Friday, September 01, 2006

Hockey Gone Wild #5

...in a continuing series.

In this installment of HGW Toronto enforcer Tie Domi hosts a impromptu fan appreciation get together when one nutball from Philly decides to drop into the penalty box for a visit.



Speaking of Tahir "Tie" Domi , it appears he's going to have to hang up his skates. It seems the new NHL doesn't have the need anymore for a aging player of his very limited and now apparently outdated hockey skills.
Domi, who celebrated his 1,000th game in the league last season, is third amongst the all-time penalty minutes leaders. But in a new NHL that rewards skill more than skirmishes, his US$1.5-million price tag was too high for a fourth-line checker.

"The change in the game, the rules, the way it was going to be called, the transition game the speed, those things didn't play to his strength," Leafs general manager John Ferguson said when he bought out the fan favourite for US$833,333 over the next two years.

Domi had just five goals and 16 points last season and was benched for the first time in his 10 years as a Leaf. His 109 penalty minutes represented his lowest total since the 1989-90 campaign.

"In the new NHL, there's less enforcing and less fighting," said Morris. "It was the coach's decision to play younger guys and faster guys."
Here's a video put together by tommygrenierbeland as a tribute to one of the toughest small men to have ever played the game. Over the years I've often referred to him as Hockey's version of Mike Tyson. A small guy that packed a BIG wallop.



Did I mention he also had the hardest head in all of hockey? Well, he did. I think you could take a sledgehammer to it and not do too much damage. Of course there are some (many) who would say, that's because there's nothing in it to do any damage to.

Well, anyways, bye, bye Tie, it's been a looong entertaining and strange trip.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Personally I think Domi's best moment was when Chris Neil kicked the crap out of him!

Go Sens Go!

Anonymous said...

A lot of folks have similar sentiments about Tie. He was never a favorite of mine either.

Anonymous said...

I used to be a huge Domi fan, back in the the NYR days he was a shoe unto himself....all the battles with Bob Probert, and Chris Simon - skating to the penalty box while showing his heavyweight belt, classic.

Unfortunatly the legend got bigger than the man. He really should have retired sooner. The first time he refused a fight I knew the end was near, and when he fancied himself a job other than enforcer, his stock plummetted.

The best move JFJ made this year was cutting Domi loose - he became an embarasment to the Leafs and to goons all over the NHL...RIP Domi.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I totally agree hab fan. He hung around at least one year too long. Even though Ulf Samuelsson was a total piece of poop, I never liked to the way Domi took him out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZY0xH961QM&mode=related&search=

I appreciated the fact that at his size he competed as a enforcer quite well and for a long time but those days are looooooong gone. Just like he will be soon.