For those that are casual hockey fans, the name John Scott might not mean a thing.
He’s a tough-guy, an enforcer, and at 6’8″ and 270 pounds, he’s built for it. Often enforcers aren’t glory guys, but instead fan favourites. They’re the guys who go to war for you, who stand up for the meaning of your team’s name and logo, and they will bleed for you if they have to. They’re normal guys elevated to hero status.
Or they used to, because in Chicago, John Scott has taken on a brand new meaning.
Ken Holland, the incredible general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, has often said you can truly tell what a team is and who they will be for the balance of the season by the December break.
If Calgary’s own GM Jay Feaster feels the same way, he best hope the Flames play turns around drastically in the four weeks leading up to the holiday season.
With the season now nearly a month and a half old, Cow Town’s big club are already looking to be burning more like ambers than the Flames of several years passed. The pieces are still there — Iggy, Kipper, Sarich, Giordano, and Bouwmeester — but the results aren’t.
Since I have been a fan of the game, I have been a fan of fighting.
We learned of it from video games, from Don Cherry’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em tapes, and from watching the warriors on the ice. It was part of the game, it was part of the violence, it was part of what made it the toughest game on earth in a fans eyes. There was nothing like it in any other sport, and maybe that is part of what drew us to it as fans.
Weeks back — nearly three to be exact — Ken Dryden lent his vast knowledge of the game, and knowledge in general, to the project that Bill Simmons et al have taken up over at Grantland. The article is not only a great piece of writing, something we have come to expect from Dryden, but astonishing in its ability to bring to light the issues we face today from someone who was present during expansion-era NHL play. While many of the “old school”-ers from years passed would be reluctant to speak out on the issue, often chalking up the rough play to, “the way the game is,” Dryden faces the issues head on and takes a stand voicing the need for change.
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Jared Clinton is a freelance journalist with several years of editorial experience. Formerly the web editor for The Hockey News, his work has also been found in the Spectator Tribune, West Rouge Life Magazine and Pie Magazine.
Jared P.D. Clinton 