Alex shows he’s no scaredy ’Cat
DeBrincat’s willingness to mix it up vs. Ducks amuses, spurs mates
Why doesn’t Alex DeBrincat pick on somebody his own size?
Because he’s a hockey player, not a jockey.
Everyone at Blackhawks practice Wednesday had a funny line or two about the ruckus the night before between feisty forward DeBrincat — all 5-7 and 165 pounds of him — and Ducks defenseman Josh Manson.
For those of you scoring at home, Manson — son of former Hawks brawler extraordinaire Dave Manson — has 8 inches and 50 pounds on DeBrincat.
Then again, who doesn’t? ‘‘Different weight class, yeah,’’ coach Joel Quenneville said with a wry grin before breaking out into a rare laugh.
Let the official record show that DeBrincat, only 20 years old, wasn’t scared. In a 1-1 game the Hawks eventually won 3-1, DeBrincat went at Manson, who had run him into the boards, with everything he could muster. The record might or might not also reflect that DeBrincat’s wild swings fell just short of Manson’s towering jaw, but make no mistake about which combatant got the 10 points on the judges’ cards.
It was the firebrand who kept trying to get at Manson, even as 6-4, 225-pound Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf put him in a headlock from the rear. It sent a message to the rest of the Hawks on a night when they were emphasizing intensity after putting forth a subpar effort in their previous game.
‘‘Unfortunately, he was in there against two guys that were twice his size, with no one helping him out,’’ captain Jonathan Toews said. ‘‘But it was nice to see he was ready to go and everyone would play harder and play better out there, so he was a good example of that.’’
OK, so it wasn’t quite up there on the inspiration-o-meter with, say, Duncan Keith playing after blocking a shot with his face and getting seven teeth knocked out in the Hawks’ clinching victory in the 2010 Western Conference final. It won’t go down as a galvanizing moment on a par with Patrick Kane’s comeback from a broken collarbone in 2015, which keyed a run to another championship.
And, let’s face it, pound-forpound, when it comes to throwing his weight around on the ice, DeBrincat isn’t the next Keith Magnuson.
Still, it was a real spectacle — and, a day later, had grown into quite a tale.
‘‘I’ve never seen him like that,’’ defenseman Erik Gustafsson said. ‘‘Now I’m pretty scared of him. No, it was fun. It was good for the team, too.’’
DeBrincat made it clear this wasn’t his first on-ice altercation, not by a long shot. He recalled at least a few fights during his juniorhockey days, all of them against larger humans. Then again, what were the odds he’d run into a smaller one?
‘‘He’s told me he got into a couple of fights in juniors, but I didn’t believe him,’’ Kane said.
Chances are, DeBrincat had his fill of wisecracks in the wake of the Manson flap. He’s a hockey player, darn it. He wouldn’t be out there if he couldn’t handle himself.
‘‘I was pretty frustrated,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It just kind of happened. I got frustrated and went at him. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again any time soon. It wasn’t the best decision.’’
Or maybe, just maybe, it was. It seemed to make a real difference against the Ducks for a Hawks team that sometimes has seemed to need a wake-up call.
After DeBrincat and Manson were shown to their respective penalty boxes, the feisty one kept on chirping. Pack the whole incident away in the back of your heads. It might be one to remember.