GSH sits down with tough guy Ken Tasker, a Minor Pro Legend…..
Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Posted by GSH-Editor

After many e-mail requests to have this story posted on the front page again, we have listened to the members....here's the most read story EVER on GSH! » CLICK HERE FOR TASKER VS SENN FIGHT CLIP!! Ottawa native Ken Tasker has made a career out of pounding people’s faces down in professional hockey leagues across North America for over 7 seasons now. He nearly broke the East Coast Hockey League record for penalty minutes in one season accumulating 438 PIMS in just 42 games in 1999-2000 (he would have broken it had he not been suspended for so many games). He was featured on Sports Greatest Disasters on TLC (The Learning Channel) showing two of his most gruesome tilts. He was the State of Georgia’s Tough Man Competition Champion a few years back for his weight class. Before pro, he played in the MJAHL, and the CIS on the east coast, getting banned from both leagues. Tasker has played in the UHL, ECHL, AHL, and QSPHL during his professional career. Click HERE to listen to Tasker

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On the ice, there is no doubt he is an animal, but off the ice he is a stellar guy in the community, often visiting hospitals and schools many times a month.He has never drank alcohol in his life, is polite as a priest, and is always doing community work. At 6.0 and 185 lbs he is not your typical goon. Tasker is the last person you would think would be a nut on the ice…but he is just that and more. GSH sits downs with Ken as he prepares for another big hockey season.
[align=justify]Q. Thanks for joining us today Ken. So what’s it like making a living being a hockey fighter?

KT- Well it’s been my dream since I was a kid. After watching the movie “Slapshot”I made up my mind that I wanted to be a hockey fighter like the Hanson Brothers. I just couldn’t believe that these guys made a living playing hockey.

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Q. Growing up, how and when did you realize that you were good at fighting? KT- Well, there was a triple A team that gave me a try when I was in Ottawa and I started fighting a bit and realized I had a bit of a knack for it. I think my big break came when I left home to play in the Maritime Junior “A” Hockey League for the Amherst Mooseheads. That’s when I started fighting some legitimate tough guys. It kind of became a role that just snow balled on me. After you fight a few guys everyone comes looking for the young gun, and that’s how I started building my reputation around the league. After that, things kind of took off from there.…

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Q. When you played in the Maritime Junior “A” Hockey League almost 10 years ago, you were banned from the league. What the hell did you do?

KT- Well after playing in Amherst for a year, I played at St. Mary’s University for a while, but I then decided to come back and finish up my last year of junior for the East Hants Penguins, also in the MJAHL. I was playing in Dartmouth and this one punk kept asking me to go. After we fought we were rolling around on the ground, and he started gouging my eye with his finger. I couldn’t see anything so I reached out and stuck my finger in his eye, and he began screaming in pain. I could feel that he had stopped gouging my eye, but I was still knuckles deep in his. In the midst of the melee I looked over with my good eye and noticed the guy who I had my finger in his eye skating away. I was confused so I pulled my finger out the eye and here it was the linesman who I had been gouging the whole time. The linesman got up with blood coming out of his eye, looked at me and said “You happy now, you took my fucken eye out!” When I was skating off the other bench was taunting me so I figured what the hell, and charged their bench too. After that, Nova Scotia Hockey had a meeting and it was pretty clear that they didn’t want me back.


Q. At St. Mary’s University (Halifax, NS) part of the CIAU, you were expelled from your school and told never to return. What did you do this time?

KT- Well what happened was I had just got kicked off the ice after a fight, I believe it was in Dalhousie’s barn, and these three drunken fans with painted red faces were blocking my way to the room. They were all bigger then me, but I pushed my way through. Then this big guy lips me “You just keep walking hockey player; I got a package here for your mama!” I took a step, and I thought forget it. Then I stopped and said fuck it. I turned around and said “what did you say?” He said “You heard me hockey boy, I got a package here for your mama!” as he grabbed his nuts. So I walked up to him and he says “you think your pretty tough with that hockey stick eh hockey boy?” So I dropped my stick and let him have it. It ended up being a bloody mess, involving pretty much only his blood. The fans all stormed in and mayhem ensued. I went to the dressing room, and the guys that were healthy scratches started saying ‘you're gonna go to jail man, you hit a fan!’ Sure enough a knock on the door, and two cops tried to take me to the station, just like the Hanson Brothers. My coach made a deal with them that I would come in only if there was charges laid (which there never was), and they whisked me out a back door. Someone had shot video tape of it and the whole thing ended up being all over the news. The next day the Athletic director told me my days of being a Husky were over.
Click HERE to listen to 1st recorded answer Click HERE to listen to 2nd recorded answer [/align]

Q.The 1999-2000 season in Toledo when you had 438 PIMS in 42 games, you came close to breaking the ECHL penalty minute record. What the hell did you do to earn all those PIMS!

KT- Basically I would line up at the face-off and ask the guy beside me if he wanted to go, if he said no, I’d ask the guy on the far wing, then the center, and if all else failed I’d try and go on one of the D. I was just looking to go everyone. I had a talk with one of the older guys on the team that year (Mark Dieseley) and he said if I wanted to get called up I had to either break the league PIMS record or get a criminal record. I figured the latter wouldn’t be too smart, so I went for the PIMS record. I think the league caught on because by the end of the season they were suspending me for 8-9 games at a time. I was close but with the huge suspensions, I didn’t have enough games to get it done.

Q. Was there really a blood hat that was passed around in Toledo during the games collecting money to reward you after the game, if you made the other fighter bleed?

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KT- Well there’s definitely truth behind it, I don’t know about the hat though. What would happen was that our bench in Toledo was really close to the fans so during the game fans would yell over the glass at me and say “Hey Tasker if you split someone open we will give you 100$!”Sure enough I would bleed the guy and they would shake my hand with a 100$ bill in it. The fans were great in Toledo and it will always be a second home to me.
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Q. I heard a rumor from fans in Toledo that there was a legendary “Wanna Go” truck being driven around by you. Is this true, and if so what’s the story behind it? KT- I saw a picture in Toledo of a convertible monster truck for sale, and I told the boys that my name was all over it. About a month later, it was mine. My Ohio license plates read “WANA GO”, and I guess it became a bit of a legend around town. I still have that beast up in storage; I plan to restore it maybe after retirement. .…

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Q. You rarely fight off the ice, but GSH has learned that you once beat up a pizza delivery man on game day down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Did he bring you the wrong pizza or was he just looking for trouble? KT- Well first off I just want to say that I don’t advocate fighting off the ice. When I play hockey it’s my job to do it, so I do it. This is one of the rare times I’ve ever got into an altercation off the ice. After being provoked by him first, I dealt with it accordingly. We got to the rink around 3:30 and I headed up to the front office to leave some tickets for some “friends” that I knew in town. I jumped over a guard rail to get up there and the rink guy started yelling at me. I said listen what’s your problem, if you got something to say to me ask me politely don’t yell at me like I'm a 10 year old kid. As I’m arguing with him some guy up top starts chirping from the peanut gallery, so I told him to mind his own matters up there. He was bigger then me, about 30 years old. As I walk up, the guy up top starts eye balling me. So I said listen buddy what’s your problem? He was pretty big and he said “Don’t be giving me any of your attitude boy or I’ll knock you the fuck out!” He comes up closer and he is face to face with me, I said “You’re gonna knock me out?” He head bunted me, so I jerseyed his t-shirt and started feeding him and I ended up kicking him all the way down the arena stairs. The whole time I still had my suit on, and I was pissed because when I booted him the sole flew off my shoe. He got up and charged at me. We went through a big glass window. I went down to the room and within a few minutes a cop showed up and said to my coach “Listen, we got a problem here, your player got in a fight upstairs with the Pizza guy and there’s a lot of stuff broken. I guess the guy was delivering some pizzas for the game. My coach snuck me out the back door and told me he didn’t want to see me until the bus was leaving after the game. I walked across the street to the casino, won $200, hopped on the bus after the game and went home. Next day the headline in the news was “Tasker Beats up Dominos Pizza Boy”. The boys had a good chuckle over that. Click HERE to listen to recorded answer

Q. When you’re lined up beside another goon at the face off, what’s being said between you two guys? KT- There’s not a lot of trash talk like everyone expects, it’s usually pretty straight forward with the old token “wanna go” usually doing the trick. If he says ya, we go, and if says no then we play hockey. There not a lot of talk about each others mothers or girlfriends, there’s usually a mutual respect out there between fighters and guys know if they cross the line they better be able to back it up..



Q. Tell us about the infamous mouth guard incident? KT- We were playing on the road in Chesapeake, Virginia. What happened was Rono came in and played Chesapeake that night, and we were there skating because we played them the next night. After the skate we packed up our gear and put it in storage till the next night so Rono could use the room. We head back to the rink the next morning to throw our gear back in the room when I noticed my mouth guard was missing. I realized that I had left it in my stall the night before, so I went back into the empty room and I asked the janitor if had seen it (because it had my name on the case). He said “Ya it’s up top their, but be careful Rono was fucking around with it last night.” I grabbed it and opened up the case. It was in was full of piss. I fucking lost my mind. I doused it in mouthwash and aqua velva over night, then put it in a zip lock bag and kept it till the next time we played Rono. I found out through the grapevine that it was Rono's trainer that did the pissing. When we got back to Toledo, I asked my trainer to get me this clown’s phone number. I phoned him up and said “You think your fucken smart pissing in my mouth guard eh, next time I see you, your fucken dead” then hung up the phone. Not long after, our GM comes in and says “Tasker did you just send a death threat to Rono's trainer?!” I said well fuck he pissed in my mouth guard and he’s telling the whole league about it. He managed to smooth it over. The next time they came to our barn their trainer came and asked our trainer for pucks for warm-up. So I said let me deliver them. I walked over to their room and I see their trainer and I said “Here’s your fucken pucks” and I fired them all at him down the hall way. Their whole team came out and I looked at them and said “you fucken cock-suckers, you’re getting it tonight”. During our skate that afternoon before the game, Rono’s whole team was in the stands watching, so I started firing pucks up at them. I wasn’t able to play that night because the league suspended me for 3 games, I found out later that I had hit one of their guys in the head with a puck and gave him a concussion. Click HERE to listen to 1st recorded answer Click HERE to listen to 2nd recorded answer Click HERE to listen to 3rd recorded answer Q. So what’s the moral of the story here? KT- Don’t piss on my mouth guard. Q) Are there a lot of showboats out there on the ice, or do most guys just kind of do their job? KT- Well, there are always a few showboats in any league. One guy really pissed me off a few seasons back in the Coast. He had just been sent down from the AHL with a nice fat one way contract. He skated by me and said “you just keep enjoying your small pay checks here in the coast Tasker, I’m gonna make $70 000 grand this year. I looked at him and said “ya well I’m gonna carve your fucken eye out how much money you gonna make then?” Nothing much was said after that. Click HERE to listen to recorded answer
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Q. When you were playing down in Augusta in the ECHL a few years back, you were crowned the State of Georgia Tough Man Competition Champion. You participated in several fighting matches in the boxing ring to find the toughest man in Georgia. Did you think you were this tough off the ice and what was this experience like? KT- Well I heard on the radio about the fighting contest and the guys bugged me to sign up. So I entered after talking to John Brophy (old Leafs GM) told me it would be good for the old resume. I went in and gave it my best shot and ended up winning it. It was a tough thing to do, but it turned out to be a fun weekend. They wanted me to compete in the nation wide bout but it interfered with hockey so I never entered it again. .…

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Q. A few years back you had a cup of coffee in the American Hockey League and even managed to snipe a gino. What was that experience like and how does it rank amongst your career highlights? KT- Well it’s definitely one of my highlights getting a chance to play in the AHL. When I got there Aaron Downey was there and he was a great guy that really motivated me; telling me it was destiny that I was up their and stuff like that. My last game I played up their, the guy on my line threw the puck out in front and I just whacked at the puck as hard as I could. It crossed the line and I had my first and only AHL goal.

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My coach asked me if I’d gotten the puck after the game, and I told him “ya what’s left of it.” I shoveled and whacked at that puck so hard to cross that line. I swear there were chunks out of it. It was a real thrill getting that close to the NHL and scoring a goal in my last game. Click HERE to listen to recorded answer Q) We heard that the old cat and former NHL’er “The Missing Link” Gaetz was patrolling your waters. Every have any run-ins with this legend? KT- Ya, he’s circling around up there. A couple yeas ago I ended up spraying a couple of his guys with snow in warm-up. He skated up with his helmet (it barely fits his head) and he looked like he was going to do something. I just put my stick up against his chest and said “take one more fucken step I’m gonna carve your fucken eye out”. He looked at me kind of funny and I don’t know whether he knew to take me serious or not, but this time it kept him at bay. Q. Ken Tasker has a trade mark when he fights. What is it? KT- Well since I turned pro I always chuck my gloves as high as I can in the air before a tilt. It lets everyone in the arena know that I’m in a tilt, and I like that because I believe in giving the fans a real show. They pay money to come see us perform so I believe they should get their moneys worth. Q. What advice do you have to give to the aspiring young hockey fighter that might save a few broken noses along their hockey career? KT- I'd probably tell them to work on scoring goals. This is a tough way to make a living fighting every night, and unless you’re a monster physically or you realize you have a real knack for fighting, work on being a skilled player. Also, keep the fights on the ice. Don’t go looking for it off the ice, unless you get into a situation where you have to defend yourself. With the way things are going, I figure us hockey fighters are kind of like dinosaurs--we are slowly dying out. Q. When you’re an old man, what will you think is the one thing that the game of hockey taught or gave to you? KT- I think that as a kid, playing hockey kept me out of a lot of trouble. As an adult, it gave me a chance to chase my dreams of getting paid to play hockey. When it’s all said and done, I’ll miss the small things; like sitting around the room on Monday’s before practice telling stories with the guys. I think what I’ll miss the most when I’m done with the game is just that feeling after a big fight, the fans are going nuts, and looking across at the guy you just battled and admiring what you did for the team. Click HERE to listen to recorded answer Q. How can we see some of these infamous fights you have been in? I’m working on a tape that will have all my career fights on it, so look for updates on GSH in the future on how to get it. Q. On behalf of GSH, we would like to thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. KT- Thanks guy’s, good luck to everyone.
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