Bob Clarke: Once a Flyer, always a Flyer

Bob Clarke, a former member of the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970's Philadelphia Flyers teams, has his own opinion on the sucker punch administered by Steve Downie on Jason Blake last Saturday night:

"When he went after Jason Blake, I loved it."

Clarke, who is now the Senior VP of the Flyers, couldn't stray further from the truth in my mind. Now don't get me wrong, I know Clarke is a guy that knows hockey; he scored 358 goals and had 852 assists in his 15 year career with the Flyers. But to say that a guy deserves a sucker punch, he comes across as a moron. As a true hockey fan myself, I like seeing the physical play; guys laying wicked checks on other guys and players standing up for teammates with a good ol' fashioned fight. We see dangerous hits every game that is played, but the majority of people that watch hockey do not want to see intentional cheap-shots happen. I'm O.K. with Downie going after Blake with a fight; challenge the guy and show him you mean business that way. When a guy has him arms being held back by a referee, don't hit him then. Hitting a guy when he is most vulnerable is the sign of a total wuss.

"Blake was a guy who had no problem going out and saying [Downie] should be suspended for life or suspended for the year," Clarke quipped. "When you say something that stupid, why shouldn't this kid go after him for it?"

Because, Mr. Clarke, Blake never threatened you, any of your players, or anyone on the team. If he had hit you with a cheap-shot earlier, feel free to engage the guy in a fight. But to do something fairly unprovoked is not the way to go. We've seen what happens when a guy gets hit when he's not paying attention (Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore), and we don't want any more incidents like that to get out of hand.

The second quote by Clarke was in reference to an earlier incident involving Downie. That Saturday night was just young Steve Downie's 4th career game in the NHL. The reason it took him so long to reach the NHL was because just a few months ago, Downie laid a vicious hit on Ottawa's Dean McAmmond. As McAmmond carried the puck around the back of the net, Downie, skating full-speed, raised his elbow and leveled McAmmond. That earned him a 20 game suspension handed out by League Disciplinarian Colin Campbell. Blake had said publicly that Downie deserved more games, and apparently the Flyers organization disagreed with him to the point that they were willing to risk another suspension by Downie to get back at him. It's a sad day in the NHL when guys go back to dishing revenge by taking a cheap-shot at a guy who can't defend himself, and as long as the guys like Bob Clarke remain in office with their state of mind, that's the way hockey will be.