HOCKEY VIDEOS: Brad Marchand goes off on chicken Swede

Always liked Brad Marchand, good Acadian (American readers, think "Cajun") boy from around Halifax NS. In 2018, when he was playing for the Boston Bruins, he got into hot water for licking Tampa Bay's Ryan Callahan during a heated playoff match. In this first video he explains why he did that.

He got told, really told, by the NHL not to do that kind of thing, lest people think hockey was becoming as gay as soccer. But no such warning could quell or abate the famous Marchand temper, which found other ways to express itself.

Fast forward to this past Saturday night, when the veteran Marchand, now with the Florida Panthers, absolutely loses it after a crosscheck from behind by your typical chicken Swede (h/t Don Cherry for that phrase) Rasmus Dahlin, in the match between the Panthers and Buffalo Sabres.

Dahlin turtled, afraid to take the consequences of poking the bear, and Marchand pounces on him, yanks off his (Dahlin's) helmet, then tears it apart while sitting in the sin bin.

 

Cost to Dahlin (fine imposed by the NHL Dept. of Player Safety), $5000. Entertainment value: priceless! Says Poor Len Canayen, "Wouldn't he look great in a Habs sweater?!"

Flukey Finn does it again

Buffalo hockey fans had the cockles of their hearts warmed last night to see a lovely example of the Christmas spirit. Vesa Toskala, who occasionally stops a few pucks from entering the Toronto Maple Leafs net, let four of six Sabres shots go by him, as Buffalo cruised to a 5-2 win.

The most beautiful gift of all was the second goal, a soft bouncer from somewhere beyond Toskala's range of vision. Your grandmother could have stopped it. But not the Flukey Finn. Even though there was no-one within 50 feet of him, he somehow misplayed the puck, which found its way into the net. So strange was it that the referees were unable to say who fired the "shot", so until later on the goal was credited to "unknown".

Walt regrets not having a video clip to add to this post. Doubtless one will turn up pretty soon. But for your yuletide entertainment here's a link to a clip of a similar [even worse, ed.] Toskala miscue against the NY Islanders, from March of 2008. To the Leaf Nation...nya nya na nya na! And my condolences for the rest of the season.