National Post (National Edition)
For Kaleta, hatred a badge of honour
‘My job is to have people not like me’
BUFFALO, N.Y. • Patrick Kaleta was quietly changing out of his hockey equipment when a cameraman brushed past him, jockeying to get a better shot of a nearby teammate. Kaleta smirked, stood up, and moved away from his dressing room stall.
“It’s OK,” he said to the cameraman, who was still oblivious to his near miss. “I’ll get out of your way.”
It was the kind of courtesy the increasingly infamous Buffalo Sabres forward rarely gives to opponents on the ice. As he practised Thursday morning, Kaleta was the third-most penalized player in that Buffalo dressing room — despite missing a third of the season to injury or suspension.
He has been widely criticized outside the room by opponents, and was recently criticized by teammate Ryan Miller (although that critique was quickly recanted). Kaleta does not seem to care what anyone outside has to say about him, or the way he plays.
“Well, if they don’t really like me, that means I’m doing my job,” he said. “And if I’m doing my job, that means I’m helping my team.”
Kaleta had a pink scratch under his left eye. Welts, or scars — or both — crisscrossed the bridge of his nose like a zipper. There was a brace on his left knee.
“I enjoy the way I play,” he shrugged. “I play a hard, physical type of game. As much as I can contribute to my team, I’m going to do it, and by any means, whether it’s blocking shots or whatever the case may be.”
It is his perception of “whatever the case may be” that has gotten him into trouble. Kaleta served a five-game suspension earlier this month for a dangerous hit from behind on New York Rangers centre Brad Richards, and he has a long history with the NHL’s department of justice.
NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan hit Kaleta with a four-game suspension two years ago for the latest in a string of head-butting incidents. In the video that accompanied the suspension, Shanahan showed how, in a game against Philadelphia, Kaleta made the conscious effort to withdraw himself from a scrum along the boards, assess the situation, then lower his helmet and drive it into the face of his opponent.
And then, for effect, the video showed two more headbutting incidents, each committed within the previous 15 months. Kaleta was outed as a serial head-butter on the Internet.
Those were tame, compared to his hit on Richards on March 3. Kaleta pushed the Rangers star into the boards from behind. Richards hit headfirst, and was fortunate to be able to leave the ice without the help of a stretcher. Four days later, Swiss league player Ronny Keller was paralyzed after a hit from behind sent him headfirst into the corner boards.
The Rangers were livid with Kaleta.
“It’s probably one of the most dangerous hits I’ve ever seen,” New York head coach John Tortorella told reporters after the game.
“I don’t know what game [Kaleta] plays, actually,” Richards said. “He doesn’t play hockey to begin with. Same guy, all the time.”
Interim Sabres coach Ron Rolston tacked an extra game onto Kaleta’s suspension. Kaleta was a healthy scratch in the first game he was eligible to return, on March 17, and he told The Buffalo News: “I guess they don’t need me right now.”
“You know what?” Miller, the Sabres goaltender, asked in response. “He had a stupid play in a game. He sat, he was punished. He has to get over it and move on.”
Miller later apologized to Kaleta. On Thursday, Kaleta preferred not to discuss the incident with Richards.
“It’s something … to be hated,” Buffalo forward Steve Ott said. “I guarantee every single team in this league would love to have a guy like that on his team: a guy that would go through the wall for you, block shots, play hard, hard minutes of hockey, fight, hit, all those aspects.”
Kaleta went into Thursday with no points in 19 games, but his 46 penalty minutes were just seven behind Ott, the Sabres’ leader.
“I don’t have to have people like me in order to do my job,” Kaleta said. “My job is to have people not like me.”