Ice Guardians Page #4

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every game.

If you know that a 6'5",

245 pound... y'know...

"Ice boxer" is comin' after you

because you take a cheap shot

at one of his players,

you're... probably gonna be

less likely to do it.

He's got that look.

He's got that look...

...on the face like, well...

I, I don't buy it.

I just don't feel that there's

support for that theory.

I think that if you

follow the rules of the game...

If the referee is enforcing the rules,

if the league is enforcing the rules...

You don't need enforcers

to be the policemen for the league.

The argument just doesn't hold.

It is the league's responsibility...

To prevent "cheap shots."

And the league has many

opportunities to do that.

Many strategies to protect

their prized possessions

which are the players.

Statistics can't really

tell you something

because there's no control group.

There's no way of really analyzing this.

Some of the players I interviewed

played in various

European mainland teams

where there's no fighting allowed.

And they've also played in the UK

where it's very similar

to North American style.

They've explained to me that

they actually think

there's a lot more cheap shots

going on in the leagues

without an enforcer.

You hear about guys, you know,

North American Players

coming back for the summer

and just say it's a whole

different game over there.

Where guys aren't afraid

to use their sticks,

you know what I mean?

Just because they don't -

guys don't fight over there.

If you speak to skill players,

perhaps they've played

on different teams

and will say they can relax a bit more

when there is an enforcer on the ice.

If you can put a guy off a game...

And take five minutes,

A lot of guys would do it

if they just felt,

well, all I hafta do is...

the referee's gonna gimme five.

How, how painful is that?

If you're gonna score goals,

and you're gonna be the guy

that is gonna beat the other team,

you're gonna hafta...

go through some punishment.

But the unnecessary punishment,

the continuous... punishment...

That's when they step in

and they go, "OK, now I've

told you, enough's enough."

Every game.

Every game it's important.

Whether it happens or not,

there's always that...

Y'know...

You could feel it.

If you know that you have got

the biggest, toughest,

best enforcer on your team,

it gives you the liberties

to go out and play

exactly how you want.

To have all the space you need.

When you have two feet of ice

to work with, it's one thing.

When you have ten feet of ice

to work with,

it's a total 'nother thing.

Guys would literally

not hit me some games

because of who they'd have to deal with.

It was a great feeling.

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