve himself true cult-figure status. Unbeknownst to their fandom, the Bruins picked up the game's No. 1 rabble-rouser at an almost laughable price of only $425,000.

Whenever there is a need now for an impact, Ftorek pops Stock over the boards and things change. Usually in a hurry. Often it's the score. Less than two minutes after Stock's dustup with Low, recent acquisition Benoit Hogue knocked in the go-ahead goal for the Bruins. No coincidence. The charge Stock's fights send through the Boston bench is palpable.

"That was a huge lift for our team," said Bill Guerin. "It was a great fight, and the timing was perfect. P.J.'s a smart guy, he knows how to do his job, and he does it well."

Those smarts had Cathie Smart telling her son some six years ago to get himself out of hockey and into college. After two years of major junior hockey in Quebec, Stock was approaching his 21st birthday with little hope of ever playing in the NHL. The Rangers gave him a training camp invite, attempting to tempt him with a three-way deal that would have paid him peanuts in the ECHL, a ham sandwich in the AHL, and barely a bucket of fried chicken in the NHL.

"And I was figuring I'd end up in the ECHL," recalled Stock. "So I went to university."

His stay at St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, was only one year. The Rangers offer was there again in the summer of '97, and this time he took it.

"Just the one year," kidded Stock. "That's how smart I am - got the four years done in one. I figure I've got 50 years I can go to school, but I can only play so long."

It has taken until now, his fifth pro season, for Stock truly to find a home. He fought a lot for the Rangers, too, but most of that was in Hartford (540 penalty minutes across two AHL seasons). The Canadiens gave him a homeboy's look last year for 20 games but then traded him to the Flyers for a sixth-round draft pick (Dennis Seidenberg, where are you?). Philadelphia has a rich history of favoring fighters over lovers, but the Broad Street Bullies let Stock escape in the waiver draft.

"I loved it in Montreal when the Bruins came to town," said Stock, thinking back to his childhood, when the Habs and B's battled in the Forum. "It wasn't so much the team coming in as the busloads of fans from Boston - they'd be way up in the back, yellin' and screamin'. I loved that."

If not for a league that allows him to do what he does, literally fight for a living, Stock knows where his seat would be for most games.

"Up there in the back row," he said, "having a beer."

Now he can walk into any pub in town and they know his name. More important to him, his teammates know his name, and they let him know they appreciate his work.

"Marty [Lapointe] came over to the penalty box after the fight today and gave me the thumbs-up," said Stock. "I love that."

Not since the likes of Terry O'Reilly and John McKenzie have the Bruins had such an embraceable battler. The pint-sized pugilist, a walk-on in October, all of a sudden is the centerpiece in what is evolving into a showcase team.

"This team has - I don't want to say it has magic - but it has chemistry, real chemistry," said the hottest Stock in the Boston market. "And we're winning."

It takes many hands to make a team. The busiest of the bunch, and the bloodiest, belong to Stock.

[steg1989]

One more article

PUNCHING IN AS CULT HERO SWEET-SCIENTIST STOCK A BIG HIT WITH BRUINS TEAMMATES, FANS
By Jackie MacMullan. The Boston Globe. March 26, 2002.

When he was small, he would tumble out of bed, throw on the nearest T-shirt and jeans, grab his brother and his Tonka truck, and bulldoze the neighborhood. P.J. Stock would pound that truck up and down the streets of suburban Montreal, trampling bushes, rocks, sticks, anything in its path.

"He was constantly falling, covered in black and blues," confirmed his mother, Cathy. "I used to think, 'My God, the neighbors are going to think we do something to this kid.'

"But that was just P.J. He went after everything 100 percent hard, no matter what it was."

He was a wrestler, a soccer star, a rugby player, a hockey rat.

But a fighter? Rarely.

"He was too good-natured for that," Cathy Stock said. "He was a rough-and-tumble kid, for sure, but everyone loved him. Really, I'm not just saying it because he's my boy: P.J. is sweet."

Ask Washington Capitals wing Stephen Peat how sweet the Bruins wing was when the scrappy forward, 3 inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter, peppered Peat with a series of roundhouse rights. Or Chicago enforcer Ryan Vandenbussche, who engaged in a memorable bout with Stock that teammate Martin Lapointe lists as his most impressive fisticuffs of the season. Buffalo enforcer Rob Ray found Stock so charming he leveled him with a punch that left Stock with, in his own words, "a broken face."

"Let's face it," Stock said, flashing that sugary smile that any mother would love, "they don't send me out there to score goals."

Bruins fans don't care if Stock ever pots one. He has reached cult status ever since he pulled on his black-and-gold jersey in September, and dropped his gloves for the cause on a nightly basis. The Bruins faithful became so enamored with him, they bought black market P.J. Stock T-shirts with the words "Ass Kicker" emblazoned on the back.

Yet Stock has been reduced to the role of a pacifist since early February, when he suffered the severe facial injury in the fight with Ray. He was forced to wear a protective visor over his cheekbone, and avoid the one thing he craves most: contact.

"It's been hard for me," Stock said. "Especially since the other team knows I can't go at them, and they can say whatever they want."

Two days ago, Stock finally was authorized to chuck his protective flap, which resembled a thick, exaggerated sideburn, and is ready to resume his role as Boston's premier aggressor as the Bruins jockey for postseason positioning.

"I can't wait to get back to the way I was playing before," Stock said. "My whole thing is to try and get my team going, and the fans going. Maybe the game isn't being played physically enough, so I'm going out there to set the tone."

His willingness to take on all comers, regardless of status or size, has endeared him to this blood-and-guts hockey town. When he skates toward the penalty box and salutes the home crowd with his signature wave, the FleetCenter erupts, and the Bruins' bench taps into that energy.

"P.J. is not a big guy," said teammate Hal Gill, "so it's inspirational when you see him go up against these guys who have 3 inches and 30 pounds on him. It really does get us going."

The evolution of Stock, a mere 5 feet 9 inches, 190 pounds, as a pugilist is amusing to childhood friend Scott Thornton, who remembers his pal as a tough, free-wheeling, non-stop dervish with minimal interest in using his fists.

"Once we were playing street hockey, and he slashed me," Thornton recalled. "I got mad, so I slashed him back. We dropped our gloves, and I punched him in the face. I gave him a black eye.

"I was ready, waiting for him to hit me back. But he never did. He just looked at me kind of funny, and turned and went home."

Stock wasn't afraid; he just wasn't interested in popping his best friend. Even then, he knew when to fight, and when not to.

But by the time he reached juniors, and languished behind his peers in skating and scoring ability, Stock realized the only way he'd get to the majors was to live off bone-crunching hits and a flurry of punches.

"I had this big, tough teammate in juniors named Matthew Raby," Stock said. "We'd get out there together, and started hitting. Whenever anyone challenged us, Matthew took care of it.

"Well, one day Matthew got traded. The next time I went out there and hit guys, I started looking around for Matthew, and realized I was on my own."

He broke into the NHL with the Rangers in 1997, scoring just 2 goals and accruing 131 penalty minutes over the next three seasons. He was shuffled back and forth between Hartford and Madison Square Garden, changing teammates and lines from one night to the next.

His first NHL fight came just days after the Rangers called him up from Hartford. He still was memorizing the names of his teammates when he came face-to-face with then-Islanders defenseman Rich Pilon.

"He slashed me, so I slashed him," Stock said. "I didn't know anyone on my team. I didn't know if it was the right thing to be doing. He was wearing a visor, so he took off his helmet. So I took off my helmet.

"We stood there staring at each other. He had real long hair and a goatee. He was scary looking. I was pretty intimidated.

"He threw the first punch. I came out of it OK. At least I could still speak when it was over."

Boston is his fourth stop on his spotty NHL tour, yet, Stock believes, he's finally found a home, on the strength of his physical presence. There was the Dec. 8 game when he took on Buffalo bad boy Eric Boulton, 2 inches and 32 pounds bigger, and rat-a-tatted him upside the head for trying to goad teammate Bill Guerin into a confrontation. The Bruins, buoyed by his heroics, went on to win, 4-2.

Then there was the Jan. 26 game against Florida, when Stock challenged both Brad Ference and Peter Worrell. As Stock taunted Ference, and jousted with Worrell, who outsized him by 7 inches and 45 pounds, Mike Knuble waltzed in unattended to push Boston in front, 2-1, in a game it would eventually win, 4-2.

One of Stock's personal favorites was the Jan. 21 game against St. Louis, when he traded punches with forward Reed Low, 5 inches and 32 pounds bigger, with the score tied, 2-2. Within minutes after the brawl, with Stock's teammates whooping encouragement, Benoit Hogue scored the go-ahead goal.

Coincidence? Hardly.

"Whenever he fights, there's always a purpose," said Lapointe. "If we're ahead, 2-0, you won't see him out there swinging.

"I don't think people realize how tough it is to do his job - and I don't mean physically. I mean mentally. Whenever coach taps you on the back, down, 2-1, you know what he wants."

Bruins coach Robbie Ftorek has appreciated Stock's role, which is why he took the necessary precautions to protect his enforcer following his facial injury. That meant scratching Stock from the lineup March 14 against Toronto. You need look no further than notorious NHL goon Tie Domi to understand why.

"Yep, that was it," said Ftorek. "The doctors told us P.J. could play, but he couldn't fight. Well, he can't play and not fight. It's not in his makeup."

Stock's diminished ice time afforded him one benefit: He and backup goalie John Grahame could peruse the crowd for his T-shirts. The first time Stock noticed them, there were only 10 or so. Within days, that number had quadrupled. Glen Murray's wife snapped up a bundle, and distributed some to Stock and his mother, who only will wear hers in the privacy of her home.

"Now I want to make it clear, I don't want any 5- or 10-year-olds wearing those shirts," said Stock, grinning from ear to ear. "But I encourage the people up in the balcony drinking beer to wear them."

The attention lavished on a fourth-line wing who hasn't scored a goal all season might be a problem on another team, but not for the Bruins. They have grown to love Stock, for his willingness to take one for the team, and for his unabashed enthusiasm in the locker room.

"Often there are intangibles on a team that aren't always measured or appreciated," said veteran Don Sweeney. "What P.J. brings to our locker room is one of them.

"Sometimes things can get tense in here. But P.J. is the one who lifts everyone's spirits. He does a great job of motivating this team."

It was no different when Stock was a kid, telling anyone who would listen he would play in the NHL some day. Thornton, who back then was clearly the superior player, knew better than to doubt Stock.

"We played hockey together since we were little kids," Thornton said. "I was always a level above him. But he had this determination that nobody else could match. And he had this knack of fitting in wherever he went."

Ftorek would like to upgrade Stock's status as a marginal talent, and develop him into a more complete player.

"I'm trying to get him into the thought process of stopping in front of the net and poking in a rebound," said Ftorek. "If you are on the ice, and in position to put in a shot, you're supposed to put it in.

"I don't want our guys to be categorized one certain way. If that means you are a fighter and need to score, then do it. If that means you are a scorer and need to fight, then do it."

Even though his contributions have been limited the past month, Stock's fan base is growing by the day. When a group of Bruins players appeared in the South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade, Stock was the main attraction.

"We're riding on this truck, and the people are chanting, 'P.J.! P.J.!' " said Gill. "And there was Joe Thornton, sitting right next to him."

Stock was still reveling about the parade four days later.

"What amazing fans they have here," Stock gushed. "It was so great to see people hanging from their windows at 2 in the afternoon."

P.J. Stock will make $425,000 this year for wearing the uniform of the Boston Bruins. He is living his dream, and (literally) fighting to keep it alive. In the meantime, he is the most popular player in the locker room, the stands - and South Boston.

Now that's sweet.

Another article on Stock

Stock punches up offense
By STEVE CONROY. The Boston Herald. April 26, 2002.

MONTREAL -- P.J. Stock skated a total of four minutes, 25 seconds last night, but he sure knows how to get the most out of his ice time.

In those few minutes he was patrolling the Molson Centre ice, Stock managed to score a goal - his first as a Bruin - and get into a fight with Montreal henchman Gino Odjick, holding his own with the much bigger opponent. And, of course, the Montreal native gave his signature wave to his less-than-adoring hometown crowd.

But the goal had him gleaming.

"It doesn't come any better than that, at home in front of my family and it was a huge game for us," Stock said. "We talked about how they were going to come out flying and we would have to take the wind out of them somehow."

Stock surely did that, as his tally at 2:49 of the first period gave the B's a lead that they never relinquished in the 5-2 win. He made a nice play by avoiding Canadiens defenseman Patrice Brisebois behind the net, taking the puck out to goalie Jose Theodore's left and tucking it between his pads.

"We just talked about getting the puck deep in their zone," Stock said. "I got lucky by banking it off the back."

He would see precious little time after that until late in the third period when all hell broke loose. It began with two minutes left when Canadien Sheldon Souray took a two-minute roughing penalty when he tried to goad Joe Thornton into a fight. Nine seconds later, Stock and the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Odjick engaged in the inevitable fisticuffs with the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Stock landing his share of blows.

"The thing with Gino and I just happened. It's been going on the whole series and it was building up to that," said Stock, adding that the Habs precipitated the ugliness late in the game when Souray went after Thornton. "We just had to regulate things a bit."

With 1:17 remaining, the game got really nasty when Kyle McLaren drilled Richard Zednik into the ice and sent him off on a stretcher. That sparked rage from the Canadiens' bench and, later, the locker room.

Stock defended McLaren over and over after the game, saying there was no intent to injure Zednik. Still, Stock could find himself a busy man tomorrow in Game 5.

"The games have been so close, and no one wants to take that penalty that's going to hurt them," Stock said. "If things do go that way, we've got such important guys on this team that you have to keep on the ice. And if I have to take some heat to my head or get my nose dirty, it's my job and I enjoy doing it, and there's not a better group of guys to be doing it for."

Another PJ article

NO STOCK ANSWERS FROM P.J., A MAN OF LETTERS
BY DAN SHAUGHNESSY. The Boston Globe. December 8, 2002.

"Well, today we showed the character of the team. Down, 2-0, to the Tampa Bay Lightning, we came in after the first period and Johnny Grahame said, 'You guys are playing well. They're not getting anymore.' And that's what he did. So the ball was in our court for 45 minutes to get three goals. We had to go win it for him because he was making unbelievable saves. That just showed the character of the team. Everyone picked it up a notch and Nick Boynton got the winner in OT."

The previous paragraph comes to you from my new favorite Boston sports columnist: Bruins center/pugilist P.J. Stock.

Anybody who knows anything about the Bruins knows that P.J. is The Man. Here's a guy who drops the gloves with anybody in the league, scores a goal about once per Olympiad, has his own (unofficial) line of T-shirts ("P.J. Stock Crew - Ass Kicker 42") and now . . . he's the official columnist for the Bruins Web site. Go to bostonbruins.com, hit "Fancenter" and there's a Boston Bruins journal - by P.J. Stock.

It's great stuff. Most player journals read like **** and Jane books: I got up. I ate. I went to practice. I came home and showered. I shaved. I watched "SportsCenter." I played "NHL Hitz." I ate again. I watched cartoons. We hope to win tonight, but these guys are gonna be tough.

Not P.J. The guy is the Hunter Thompson of player journalists. It's pure gonzo stream-of-consciousness. One minute he's telling you how the Bruins decide who's paying when they go out to eat (all the credit cards go into a bin and the last one picked out has to pay for everybody), then he's reviewing the latest J-Lo movie (1 1/2-2 stars for "Maid in Manhattan"). When he's really smoking, he'll tell you that his mom uses too much Jean Nate perfume ("she comes over and hugs my dog and my dog smells funny"). Trust me when I tell you Yaz never wrote stuff like this when he was a columnist for the Globe during the 1967 World Series.

The Bruins are the only team in town that offers such a journal. The Patriots have a player write during training camp, but not during the regular season. This is the fifth year the Bruins have had an in-house journalist. Byron Dafoe, Joe Thornton, Jason Allison, and Martin Lapointe recorded their thoughts in previous seasons, but Stock is the first with Pulitzer potential.

Incredibly, the Bruins players are not paid for this service. Imagine getting baseball players to do anything for the good of the team, without compensation. For that matter, imagine sportswriters doing anything for free. We'll have to get P.J. a literary agent.

Thornton, who had a pair of assists yesterday, including one on Boynton's game-winner, recalled his days as a columnist and said, "I was pretty average, but I hear from my boys back home that P.J. is a character."

There's certainly nothing average about Stock's prose.

"I got in a couple fights with Eric Boulton," he wrote after the Sabres game. "I mean the guy just doesn't understand fights."

Fans hungry for more of Stock's furious fists can check out the latest ESPN Magazine, in which Stock explains the finer points of hockey fighting in a make-believe bout with the magazine's Lindsey Berra. She's much better looking than grandpa Yogi but doesn't hit as hard. P.J. also wants everyone to know that his son, Tyson, is not named after the notorious nitwit boxer. Stock and his wife just like the name.

Lyndon Byers was the last Bruin who made his name with his fists and he's made a career in radio, but it's doubtful Lyndy could write like Stock. P.J. is getting great reviews from Bruins fans.

"We get a lot of fun comments on it," he said. "I'm no English major [all four columns this year have started with the word, 'Well,'] but I just bounce stuff off the walls and talk as if I was talking with anybody else."

His mom was cool with the perfume critique, and Stock has had plenty of suggestions from fans with ideas for new perfumes for Mom Stock.

Any suggestions for Boston's other sports columnists?

"I could pull a few of them aside and work with a few of them," he said.

Now if he could only remember his age. In Stock's latest literary effort, he wrote, "I'm 28 and maybe not as mature as a lot of people . . ."

He won't be 28 until next May.

"He's not the smartest guy in the world," said Thornton. "Thank God he plays hockey for his living."

Said Stock: "My mom called me right after that and said, 'You're not 28 yet.' I'm going to explain that in next week's entry."

He will always be remembered here in Massachusetts as one of the gutsiest fighter on the Bruins in the last couple of years. Every fight he would get into, it would be a slugfest, guaranteed.

Of his games with the Bruins, his stats were (not including playoffs)

Goals: 1
Assists: 12
Games Played: 130
Points: 13
PIM's: 282

[AdamBruinsFan]

Thanks for the P.J. Stock articles. Man do I miss this guy. This was one of the best team players you'll ever find and he would do anything for the team. It sucked that his last year here in Boston, he played one game for Boston, then Mike Sullivan and Co sent him down to the minors because their reason was that he didn't have the skills they needed at the time (bullshit!), and then he got traded to the Flyers AHL affiliate for Andre Savage. I remember hearing he played well for the Phantoms. And then he got the eye injury which forced him to retire.

He will always be a true Bruin in my mind.

[steg1989]

I never knew he retired because of an eye injury, does anyone know what caused it?

[AdamBruinsFan]

I never knew he retired because of an eye injury, does anyone know what caused it?

I think he got hurt in a fight.

[Rob666]

I do enjoy Stock's fights and I really like him as a player. he deserves respect every bit as much as Tie Domi. Both average size men fighting monsters, and doing very good against 6'5",6'6",6'7" and more 230-260 pound monsters. Right now I'm only 15 and I'm 5'10" and 150 pounds (putting on more weight thoe) and I couldn't imagin fighting someone 6'5" and 235 pounds and winning. I'm pretty agressive so I probibly would fight them I just don't see myself winning unless this pearson had no clue how to fight. I box and I wrestle so I can take big dudes that don't know anything about fighting but someone like Matt Johnson (6'5" 235 pounds) who can fight would throttle me... I hate to say it. I have amazing respect for P.J. Stock one of my favs. I watch his fight very often.