NHL puts repeat licker on notice
The NHL has told Brad Marchand to stop licking opponents or the Boston Bruins forward will face punishment.
Senior vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell spoke to Marchand and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney on Saturday about Marchand’s actions against Tampa Bay a night earlier. Marchand licked Lightning forward Ryan Callahan on the face during Game 4 of their second-round series after appearing to do the same to Toronto’s Leo Komarov earlier in the playoffs.
The league says Marchand has been put on notice that his actions are unacceptable and that similar behavior in the future will be dealt with through supplemental discipline. He could be fined or suspended by the NHL if he continues to lick players.
“All I’m going to say is there is absolutely no place in our game for that,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t get it, I don’t understand it. How would you feel if I walked over to you right now and gave you one big lick? Right from the chin all the way up. There’s just no place in the game for that.”
After the game, an overtime loss that put Boston down 3-1 in the series, Marchand said Callahan punched him in the face four times.
“He just kept getting close,” Marchand said. “Nothing big.”
Told that Callahan compared licking to spitting and said it should be penalized accordingly, Marchand said: “That’s cute. Good for him.”
Marchand’s antics were the talk of the league Saturday, including at Penguins practice.
“It’s something you wouldn’t expect,” defenseman Chad Ruhwedel said. “I’m not sure exactly why he does it.”
Marchand’s goal presumably is to unsettle opponents and, based on Callahan’s outrage, he succeeded.
“It’s bizarre,” Penguins center Riley Sheahan said. “I guess it’s part of his game, and what he thinks will get people off their game. But it’s weird to me.”
When asked if one benefit of wearing a full face shield was protection from being licked, Carl Hagelin said: ‘I’m not going to answer that. Funny question, though.”
A random survey in the Penguins’ locker room turned up no one who has had his face licked during a game – imagine that – and no one who was eager to experience it, either.
“That has never happened before,” winger Tom Kuhnhackl said. “And hopefully, it stays that way.”
Off the ice, well, that’s altogether different. Especially if it’s not another hockey player who’s involved.
“Hopefully,” Ruhwedel said, “my dog will be the only one doing that.”
For all the trash-talking, pushing and shoving that goes on in hockey, the line is usually drawn at spitting. Licking is just as unsanitary and, to most players, unwelcome.
“You got to respect your opponents,” Winnipeg forward Adam Lowry said. “I get playing hard in a series and there might be some dislike between guys, but there’s a certain line that shouldn’t be crossed.”