Brad Marchand doesnt plan on changing his game one bit. The resident Bs agitator said hell battle through some disappointment while serving out a five-game suspension for a clip of Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo, and hell get rid of the hip check.
The Bs winger didnt feel like his hit targeted at or below the knee area and Marchand admitted thatduring his Monday phone hearing with Brendan Shanahan -- he did bring up the Mason Raymond clip on him during last years Stanley Cup Finals. But, according to Marchand, Shanahan wasnt having any of it and now Bostons top left wing will be on the sidelines for close to two weeks. Hes been called a predator, a rat and a cheap shot artist by some around the NHL over the last few days leading up to Shanahans decision, and it appears to be wearing on him along with the five-game suspension.
The Raymond hit came up in the conversation during the hearing, but he said that every situation was different, said Marchand of the exchange with Shanahan. You cant bring up any hit or something that happened last year.
But Marchand continued to defiantly insist he was only defending himself from the larger Salo, and the 5-foot-8 forward will keep trying to find ways to defend himself from the rising number of attacks trained on him.
Im obviously a little disappointed, said Marchand after practicing Tuesday morning prior to the BruinsJets game. I wasnt expecting as many games as I got. But thats what it was and I know I have to move on. Im a small guy. I play low to the ice and thats a way that Ive always protected myself on the ice. I felt that it was better to be safe than sorry. But Im still going to play hard. Thats my game. I have to play hard. At the end of the day I still have to protect myself and so does everybody else in the league. I cant change the way that I play.
When I brought it up with Shanahan originally and when I talked away from the conversation he told if it was to protect myself that it was okay in that situation. So when those situations arise I thought it was okay to protect myself. Thats what I did. I guess its clear that Im not allowed to do that and guys around the league arent allowed to do it. Ill have to come up with something else.
Marchand was peeved rather than disappointed about the comments from the Vancouver side. Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault intimated that Marchand was going to get it and going to get hurt as response to his actions on the ice. The Bs agitator said he took those words as a threat. As Claude Julien said on Monday, we all know what happened the last time somebody from Vancouver said that in reference to the Todd BertuzziSteve Moore incident, and Marchand wasnt too happy with the war of words.
Boston Bruins
Yeah, theyre threatening, said Marchand. It sounds like its a threat.
Marchand didnt elaborate, but he couldnt hold back when presented with the statements made by Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa that the Bruins play stupid hockey. The Nose Face Killah was not pleased at all, and will now have five games to stew about it while missing out on more than 152,000 in game checks.
They needed six or seven guys to jump Shawn Thornton and nobody wanted to seem to want to do anything after they were pulled off. It just shows their character, said Marchand. Yeah, we play stupid. Yeahwe play stupid, but were smart enough to win a Cup.
Though Marchand has been silenced on the ice for five games, it appears he can still be heard long after the Canucks high-tailed it to their charter flight on the way out of Boston.