Posted by Championship_Vinyl at l1.wpalaw.org on March 10, 2004 at 10:50:26:
In Reply to: Re: I know. posted by mlc on March 10, 2004 at 10:42:08:
It usually involes swinging a stick like a baseball player.
But I've seen suckerpunches for more than a decade. When the Pens were in their dynasty era, Lemieux and Jagr were suckerpunched every other night. Kasparitis would suckerpunch anyone who looked at him funny. I'm very much a fair-weather hockey fan, so I haven't seen much lately, because it pains me to see the Penguins suck so horribly.
But people like Tie Domi and Marty McSorley aren't employed for their hockey-playing abilities - they're thugs. There's a niche in the NHL for thugs. The role of "enforcer" entails suckerpunching everyone and anyone who comes within striking distance, in retaliation for real or imagined transgressions.