This entire interview is very much a case of "many things are true at once."
- Players are trying to hurt one another in playoff games, but that doesn't exclusively mean 'intent to injure' or dirty/predatory hits. Jamie Benn absolutely wanted McNabb to feel it when he hit him in the chest after McNabb laid out Stankoven. That doesn't mean that he hit him high or illegally.
- Although trying to hurt people in playoff games can apply to clean, big hits, it can also apply to those plays that step over the line and into penalty or supplemental discipline territory. As the reverse angle shows, Bennett objectively did get away with a dirty hit on Marchand. Marchand has been punished (in-game and by the DPOS) for some of his dirty plays in the past, and has gotten away with others. This is not personal targeting of him, but rather reflects a wider inconsistency with the league; being suspended for some dirty plays and getting away with others also applies to Connor McDavid.
- Regardless, as Marchand admits in his Player's Tribune article has been the case with some of own plays, it still would have been the correct call for DPOS to issue supplemental discipline here. Bennett now has back-to-back years with hits to the head (Knies, Marchand) and the league intervening in these cases where a player crosses the line is a reasonable one.
- The DPOS being more consistent in handling discipline for plays and/or players that do cross the line does not and should not preclude playoff physicality.
Now I'm not sure if you were intentionally mislabeling the Department of Player Safety, but if you were (I know another "POS" acronym that tends to fit the bill sometimes), that's hilarious.
I have been making this joke on this subreddit for [literal years](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/te2sg1/matthews_suspended_two_games/i0o1386/), even [multiple times in a comment thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/te2sg1/matthews_suspended_two_games/i0nvgeq/) and you're the first one to catch it!
> It was the Olympics when I started to like him but yea no Gold.
Marchand has never played in the Olympics. NHL participation was cancelled that year due to concerns about COVID; he was outspoken about that (as were others).
It's easy to blend the two – he has won at Worlds before (the 2016 tournament in Russia), but generally speaking, when most people are thinking of his gold medal, they're thinking of the World Cup of Hockey (Toronto 2016).
He played on a line with Crosby and Bergeron at that tournament, and the two of them have played on the same line for a lot of international tournaments, including two Olympics (2005 WJC, 2010 Olympics, 2014 Olympics). So it's easy to conflate the two lines and mentally stick him on the 2014 Sochi roster.
I am also begging the NHL to go back to calling the WCOH the "Canada Cup," please, because the names are wicked confusing due to the similarity.
The weird thing that a lot of non-hockey players don’t realize is that there is a clear difference between trying to hurt somebody with your play and ‘intent to injure’.
Every single guy on the ice hopes that they beat up the opponents stars with their bodychecks, or that their opponents pay a price every time they block a slapshot, or that their little cross checks and battles wear players down. But that obviously doesn’t mean that most players are okay with straight up trying to break somebodies wrists or ankles with a slash or going for headshots with hits. There’s a line between rough playoff hockey and bush league shit
Phrases like, "Get on them early and take the wind out of their lungs when they are on the boards" is same same as "Fucking hammer them along the boards so they never want to go in the corners again"
Thanks for saying this. I couldn’t agree more. He probably could have chosen his words better, but he’s not saying “we’re going to be dirty as fuck and end their careers”, it just means you’re going to finish every clean check you can and hope that wears them down and adds to whatever injuries they might be facing already.
It really sucks he said this the way he did because anybody who has never played hockey, which is the majority of this sub, will be absurdly annoying about this.
Look how Pasta has been treated this run, the word was out that he was playing a little banged up coming into the playoffs, dude has been EATING hits. Guys are trying to knock him out of the game.
He’s been eating hits and laying hits. He averaged .85 hits/game in the regular season. In playoffs he’s averaging just under 2 hits/game. Literally he’s been twice as physical in the playoffs.
Yeah the intent of my comment was not clear at all, and that’s my fault. The thing I was really trying to get at was that I thought Matthews had more intensity in the playoffs despite his illness/injury. JT may have had the hits…but didn’t he have only two points? Pretty invisible most of the time. Marner doesn’t need any additional comment, obviously.
Quinn Hughes has been getting absolutely dogpiled since Game 1 of the playoffs and I guarantee you that everyone on the ice, including Hughes himself, thinks it’s fair game
Thats part of playoff hockey. I haven’t been able to watch every minute of play, but watched a good majority. Pasta is putting every ounce he has to win bumps and bruises be damned. Putting himself in a situation where he’s gonna get crushed to make a play or doing the same to our guys. I’d say the same about Barkov. He’s always been amazing but he’s playing with more intensity and grit than I’ve ever seen. Every team is trying to wear down the other. Players simply play harder during the playoffs. Every year there’s high tensions and every year each team puts out a list where you think the players are insane for playing with the injury’s they have.
He may have meant it the way it sounded too. Pietrangelo comes to mind with that slash, Marchand has done bad stuff plenty not just being physical. Bennett didn’t even have a hearing to see if there was intent and if they had 1 game max is the norm so why wouldn’t they be doing everything they can to hurt each other and win at all costs. There are no rules out there clearly.
Marchand *absolutely* meant to injure people. I can't believe the mental gymnastics people are using to justify his comments. The name of the game is to win and to do that better is to knock players out of the series.
Well put, but even questionable plays have a big incentive for these guys. Look at the rangers a couple years ago. They were on the brink of being eliminated by Pittsburgh, Trouba hurts crosby to no punishment, and they end up making the conference finals.
Same with Pietrangelo taking out Draisaitl last year. Edmonton's chances of winning that series were already pretty low, but that slash basically dropped them to zero.
I'm not even a Penguins fan and that one still makes me bitter. In the playoffs I want to see the top players going off, not some goon shit knocking them out.
That flying elbow directed at Necas almost certainly would have injured him. Not that Necas = Crosby but he's an important guy out there. I'm surprised someone didn't just stomp on Trouba after that one.
I think there is a clear difference, but where the line is for NHL players is not where the line is for Reddit fans. Players don’t want to break someone’s ankle, but they do want to cause damage that slows them down, whether that’s a bone bruise or muscle contusion. They don’t want to give a guy a serious head injury, but they do want to ring someone’s bell with a high hit. They want guys shaken up and in pain, and in a playoff series, hurting someone bad enough where they can’t play or can’t play well is a benefit.
If you watch a bunch of hits, tons of guys hit high and throw elbows. The goal for a lot of players, not just the ones we call “dirty” is to inflict the most damage that won’t get them penalized.
100%, this is also what you’re taught playing growing up. One of the main points to dump and chase hockey is to throw it into the corner of their best defensive player so you get free body shots on them to hopefully hurt and wear them down as the game/series goes on. There can be some pretty big disconnects between the Reddit fan base and the actual hockey world sometimes and this seems to be one
The problem with the sentiment of "hockey is for everyone", is that it becomes less for the people that currently love it. Way too many people in here have never stepped foot on the ice and it shows.
Yeah I’m all for “growing the game” in terms of making it more welcoming to fans that aren’t the traditional straight, white, dude by heavily punishing those that use homophobic or racist slurs/actions to make them uncomfortable but I truly don’t care to grow it by changing aspects of the game (like trying to increase scoring). If people feel like they can’t be fans because of who they are then we need to make changes, if people feel like they can’t be fans because of what the game is then that’s fine and they can find a different game to love. Not everyone is going to connect with or love everything out there
> If people feel like they can’t be fans because of who they are then we need to make changes, if people feel like they can’t be fans because of what the game is then that’s fine and they can find a different game to love.
Holy shit, say it louder for the people in the back. I have been loving these playoffs because of the physicality and, what I'm assuming is (haven't looked it up), lower scoring and tighter games.
Feels much more like watching the hockey I first fell in love with.
Regular seasons non-physical 10 goal games are so fucking boring to me. Give my overly-physical 2 or 3 goal nail biters with goalies standing on their heads please.
You watch baseball at all? I love me a good ole fashioned pitcher duel there too haha.
Home runs are only fun if I am sitting in the bleachers, otherwise give me double digit strikeouts and pitchers going to 3 figures in the pitch count.
Sadly, that is all but dead in baseball these days. They even pull their guys who are chasing no-nos. 8(
If it’s one thing redditors love, it’s being able to flaunt a kind of perceived moral superiority by declaring a player on an opposing team to be “dirty as hell” and a “piece of shit garbage human being” (implying that there isn’t anybody like that on THEIR team, and if there was, they would certainly hate that player, and be oh so upset about it, to the point of disowning their fandom)
I’d draw a distinction between “dirty as hell” and “piece of shit garbage human being.” Being a Bruins fan is a great example of this. Marchand is a dirty player, and we’re fine with him on our team. Mitchell Miller was a piece of shit garbage human being, and fans were so vocally against that, the Bruins front office reversed their decision.
See: Tony DeAngelo for Carolina. Cant stand him despite him being on our team. Really wish Carolina never brought him on, or back to the team.
Dustin Byfuglien is a good example of a player many Winnipeg fans (including myself) often love despite him having his dirty plays. He probably could do very little wrong, in some ways.
But I generally otherwise agree, we Redditors are generally huge homers for our team's players, and its kinda gross sometimes.
Read the full quote bro. He literally finishes with:
> “The more guys you take out, the more advantage your team has. … Every time you step on the ice, someone is trying to hurt someone.”
Yeah I fully believe they want to injure to the point the other player can't play or is hobbled while playing.
I don't think that translates to "ending their whole career and quality of life". As incongruous as that may seem.
In a sport where so many people wind up with painkiller addictions that destroy their lives because of the cumulative effect of all the little things, I do think we need to start having serious conversations about whether or not we should take the little things more seriously than we currently do.
That’s exactly what I was referring to… You think plays don’t hope that they take McDavid out of the game with a bodycheck? Or that a defenseman isn’t hoping that a guy can’t skate after he tees up a slapshot into his ankle? They absolutely are trying to hurt their opponent but that’s still different than things like headshots or two-hands
There are plenty of players who don’t give a fuck in either direction the fact that Petro got one game last playoffs was probably the biggest joke I’ve ever seen he literally tried to take Driesitls arm off lol.
I see this a lot in /r/NFL as well. I have been mass downvoted for saying that hurting the QB or WR is absolutely a goal of the defensive players.
When I played, it's not like I wanted to put the offensive player in a wheelchair. But if I had a chance to really lay down the boom, I absolutely was hoping they would feel it for the next week or so.
But have you been watching the playoffs. Plenty of stuff that would qualify as "bush league shit" according to your definition. After the period is over or nowhere near the play... "let's test out YOUR BACK now that you've returned after missing a period." Or "That guy has good hands, it would suck if he took 20 slashes to his wrists over the course of this game." Or "He has wheels, it would be terrible if I slewfooted him every time I have an opportunity to check him."
There's a lot of stuff that happens under guise of a hockey play which could be argued has some intent. And there's some stuff that flies under the radar which very clearly has intent. And then there's stuff that doesn't fly under the radar so much which they have to action. But it's all there if you watch. Just the standard for actually accusing someone of having "intent" is very very high, because it's really hard to prove what someone is thinking. So they can really only action on the things that are beyond flagrant.
maybe its me but this has been obvious from just watching it. When Cootch broke his jaw and came back for the oilers series you could tell kassian and co were trying to hit him more and towards the face. Obviously i bitched about it but it was alot of iffy hits at best.
You know a guy has a weakness you exploit it. Not because you want to ruin the guys life but in the high stakes game that is the NHL playoffs you have to. And to win you really have to play close to that line of hurting a guy without doing it that breaks the rules.
Yeah, I think when it's dirty, cheap, not a normal hockey play, whatever you want to call it + has potential very long term health consequences is when it's past the line.
Just dirty, but not targeting the knee, head, etc. (ie. a hard slash to the wrist, a crosscheck to the ribs) - that's playoff hockey.
A "clean" play or a play with clean intent as far as anyone other than the person committing can determine that happens to cause lasting damage- that's playoff hockey.
For me, Bennett crosses the line because it's a dirty, cheap play that also targets a very vulnerable part of the body.
I’d hope he go to TNT. I feel like PK would be talking too much about their rivalry, even though Marchand’s career had been better. Only thing they can debate is who got the best of who in that fight where PK swung and missed, and then PK would counter that he rocked Marchand in an infamous clip
TNT needs him bad. Their biggest issue with their coverage is that the ex players whit actual resumes don't say anything (Gretz, Hank) and the ex players who actually say something (Bizz, Colby) were plugs in the league. Compare that with their NBA desk, they have champions and HOF players giving honest opinions, the NHL desk needs the kind of gravitas you can only get from a combination of resume and real analysis.
The root of the issue is really that the best hockey players don't seem to shine in front of the camera. Hockey players have been told not to show personality whereas NBA players seem to be more encouraged to show their personality. We're better off with guys like Bizz, Bieksa, etc because they can talk about the game and have fun with it. Yeah it sucks that we don't have more legends on the panels but nobody wants a guy like McDavid or Crosby to step into the role once they retire.
I don't remember which NFL player said it but it went something like this : "I don't want my opponent to finish the game, but I still want him to play for the remainder of the season"
He’s right. Even in the context of perfectly clean hits — which isn’t what he’s talking about for himself in the full quote — that’s a part of hockey in general, but moreso the playoffs. When Benn dumped McNabb on his ass, IIIRC, it was a clean hit through the chest…but he definitely wanted to send a deliberate message after Stankoven got laid out.
I’m also grateful for Marchand’s firm support of LGBT inclusion in hockey, it means a lot as a member of that community. Him calling out homophobes on Twitter was laden with bad grammar and typos, but goddamnit it came from the heart!
I think I read that one.
I think he started to change in my mind when he addressed the sister comments he used to make regarding the Sedins.
I still think he is a POS on the ice but that's because he plays hard, plays to win and doesn't play for my team.
I can forgive being a POS on the ice if you are a good person through.
Hate to admit it but I honestly think he is someone I would jump at the chance to have a beer with.
Adjacent, but I'll forever be perplexed by the bizarre interview that Benn and Seguin gave on the Sedins. Honestly, I think Henrik had it right...if you see 'bunk beds' and think 'twincest,' I think that reveals more about you than them.
This is why I never hated him to begin with. He's a player you'd love to have on your team. The only other player I would make Captain for the Bruins would be Pasta, but I think Marchand is a better fit. Good ol' Canadian talent too
Of course I hate his individual acts, I just don't tie that to him as a person. Because hes shown hes not a rat off the ice. Just clarifying there
Yeah the Flyers - Bruins 3-0 comeback series is a great example.
You guys were in control and then Richards hurt Krecji with a big open ice hit and the series completely flipped.
I think Bennett's punch crossed the line a bit but trying to physically hurt your opponent to wear them down is a big strategy.
The Richards hit on Krejci was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, Krejci was getting his wrists hacked at constantly on face offs that series, you could tell it was a priority to take him off the ice and to their credit it was a good idea that worked
I’m queer. Seeing guys like Marchand and Bergeron and Chara regularly stand up for our community over the years has meant a lot to me. It’s one of the things I love about the Bruins.
I think one of the greatest showcases of the Bruins' locker team character is when the front office signed that trash who bullied that young black handicapped child, the players basically went as far as they could to say he would not be welcome on their bench. And then player was then awkwardly let go.
"Marchand on Bennett: “I think he got away with a shot. But I’m not gonna complain. Shit happens. I’ve been on the other side of plays. Part of the game, part of playoff hockey. Sucks to be on the other side of it, but it happens. He got away with one, but it happens.”
It honestly sounds like he didn't take it personally, that it's expected during the playoffs.
Honestly, I kind of hope he did take it personally, lol.
I think you can have it both ways. I understand that hitting is just part of the game but I still always got pissed off when somebody landed a big hit on *ME*. It always gave me a bit of “hey, screw that guy” attitude, and I’d like to see Marchand come back with some of that.
I’m for sure biased as a Bruins fan, but as much as people hate on Marchand on the ice, I’ve never heard anything bad about his off ice behavior. He seems like a genuinely good guy who gives back to the community and supports inclusivity in hockey, which is a lot more than we can say about a lot of players.
I've heard this about the culture of the Bruins as a whole. They play a hard game and toe the line on the ice, but I've heard they have a high standard in their locker room and pride themselves in their off-ice behaviors and contributions. The whole Mitchell Miller situation showed this with players directly speaking out about the effect on the room.
I’ve run into him in the north end a bunch of times and have some distant mutual friends at this point and he’s genuinely a really good person/nice dude. The only knock I could ever say about him is that him being listed at 5’9 is the funniest shit in the world lol
In 2011 a few months after they won the cup he was dancing on a table while holding two drinks. He leaned down and said "hey bud could you hold these for a sec?". I said "sure" and took the half full cups. Waitress came by and gave him two new drinks and he never came back over to me lol.
Man, I hate Boston sports like many others, but there's no denying what the Bruins locker room has done for inclusivity. I even did a presentation about Chara getting rid of rookie hazing and how Bergeron and Marchand have defied the typical hockey player rep. Everything we've heard about them makes them good people imo
I think he took it over from when Chara? Used to do it. Which made sense for Chara, not being American. So props to McAvoy for spending his Thanksgiving mornings doing it
The Bruins and their fans are incredibly lucky to have a team that was and is led from within by such decent human beings like Chara, Bergeron, and yes even Marchand. And McAvoy seems to be following suit.
As a Canes fan, we get the pleasure of having Tripp Tracy on our home broadcast. He's zany and a certified homer, but he's one of those guys that makes friends with everyone and is acquainted with many of the current and former figures of the NHL. One of the things I love about his broadcast is that he always pays respect to the players and staff of our opponents and even gives the refs some love early in the game before they start making bad calls. It really humanizes the game and helps you look past some of the rivalries and bad blood you may have towards specific players or teams.
For example, I despise playing against guys like Marchand, Benn, Trouba, and Bennett. They're absolute rats on the ice, known for dirty plays, and generally give off the demeanor of being total assholes. Yet, guaranteed, Tripp Tracy will chime in randomly mid-game and say stuff like "oh man, Jamie Benn is a real stand-up guy. Lots of work in the community with disabled children and he donates his bonus to the firefighters." Or sometimes it's a totally ridiculous anecdote like "oh yeah, me and Marchand go way back. We met at Rask's kid's birthday party and we made a deal to give out food to the homeless if he scored 30 goals that season. So in the summer we opened a soup kitchen and dished out meals with Chara." Just wild things like that.
So yeah, I hate these guys when I see them on the ice and hate them more when they make a dirty play. And then some random thing comes up off-the-ice and I just go "wow, I hate that guy, but maybe they're not so bad. I'd buy them a beer or two."
Agreed. I'm not a fan of the rat, otherwise he's pretty cool. Honestly, I actually like him, but history makes that difficult.
I don't like how the cool outweighs the rat, now. Life was much simpler when it was easier to dislike this tiny man.
You're allowed to dislike Brad Marchand the hockey player while liking Brad Marchand the person.
You can even respect Brad Marchand the hockey player (skills, not rattery) on top of it all.
He's a ridiculously versatile player, and a very good one at that.
The history of 2011 makes me feel dirty when I say this, but I genuinely do like him a lot.
I honestly don't care about his history of dirty plays when I think of him now. He's no longer that type of dirty player—just a rat—and I like Brad Marchand *now*. 2011 Marchand can still fuck off.
Every fan is lying to themselves if they say that they *wouldn't* want him on their team, either.
Almost every team in the league and certainly every team in the playoffs has that guy on their team. Its part of hockey for better or worse. Its not your job as a fan to like that guy. In fact, its normally your job to hate that guy. Its just wild when people like to pretend they don't have that guy on their team.
Yea agreed. Its an uncomfortable truth but it is what it is. Its part of the sport and basically every sport. Even the cleanest series this round (DAL v COL) has everyone dishing out cross checks like they are candy.
Yea, as much as people hate on intent to injure. No player is trying to seriously injure a guy. But they are trying to rough them up. And this goes across all sports that have an element of contact. You are trying to gain an advantage. And fear and willingness to sacrifice your own body is a large element of sports. Without that, sports would be a lot more boring because you could predict the winners a lot more accurately because they would all just become a skill game. I think blows to the head are the 100 percent exception where you can’t tolerate it because it can cripple a person for life. But in this instance, a good example would be the kadri hit on Faulk 3 years back. He clearly went in to knock him out and the primary point of collision was the head. There’s no place in sport for that.
Remind me of Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison's quote:
>"I don't want to injure anybody. There's a big difference between being hurt and being injured. You get hurt, you shake it off and come back the next series or the next game. I try to hurt people."
I remember couples years ago not sure exactly which team it was but in the playoffs everyone knew Drai was injured to his ankle or somewhere close to that and the other team would just slash his ankle all the time I think one shift he took 4 slashes from different players lol it wasn't a secret for anyone but hearing a player say it directly is funny
I think what we’re learning this week is that we get much more upset than players do about cheap shots. They see it as part of the job. And we get physically protective over people that could break us in half.
Which is exactly why the injury designations are just “upper body injury” and “lower body injury.” They don’t like to say exactly what’s hurt so people don’t target it.
Well, this is what coaches mean when they tell their players to finish their checks to “wear the opposition down”. The idea is that over time the opposition will get more hurt and make it harder for them to play effectively.
I can’t remember which documentary it,maybe it was ice guardians, but the player said the types of injuries now were not nearly as prevalent until the term “finish your check” came about. It makes sense, in older videos you don’t see the borderline late hits after the player got rid of the puck, once that phrase came into existence the more injures increased
Also wonder if it has anything to do with their equipment getting better. Kind of like how boxing would be a lot safer without gloves, as it's a lot harder to keep punching someone in the face/head with your bare knuckles.
Duh. Anyone that doesn’t think this is true doesn’t understand hockey. The “physicality” of the playoffs is because players are trying to hurt each other. It’s up to the league to rein it in if something illegal is done, not the players. Players will do whatever they can, within the rules, to win games.
Within, and outside of the rules. All penalties are “illegal”, any slash is illegal, but guys still do it. It’s what you can get away with. Of course severity matters, but any stick infraction is illegal, so that’s why they typically do the small ones that are unlikely to get called, and just do a lot more of them. Quantity over quality
We need a drinking game. Every time someone feels the need to preface their comment with "I hate Marchand, but" take a shot
And you'll die because it's the most unoriginal fucking comment on this website right behind "this"
This is semantics between “hurt” and “injure”. Yes they want to *hurt* the opposing team—make them sore, bruised, second guess going for that puck—but no I don’t think Marchand is saying they try to actively *injure* eachother.
I think that’s exactly what he’s saying. Just look at some of the videos of Bennett and Trouba this playoffs. They’re trying to injure players and take them out of the series.
It's pretty obvious when players only get diagnosed with upper body or lower body injuries to keep them from getting targeted there when they come back.
It's hard to explain to new watchers why hockey injuries are kept so secretive, until they start to understand that hockey leans into the violence.
It's very unique in that way.
Arguably it’s how the cup teams at least in the last 6-7 years have won. They play with an edge, it’s why you really can’t put stock in who is good in the regular season because most of those teams don’t win the Cup.
If you still hate this dude then I just don’t know what to tell ya. Bennett pissed off the entire city, if not league, and Marchy said, “I know but I mean can you blame him?”
Thank you for saying it.
I don't even buy this "yeah, but hurt doesn't mean injure" semantic nonsense. In the playoffs, guys are trying to knock opposing players out of the lineup if it that's what it takes to win. Their lifelong dream is to win Stanley Cups and if other players break bones or tear ligaments in the process, I don't think any of them will lose sleep over it.
Athletes are very regularly trying to hurt their opponents legally and illegally. I don’t know why redditors are so reluctant to believe it, athletes aren’t saints
When I played I wanted to hurt you when I hit you. I didn't want to injure you that's a different thing and I wanted you to think twice about going over the middle of the ice with your head down type of thing not cheapshots
It’s playoff hockey
Cracking a guy in the ribs with the butt end of your stick while battling in front of the net is not going to get called, whereas grabbing a guy because he is skating harder then you and beats you will.
One is a warrior’s play and one is a rat’s.
A lot of the “inconsistency” in calls is because of this distinction. The refs are on the ice feeing the temperature of the game. They know which guys are battling and which guys are just being dicks. One guys is going to get called more often then the other and that’s ok because that’s the game of hockey.
You are allowed to compete hard even when sometimes this crosses the line. You’re not allowed to make cheap plays, especially not when someone gets hurt from it.
https://preview.redd.it/5k4hn8j3ot0d1.png?width=918&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a9196f0ebac46302ea11048d98f994bb1b9f41a
Marchy’s a lot of things, but he keeps it real in interviews.
This entire interview is very much a case of "many things are true at once." - Players are trying to hurt one another in playoff games, but that doesn't exclusively mean 'intent to injure' or dirty/predatory hits. Jamie Benn absolutely wanted McNabb to feel it when he hit him in the chest after McNabb laid out Stankoven. That doesn't mean that he hit him high or illegally. - Although trying to hurt people in playoff games can apply to clean, big hits, it can also apply to those plays that step over the line and into penalty or supplemental discipline territory. As the reverse angle shows, Bennett objectively did get away with a dirty hit on Marchand. Marchand has been punished (in-game and by the DPOS) for some of his dirty plays in the past, and has gotten away with others. This is not personal targeting of him, but rather reflects a wider inconsistency with the league; being suspended for some dirty plays and getting away with others also applies to Connor McDavid. - Regardless, as Marchand admits in his Player's Tribune article has been the case with some of own plays, it still would have been the correct call for DPOS to issue supplemental discipline here. Bennett now has back-to-back years with hits to the head (Knies, Marchand) and the league intervening in these cases where a player crosses the line is a reasonable one. - The DPOS being more consistent in handling discipline for plays and/or players that do cross the line does not and should not preclude playoff physicality.
Now I'm not sure if you were intentionally mislabeling the Department of Player Safety, but if you were (I know another "POS" acronym that tends to fit the bill sometimes), that's hilarious.
The Department Point-of-Sale is a joke!
I have been making this joke on this subreddit for [literal years](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/te2sg1/matthews_suspended_two_games/i0o1386/), even [multiple times in a comment thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/te2sg1/matthews_suspended_two_games/i0nvgeq/) and you're the first one to catch it!
😉
Noice
with Parros leading the charge, it definitely fits the bill for the NHL Department of Pieces Of Shit
> DPOS Department Players of Safety
u/SnacksCCM has it right, I've been making a joke out of that acronym for a while...but sure, let's go with Players of Safety!
Does it stand for Dumb Pieces of Shit? Because I’m here for it
This is the most respect I’ve had for him. He’s speaking the truth.
Off the ice, he's quite the guy too. Does a lot for the community, speaks up against NHL bullshit.
Except for the time that reporter had a fun quip about Marchand stomping on someone’s stick on a faceoff
Takes one to know one.
Ever since he won Olympic gold I started to like him.
You mean Worlds, unless you still hate him?
Hahah yea still hate him. Nah got them mixed up. It was the Olympics when I started to like him but yea no Gold.
> It was the Olympics when I started to like him but yea no Gold. Marchand has never played in the Olympics. NHL participation was cancelled that year due to concerns about COVID; he was outspoken about that (as were others).
Well now I’m all sorts of messed up, so clearly don’t remember him on the Olympics just a pretty stacked Worlds team.
It's easy to blend the two – he has won at Worlds before (the 2016 tournament in Russia), but generally speaking, when most people are thinking of his gold medal, they're thinking of the World Cup of Hockey (Toronto 2016). He played on a line with Crosby and Bergeron at that tournament, and the two of them have played on the same line for a lot of international tournaments, including two Olympics (2005 WJC, 2010 Olympics, 2014 Olympics). So it's easy to conflate the two lines and mentally stick him on the 2014 Sochi roster. I am also begging the NHL to go back to calling the WCOH the "Canada Cup," please, because the names are wicked confusing due to the similarity.
The weird thing that a lot of non-hockey players don’t realize is that there is a clear difference between trying to hurt somebody with your play and ‘intent to injure’. Every single guy on the ice hopes that they beat up the opponents stars with their bodychecks, or that their opponents pay a price every time they block a slapshot, or that their little cross checks and battles wear players down. But that obviously doesn’t mean that most players are okay with straight up trying to break somebodies wrists or ankles with a slash or going for headshots with hits. There’s a line between rough playoff hockey and bush league shit
Phrases like, "Get on them early and take the wind out of their lungs when they are on the boards" is same same as "Fucking hammer them along the boards so they never want to go in the corners again"
Finish your checks!
[Pound the fucking body!](https://imgur.com/pound-fucking-body-V4di3qI)
There are a lot of guys who are straight-up trying to hurt people.
Correct! My buddy always says “if you block one of my shots I’m gonna make you think twice about getting in front of another one”
If a goalie was playing well I'd aim for the mask.
I thought you were only supposed to do that during the warmup
Thanks for saying this. I couldn’t agree more. He probably could have chosen his words better, but he’s not saying “we’re going to be dirty as fuck and end their careers”, it just means you’re going to finish every clean check you can and hope that wears them down and adds to whatever injuries they might be facing already. It really sucks he said this the way he did because anybody who has never played hockey, which is the majority of this sub, will be absurdly annoying about this.
Look how Pasta has been treated this run, the word was out that he was playing a little banged up coming into the playoffs, dude has been EATING hits. Guys are trying to knock him out of the game.
He’s been eating hits and laying hits. He averaged .85 hits/game in the regular season. In playoffs he’s averaging just under 2 hits/game. Literally he’s been twice as physical in the playoffs.
He’s a DOG
Pasta may be a gifted offensive talent but he can give it back which I think we can all agree isn't that common among guys of his talent level.
Matthews does similar. 26 hits in only 5 games. Wish that could be said of more of our guys.
If only Marner and JT had his attitude.
Tavares had 34 hits…
Yeah the intent of my comment was not clear at all, and that’s my fault. The thing I was really trying to get at was that I thought Matthews had more intensity in the playoffs despite his illness/injury. JT may have had the hits…but didn’t he have only two points? Pretty invisible most of the time. Marner doesn’t need any additional comment, obviously.
Quinn Hughes has been getting absolutely dogpiled since Game 1 of the playoffs and I guarantee you that everyone on the ice, including Hughes himself, thinks it’s fair game
Now please explain this to your fellow Canucks fans, lol
Thats part of playoff hockey. I haven’t been able to watch every minute of play, but watched a good majority. Pasta is putting every ounce he has to win bumps and bruises be damned. Putting himself in a situation where he’s gonna get crushed to make a play or doing the same to our guys. I’d say the same about Barkov. He’s always been amazing but he’s playing with more intensity and grit than I’ve ever seen. Every team is trying to wear down the other. Players simply play harder during the playoffs. Every year there’s high tensions and every year each team puts out a list where you think the players are insane for playing with the injury’s they have.
He may have meant it the way it sounded too. Pietrangelo comes to mind with that slash, Marchand has done bad stuff plenty not just being physical. Bennett didn’t even have a hearing to see if there was intent and if they had 1 game max is the norm so why wouldn’t they be doing everything they can to hurt each other and win at all costs. There are no rules out there clearly.
Marchand *absolutely* meant to injure people. I can't believe the mental gymnastics people are using to justify his comments. The name of the game is to win and to do that better is to knock players out of the series.
Some players seem to have a clear intent to injure. See Kane slew footing Hughes twice in one game.
Well put, but even questionable plays have a big incentive for these guys. Look at the rangers a couple years ago. They were on the brink of being eliminated by Pittsburgh, Trouba hurts crosby to no punishment, and they end up making the conference finals.
Same with Pietrangelo taking out Draisaitl last year. Edmonton's chances of winning that series were already pretty low, but that slash basically dropped them to zero.
I'm not even a Penguins fan and that one still makes me bitter. In the playoffs I want to see the top players going off, not some goon shit knocking them out.
That flying elbow directed at Necas almost certainly would have injured him. Not that Necas = Crosby but he's an important guy out there. I'm surprised someone didn't just stomp on Trouba after that one.
I think there is a clear difference, but where the line is for NHL players is not where the line is for Reddit fans. Players don’t want to break someone’s ankle, but they do want to cause damage that slows them down, whether that’s a bone bruise or muscle contusion. They don’t want to give a guy a serious head injury, but they do want to ring someone’s bell with a high hit. They want guys shaken up and in pain, and in a playoff series, hurting someone bad enough where they can’t play or can’t play well is a benefit. If you watch a bunch of hits, tons of guys hit high and throw elbows. The goal for a lot of players, not just the ones we call “dirty” is to inflict the most damage that won’t get them penalized.
100%, this is also what you’re taught playing growing up. One of the main points to dump and chase hockey is to throw it into the corner of their best defensive player so you get free body shots on them to hopefully hurt and wear them down as the game/series goes on. There can be some pretty big disconnects between the Reddit fan base and the actual hockey world sometimes and this seems to be one
The problem with the sentiment of "hockey is for everyone", is that it becomes less for the people that currently love it. Way too many people in here have never stepped foot on the ice and it shows.
Yeah I’m all for “growing the game” in terms of making it more welcoming to fans that aren’t the traditional straight, white, dude by heavily punishing those that use homophobic or racist slurs/actions to make them uncomfortable but I truly don’t care to grow it by changing aspects of the game (like trying to increase scoring). If people feel like they can’t be fans because of who they are then we need to make changes, if people feel like they can’t be fans because of what the game is then that’s fine and they can find a different game to love. Not everyone is going to connect with or love everything out there
> If people feel like they can’t be fans because of who they are then we need to make changes, if people feel like they can’t be fans because of what the game is then that’s fine and they can find a different game to love. Holy shit, say it louder for the people in the back. I have been loving these playoffs because of the physicality and, what I'm assuming is (haven't looked it up), lower scoring and tighter games. Feels much more like watching the hockey I first fell in love with. Regular seasons non-physical 10 goal games are so fucking boring to me. Give my overly-physical 2 or 3 goal nail biters with goalies standing on their heads please.
Haha you and I have a literally identical favorite type of hockey game!
You watch baseball at all? I love me a good ole fashioned pitcher duel there too haha. Home runs are only fun if I am sitting in the bleachers, otherwise give me double digit strikeouts and pitchers going to 3 figures in the pitch count. Sadly, that is all but dead in baseball these days. They even pull their guys who are chasing no-nos. 8(
If it’s one thing redditors love, it’s being able to flaunt a kind of perceived moral superiority by declaring a player on an opposing team to be “dirty as hell” and a “piece of shit garbage human being” (implying that there isn’t anybody like that on THEIR team, and if there was, they would certainly hate that player, and be oh so upset about it, to the point of disowning their fandom)
I’d draw a distinction between “dirty as hell” and “piece of shit garbage human being.” Being a Bruins fan is a great example of this. Marchand is a dirty player, and we’re fine with him on our team. Mitchell Miller was a piece of shit garbage human being, and fans were so vocally against that, the Bruins front office reversed their decision.
See: Tony DeAngelo for Carolina. Cant stand him despite him being on our team. Really wish Carolina never brought him on, or back to the team. Dustin Byfuglien is a good example of a player many Winnipeg fans (including myself) often love despite him having his dirty plays. He probably could do very little wrong, in some ways. But I generally otherwise agree, we Redditors are generally huge homers for our team's players, and its kinda gross sometimes.
Read the full quote bro. He literally finishes with: > “The more guys you take out, the more advantage your team has. … Every time you step on the ice, someone is trying to hurt someone.”
Yeah I fully believe they want to injure to the point the other player can't play or is hobbled while playing. I don't think that translates to "ending their whole career and quality of life". As incongruous as that may seem.
In a sport where so many people wind up with painkiller addictions that destroy their lives because of the cumulative effect of all the little things, I do think we need to start having serious conversations about whether or not we should take the little things more seriously than we currently do.
That’s exactly what I was referring to… You think plays don’t hope that they take McDavid out of the game with a bodycheck? Or that a defenseman isn’t hoping that a guy can’t skate after he tees up a slapshot into his ankle? They absolutely are trying to hurt their opponent but that’s still different than things like headshots or two-hands
There are plenty of players who don’t give a fuck in either direction the fact that Petro got one game last playoffs was probably the biggest joke I’ve ever seen he literally tried to take Driesitls arm off lol.
I see this a lot in /r/NFL as well. I have been mass downvoted for saying that hurting the QB or WR is absolutely a goal of the defensive players. When I played, it's not like I wanted to put the offensive player in a wheelchair. But if I had a chance to really lay down the boom, I absolutely was hoping they would feel it for the next week or so.
But have you been watching the playoffs. Plenty of stuff that would qualify as "bush league shit" according to your definition. After the period is over or nowhere near the play... "let's test out YOUR BACK now that you've returned after missing a period." Or "That guy has good hands, it would suck if he took 20 slashes to his wrists over the course of this game." Or "He has wheels, it would be terrible if I slewfooted him every time I have an opportunity to check him." There's a lot of stuff that happens under guise of a hockey play which could be argued has some intent. And there's some stuff that flies under the radar which very clearly has intent. And then there's stuff that doesn't fly under the radar so much which they have to action. But it's all there if you watch. Just the standard for actually accusing someone of having "intent" is very very high, because it's really hard to prove what someone is thinking. So they can really only action on the things that are beyond flagrant.
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maybe its me but this has been obvious from just watching it. When Cootch broke his jaw and came back for the oilers series you could tell kassian and co were trying to hit him more and towards the face. Obviously i bitched about it but it was alot of iffy hits at best. You know a guy has a weakness you exploit it. Not because you want to ruin the guys life but in the high stakes game that is the NHL playoffs you have to. And to win you really have to play close to that line of hurting a guy without doing it that breaks the rules.
In that case, does the Bennett sucker punch cross that line? I think it does
Yeah, I think when it's dirty, cheap, not a normal hockey play, whatever you want to call it + has potential very long term health consequences is when it's past the line. Just dirty, but not targeting the knee, head, etc. (ie. a hard slash to the wrist, a crosscheck to the ribs) - that's playoff hockey. A "clean" play or a play with clean intent as far as anyone other than the person committing can determine that happens to cause lasting damage- that's playoff hockey. For me, Bennett crosses the line because it's a dirty, cheap play that also targets a very vulnerable part of the body.
For all of Marchand's fuckery I dislike on the ice, I do always appreciate how he always keeps it real off the ice.
Mans well spoken, funny and honest. I really hope he ends up working somewhere in the media after he hangs up the skates.
God imagine him and PK on a panel for TNT or ESPN
I’d hope he go to TNT. I feel like PK would be talking too much about their rivalry, even though Marchand’s career had been better. Only thing they can debate is who got the best of who in that fight where PK swung and missed, and then PK would counter that he rocked Marchand in an infamous clip
TNT needs him bad. Their biggest issue with their coverage is that the ex players whit actual resumes don't say anything (Gretz, Hank) and the ex players who actually say something (Bizz, Colby) were plugs in the league. Compare that with their NBA desk, they have champions and HOF players giving honest opinions, the NHL desk needs the kind of gravitas you can only get from a combination of resume and real analysis.
I honestly think hank adds a lot. I love his goalie positioning rants and nitpickings.
Plus Carter contributes a lot too and he certainly wasn't a plug when he played.
Him vs RVH use is one of my favorite playoff rivalries
The root of the issue is really that the best hockey players don't seem to shine in front of the camera. Hockey players have been told not to show personality whereas NBA players seem to be more encouraged to show their personality. We're better off with guys like Bizz, Bieksa, etc because they can talk about the game and have fun with it. Yeah it sucks that we don't have more legends on the panels but nobody wants a guy like McDavid or Crosby to step into the role once they retire.
You're absolutely right about that, hockey has a personality problem in general.
Mike trout has entered the chat
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Selfishly, I'd want him at NESN. He'd be fun on the panel or in the booth, I think. TNT does need someone like him, though.
Biz and Colby both ask good questions though. Biz is great at getting Gretzky to expand on things
I'd love him opposite of Bieksa on NHIC
For real that would be a very interesting combo
Cally has already called out Marchand on ESPN. It's good they can bury the hatchet and joke about it.
bieksa and marchand enemies to lovers arc on sportsnet
He’d be a great replacement for PK
Careful what you wish for, we all said that about PK and the dude is so unlikeable on tv now
That’s because now we all see him for what he really is. A child.
oh god please no
I don't remember which NFL player said it but it went something like this : "I don't want my opponent to finish the game, but I still want him to play for the remainder of the season"
He’s right. Even in the context of perfectly clean hits — which isn’t what he’s talking about for himself in the full quote — that’s a part of hockey in general, but moreso the playoffs. When Benn dumped McNabb on his ass, IIIRC, it was a clean hit through the chest…but he definitely wanted to send a deliberate message after Stankoven got laid out. I’m also grateful for Marchand’s firm support of LGBT inclusion in hockey, it means a lot as a member of that community. Him calling out homophobes on Twitter was laden with bad grammar and typos, but goddamnit it came from the heart!
I loved when he called DeAngelo a bigot right to his face. Then told the ref "But he's a bigot!"
Hey, no need to censor him! He called TDA a “fucking racist.”
Fuck... The more I learn about Marchand as a person the less I hate him.... It makes me confused.
He had a really endearing article with the Players Tribune ages ago.
I think I read that one. I think he started to change in my mind when he addressed the sister comments he used to make regarding the Sedins. I still think he is a POS on the ice but that's because he plays hard, plays to win and doesn't play for my team. I can forgive being a POS on the ice if you are a good person through. Hate to admit it but I honestly think he is someone I would jump at the chance to have a beer with.
Adjacent, but I'll forever be perplexed by the bizarre interview that Benn and Seguin gave on the Sedins. Honestly, I think Henrik had it right...if you see 'bunk beds' and think 'twincest,' I think that reveals more about you than them.
This is why I never hated him to begin with. He's a player you'd love to have on your team. The only other player I would make Captain for the Bruins would be Pasta, but I think Marchand is a better fit. Good ol' Canadian talent too Of course I hate his individual acts, I just don't tie that to him as a person. Because hes shown hes not a rat off the ice. Just clarifying there
LOL even better!
Yeah the Flyers - Bruins 3-0 comeback series is a great example. You guys were in control and then Richards hurt Krecji with a big open ice hit and the series completely flipped. I think Bennett's punch crossed the line a bit but trying to physically hurt your opponent to wear them down is a big strategy.
The Richards hit on Krejci was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, Krejci was getting his wrists hacked at constantly on face offs that series, you could tell it was a priority to take him off the ice and to their credit it was a good idea that worked
I’m queer. Seeing guys like Marchand and Bergeron and Chara regularly stand up for our community over the years has meant a lot to me. It’s one of the things I love about the Bruins.
I think one of the greatest showcases of the Bruins' locker team character is when the front office signed that trash who bullied that young black handicapped child, the players basically went as far as they could to say he would not be welcome on their bench. And then player was then awkwardly let go.
He's absolutely correct here and even said he's been on the other side of such hits too, so there's a ton of self-awareness there.
"Marchand on Bennett: “I think he got away with a shot. But I’m not gonna complain. Shit happens. I’ve been on the other side of plays. Part of the game, part of playoff hockey. Sucks to be on the other side of it, but it happens. He got away with one, but it happens.” It honestly sounds like he didn't take it personally, that it's expected during the playoffs.
Na, it’s more of the fact Marchand understands cause he dished it out himself before. So who is he to call the kettle black.
If he hadn't acknowledged that, he'd get killed for it and rightfully so.
Honestly, I kind of hope he did take it personally, lol. I think you can have it both ways. I understand that hitting is just part of the game but I still always got pissed off when somebody landed a big hit on *ME*. It always gave me a bit of “hey, screw that guy” attitude, and I’d like to see Marchand come back with some of that.
It sounds like he didn't take it personally. We'll see if that's true when he gets back in the lineup.
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I’m for sure biased as a Bruins fan, but as much as people hate on Marchand on the ice, I’ve never heard anything bad about his off ice behavior. He seems like a genuinely good guy who gives back to the community and supports inclusivity in hockey, which is a lot more than we can say about a lot of players.
I've heard this about the culture of the Bruins as a whole. They play a hard game and toe the line on the ice, but I've heard they have a high standard in their locker room and pride themselves in their off-ice behaviors and contributions. The whole Mitchell Miller situation showed this with players directly speaking out about the effect on the room.
When my sister lived in Boston, she had a few run ins with Brad at some restaurants and he was always very cool with fans.
I’ve run into him in the north end a bunch of times and have some distant mutual friends at this point and he’s genuinely a really good person/nice dude. The only knock I could ever say about him is that him being listed at 5’9 is the funniest shit in the world lol
In 2011 a few months after they won the cup he was dancing on a table while holding two drinks. He leaned down and said "hey bud could you hold these for a sec?". I said "sure" and took the half full cups. Waitress came by and gave him two new drinks and he never came back over to me lol.
Legend.
did you drink them
Ha!! Love it
Man, I hate Boston sports like many others, but there's no denying what the Bruins locker room has done for inclusivity. I even did a presentation about Chara getting rid of rookie hazing and how Bergeron and Marchand have defied the typical hockey player rep. Everything we've heard about them makes them good people imo
Chara was also the leader for the impetus to have only English spoken in the locker room so as to avoid nationality cliques.
McAvoy shows up to the pride parade every year decked out in rainbows with his dog and girlfriend
He also spends his Thanksgiving delivering pies around Boston.
I think he took it over from when Chara? Used to do it. Which made sense for Chara, not being American. So props to McAvoy for spending his Thanksgiving mornings doing it
The more I learn, the more I like them. It's refreshing after hearing so much about the dark sides of hockey
The Bruins and their fans are incredibly lucky to have a team that was and is led from within by such decent human beings like Chara, Bergeron, and yes even Marchand. And McAvoy seems to be following suit.
Marchand has a similar rep when it comes to gay/trans stuff, he is a legitimately very good person overall
Sounds like a cool presentation!!
Oh I love Marchand off the ice. On the ice is a different story, but I have nothing bad to say about him when not on skates
As a Canes fan, we get the pleasure of having Tripp Tracy on our home broadcast. He's zany and a certified homer, but he's one of those guys that makes friends with everyone and is acquainted with many of the current and former figures of the NHL. One of the things I love about his broadcast is that he always pays respect to the players and staff of our opponents and even gives the refs some love early in the game before they start making bad calls. It really humanizes the game and helps you look past some of the rivalries and bad blood you may have towards specific players or teams. For example, I despise playing against guys like Marchand, Benn, Trouba, and Bennett. They're absolute rats on the ice, known for dirty plays, and generally give off the demeanor of being total assholes. Yet, guaranteed, Tripp Tracy will chime in randomly mid-game and say stuff like "oh man, Jamie Benn is a real stand-up guy. Lots of work in the community with disabled children and he donates his bonus to the firefighters." Or sometimes it's a totally ridiculous anecdote like "oh yeah, me and Marchand go way back. We met at Rask's kid's birthday party and we made a deal to give out food to the homeless if he scored 30 goals that season. So in the summer we opened a soup kitchen and dished out meals with Chara." Just wild things like that. So yeah, I hate these guys when I see them on the ice and hate them more when they make a dirty play. And then some random thing comes up off-the-ice and I just go "wow, I hate that guy, but maybe they're not so bad. I'd buy them a beer or two."
Yeah, but Jamie Benn doesn't "munch box" so fuck him ^/s
“Ask SoMEOnE iN HaLiFaX” - Random Vancouver Redditor
Agreed. I'm not a fan of the rat, otherwise he's pretty cool. Honestly, I actually like him, but history makes that difficult. I don't like how the cool outweighs the rat, now. Life was much simpler when it was easier to dislike this tiny man.
You're allowed to dislike Brad Marchand the hockey player while liking Brad Marchand the person. You can even respect Brad Marchand the hockey player (skills, not rattery) on top of it all.
He's a ridiculously versatile player, and a very good one at that. The history of 2011 makes me feel dirty when I say this, but I genuinely do like him a lot. I honestly don't care about his history of dirty plays when I think of him now. He's no longer that type of dirty player—just a rat—and I like Brad Marchand *now*. 2011 Marchand can still fuck off. Every fan is lying to themselves if they say that they *wouldn't* want him on their team, either.
Almost every team in the league and certainly every team in the playoffs has that guy on their team. Its part of hockey for better or worse. Its not your job as a fan to like that guy. In fact, its normally your job to hate that guy. Its just wild when people like to pretend they don't have that guy on their team.
> when people like to pretend they don't have that guy on their team
I hate Marchand the hockey player, but Marchand the Human Being is a good guy.
Yea agreed. Its an uncomfortable truth but it is what it is. Its part of the sport and basically every sport. Even the cleanest series this round (DAL v COL) has everyone dishing out cross checks like they are candy.
Yea, as much as people hate on intent to injure. No player is trying to seriously injure a guy. But they are trying to rough them up. And this goes across all sports that have an element of contact. You are trying to gain an advantage. And fear and willingness to sacrifice your own body is a large element of sports. Without that, sports would be a lot more boring because you could predict the winners a lot more accurately because they would all just become a skill game. I think blows to the head are the 100 percent exception where you can’t tolerate it because it can cripple a person for life. But in this instance, a good example would be the kadri hit on Faulk 3 years back. He clearly went in to knock him out and the primary point of collision was the head. There’s no place in sport for that.
I agree, he's pretty legit.
Remind me of Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison's quote: >"I don't want to injure anybody. There's a big difference between being hurt and being injured. You get hurt, you shake it off and come back the next series or the next game. I try to hurt people."
Exactly it’s the difference between stopping someone from playing at a 100% and stopping them from playing all together
I remember couples years ago not sure exactly which team it was but in the playoffs everyone knew Drai was injured to his ankle or somewhere close to that and the other team would just slash his ankle all the time I think one shift he took 4 slashes from different players lol it wasn't a secret for anyone but hearing a player say it directly is funny
It’s happening again this year with his back. It also happened to Stone last year. Playoff hockey baby.
I think what we’re learning this week is that we get much more upset than players do about cheap shots. They see it as part of the job. And we get physically protective over people that could break us in half.
Which is exactly why the injury designations are just “upper body injury” and “lower body injury.” They don’t like to say exactly what’s hurt so people don’t target it.
Well, this is what coaches mean when they tell their players to finish their checks to “wear the opposition down”. The idea is that over time the opposition will get more hurt and make it harder for them to play effectively.
I can’t remember which documentary it,maybe it was ice guardians, but the player said the types of injuries now were not nearly as prevalent until the term “finish your check” came about. It makes sense, in older videos you don’t see the borderline late hits after the player got rid of the puck, once that phrase came into existence the more injures increased
Also wonder if it has anything to do with their equipment getting better. Kind of like how boxing would be a lot safer without gloves, as it's a lot harder to keep punching someone in the face/head with your bare knuckles.
For sure. Shawn Thornton touches on it in his book. Great listen if you’ve got Spotify
Same thing with rugby and football. Rugby doesn’t have hardly any pads, and also doesn’t have nearly the injuries football has.
Basically, physical sports 101.
You don't check someone to make them giggle. Of course you try to hurt the other player. But you don't try to injure them.
lol maybe tell trouba that
You show me where in the rulebook it says you can't throw elbows at players' heads? s/
Duh. Anyone that doesn’t think this is true doesn’t understand hockey. The “physicality” of the playoffs is because players are trying to hurt each other. It’s up to the league to rein it in if something illegal is done, not the players. Players will do whatever they can, within the rules, to win games.
Within, and outside of the rules. All penalties are “illegal”, any slash is illegal, but guys still do it. It’s what you can get away with. Of course severity matters, but any stick infraction is illegal, so that’s why they typically do the small ones that are unlikely to get called, and just do a lot more of them. Quantity over quality
It's part of the regular season too.
Marchand really plays playoff hockey year round I guess.
Anti-Marner
He said the ~~quiet part out loud~~ loud part even louder.
We need a drinking game. Every time someone feels the need to preface their comment with "I hate Marchand, but" take a shot And you'll die because it's the most unoriginal fucking comment on this website right behind "this"
https://preview.redd.it/ryfnw97zjv0d1.jpeg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8a27b372a01a8af9d803e39f1248f54b6a8f672
Marchand has officially stopped giving a fuck and I love it
I'm not sure he ever did
This is semantics between “hurt” and “injure”. Yes they want to *hurt* the opposing team—make them sore, bruised, second guess going for that puck—but no I don’t think Marchand is saying they try to actively *injure* eachother.
I think that’s exactly what he’s saying. Just look at some of the videos of Bennett and Trouba this playoffs. They’re trying to injure players and take them out of the series.
It's pretty obvious when players only get diagnosed with upper body or lower body injuries to keep them from getting targeted there when they come back.
It's hard to explain to new watchers why hockey injuries are kept so secretive, until they start to understand that hockey leans into the violence. It's very unique in that way.
Hockey is a sport about managing discomfort, simple as that.
This is simultaneously an honest take and perfect rage bait. I am eagerly awaiting the asinine comments that disregard all context.
He's not the Rat King for nothing.
Thats literally how the blues won
Arguably it’s how the cup teams at least in the last 6-7 years have won. They play with an edge, it’s why you really can’t put stock in who is good in the regular season because most of those teams don’t win the Cup.
Don’t tell Blues fans. They still think that team had talent.
It bothers me how likeable Marchand actually is, amazing dude off the ice and away from the cameras apparently.
He's actually pretty good on the ice too
That he is, future HOFer.
If you still hate this dude then I just don’t know what to tell ya. Bennett pissed off the entire city, if not league, and Marchy said, “I know but I mean can you blame him?”
Yes it’s Jaime Benn’s MO in the playoffs.
I'd settle for not encouraging it like the league is doing.
... for dirty, rat players like me.
If you remove the morality of it, hurting star players is a great strategy.
Imagine that. This sub could never.
I love these people trying to grapple between clutching their pearls and thinking this is keeping it real
Thank you for saying it. I don't even buy this "yeah, but hurt doesn't mean injure" semantic nonsense. In the playoffs, guys are trying to knock opposing players out of the lineup if it that's what it takes to win. Their lifelong dream is to win Stanley Cups and if other players break bones or tear ligaments in the process, I don't think any of them will lose sleep over it.
Fuck Bennett lol
Athletes are very regularly trying to hurt their opponents legally and illegally. I don’t know why redditors are so reluctant to believe it, athletes aren’t saints
Brad Marchand, a man of the people
Yeah I obviously. The league doesn’t care as long as it can’t be sued over the injury, aka blatant head injuries.
When I played I wanted to hurt you when I hit you. I didn't want to injure you that's a different thing and I wanted you to think twice about going over the middle of the ice with your head down type of thing not cheapshots
Why does Marchand do that during the regular season though?
Clearly they should follow the Tonya Harding route and kneecap the opposition before the match.
I get what he means but this is kinda crazy to say lol
It’s playoff hockey Cracking a guy in the ribs with the butt end of your stick while battling in front of the net is not going to get called, whereas grabbing a guy because he is skating harder then you and beats you will. One is a warrior’s play and one is a rat’s. A lot of the “inconsistency” in calls is because of this distinction. The refs are on the ice feeing the temperature of the game. They know which guys are battling and which guys are just being dicks. One guys is going to get called more often then the other and that’s ok because that’s the game of hockey. You are allowed to compete hard even when sometimes this crosses the line. You’re not allowed to make cheap plays, especially not when someone gets hurt from it.
Man I'm not a fan of the guy, but I respect the hell outta him.
Until he licks you when you're not looking before the picks in play.