Adrian Dater, Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche
http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs
Dion Phaneuf Is A Punk
QUOTE
from Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,
Phaneuf is a punk, by the way. And some day he’s going to get his, and it’s not going to be pretty for him. He’s going to hit one backside of a player too many, and somebody is going to rip that shield off his face and hand him his teeth....
This is a 22-year-old guy, at the top of his physical powers and who really has a lot of talent. But he doesn’t play an honorable game.
He hits you when your back is turned. Then, when you get mad about it and try to hit him back, he backs away and hides behind his shield, mouthing off. He’s got a lot of Bill Laimbeer in him.
Dion Phaneuf - His judgment cometh, and that right soon
QUOTE
Dion Phaneuf - His judgment cometh, and that right soon
by Adrian Dater on March 24, 2008
So here is Dion Phaneuf tonight, laying one big hit from behind after another on Peter Forsberg, and there goes Forsberg to the penalty box for a little tap on some guy’s glove a few minutes later. Same old NHL, where the retaliator is penalized.
Phaneuf is a bit of a Bill Laimbeer on skates, by the way. And some day he’s going to get his, and it’s not going to be pretty for him. He’s going to hit one backside of a player too many, and somebody is going to rip that shield off his face and hand him his teeth. (And yes, he’s an effective player, though, because he DOES get people off their games mentally. And, yes, if I was a coach and he played on my team, I’d probably love him. But not always. You can argue he cost his team a game, with a foolish interference penalty - and blatantly cross-checking Paul Stastny from behind, not long after the Avs scored on his first penalty, didn’t help the Flames’ cause, either).
We’ll see if the Avs have any hair on their chests the rest of the night or not. I said it once and I’ll say it again - you gotta smack the bully in the mouth.
***After the game - Let me try to more elegantly express why I think Dion Phaneuf is what I called him earlier: He doesn’t play an honorable game. This is a 22-year-old guy, at the top of his physical powers and who really has a lot of talent. But he doesn’t play an honorable game.
He hits you when your back is turned. Then, when you get mad about it and try to hit him back, he backs away and hides behind his shield, mouthing off. He’s got a lot of Laimbeer in him.
Laimbeer was the most gutless, cowardly player ever to play professional basketball. But he was also very effective at what he did. He got you off your game so much, mentally, it drove many a great player to do things they normally would never do. Robert Parish was probably the most stoic, non-complaining player who ever laced-em-up on the hardwood. He never, ever complained about a call against him, and he never got into it with any opponents. Except Laimbeer. One memorable Celtics-Pistons game, the Chief just lost it. He finally had had enough of Laimbeer’s hit-and-run, dirty game and he cold-cocked Laimbeer, and kept whaling on him while he fell to the ground.
Laimbeer would always hide behind the refs after one of his dirty hits, and I’ve seen a lot of that in Phaneuf. Yes, he’s fought before, including once with Ian Laperriere last year when Lappy had a first-round knockout. I’ll give him some credit for dropping the gloves now and then (mostly against light-middleweights, though), but that’s not the point: The point is he runs guys when they’re not looking all the time. It’s not only dangerous, it’s wimpy.
Phaneuf better enjoy this while it lasts, because I can guarantee there will come a day when he’ll have his Laimbeer-Parish moment. He’s a good player, and a guy you’d like to have on your team in a lot of ways. But I’d rather have a guy who plays with some manhood and honor - not a hit-and-run coward.
***For those people who think, as some do as illustrated in the comments below, that I’m a big Claude Lemieux defender or apologist, you haven’t read me very carefully over the years. And you certainly didn’t read my book about the Avs-Wings rivalry, “Blood Feud.”
****See my blog above, on Patrick Roy, which has a note at the end about originally calling Dion Phaneuf a punk. That word meant something to me different than what most people would take it for, a kidding kind of word said in the spirit of a HOCKEY BLOG. But thinking it over, I can be more articulate than that, so I took it out and changed the original blog some. Hey, it’s my blog, I can do that. And NO, nobody told me to change it, promise.
Is it me or is this guy a pompous prick
Toyota and Dion Phaneuf?
Dion Phaneuf is a Punk, By Adrian Dater, Denver Post
Linear Mode
