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VANCOUVER -- It was an ugly throwback to another time. The Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames engaged in a wild first-period brawl Saturday night which later carried over to Canucks coach John Tortorella being involved in an altercation in the hallway outside of the Flames dressing room. The opening minutes of the NHL game, which the Canucks won 3-2 in a shootout, was like a scene from the movie Slapshot. It brought back memories of when teams like the Broad Street Bullies and Big Bad Boston Bruins waged wars on the ice. "I dont think anybody expected that," said Flames defenceman Chris Butler, one of eight players ejected from the game. "Its been a while since something like that happened, five guys pairing off." The Flames raised a red flag by putting their fourth line on the ice to start the game. The Canucks countered with their tough guys. Game on. Just two seconds had ticked off the clock when all five skaters from each team taking the opening faceoff dropped their gloves and began throwing punches. Calgary heavyweight Brian McGrattan was left bloodied in a fight with Vancouver tough guy Tom Sestito. After the fight Sestito patted McGrattan on the back of the head. Minor league callup Kellan Lains first game as a Canuck was brief. He was tossed for fighting with Calgarys Kevin Westgarth, who has no points in 21 games for the Flames. Also receiving game misconducts were Vancouvers Dale Weise plus defencemen Kevin Bieksa and Jason Garrison. Shown the door for Calgary was Westgarth, Blair Jones, Ladislav Smid and Chris Butler. "They started their goon squad over there," said Sestito, who leads the NHL with 167 penalty minutes in 47 games. "I just dont think were going to be backing down from guys." Ironically, Sestito and McGrattan remained in the game. In the aftermath of the brawl Tortorella could be seen yelling at the Flames bench. Later in the period, Calgarys Mark Giordano punched Vancouvers Alex Burrows in the face. Burrows was wearing a facemask to protect a broken jaw. It was his first game since Dec. 1. The bad blood wasnt confined to the ice. At the end of the first period CBC cameras captured Tortorella attempting to go into the Flames locker room at Rogers Arena. McGrattan pushed him away. Flames goaltender coach Clint Malarchuk came out of the Flames dressing room after Tortorella and McGrattan were separated. Malarchuk followed Tortorella, but was restrained by several members of Calgarys staff and McGrattan. Much of the altercation appeared off camera, but another camera showed Vancouver defenceman Chris Tanev pulling Burrows back toward the Canucks dressing room. Tortorella refused to comment on the incident but made no apologizes for the lineup he started. "I know the other guy across the bench," he said. "Its easy for people to say well put the Sedins out there and its deflated. I cant put our players at risk like that. "With the lineup that he had, Im not going to put those types of players at risk and thats what ensued. Im not proud of it. Ive apologized to every one of the players involved in it. I dont feel great about it at all." Flames coach Bob Hartley was left shaking his head over Tortorella charging his teams dressing room. "I just dont understand," he said. "I got out of there. I dont need to get suspended or fined. "There is nothing to be settled there. I just dont understand what was going on." Hartley also defended his starting lineup. "Those guys are playing well for us," he said. "They got a goal last game. Were not scoring many goals. We had zero intentions there. "As far as I know they were the home team. They had the luxury to put whoever they wanted on the ice." The teams combined for 188 penalty minutes in the first period. 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Cavaliers shooting guard Craig Ehlo makes a solid play on the ball, but still Jordan hits the amazing shot.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Greg Monroe had a clear message for Detroit Pistons fans Monday.This doesnt mean Im leaving, Monroe said at the teams media day.What he didnt say, though, was that he was staying.This summer, Monroe did something almost unheard of for a frontline NBA player a€” he signed a one-year qualifying deal that costs him almost $10 million for this season but makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer.The obvious implication is that he wants a chance to find a better home after spending his first four seasons with one of the leagues more dysfunctional franchises.The Pistons offered me a long-term deal, but after talking it over with the people that are most important a€” my agent, some friends and my family, I decided to turn it down, he said.It isnt that I want to get out of the city of Detroit or this area a€” I have loved it here since I arrived a€” it is strictly a business decision based on my future as a basketball player.The news wasnt a welcome start to Stan Van Gundys career as Detroits president and coach, because he had talked about building the franchise around his two young post players a€” Monroe (24) and Andre Drummond (21).At worst, if Monroe seemed determined to leave, he said he hoped to get significant talent back in a sign-and-trade deal.Now, though, Van Gundy goes into the off-season knowing that theres a very good chance that hell get no return for a player who has averaged a double-double in each of the past three seasons.I know that I have to separate my two roles, and keep the business side of the game off the court, he said.Right now, I know that Greg is 100 per cent committed to helping this team win this season, and I have no concerns that hes going to let the business side of things affect his game. Well deal with next summer when we get there.Drummond acknowledged that he tried to talk Monroe into a long-term deal, but that hes not going to be working as a recruiter during the season.Greg did what he felt was best for himself, and as his friend, Im going to support him 100 per cent, Drummond said. From today forward, were both going to focus on winning basketball games. Thats it.The biggest question mark over Monroe in the short term is his role on the team.Last years experiment of playing he, Drummond and Josh Smith together didnt work, and Van Gundy doesnt plan to repeat it.ddddddddddddreg, Andre and Josh are three of our best players, but it is equally true that when they werent able to effective play together last year, he said.We intend to use Josh mainly at the 4 and Andre is, of course, going to be at the 5, while Greg can play both. Im not worried about which two will start, because I know the important thing is that you develop a rotation that works for 48 minutes, but I also know that starting is important to players.On top of that, there were reports in the off-season that Monroe had demanded that Smith be traded if the Pistons wanted him to sign a long-term contract. Monroe, though, didnt even allow the question to be fully asked before responding.Lies, lies, lies, he said. I dont know where that came from, but dont say there were rumours, because they were strictly lies. Ive told Coach Van Gundy that, and I reached out to Josh to make sure he realized that there was no truth to those stories. I never said anything like that.Monroes versatility will be more important now that the Pistons have lost backup centre Aaron Gray for the awhile. Gray will miss training camp and be out indefinitely after suffering a cardiac episode last month.Grey had the problem, which he didnt discuss in detail, after a voluntary practice session at the Palace, and is still undergoing testing to find out exactly what needs to be done.When you are a pro athlete, your body is how you make your living, so you know when something is wrong, he said Monday. So I knew that this was something that needed to be dealt with, and the Pistons did a great job putting me in touch with the right people to do that.Grey is getting multiple opinions, so there is no timeline on his return.We hope that by the end of October, were going to have a better idea where Aaron is and when he might be back on the floor, Van Gundy said. At this point, were just focused on making sure hes getting the best possible care.Grey was signed during the summer to back up Drummond and Monroe at centre, so Van Gundy has signed Hasheem Thabeet to a non-guaranteed contract to provide depth at the position. ' ' '