As I write this I cannot lie. I don’t like to see old people get beat up. Mostly because I’m starting to become one as I’m days away from turning 42. I’m not much younger than Claude Lemieux. At 43, Lemieux is on the comeback trail with San Jose and on Tuesday night the trail nearly came to an end.
That’s where Theo Peckham enters our story. He will fight whomever he has to for the good of the Oilers. Against the Sharks it was Lemieux. Lemieux may be old enough to be Peckham’s dad but that didn’t stop the Edmonton blueliner from opening up that can of “Whoop Ass” on him.
Now in classic Claude style as the two combatants got tangled up and fell to the ice, Lemieux jammed his shield into Peckham’s face. There were also words exchanged. When they got up Peckham didn’t seem at all that interested in the fact Lemieux is the league’s second-oldest player or that he has won four Stanley Cups or that he won a Conn Smythe trophy.
I mean Lemieux has almost as many Cups as Peckham has games in the league (6). The Edmonton blueliner pummelled Lemieux and you have to think there were current and former NHLers who stood up and applauded the kid from Richmond Hill, Ont.
Lemieux has been in the league for as many years as Peckham has been on the planet at 21. The Edmonton blueliner knows all about “Pepe Lemieux” and I’m guessing Lemieux now knows who Peckham is. As Craig MacTavish said after the game this isn’t senior league hockey
I almost felt bad for Lemieux… no really, I did but that quickly passed because he wasn’t hurt — other than maybe his ego. Times have changed since he last played in 2003 and so have the players like Peckham who nearly exterminated the “Super Pest”.