With the way the game has evolved, you have to take that first hit more often.
SAN JOSE — "It’s a man’s game."
Niclas Wallin has played professionally in Sweden. He’s played in the minor leagues of North America. He’s played 715 games in the National Hockey League — Eastern Conference, Western Conference, Stanley Cup Finals, pre-lockout, post-lockout…
As a defenceman, he has spent a hockey lifetime protecting partners, protecting himself, and generally trying to survive the forecheck as oncoming forwards grow bigger, faster and younger with every training camp.
To be sure, he never thought he’d end up taking "The Cream."
"You take the cream — that’s what we call it — take that first hit," said Wallin, the elder statesman on the Sharks defence. "(The forward) tries to separate yourself from the puck, so the second guy can come in and grab that puck.
"We just watched a video on what a difference a couple of feet of ice can make in the game (Friday), compared to the first couple of games."
As the speed of the game has increased, the margin of advantage has shrunk. What used to be six feet is now two; what used to be a second-and-a-half is now half of a second.
It’s just as valuable, just not as much.
And as that equation has evolved — due to bigger men in better physical condition, with increasingly efficient equipment — those who govern the game have done their best to eliminate obstruction and interference.
When the game was slower, your D-partner could hold up that forechecker so that he didn’t get a free shot at you every time you retrieved a puck. Or the goalie could roam to the corner, beat everyone to the puck, and distribute it appropriately.
Now, the goalie is stuck inside the trapezoid, and your partner can’t touch that forechecker.
And you, like Aaron Rome in Game 3? You’re on your own.
You have to take, "The Cream."
"Back in the day you could always screen the guy, the first forechecker, to kind of save (your partner) from getting hit. Now, you get hit all the time. With Rome getting hit… Those hits are coming. It was a hard hockey hit, but we get hit like that every time.
"You’ve gotta take the cream," he said. "It’s a physical game. A man’s game. (Friday) we played like men. I don’t think we played that way the first two games."
It was Bryan Marchment who once said that, if you’re not man enough to take the licks that come with playing in the National Hockey League, "Go play tennis."
We all remember Marchment dishing out his share of punishment as one of the elite open-ice hitters of his era. But you don’t play 1,000 NHL games as a defenceman with out taking your share as well
"We were allowed to protect ourselves. When the hit was coming, you were allowed to protect yourself better," said Marchment, now a Sharks scout who spends time with their prospects.
"Like, it hurt to hit Mark Messier," he continued. "He was getting his elbow up, or his stick up. You knew going in to hit Mark Messier, that he knew you were on the ice. Now, guys aren’t so aware of protecting themselves, because they’re expecting the officiating to do that."
So defencemen like Rome turn their faces towards the boards and simply take the cream. When Jamie McGinn hits them shoulder to shoulder, they are left cut, perhaps concussed, and out of the Game 4 Canucks lineup.
And, of course, the hockey world dissects the play like at no other time in the history of the game. Canucks fans scream for a suspension, Sharks fans agree more with Wallin.
"Comments on the Twitter, the Google, Facebook," Wallin said. "You can’t get away from it."
"The scrutiny," agreed Marchment. "People speculate more, and there are more conversations today. In a roundabout way, hopefully, the league is better for the increased involvement of fans."
He is dead right there. Never before has a fan had so many mediums on which to view contentious plays and offer an opinion.
There is very little objectivity however, so the fan in the Raffi Torres jersey is free to opine on how Ben Eager is only out there to hurt people.
In the end, guys are taking the cream, guys are handing out those checks, and at this time of year more than ever, it is indeed "a man’s game."
"Not everyone does the same job," points out Marchment. "Some guys are there to finish checks. Some guys are there to finish around the net."
