Lucic’s protection of his actions is a positive signal that this would possibly not be his final offense

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Name it what you need, Milan Lucic was suspended for throwing a punch at Kole Sherwood’s head. And that the Flames bruiser is defending his actions doubtless means there’s going to be one other transgression in some unspecified time in the future down the road.Milan Lucic|Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire through Getty ImagesSo now Milan Lucic desires us to lookup the definition of sucker punch. Severely? All proper, in case you say so. Nicely, the world’s most authoritative dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary, defines sucker punch as, “an surprising punch or blow.” (It then makes use of it in a sentence this fashion: “His father sucker punched him and knocked him out.” So many questions.) Even within the face of this mountain of proof, Lucic claims his blow to Kole Sherwood’s head over the weekend was really a forearm shiver, not a sucker punch. Good grief.
After Lucic obtained his two-game suspension for his sucker punch/forearm shiver to Sherwood, you may need anticipated him to be just a bit repentant, even perhaps just a bit regretful. Nicely, you’d be mistaken. Lucic has chosen to die on the hill of defending his teammates, significantly his goalie, from being whacked on the pads by a ahead digging for a free puck. And that, women and gents, is actually wealthy.
Chances are you’ll recall that again in 2011, Lucic was taking part in for the Boston Bruins. In a sport towards the Buffalo Sabres, Lucic was sprung for a partial breakaway, however misplaced management of the puck. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller got here out to play the puck and beat Lucic to it and Lucic responded by drilling Miller in an act that was about as egregious and deliberate because it will get. However now Lucic is portraying himself as the good defender of goalies and teammates. The one drawback with all of that’s groups want gamers like Milan Lucic to guard themselves from gamers like Milan Lucic. “It’s a schoolyard on the market,” Lucic informed reporters after the suspension. “You’ve bought to defend your teammates otherwise you type of get walked over.” By gamers equivalent to Lucic. Simply ask the Buffalo Sabres.
The largest drawback I’ve with this line of considering from these guys is that they’re alleged to be the defenders of all that’s proper within the sport. They’re alleged to uphold this ridiculous, shifting goal of a code of honor within the sport they usually’re those delegated to maintain everybody on the fitting aspect of that code. However most of the time, they’re those creating the mayhem that necessitates the necessity for them to be within the lineup within the first place.
However what issues me most about Lucic’s lack of contrition is that now it has been all however affirmed that like the remainder of the hockey world, Lucic has come to the belief that he has nearly nothing to supply his group by way of tangible talent or a capability to create any offense. So he’s ready to willingly tackle this position of protector, shielding his teammates from any type of actual or perceived slight.
Mark my phrases. This is not going to finish effectively. With three extra seasons remaining at $5.25 million remaining on his deal, Lucic is a main candidate to be purchased out in some unspecified time in the future earlier than his contract expires. And Lucic will need to stop that from occurring, so he’ll be desirous to show his value, which at this level doesn’t go far past hitting and preventing individuals. So that’s what he’ll do. It’s clear that this suspension, nor the three others or 5 fines he’s incurred in the course of the course of his profession, will present any type of deterrent in terms of his strategy to the sport.
Lucic is a really massive man, 6-foot-Three and 231 kilos, and has been taking part in the sport in a foul temper for the previous couple of seasons. Whether or not or not he cocks his arm again to hit somebody, he has the potential to trigger an terrible lot of injury. And if that’s the one factor he’s able to doing at this level in his profession, that’s what he’s going to do.
Lucic has displayed no hesitance to drill an opponent within the head along with his glove on. He has completed it earlier than and has principally vowed to do it once more. However it would at all times be a forearm shiver and by no means a sucker punch. Not all the gamers on the receiving finish will be capable of bounce again the best way Sherwood did. One in every of them goes to get damage. And badly. And all these individuals who love these things will cluck their tongues and discuss the way you by no means wish to see these sorts of issues and the way there isn’t a place within the sport for it.
Keep on, then.
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Tags: calgary flames, suspensionsConnect: Concerning the AuthorKen CampbellKen Campbell, The Hockey Information’ senior author, is in his second tour with the model after an eight-year stint as a beat reporter for the Maple Leafs for the Toronto Star. The Sudbury native as soon as tried out for the Ontario League’s Wolves as a 30-year-old. For sure, it did not work out.