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Glad you are not my teammate.
Leafs players may not have that in them. But when your best player and captain takes a dirty hit like he did and not one of the teammates on the ice even goes over to Gudas or any of the other Duck’s players and at least says something, like I said, glad they are not my teammates.
They do not need to throw punches. The very least get in their faces.
It’s no wonder the Leafs are where they are right now.
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Glad you underestimate me. I’m from the Eddie Shore school of poetry. If someone goes out and deliberately (or even deliberately by accident) tries to damage/injury my teammate, I will order up a soft hit on the perpetrator (even a massive goon like Gudas can’t withstand a quick stick to the gut or the throat) and let him lay. Obviously, you have to be able to withstand the thought of a game misconduct, match penalty or suspension - but you just can’t stand idly by as a vicious ogre disposes of your best players like Kleenex snot!
And I fully understand the ogre faerie queenes of hockey like Donald S Cherry who love fighting but would be abhorred by the “Eddy Shore Philosophy”.
Listen, hockey is a violent and dirty affair. You just can’t have a team full of Gandhis!
Dave Semenko may have had it right. He used to introduce himself to other team’s cheap shot artists prior to game time - telling them he was Gretzky’s teammate and things will go well tonite but if you so much as sneeze on Wayne, prepare to spend the remainder of your days trying to play hockey out of a wheelchair. The threat was so ominous most folks let #99 roam free. Apparently, there’s no penalties or suspensions for pre-game threats - but Semenko had the presence (6’3”, 245lbs.) you somehow knew he wasn’t jesting.
PS. The last guy I remember who always stood up for teammates damaged by intentional acts was Teddy Green - who almost lost his life in a vicious stick-fight with an opponent, that required surgery and insertion of a metal plate into his brain cavity.
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Now I understand and appreciate that you have always been Nasty Nate.
Nasty Nate is no alter-ego! IT’S YOU!
Alright, carry on.
Fascinating history lesson.
I also heard that one of the prerequisites for having a Zamboni Operators License, is that you also have to know how to play as a goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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