Frankly, I am kind of amazed Laviolette keeps putting this guy in the lineup night after night. I guess some could claim upper management is leaning on him to play Shelley, but I don't buy that.
Shelley can't skate, can't pass, can't kill penalties, can't shoot...pretty much all he can do is fight and throw a check or two a game. Is it really worth having a guy like this in the lineup in this day and age?
I'm hardly a big fighting proponent, but I can see it's place in the game. Hockey is a fast-paced physical game, where the play keeps flowing. It's not like football where there's an army of coaches and officials and play stops every 8 seconds. The skaters are out there on their own and have to keep battling as play carries on. As a result, the players have largely policed themselves in hockey about untoward physical play.
That to me says a scrap among two real hockey players is fine--it's part of the game. What I don't understand is why teams dress designated goons to skate in circles 4 minutes a game. It's one thing if a physical player is out there intimidating and thereby creating time and space for his teammates. What I can't believe is that the possibly of a fight between each team's designated goon who hardly play otherwise will have any effect on how the rest of the players play the rest of the game. Such fighting is purely "sideshow."
Of course it's not a coincidence I'm getting on the high horse on the topic after Shelley does something mindless like this. Dangerously shoving a player into the boards on an icing call and putting his team down a man for 5 minutes for no good reason at all.
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