Oh my! If there's someone in our team that hates to lose, it's clearly me and Baku. After a quick look to Baku with a simple eye contact with a straight and mad face, I'm asking the coach to change lines so Baku and me can play together and crush our rivals. The game is gone, we can't come back and we know it. So Baku and DAD's plan is to simply delivering the biggest and heaviest hits (legally... or maybe not) to send a message to our rivals. Nobody can mess with the Elk! As the captain, I cannot let my team getting humiliated by anyone. If you want to disrespect our team, you'll have to face the consequences! Hockey has to be played with respect, even if you're winning 5-2 late in the third. DAD is a beast and if you're laughing at his team, be ready to get hit like a mosquito on a window.
David-Arturri Donskoi Regina Elk
Hey I'm DAD can I adopt you?
notorioustig IIHF Federation Head
Toast's Idiot of the Year 2021
Kermit Murphy has an advantage of being a literal puppet, which gives him a few ways to mess with opponents on the ice. The first of these is to remove the puppeteer's hand from his ass and hold it up to an opposing player's face while screaming "smell my finger." Kermit has been attacked multiple times on the ice for this one, so he keeps it in his back pocket for important games where he really needs to get top players off their game. Another one he's used before is a play he calls the "it's not easy being green," where he openly accuses players who have done nothing of doing something racist in front of a ref just to make them flustered. There are some other little tricks he has up his sleeve which he's unwilling to share publicly so that his victims will not see him coming in the moment.
Honestly Sebastien Dubois has never really had much of a mean bone in his body. He doesn’t play a very physical game, preferring stick checks to body checks and using his skating to get away from opposing checkers. Because of this he probably wouldnt be the best player to call upon if you really needed a pest to get things going for your team. That said, Dubois doesn’t have an issue with players that play that role. It’s a different skillset and one that can play an equally important role as a goal scorer at times. Sometimes when games get gritty and tight and you really need to separate yourself, you need to call upon your tougher, harder hitting players to step up and make a difference. It’s very difficult for the goal scorers to do so when everything is gridlocked. So while it’s not for him, he’s certainly glad the role hasn’t died completely and still has a place.
Thunder39 Registered
S40 & S42 Challenge Cup Champion
Jones has always had a bit of a rough side to his game. He got way too aggressive early on in hisd J career which led to him causing his team a lot of time behind on the ice and on the scoreboard. As his career came to a close he seemed to pick his spots better and with the change to defense he seems to really do a good job and playing a sandpaper style game but not end up in the box.
In his first year with the Elk he had 99 penalty minutes and 154 hits. In his last season he outscored his problems as he had 142 penalty minutes and 131 hits. So far though with the position change and the rise to the big leagues Jones has played pretty reserved. As of writing he only has 14 penalty minutes which while it puts him at fourth on Winnipeg, the team as a whole has done well to limit penalty kills this season. He also has 77 hits, tying him for fourth on the team as well. Only time will tell if he can add to the physical part of his game, but he is off to a good start in the SHL.
The pest sort of behavior has its place in hockey, same as it does in any sport. There's a fine line obviously, but some of the harmless things, especially chirping, that players do to get under each other's skin and try and goad people into taking penalties is just a part of life, and a part of the sport, especially in something as violent and emotional as hockey can be. It also just makes sense from a tactical perspective, so to speak. If you can goad a guy into taking a penalty because you sprayed water in his glove, or maybe gave him a little face wash, why would you not do it? That one power play could be the difference in a close game between a win and a loss, and in the pros, that's a big difference. A lot of players grow up doing this kind of thing, and right or wrong, it's almost impossible to stop, so as long as it doesn't cross the line into outrageous or outright disrespectful territory, I don't see an issue
My player does have it in them to be a pest around the rink. I would go around and start slashing them, chirping them all while trying to draw penalities for our team to try and beat them. I would also get some big hits in and try to get my team going . I would not try and fight people, as I am not a fighter, but tahts why you got a goon on your team to go and beat them up for you. Once we get a goal and only down by 1 it is fair game now. Start laying out your body more. The coach will get on you more as you really have a chance to win. Maybe its late into the 3rd, you want to get a penatly, maybe you try to pull your goalie. YOu have to make clean passes in order get it past the goalies these days
Slip McScruff is not intentionally a pest, but he's also oblivious. He comes off the bench with bright colored gloves that he thinks look cool, but he doesn't know that they are super offensive to the other team. The rival who is on a hot streak, 1 goal from a hat trick, used to date this girl who cheated on him with an up and coming fashion designer. These gloves were the piece he dropped after their affair went public, as a kind of slap in the face to this hockey star.
He likes to drink from the gatorade bottles without the tops on, but doesn't always screw it back on all the way. That same rival got sent to the box after a careless, distracted play. He goes to drink the gatorade and it dumps all over him.
This guy thinks Slip is out to get him and charges for a dirty hit. Slip drops his mouth guard and bends to pick it up, sending the charging rival straight over the top and into the boards. It's all kind of dumb, but so is Slip McScruff.
Jimmy Wagner has always been the classy professional type, not often a pest or agitator, but would also do whatever it takes to win. If it meant being a pest, Wags would oblige. As a notable leader, Jimmy always seems to have the right words to inspire his team to greatness, but what if he used those words for more nefarious purposes? Instead of using his gift of gab to help his own team, he turns his silver tongue to a dagger and uses it to cut away at the mental game of the opponent. He's put this into effect a few times, deftly getting under the skin of some of the more temperamental players across the league and throwing them off their game to the benefit of the Panthers. As his legs start to fade, Wagner will continue to rely on these intangible skills to remain at the top of effective players in the league.
With regards to pest tactics, there is a line. Chirping is fine. Grown men playing a game for a professional salary should be able to take a verbal jab. Snowing the goalie is pushing it, but maybe don't take it too personal. You back the guy off when he does it, but there's no need to start an international incident over it.
Other pest tactics, though, cross a line into unsportsmanlike conduct that should not be acceptable. Tripping or hooking while the refs aren't looking is chicken shit. Goading someone into a fight and then backing out when the time comes to drop the gloves is chicken shit. Hitting a guy when he's not looking or when the whistle's blown is also right out.
Another team has a pest who's doing any of this? Let your play shut him down. It's not enough to just take a stiff upper lip into encounters with the pest. Score on him. Hit him clean. Close him down without focusing on him.
I've always felt that there was only one way to get back at opponents who are showing you up, laughing at your expense, or generally dismissing you: beat them. If we were down 5-2 and I saw all their smirking faces on their bench, I'd kick my play into high gear and do everything in my power to at least make a game out of it. Overcoming a three goal lead is a tall task for any team against any opponent, but there's nothing like making someone sweat out what they thought was a convincing win. That means skating faster, checking harder, and working every second I'm on the ice to throw it back in their faces. What really drives all this is not just that I want to win, but that I also hate to lose. I probably hate losing more than I enjoy winning, if I'm being honest, which is why those types of situations irritate me to no end. And it's not about disrespect or some sort of unwritten hockey rules, it's just about not tasting the agony of defeat. Honestly, seeing the opponents acting like that gives me more fuel to try and mount a comeback. If they were smart, they'd just keep their heads down and probably have a better chance of sealing the win.
Personally I'd absolutely hate going up against some of these petty little things because they should mean nothing but the fact that it's bothering me is in itself already a form of distraction and potentially intimidation. As a form of entertainment, there's no way that seeing passion whether instigated or provoked is anything but entertaining. There's absolutely value is seeing the small stories and little rivalries that can build up between specific team or players. Fans themselves will take sides, either hating the pest activities or enjoying themselves watching the other team lose their minds. That in turn puts fans against each other in having some form of artificial dislike all stemming from a single player choosing to do what they do.
The element of being able to be mindful and focused on your task regardless of both the physical and mental bumps along the way is a hugely underrated element. From players like Kadri having shown in the past to lack that sort of tool, it's very much a real thing that any professional athlete could be susceptible to.
Is Justin Keahi an agitator? A pest? Of course, he's one of the most irritating players to play against in the league. Opponents hate playing against him, he is physically and mentally tough to play against. Crosschecks behind the play and after whistles, gloved shots to force the helmet into an uncomfortable position, butt-ends in corner battles. He will do what ever it takes to get you thrown off your game. He is constantly talking on the ice, chirping the entire game. One of the worst traits he has though is his ability to get access to the other teams equipment. No serious damage, more the old tricks. Jamming tape/gum into the glove fingers, making sure they are a pain to get out. Filling up sticks with water and plugging the buttend cap back on. He never tries the tape on the skate blades, as anyone that half pays attention will notice the tape. So yes, Justin Keahi can be described as a pest.
Ah man, time to attack this second prompt while trying not to sound like a crotchety old man. My viewpoint is that there are many roles in hockey - hell I even have made the argument that there's a unique skillset that's just being able to play with elite players. In the same vein, there's certainly a role for a pest on your team. I have two points:
First, I think that the best pest has a toolbag that goes beyond just being annoying. There's the Pat Maroon's of the world who play under ten minutes a game and spend the other fifty just yelling from the bench. Teammates love him, but as a fan it's a little underwhelming. But then you've got the guys like who are skilled but just know how to get under your skin. Not in a dirty way (Marchy) but just to the right degree.
Second, I don't think the pest should ever become the main attraction. Once the focus of a game becomes the antics, it's bad for the sport.