Ian Laperriere: Hockey player

NEWARK, N.J. — It happened so fast that no one reallyknew what happened until they saw the blood. Even then it took a second for it to register that, yes, it was blood from a man’s face that was dropping onto the ice at the Prudential Center on Thursday night as if it were being released from a squeezie bottle.

We saw the Devils’ player unleash a shot and Ian Laperriere go down to the ice to block it, but no one expected what we saw next.

Interestingly, one of the best ways to remove blood from an article of clothing or fabric is with an ice cube. According to one of those helpful hints web sites, the ice will melt through the fabric and take the blood with it. However, blood stains on the ice require a little more elbow grease to come out, and the trail Laperriere left on his way to the Flyers’ dressing room took a stoppage of the game and the ice crew to skate out with tools to chip it away.

Nevertheless, it only took 60-to-70 stitches over Laperriere’s eye to stop the bleeding. Who knew a piece of vulcanized rubber traveling approximately 100-mph could cause so much damage to a man’s face. Moreover, who knew a man would be so crazy enough to put his face in the way of something traveling so fast all because he felt it would be beneficial to his teammates? Or, after the stitches and the gut reaction that he had lost his right eye, why would the guy boast that he would do it again if needed?

“I do what I do and I don’t think twice about doing it,” Laperriere said. “The next game, if I get a chance to block a shot I’ll go down, because that’s what I do. The day I stop doing that, I’ll retire. Call me dumb, call me stupid, whatever. I block shots.”

Laperriere is a hockey player. There is no reason to delve more deeply into the reason why he endangered his life than that.

“He would have been back on the bench if they could have gotten him stitched up in time,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.

Laviolette is speaking with the knowledge of precedent since Laperriere, a hockey player’s role player who thrives on his work in killing penalties, took a puck to the face earlier this season that opened up his mouth as if it were a piñata. In that case he needed more than 100 stitches to close the wound, and since it occurred early in the game, Laperriere was back on the ice by the third period.

Hockey player.

Just don’t equate the term “hockey player,” with “stupid.” Though his eye was stitched back together, swollen and presumably full of anesthetic while blood stains and scratches from past battles were flecked on his face, the hockey player didn’t want to hear about the inanity of his act. In fact, still dressed in his uniform undergarments and soaked with sweat and blood, Laperriere asked a scribe who questioned his mental capacity if he wanted, “to take it outside?”

Then he relented that he will wear a face shield in the future so he doesn’t have to continue to go back home and have his kids see him with his face all chewed up. After all, he’s not going to stop blocking pucks with his face if needed.

Laperriere’s teammates just kind of shrug off his talk. Broken bones, stitches and pucks to the face are just an occupational hazard.

“You’ve got a good-looking guy like Lappy throwing his face in front of one there,” he said. “Sometimes blocking one with your face is what it takes. When guys see that on the bench, that only makes them want to push harder and sacrifice more.”

Said goalie Brian Boucher: “You don't win when guys aren't paying the price. Without him, we're not going to the second round. We'd be dead.”

Hockey players.

Presumably there will be some damage from this style of play in the future. Charming and astute, Laperriere understands this and told us after he the game that he wanted to be able to see his “kids with both eyes.” Similarly, 10 years prior in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Devils, Keith Primeau got into a fight with Randy McKay in his first game back after a concussion sent him to the hospital.

Primeau thought his team needed a spark, he said, noting that his actions were probably stupid in the grander sense.

“I thought our team needed a spark,” Primeau said at the time, noting that he envisioned Lisa sitting in the stands with her head in her hands as he brawled with McKay.

“I realize it may not have been the best thing to do. I’m a father and a husband, but at the same time I’m a hockey player… ”

Ultimately, Primeau’s career was cut short because of too many concussions, and it appears likely that Laperriere will have to undergo some sort of procedure on the orbital bone surrounding his eye. Isn’t that a bit of irony? It took approximately 70 stitches to close up the wound and it will probably just have to be reopened so a surgeon can fish around in there.

Hockey player.

Living in the past

Note: This was written last night, but I didn't think it would work as a regular column for sports fans after a hockey game. Rather than scrap it, consider it like the alternate cut or DVD extras.

Wouldn’t it be funny if George Santayana could neverremember where he put his car keys? I’m sure he had a big bowl or hook near the front door to stash his keys and wallet, but always ended up leaving them in his pockets or maybe he took them out of his pants and put them on the desk near his study and went crazy blaming everyone for taking them out of his bowl.

Maybe we should back up a step… the reason why that would be so funny is because Santayana is the author of one of the most famous and quoted sayings ever.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

Born in Spain and educated at Harvard, Santayana wasn’t known as a philosopher as much as he was for creating future clichés. Still, if he could have been classified as anything it would have been as an aestheticism. Santayana loved beautiful things so much that he was inspired to put his feelings into words. Lots and lots of words, too, judging from the breadth of his literary legacy.

The guy could write like you can pile up out-of-control credit debt.

Nevertheless, all anyone ever talks about in regard to Santayana is being condemned to repeat the past because of a faulty memory. That has to be like The Clash being known for “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” and “Rock the Casbah” amongst the mainstream listeners when the rest of their catalogue is so much more superior.

They made London Calling and Sandinista for crying out loud.

Yet if I had a nickel for every time I trotted out Santayana in a story about sports, I’d have a handful of nickels. Why not add another one to the pile right now and check with Brian Boucher about what he remembers from the time he was in a playoff series against New Jersey with a 3-1 series lead.

It’s unlikely he wants to repeat that week from nearly a decade ago.

“It’s hard not to think about it,” Boucher said. “Hopefully this time the script is written differently. Ten years is 10 years ago and certainly there are experiences you can learn from—good and bad. If there is one thing I know it’s the series isn’t over until it’s over.”

The Flyers have had two 3-1 series leads against the Devils in the last two times they met in the postseason, and they finished the deal in five games in the 2004 Eastern quarterfinals. However, when Boucher and teammate Simon Gagne were rookies, they came one win away from going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

That one win proved to be so elusive.

Boucher and the Flyers dropped three straight games, including two at the Wachovia Center, as the Devils carried that momentum to win the Cup. Two of those losses—games 6 and 7—were 2-1 defeats in which Boucher matched future Hall-of-Famer Martin Brodeur with a series filled with highlight-reel saves.

That was a long time ago, though.

“My career has been kind of crazy,” Boucher said. “I put all that behind me and I’m not worried about what went wrong or whatever. I’m happy to be back here and grateful to be back here, I signed back here with good vibes and the position I’m in right now is what I remembered and what I hoped for. I’m excited and I’m trying to enjoy the moment.”

So far it’s been perfectly enjoyable for Boucher and the Flyers. Better yet, there are some interesting superlatives to go with the latest playoff run. For instance, Boucher’s last playoff win heading into the series with the Devils was May 20, 2000, a drought that ended after a nine-year and 327 days span. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Boucher’s “streak” between Stanley Cup playoff victories is the third longest in NHL history behind Boston’s Jim “Sugar” Henry (1942-1952) and Sean Burke (1988-1998), whose wins, coincidentally, came for the Devils and Flyers.

Meanwhile, Boucher’s 14 career playoff wins is the third-most in franchise history. To put that into perspective, only Ron Hextall and Bernie Parent have more, which could mean that despite the gap in wins, Boucher could go down as one of the best playoff performers in team history.

Of course that sample size consists of just two years, and of one of those years Boucher is a little reluctant to open up about. Can’t really blame him—after all, how many folks like to talk about the things they did or thoughts they had when they were 23? Truth is, most people would prefer to forget what was going on when they were 23 and just starting out in a career. Boucher is no exception there, though in his line of work people are constantly reminding him of the things he did a long time ago.

“I was a wide-eyed kid and was just trying to enjoy the moment,” he said. “I’m still having fun with it.

“You can’t look ahead and you can’t look behind. You have to live in the moment, and that’s all I can do. Whatever is going to happen will happen.”

That’s usually how it works, though that's probably not what Santayana was talking about. But for the point of argument, let's just see how Boucher's playoffs play out before his legacy is defined. Twice he's been in a playoff series against New Jersey with a 3-1 lead...

He still needs that one elusive win.