Three More Years Of Milan: The Lucic Craze In Boston Continues

At just 21 years old, Lucic has arguably become the face of the Bruins franchise to the casual fan in just his third season in the National Hockey League. Just what makes this hulking left winger so popular in the Hub of Hockey?

For one, he reminds Bruins fans of a certain number hanging in the rafters of the Garden, Cam Neely. While Lucic has yet to develop the offensive skills that Neely possessed, Lucic has the frame of a power forward with a dangerously high level of tenacity and aggression when on the ice.

While Neely still receives booming ovations when shown on the Garden jumbo-tron, be it in classic clips, opening videos or live shots from the ninth level of the TD Garden there’s no louder chants heard than when Lucic is on the ice. As the Boston faithful chant their overpoweringly loud chorus of “Loo”, you know the 6′4 forward is stalking an impending victim for a devastating body check and about to create some offensive chances for his linemates in the process.

To say Lucic is more than a just another fight wouldn’t be doing the Vancouver native any justice, as HockeyFights.com has Lucic boasting a 18-4-2 record in the regular season when it comes to dropping the mittens.

In just the past month alone, Milan Lucic has single-handedly bloodied two guys in fights. Lucic’s first victim was Senators enforcer and known tough-guy Chris Neil, who was essentially asking for it after leveling Boston star forward Marc Savard during a preseason tilt. However, the newest face to get pummeled by number 17 is that of Jay Harrison, a defensemen for the Carolina Hurricanes who was getting under the skin of every Boston player throughout the night until his exchange (or lack thereof on his part) of blows with Lucic.

Already achieving of cult status in the city of Boston, the popularity of Lucic is growing relentlessly. “Lucic Crew” shirts with the number 17 on the back along with the phrase “Ass-Kicker” on the nameplate have quickly become a staple in the balcony of every Bruins home game.

While Lucic may have golden-glove-like qualities, primarily from his days as a teenage boxer in British Columbia, it’s becoming more evident that he has more than mediocre skills on the offensive spectrum of things. Playing on Boston’s top line last season, Lucic put together a 42 point season, including 17 goals, including three game winners. Even more impressive for Lucic enthusiasts in 2008-09 was the fact that his penalty minutes actually increased by 47 minutes from the previous season

Outside of the hockey bubble in Boston, the bruising forward is primarily known for his hate-fueled rivalry with defensemen Mike Komisarek. The two, who have been going at it since Lucic’s rookie season, have not only exchanged words, shoves and checks; but fists, twice, with Lucic winning both decisions handily.

In Montreal, there’s no debating that Lucic has become enemy number one for his refusal to drop the gloves with Georges Laraque on numerous occasions as he prefers to instead beat the Canadiens on the scoreboard rather than toil in the penalty box for five with an old fashioned “goon” by NHL standards.

Without question Boston fans love the physical presence provided by their second round choice from the 2006 NHL Draft, as their near 20 foot tall banner featuring Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic proclaiming that “Big & Bad Are Back” featured on the outside wall of the TD Garden tells us, it’s becoming clear that Lucic has matured immensely through the lessons and mentoring by both head coach Claude Julien and Bruins VP Cam Neely. In just two seasons with the Bruins, Lucic has driven home the point that he’s at his best when the team needs him most. For Lucic, his time to shine has been throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs where in just 17 career games he’s put up 11 points and a +11.

With the Boston Bruins quickly on the rise within their own city and the National Hockey League as a whole, the spotlight on the Bruins prized winger is certainly going to grow larger with the team’s rising success.

Looked upon as a game-changer for the B’s, at the age of 21 mind you, Lucic has shown a willingness to destroy anything and anyone in the Bruins way for a victory and after Saturday night’s display on the Garden ice, we shouldn’t expect him to stop anytime soon as Lucic became a very rich man when he agreed to a three year contract extension through the 2012-13 season worth 12.25 million dollars.

Model of Inconsistency: Colin Campbell

It's safe to say NHL VP and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell has already had a busy playoffs. He's already suspended Flyers enforcer Daniel Carcillo for 1 game following his face-off punch to the head of Penguins forward Maxime Talbot. He followed this up by not suspending Flames forward Michael Cammalleri for his in my opinion, far more vicious punch to the head of Martin Havlat. Following last night's battle in Boston, Colin's work is just beginning.

Following Phil Kessel's empty net goal that secured a Bruins victory in Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal agitator Maxim Lapierre took a run at Kessel. Following a scrum in the corner of the ice (and Alex Kovalev losing his stick to a fan reaching through the glass) play resumed with just a few seconds left. The Bruins won the face off and took the puck into their own zone when Montreal "tough guys" Tom Kostopoulos and Mike Komisarek decided to take a run at Bruins players.

Kostopoulos took a run at Matt Hunwick, going for a vicious elbow attempt to the Bruins rookie's head. The attempt was soon followed by mayhem. Komisarek then went at Hunwick and looked to be going for Hunwick's eyes with his fingers (Eye poking? Really Montreal, really?), as if that wasn't enough to get you miffed, they did this of course without Zdeno Chara or Milan Lucic on the ice.

Surely as a bloody eyed Matt Hunwick left the ice you would think some repercussions would be taken against the sore sportsmanlike conduct of the Canadiens. Following Carcillo's late game punch, Campbell went on a rant about the non-toleration of "message sending" in games that were decided. How was this any different? Going at a players eye when the game is out of reach and in it's final seconds isn't Montreal's feeble attempt at sending a message to Boston?

Fact is, Montreal was frustrated. They dressed Laraque, they even put the guy on the top line and they still couldn't beat Boston. They tried playing Boston's style of play, and still lost. They're without Markov, still. In a game where the Bruins played like garbage for almost two whole periods the Habs still could not pull off the upset. So what happened? Quite simply, Montreal lost it. What's your thoughts on their actions Mr.Campbell?

"You've got to let the games unfold. You've got to let hockey be hockey, playoffs be playoffs. You've got to let the energy flow. And then, when they cross that line, you do what you have to do." a somewhat-comical Campbell said about the incident in Boston. So what will he do when that said line was crossed? Nothing.

Eye-gauging and eye-poking is nothing new to Colin Campbell. In March 2009, Campbell suspended Dallas Stars pest and Boston nemesis Steve Ott following an attempted eye gauge of Ducks forward Travis Moen. Ott's suspension was for one game. However by Campbell's standards, a bloody Hunwick leaving the ice doesn't prove to be enough to send a message to the cowards of Montreal. Colin Campbell once again proves himself as the model of inconsistency in the NHL.

Big Georges Laraque Talks Big About Series

One can argue this is the series that Bob Gainey signed him for. Him, is of course "Big" Georges Laraque, the oft-named best enforcer in the NHL. When the Montreal Canadiens signed the 32 year old enforcer to a 3 year contract that payed him 1.5 million dollars a year the reason was evident: to try and match the Boston Bruins physical style of play. Gainey gave a quite simple explanation to the media for the signing on July 3rd, 2008 stating "We reached the point last season where our players got better and they attracted more attention from the opposition, we thought it would be good if we could sign a robust, physical player like Georges.".

Although the signing seemed like a plus at the time, it's safe to say things haven't really worked out the way Georges expected. When Georges wasn't hampered by a groin injury, he often found himself in the Press Box. In fact, Laraque suited up in just 33 games for the Habs, his lowest total since his rookie 1997-98 season. Even in those 33 games, Laraque found a dance partner just 9 times, posting a 6-2-1 record according to HockeyFights.com. One of those losses came against Bruins tough-guy Shawn Thornton, but even in Laraque's worst season of his career, he's still finding time to mouth to the press.

Today during an interview with KCAC in Montreal, "BGL" went on to say that Shawn Thornton was "not in his league" and was too small to compete with Georges. Really Laraque? Have you noticed this from your seat in the 9th level of the TD Banknorth Garden? How about all 2 of the games you've played against Boston, was Thornton too afraid to fight you? Oh, you have an answer..great! "A few of his teammates told me that he was scared of me before the October 15th game in Montreal". Really, so let me get this right, Shawn Thornton's teammates told you they're afraid of you? I have an incredibly hard time believing that.

Laraque wasn't done just yet as he went on to further talk about Thornton, "If he wants to step up to me, especially in Boston, I'll be more than happy to go with him because I'll shut up the fans at the Garden.". Wow Georges, those are pretty tough words for a guy who has averaged just over 7 minutes a game, when he actually plays. To quote UConn basketball Coach Jim Calhoun "My best advice to you? Shut up."

Fact is Georgy, your goon hockey doesn't happen in the playoffs. So yeah, go ahead and go after Thornton, I'd love to see Bob "Oscar The Grouch look-a-like" Gainey suit you up for Game 1 because in order to do that, he'd have to take an actual hockey player out of the line-up. As for "shutting the fans at the Garden up", it's going to be pretty hard to shut us up when you're in the box for interference as the Bruins are on the powerplay.

Does Fighting Belong in the NHL?

As the NHL's 30 G.M's met in Naples, Florida this week many topics were brought up, but none bigger than the NHL's latest concern; fighting. Many questions regarding the future of dropping the gloves were addressed by the G.M's and brought to light. The main idea? Get rid of 'staged' fighting. Well what exactly is staged fighting?

A staged fight in the NHL is often when two players square off, often when the game is just underway and fight. Almost always it pins one teams enforcer versus the opponent's enforcer. These "fights" are often laughable as the combatants spend close to 20 seconds of dancing with one another like Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa before throwing a single punch. Some of the NHL's best enforcers such as Georges Laraque, Derek Boogard and George Parros practice this on what seems to be a nightly basis. But the question is, why fight if there's no emotion?


It's the enforcer's role to pick a fight, and well, fight. Pretty simple huh? Not really, now-a-days these enforcers are practically friends. I think I came to this realization that this was the case when I witnessed Riley Cote and Shawn Thornton give each other a pat on the back when the refs stepped between them. Here are two guys, notable rivals between each others team giving one another a post-little-league-game-like pat on the back. You're supposed to be punching the snot out of the other guys nose, not hugging him.


Another joke I found within the NHL is after seeing a video of a fight between Georges Laraque and Raitis Ivanans. This video was from Laraque's Phoenix days and what a coincidence, BGL was mic'd up. After what I'd say was a minor scrap, the replay was shown with Laraque's audio provided. He started off the conversation with Ivanans by saying "Do you want to?" after Ivanans accepted the challenge Laraque told him "Good luck" and the puck dropped. Are you kidding me? Regardless whether this guy's the 'undefeated heavyweight champ' of enforcing or not, you're wishing a guy good luck before proceeding to try and knock him unconscious? What is this, a friendly pre-season game?


Now maybe it's just me. Maybe it's the fact that my city embraced players such as Cam Neely, a guy who simply wanted to rip your head off if you ever were to drop the gloves with him. But this sort of "fighting" is trash. It's bad for the sport and it's bad for the leagues fans. They deserve better than two meatheads square-dancing with one another at center ice to start off a contest. Call me crazy, but I want real, raw emotion-driven fights. My best example I could use from the 2008-09 season? The battle at center ice between Boston Bruins toughguy Milan Lucic and Canadiens defensemen Mike Komisarek.


Here was a battle that was well over a year in the making. These two went at it with their physical play during every game of the 2007-08 regular season and continued it during the 7 game playoff showdown between the two teams. The rough stuff continued into the 08-09 season when during the Boston at Montreal game 3 weeks before, Lucic and Komisarek both received penalties for their extra-curricular activities during a stoppage of play. As both players delivered punch upon punch, a fired-up Lucic let out a yell to the sold out attendance at the Garden, capturing the energy of the fight.


The dangers of fighting were enlarged by the death of OHL player Don Sanderson. Sanderson, a 21 year old defensemen for the Whitby Dunlops died following a fight during a game. During the fight, Sanderson hit his head onto the ice surface and fell into a coma. He died later that night from complications. Sanderson's death came as a shock to many and showed just how dangerous fighting can truly be.


In my opinion, fighting does still belong in the NHL. It's been a staple in the NHL since the creation of the league and continues to this day. As the quality of most fights has gone down, by no means should it be eliminated from the game. However, I believe the goon fighting, the "let's fight for the hell of it" fighting and the down right silly fighting that are realistically two 6'1 210 pound guys dancing around and hugging needs to go.