May 18, 2024 | 11:30am ET
By Shawn Hutcheon, TheFourthPeriod.com

MARCHAND, BENNETT, AND HOCKEY LITTLE’S SECRET

Brad Marchand, forward

BOSTON, MA — There is no doubt that by now, you have seen the video from Game 3 of the second-round series between the Florida Panthers and the Boston Bruins. In the video, Panthers’ forward Sam Bennett braces himself as Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand is about to throw a body check at Bennett. The video shows Bennett punching Marchand in the side of the head. Marchand fell to the ice and remained down briefly before getting up and taking a seat on the Boston bench. The Bruin played until the end of the second period but did not join his teammates for the third period. Marchand also missed Games 4 and 5 with what Bruins coach Jim Montgomery deemed as an upper-body injury.

It will soon be determined if Marchand is to return to action in Game 6 at Boston on Friday, however, after Thursday’s team practice, in which Marchand participated, the Bruins veteran shared his thoughts on Bennett and the harsh reality that has been known for years but never talked about.

“He plays hard,” said Marchand when asked about Bennett and the hit that forced him to miss his first playoff contests after playing in 156 consecutive postseason games.

“He’s an extremely physical player. Great player for the group. I think he got away with the shot (to Marchand’s head) but I’m not going to complain, it happens. That’s part of, especially playoff hockey, I’ve been on the other side of a lot of plays. You know, I think he got away with one but that’s part of the game and definitely part of playoff hockey. Yeah, it sucks to be on the other side of it, but that stuff happens so I’m not going to sit here and complain about it. That’s part of the game, but, yeah, I thought he got away with something, but it is what it is.”

After Game 3, Bennett spoke with the hosts of the TV broadcast on TNT in the United States and claimed to have no intention of injuring Marchand.

“On that play, obviously I’m not trying to punch him in the head like everyone’s saying,” Bennett said. “Other people can have different opinions. I’m just bracing myself for him coming to hit me. There’s no way I would have had time to think about punching him in the head. People can see it however they want. It’s playoff hockey. There are going to be hard plays. Obviously, it’s unfortunate he got hit, but that’s just a hockey play in my mind.”

Regardless of which side of the argument one sits on, the hit is history.

Be that as it may, the one thing that most people who have played the game will agree with Marchand is the point he raised when he said that in playoff hockey, the physical part of the game intensifies to a level where the hits are delivered with a purpose and that purpose is to hurt someone.

This is not a new concept to the game. I dare say that if you were a fan or involved in hockey in some capacity, you owned Don Cherry’s “Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Hockey” tapes back in the 1990s. If you are not familiar with the video tapes, they were highlights of goals, saves, plays, and of course hits. A lot of hits from NHL games from the previous season. It was on one of those tapes - forgive me, I do not remember which edition - that Cherry narrates and you hear him say, “You hit to hurt!”

And he was right.

If you will indulge me for a moment, I played high school, junior, and college hockey in the Boston vicinity from the 1970s to the early 1980s. Growing up in those days meant we watched plenty of games played by the Big, Bad, Bruins followed by Cherry’s Lunch Pail A.C. teams. We thought you were supposed to hurt someone when you hit them and not just separate them from the puck. As mentioned, hitting to hurt is nothing new.

Thank you for allowing me to digress.

Marchand’s words prove that, although the game has changed to one based mostly on skill, the element of trying to gain the edge by putting an opponent out of the lineup still exists today.

“That’s part of the game,” Marchand said. “People don’t want to say it but part of playoffs is trying to hurt every player on the other team and the more guys you take out, the more advantage your team has. People don’t say that but that’s just a fact of the game. Every time you step on the ice, someone’s trying to hurt someone. That’s just how it goes in playoffs and any time you can get an advantage on a team that’s going to help your team win, that’s part of the benefit of having a physical group. That’s why you see teams go the distance with big (defense) corps and physical teams and it’s why you rarely see teams that are small and skilled go far because they get hurt.”

One should not get the idea that Marchand, himself, is out to injure opponents during every shift. He did not say that and I am not implying that. What he is saying is that teams constantly look to gain an edge and if it comes at the expense of another player’s misfortune, no one is going to feel sorry for that player.

Marchand is also correct when he says it is the teams with big, physical players that are the most successful. If you do not believe it, think back to any Stanley Cup champion. You will be able to name at least one of the extra-large-sized players who made sure no one took liberties with the stars and if they did, there was a price to pay.

Going into Game 6, the Panthers hold a three-games-to-two lead over the Bruins in the best-of-seven Second Round series.

The physicality will continue. The clubs have combined for 473 hits already. We may see another controversial hit. We may see another injury. We may not.

However, we are seeing the intensity of playoff hockey which will only ramp up with Marchand’s return.

Just ask Montgomery.

“He’s (Marchand) our leader,” Montgomery said. “He’s our captain. Our heart and soul.”