Be a player? If anything, I’m guessing the NHL is hoping that no one looking at this card thinks this is how to be a player, because this kind of Ogie-Oglethorpesque behaviour is usually frowned upon by the league’s safety committee.
Just look at Donald Audette just kicking away. I can just see him telling his Lightning-uniformed victim, “Take that, you motherfu…” like a Joe Pesci character might say as he’s stabbing a dude in the trunk of a car. “That’s what you get for calling me short!”
Just take a look at Donald’s expression…
Yikes! That’s some serious anger.
I have to admit that I do love the look of surprise in the face of the Tampa Bay Lightning player getting upended. Unfortunately, I can’t identify who the player actually is since his face is kind of blurry and obstructed by a hockey stick and glove.
Fortunately for Donald, there’s likely a statute of limitations on vicious hockey assaults, so even though this card pretty much confirmed his guilt, there wasn’t much the league (or the Tampa Bay player) could do about it.