The Pronger Effect

For those of us with a goofy, gapped-toothed grin, the subconscious takes over a lot. Those tight-lipped or mischievous grins are as much a byproduct of a genetic flaw as they are a representation of the personality.

Oh sure, Letterman and Madonna are always flashing those pearly whites, and a gap between her teeth never limited Lauren Hutton, but for the rest of us it’s just another way to build character.

Yet for Chris Pronger it’s more about being a character as it is showing character. And certainly both traits are in full force for the spiritual leader of the Stanley Cup Final bound Flyers. See, Pronger has no problem flashing a goofy, gap-toothed grin because maybe it’s a prideful thing for a professional hockey player. More than 16 tears into his NHL career, Pronger still has his teeth and he has a tough time refraining from showing them off.

How do we know they are real? Simple… who gets crooked false teeth with a gap between the front ones? Remember that classic, toothless smile Bobby Clarke beamed while gripping the Stanley Cup circa 1974? Yeah, well take a look at Clarkie’s smile now—they’re straight as an arrow and whiter than a model in toothpaste commercial.

So what’s the deal with Pronger and that wacky sense of humor that makes him want to show off those chiclets? Is the guy ever serious, or is it that he just can’t help himself? Whatever it is, good or bad, it’s as clear as that goofy smile that Chris Pronger loves to play hockey.

“You can’t get too focused on one game,” Pronger said, flashing a wry smile at a reporter. Then again, that’s pretty much how every interview with Pronger goes. They are partially a battle of wits mixed with an exhibition of ironic humor and some astute hockey knowledge mixed in. The guy knows how to work a room and wear you down.

The funny thing about that is it’s almost exactly like Pronger’s style on the ice. Maybe a player can’t get too focused on the ice, but for the playoff veteran, his intensity is as sharp as a laser. Over the course of a long series, chances are Pronger will just wear out the opposition. Considering that he has been is playing a league-leading 28:48 of ice time per game and is one of three players to average better than four minutes a game on the power play (4:30) and penalty kill (4:25) throughout the playoffs, Pronger knows a thing or two about how to focus.

Exemplifying this point is that during these playoffs, the Flyers are 8-0 after Game 3s. Don’t think that this doesn’t have something to do with Pronger back on the blue line.

“He's a big body right there on the ice,” teammate Simon Gagne said. “He’s tough to beat one-on-one. He blocks shots and plays very well on the power play. He’s the full package. Now that it’s playoff time, he's able to play more minutes right now.”

The result is that 8-0 as a series wears on, and a down-to-earth perspective that seems a bit extraordinary for a guy with two Olympic gold medals, a Hart Trophy, a Stanley Cup and a chance to add a second one with his third appearance in the finals with his third different team.

When the Flyers traded for him, a lot of hockey pundits penciled the team into the Stanley Cup Final. But after a disappointing regular season that saw the team sneak into the playoffs by the skin of their crooked teeth, it’s hard to be surprised that the team has come this far.

Some have labeled this “The Pronger Effect.” For whatever reason Pronger’s teams are always a tough out this time of year.

“He’s the one guy I want to be playing with, not against,” forward Danny Briere said.

Well, yeah. Considering that Pronger is often voted as the league’s dirtiest player, he’s not one to tangle with. The same goes for reporters with questions, too. No matter what the circumstance, there will be a joust of some sort with Pronger stirring the pot.

Now how is it that he still has his real teeth?

Nevertheless, with an anticipated matchup with the Blackhawks’ 260-pound Dustin Byfuglien looming, Pronger has to be ready for some bone crunching and teeth rattling. But that’s the easy part. The difficulty for Pronger is trying to compare all three of the Stanley Cup Final clubs he’s played for.

The thing is, he says, the 2006 Edmonton Oilers, 2007 Anaheim Ducks and 2010 Flyers are all unique.

Do they have anything in common?

“No,” he said with the grin disappearing. “Each team has its own identity. Each team has to forge its own path.”

Once again, Pronger’s path has led him to another Stanley Cup Final. Funny how that happens.

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.