JOHN SCOTT, PHIL KESSEL and HOCKEY CODES

JOHN SCOTT, PHIL KESSEL and HOCKEY CODES

- Joe Bartnick 10/2/13

As another the preseason comes to an end this one will always be remembered for the melee in Toronto when the Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres line brawled. More specifically the night David Clarkson got suspended 10 games for coming off the bench to defend stick swinging Phil Kessel against the brain dead and talentless goon John Scott. The preseason is always a recipe for disaster. Veterans play not to get hurt and just want to get their timing down while young guys want to impress the bosses and make the team. The problem is the one way non skilled guys can make a make an impression on management is by gooning it up. A glaring example happened in 2008 when Tampa Bay knuckle dragger David Koci cheap shotted Penguins star defenseman Sergei Gonchar and knocked him out for the first quarter of the regular season.

The on ice war in Toronto started when Sabre Corey Tropp asked a much larger and tougher Jamie Devane to a fight, trying to make an impression on his coach. Problem was Tropp wrote a check his ass couldn’t cash. Now as one of the unwritten codes of hockey goes Devane , a big tough guy should not have fought Tropp but he did because of another hockey code, when you are asked to dance you can’t pretend like you don’t hear the music. They fought and Tropp got his ass kicked and fell back and hit his head. So Buffalo a team that always wants to prove how tough they are after being embarrassed two years ago and called soft sent out their tough guy John Scott on the ice. For the record John Scott is arguably the worst goon in hockey. He can’t play a lick and though being 6’8” 275 lbs he can’t even fight. He makes Francois Leroux (a very large, uncoordinated enforcer from the 90”s) look like Joe Louis. Anyone near Scott’s his size would kick his ass. The man can barely skate let alone punch. I would love to see Big Steve Macintyre knock him out of the league for good because what Scott did was utterly gutless and classless. He broke the most golden of all hockey codes, enforcers don’t fight stars let alone Lady Bings. Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle (not a shrinking violet by any means), was a nasty player and a coach who used Broad Street Bully tactics to win the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks purposely sent a scoring line out, including Phil Kessel to diffuse the situation because of the code that reads goons don’t attack scorers or stars. Scott broke code and attacked Kessel and the line brawl ensued.

Kessel then broke the code of all sports that use weapons (hockey and baseball) and swing his stick with two hands Paul Bunyun style at Scott. Well not the manliest option, he did go for his legs and not his head and avoided pulling a Juan Marichal. Marichal is infamous for attacking LA Dodger Johnny Roseboro with a bat to the head. While Scott was attacking Kessel Leafs new big time free agent, throwback power forward , former New Jersey Devil, David Clarkson jumped off the bench to protect Kessel and received a not worth it an automatic ten game suspension that may ruin Toronto’s season.

Some people are upset Kessel got a meaningless three preseason game suspension for swinging his stick. I’m upset Scott didn’t get a 30 game regular season suspension. I like fighting as much as anyone but this league needs to protect its stars. Goons and fights are a dime a dozen, stars are not. No one has ever paid a nickel or turned on a tv to see John Scott except his parents. Before you say I’m overreacting think about if Scott did hurt Kessel or next time he hurts Sid, Geno, Ovi ,Kane or Toews . I’m not saying get rid of fighting and fighters I’m saying PROTECT THE STARS because if he went after one of my teams stars I’d want everyone including the equipment manager come off the bench to attack him, suspensions be damned.