Ice Guardians Page #2

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Guys get called up

and down all the time.

It's a free-market economy.

I was always competin' for jobs.

Never had a "for-sure" thing.

Just, fightin' anybody I could.

Just to, just tryin' to get a shot.

It was four years in the minors,

250-something games.

No call-ups.

The minors were actually

a lot rougher than the NHL, I believe.

I call it "The Jungle."

And the jungle is full of

all sorts of specimens

and like, you never know

what's gonna getcha!

These guys were tough and

I mean they were tough.

I was fighting these guys twice a night.

For an entire season.

Guys that get sent down from the NHL,

people hone in on that.

It's almost like, there's

blood in the water.

It's like omigod, he's down.

If I take him out then they'll see me

and then I'll get my chance,

I'll get my opportunity

If you don't do your job,

and they don't see you progressing,

then when they need someone to call up,

they're not gonna pull your name.

Once that call comes

that you're makin' it,

it's definitely one of the

best days of your life

because you know that

you're gonna get a shot

to play at the next level.

At the level that everybody

dreams and wants to play at.

It's tough getting there.

It's even tougher staying there.

They are having words

at the edge of the circle

and they drop the mitts right away.

Determining when, who,

how, why I would fight,

that was something that I didn't

really get a good grasp of

for a while.

I was fairly stupid in junior.

I was fighting - anytime, any place.

And as I grew older in the

next couple years,

I realized that there were

situations and times

that are better than others.

The camera can only follow the puck

and certain players at certain times.

There's a lot goin' on

that most guys and most fans don't see.

The refs have the ultimate control

on what not gets called

but there's just some stuff

that, that doesn't get called,

that's not going to,

that it's up to the enforcer

to... "take care of."

My opinion of an enforcer is a

guy that protects his teammates.

He goes out there and he

guards against stupid stuff

happenin' to a guy that

can't protect himself.

If somethin' happens during the game,

someone... makes a cheap shot

or runs your goalie.

Y'know, a blindside hit.

An elbow.

A slash.

The stick in the face.

The cross check to the side of the neck.

Slough-footing

where a guy gets his feet

knocked out from under him

and slams his back

of his head on the ice.

Those are the types of penalties

that can result in, in mayhem, you know?

Especially if they're missed.

'Cause what's gonna happen is,

If the players feel that

we're not out there

protecting them,

then they're gonna start

to protect themselves.

You're accountable,

no matter what you do.

If you're gonna... sit there

and spear someone

and think that there's gonna

be no retribution,

or you're not gonna have

to answer the bell,

you got another think comin'.

I'll take that one guy

and just use, y'know, his whole

team, as an example.

And just say that one guy

created this for every

single one of you.

So... now you're all on my radar.

I don't care who it is.

If they're gonna take a

cheap shot at me or a teammate.

If you have one fight in your career

or 100 fights in your career,

I'm gonna come at you.

Are they going to...?

And yes, they are.

I'm almost looking for you to do it.

And I'll be sittin' there

and I'll be thinking,

Y'know what, I hope...

I hope you go and touch him.

I hope you say somethin' to him.

If I can't get you,

I'm gonna go to your best player and say

"I'm gonna break your leg

because of him ."

And then they go... " Really?"

Really?

When they start beating up on ya,

you can't allow it to happen.

Or it just becomes a bad scene

every game.

If you know that a 6'5",

245 pound... y'know...

"Ice boxer" is comin' after you

because you take a cheap shot

at one of his players,

you're... probably gonna be

less likely to do it.

He's got that look.

He's got that look...

...on the face like, well...

I, I don't buy it.

I just don't feel that there's

support for that theory.

I think that if you

follow the rules of the game...

If the referee is enforcing the rules,

if the league is enforcing the rules...

You don't need enforcers

to be the policemen for the league.

The argument just doesn't hold.

It is the league's responsibility...

To prevent "cheap shots."

And the league has many

opportunities to do that.

Many strategies to protect

their prized possessions

which are the players.

Statistics can't really

tell you something

because there's no control group.

There's no way of really analyzing this.

Some of the players I interviewed

played in various

European mainland teams

where there's no fighting allowed.

And they've also played in the UK

where it's very similar

to North American style.

They've explained to me that

they actually think

there's a lot more cheap shots

going on in the leagues

without an enforcer.

You hear about guys, you know,

North American Players

coming back for the summer

and just say it's a whole

different game over there.

Where guys aren't afraid

to use their sticks,

you know what I mean?

Just because they don't -

guys don't fight over there.

If you speak to skill players,

perhaps they've played

on different teams

and will say they can relax a bit more

when there is an enforcer on the ice.

If you can put a guy off a game...

And take five minutes,

A lot of guys would do it

if they just felt,

well, all I hafta do is...

the referee's gonna gimme five.

How, how painful is that?

If you're gonna score goals,

and you're gonna be the guy

that is gonna beat the other team,

you're gonna hafta...

go through some punishment.

But the unnecessary punishment,

the continuous... punishment...

That's when they step in

and they go, "OK, now I've

told you, enough's enough."

Every game.

Every game it's important.

Whether it happens or not,

there's always that...

Y'know...

You could feel it.

If you know that you have got

the biggest, toughest,

best enforcer on your team,

it gives you the liberties

to go out and play

exactly how you want.

To have all the space you need.

When you have two feet of ice

to work with, it's one thing.

When you have ten feet of ice

to work with,

it's a total 'nother thing.

Guys would literally

not hit me some games

because of who they'd have to deal with.

It was a great feeling.

Chris Nilan in Montreal,

uh, he'd protect me.

You wouldn't notice it, but I would.

I'd get a lot more room out there.

Guys knew if they went after me,

they'd have to answer to him.

I'm just gonna tell you right now,

Brett Hull would not be

the same player he was

without guys like Kelly Chase

and Tony Twist

havin' his back.

I can tell you that right now.

You look at the greats

and stuff like that...

like even Gretzky, I mean he had Semenko

And he was a madman.

Could you imagine takin' Semenko,

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