George Parros was in the house, you guys.
Yeah, he was up there witnessing, firsthand from the front row of PPG Paints Arena's press box, everything he'd just wrought.
This will sound like the subplot for some lame satire, but it's worth it, so bear with me: The man running the NHL's Department of Player Safety, was not so long ago a fighter in the league. Born in Washington County, raised in New Jersey, and bringing little more than a 6-foot-5 frame to the tool set, he somehow stumbled upon 18 goals over his 474 games while primarily punching his way to 169 fights and 1,092 penalty minutes.
He even had a tough guy's nickname, "The 'Stache," for obvious reasons:
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George Parros with the Ducks in 2014. - AP[/caption]
He'd have piled up more PIMs, too, if one of those fights hadn't caused a debilitating concussion in the fall of 2014 and forced his retirement a couple months later.
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TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE[/caption]
You'd think he'd have learned something.
You'd think they'd have learned something, meaning Gary Bettman, Bill Daly, Colin Campbell, the various generations of Burke-o-saurs and all the rest of the fossil faction in New York over Parros' head who never allow this beautiful sport to become fully embraced in our country.
But they don't learn. Maybe they're too simple. Or stubborn. Or stupid. Or maybe it's a hat trick there.
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