Blackhawks defenseman Enrico Ciccone was a bit puzzled by a Calgary columnist’s attempt to goad the Flames’ resident goon, Sandy McCarthy, into beating up Ciccone Tuesday night.
The writer characterized Ciccone as “a goon” who sat in the Hawks’ locker room after Game 3 Sunday, spitting on the floor, admiring his own biceps and suggesting McCarthy go after him at the start of the game and “beat the crap out of him.”
“What’s that all about?” wondered Ciccone. “I’ve never met this guy. If he wants to call me a goon, he could at least have the decency to come in here and tell me to my face.
“I guess you’ve got cowards in hockey and you’ve got cowards in journalism, too.”
Ciccone, despite his reputation as a brawler, had been minding his manners this series and vowed that wouldn’t change.
Capt. Courageous: Chris Chelios takes his captaincy seriously. Faced with the team’s biggest crisis of the series, he took immediate action.
The team’s stereo, which usually is blaring out a million decibels worth of rock music after a game, went belly up after Monday’s practice.
The combined efforts of master mechanics Brent Sutter and Dale Shantz, father of Hawk forward Jeff, couldn’t coax a single squawk out of the box, even with the raucous advice of the rest of the players.
So Chelios did what any good captain would do. He went out and spent $2,500 on a new stereo.
His next problem will be to try to recover his money from his teammates.
Some OT facts: Entering Tuesday night’s contest, the Hawks were 27-28 in overtime Stanley Cup playoff games.
On the road, however, that mark was 13-16.
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