Feel the Breeze: Meet the tough guy!

[C-Breeze 25]

 

Meet the tough guy:

It's funny how memory can play tricks on you, especially over the passage of time. While I can't say for certain, it was probably my second or third hockey game ever, when I received my initial introduction to the concept of the 'tough guy'. Now in days gone by, it probably would have happened even sooner than that, but given the current climate of instigator penalties and just more or less frowning on the rough stuff, it took a little longer to rise to the surface.

Dad and I sat side-by-side in the stands, paying close attention to the on-ice proceedings, when suddenly one of the visitors decided to take a highly questionable run at our star player. The audience recoiled in horror, before quickly releasing a collective scream of fury, that left no doubt as to their absolute disgust for the perpetrator. All I could think was: "It's a good thing this wasn't the wild west, 'cause if it was, they'd take him out and lynch him from the nearest tree."

Seconds later, the biggest burliest player I'd ever seen suddenly emerged on the scene, and it didn't take a genius to figure out he was in a rather foul mood. Once there, Mr. Burly wasted no time getting right in the perp's grill, and based on the general level of belligerence, it seemed safe to say he wasn't asking him out for tea. Next thing we knew, gloves were flying and the fists weren't but a mere second behind.

It turns out Mr. Burly had a point to make, and given his rather limited vocabulary he was quite satisfied using the other chap's face as the medium with which to make it. Wham, Bam, Slam!! It was like an old Batman rerun where the words pop up in giant cartoon bubbles. Over and over his royal burliness drove the perp's head hard into his all too eager fists. The crowd roared their approval, as somehow in some strange way, they all felt vindicated for the perceived injustice inflicted on the building.

Now whether any of this mass hysteria was right or wrong was hard for me to say, but what I did recognize was a classic case of frontier justice when I saw it. It's like both teams start the game by drawing a line and we all agree to call that invisible line respect. If you stay on the right side of said line, you'll get along just fine. Take a step over however and there's gonna be hell to pay. As it turns out it's one of the oldest unwritten rules of the game, and the beauty of it is everyone knows exactly how it works.

When you stop to think about it, deterrence truly is a wonderful thing, and the longer I sat considering the implications of the situation, the more one thing became abundantly clear. That is, after suffering through his richly deserved lumps, the pulverized perp would be highly unlikely to ever cross that line again. And so the role of the 'enforcer' began to make perfect sense. It was almost poetic in its simplicity and yet so vital to maintain the delicate balance on the ice. 

[538 Words]