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Phaneuf Needs To Stay On The Ice
by Paul on 09/21/09 at 05:38 AM ET
Comments (3)
from Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun,
The last thing Dion Phaneuf has to prove to anybody is that he’s tough.
And the last place the Flames need him is in the penalty box or on the surgeon’s table.
So it’s laughable to hear that after establishing himself as the NHL’s hardest hitter the last four years, Phaneuf is being criticized for refusing to fight a no-name knucklehead in a meaningless exhibition game.
Phaneuf is maturing to the point he knows every team in the league would rather have him off the ice and is justified in being selective in terms of when to punctuate his hits with fights.
While this space has long embraced fighting in the game, it’s embarrassing for critics who flooded sports talk radio phone lines to be so lacking in hockey knowledge to suggest every time he lays a forward out cleanly, he needs to follow it up with his fists.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Calgary Flames | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Dion+Phaneuf,
Comments
It was a dirty preseason hit that only a coward would make.
Or it was a phenomenal open ice hit and he shouldn’t have to fight after making a clean, if devastating, hit.
Posted by Garth on 09/21/09 at 08:02 AM ET
And the “big debate” goes on and on and on. Sides have been chosen. Everyone believes exactly what he believed the day after the incident happened. Nobody’s changing their mind.
It’s time for the media and the fans to move on and, in time, we’ll all see whether Phaneuf “being selective in terms of when to punctuate his hits with fights” means anything more than, “He’ll fight when the other guy isn’t a fighter and Dion knows he can beat the snot out of him.”
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 09/21/09 at 10:23 AM ET
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Thats the whole point you fool. It was a dirty preseason hit that only a coward would make.
Posted by drw on 09/21/09 at 05:47 AM ET