Protecting Briere

> i thought that hit was a blatant elbow, and was not surprised that a
> call wasn't made. it was surprising that it came from elias, and
> equally surprising that kukkonen went after him immediately. i loved
> it. there was a bit of retaliation...or do you mean against the other
> team's stars?

I just saw the highlight, so didn't see Kukkonen. That's great news.

C
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On Oct 19, 2:16 pm, Sleazy-E <DrG0....RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Oct 19, 1:53 pm, "pukstpr31isback@nofriggin'goalforyou.com"
>
> <hammarbydes....RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote:
> > briere constantly skates through the middle of the ice with the puck
> > over the opposition blueline into a pack of four defenders. stevens
> > smashing lindros comes into my mind EVERY time i watch him do this,
> > but he keeps his head up and doesn't get hit.he's survived this long
> > in the nhl because he's aware of what's going on around him...he
> > generally knows how to protect himself.
>
> It's where little guys have an advantage. They are in a habit of
> keeping their head up because they will get it taken off. The guy who
> was always bigger than everyone else usually doesn't worry about that
> because who ever hits him is gonna be the one who gets hurt. As they
> get older and people start catching up to them in size they learn the
> hard way.
>
> I did the same thing. I'm 6' 2" 230lbs. and stopped growing in 6th
> grade. The thought of someone taking my head off never even crossed my
> mind until I was in my 20's. The first time I colided with someone my
> size could have easily been avoided but I was looking for the pass
> instead of who was about to burry me.

As someone on the opposite end of the spectrum (topped out at 5' 7"
and 150ish lbs.), I think you're dead on here. When I was playing
hockey, I was always hyper-aware of who was around me because I didn't
want to get pounded, and I learned how to keep myself out of
vulnerable situations. Ultimately I figured out how to use it to my
advantage--I wouldn't shy away from contact, and if a much bigger guy
hit me cleanly and I went down, many times he'd get called for it just
because it looked bad because of the size mismatch. I could also get
away with a lot more 'chippiness' because the refs always gave the
small guys more leeway in the name of defending themselves.

Pelle
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On Oct 20, 3:24 pm, Pelle Schultz <evil_emp....DeleteThis@mac.com> wrote:

> As someone on the opposite end of the spectrum (topped out at 5' 7"
> and 150ish lbs.), I think you're dead on here. When I was playing
> hockey, I was always hyper-aware of who was around me because I didn't
> want to get pounded, and I learned how to keep myself out of
> vulnerable situations. Ultimately I figured out how to use it to my
> advantage--I wouldn't shy away from contact, and if a much bigger guy
> hit me cleanly and I went down, many times he'd get called for it just
> because it looked bad because of the size mismatch. I could also get
> away with a lot more 'chippiness' because the refs always gave the
> small guys more leeway in the name of defending themselves.

Yeah, I hate every one of you little pricks, and hate trying to catch
you even more. It's one of the reasons I started playing D. It's like
Christmas morning when a short fast little bastard who I've been
trying to catch all day comes over the blue line with his head down. I
vent all the running I had to do on the last ten guys I couldn't catch
into one good check. Actually, I usually just step in front of them at
the last second so they run into me. It's the only way I've never
gotten called. Arms and stick are down, and they run square into my
chest and lay themselves out. It occasionally knocks the wind out of
me, but it's worth it to watch the empty look in their eyes while the
clear the cobwebbs. They usually don't run as fast the rest of the
game because they are worried it will happen again.

I hate trying to catch short guys!
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