“I think the point that can be better made is, when a player gets bumped by an opponent after the whistle, and an “agitator” flies in to fight him, that’s not “love of teammate”. That’s “love of his job” – those guys know that they have a role, and they have to look for chances to execute what they do or they’re useless, the same way goal scorers wait for their chances. That’s not protection. That’s the guy at the bar who you know is going to be in a fight, just a matter of when and who.”

is a damn good point.

I acknowledged that Pascal is making the best of his abilities in my original entry. And yes, he was likable, but I’m sure there are hundreds of people who like Marty Mcsorley (Wayne Gretzky being one of them), and not one of them is going to condone his stick-swinging incident. In the same way, I don’t condone the way Pascal plays in general – it’s reckless, occasionally selfish, and frequently dangerous. I fail to see the relevance of him being under contract with the Islanders (as I haven’t been since ’08), and by no means am I obligated to paint a pretty picture of everyone I played with.

I think the point that can be better made is, when a player gets bumped by an opponent after the whistle, and an “agitator” flies in to fight him, that’s not “love of teammate”. That’s “love of his job” – those guys know that they have a role, and they have to look for chances to execute what they do or they’re useless, the same way goal scorers wait for their chances. That’s not protection. That’s the guy at the bar who you know is going to be in a fight, just a matter of when and who.

I can’t state clearly enough – I like fighting in hockey. This is the difference between agitators and enforcers though. Enforcers fight for protection, redemption, whatever. They act as sherriff, and keep the game safer… safer from the “agitators”, who dip their toe across the line of acceptable like they’re testing the temperature of a pool, pull it back, smirk and go “what’d I do? What? Two minutes for what?”

The hockey world is small, and if everybody I played with were lavished in praise, all my blog would be is one, lone “we’re taking it one game at a time”. Not only would it be insincere, but i’d be really limiting myself.

And frankly… “How would I like to be in Pascals skates?” I’ve been in Pascals skates. Being a player means fans pay your salary, and are therefore free to judge you the way I’m free to judge a movie I’ve paid to see. The only difference is that in the case of my critique, the opinion was informed.

So I wouldn’t blame him for not liking it. But these days, I’m a columnist, and he was relevant. C’est la vie.

However, calling a former teammate out who is under contract with your former club with the guise of, “Just doin’ my job,” is questionable at best. How would you like it if you were in Pascal’s skates? He’s doing what he feels is necessary to keep his salary in the AHL, he wants his contract renewed next year. The guy played in the Q, probably doesn’t have a college degree, was nice to you, and is probably quite thrilled that he’s making AHL dollars. Don’t throw your teammate under the bus, is my point, no matter how irrelevant a blogger’s opinion is to the New York Islanders organization. What does that say about you and the organization?

I don’t want to waste any more of your blog space, or get this blog off on a tangent, if you’d like we can continue this over e-mail.

Best regards, dude.

C’est la vie.

There’s a place in hockey for all positions, Enforcer included (IMHO). But in all cases the player in position X isn’t always going to like what the player in position Y does. That’s part of the reason very few folks switch positions in this game – too much of a learning curve!