Even a Polly Pure Heart like me knows and loves the role of the enforcer. Sam, a college friend once pointed out Larry Playfair's stats out to me at a Sabres game telling me " If he has more than 200 PIMs half way through the season he is either a goon or an enforcer, probably a goon" Hockey is a physical game. Powerful fit bodies hit one another and build emotion, the odd dance is the safety valve players count on to let off natural steam. Plus, lets face it, the fans love fights. The enforcer is a necessary part of every team if the Sabres hadn't had Rob Ray and Larry Playfair, Alex Mogilny would have been a red smear on the ice. Possibly the best example of surgical use of an enforcer that I can think of was at a Chicago Wolves Peoria Riverman game in 04/06. Kevin Doell, a 180lb scrappy Wolves player came off the bench and was boarded by the Peoria enforcer D.J. King. King simply smeared Doell's face over 3' of glass. On the next shift John Anderson the Wolves coach sent out Frankie Lessard who simply skated up to King and invited him to dance. After a short tango D.J. left the ice to meet with the nice team Doctor for stitches to his forehead. However, the boarding of Doell and other smaller players stopped that minute.
Now that's feeling the love, hockey love that is...
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