

Well, I agree that if you're going to stand in front of the net,
that you should expect to get hit and hacked at. In general, you
should expect to finish the game with some bruises. However,
there is a fine line between hacking at a guy (causing some pain
and discomfort) and blatantly attempting to injure another
player. Felix Potvin, IMO, crossed that line on Wednesday. That
two hander on Ciccarelli was way out of line. I lost a lot of
respect for Potvin because of that. It showed an immaturity. He
did not slash at Ciccarelli to simply try to remove him from the
slot area (a legal position for Dino to be in). Instead, he
slashed in an attempt to injure. It was out of shear frustration. As a
Leaf supporter (just a supporter, I'm not a Leaf fan really), I
was very disappointed.

You're right in mentioning Billy Smith and Ron Hextall (at least
in his Philly days). They both crossed that same line at times and
for that reason, many fans (and players) disliked them (that's
why their names always comes up as examples when we talk about
these issues). Let's hope that Felix doesn't do that again. I'd
hate to see anyone (even Dino --- although I admit I don't like
him very much) get seriously hurt from such careless (but
intentional) use of the stick.