10 NHL Records You Won't Believe

Randy Holt was one of the toughest players in the NHL throughout the 1970s and '80s. Standing at only 180cm and 84kg, he wasn’t the biggest player on the ice, but his 1,438 penalty minutes (PIM) throughout 395 career games shows that he was one tenacious defenseman. Holt was traded during the 1978-79 season to the Los Angeles Kings in an attempt to add muscle to their roster.

On 11 March 1979, the Kings traveled to Philadelphia to face off against the fearsome Flyers. Holt picked up his first penalty early on in the game, and then fought Flyers tough-guy Frank Bathe late in the same period. For his efforts, Holt received the standard five minute penalty for fighting as well as a game misconduct, bringing his total PIM on the night up to twenty-two.

Usually, a game misconduct means the contest is over for the player who received it, but not on this night. At the end of the first period, Holt felt that a Philadelphia player had done him wrong earlier in the game and decided to settle the score. The Pembroke native instigated a bench-clearing brawl and was assessed another forty-five penalty minutes for his actions during the fight; this included a triple game misconduct, which brought his game total to sixty-seven PIM! Unfortunately, the Kings went on to lose the game 6-3.

Not only did Holt set the record for most penalty minutes in a period, but it still stands as the NHL single-game record for penalty minutes. Well worth the three game suspension he received after the game!