WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR - SAN DIEGO (E)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – SAN DIEGO (PART D) in July, 2016.]

Usually the rest of the team rosters had a less talented, but nonetheless needed supporting cast to aid the stars. An assortment of mid-level career pro players; Plus, those recently graduated from the college ranks, and like. The majority of which would have been overlooked or never have gotten a sniff of time in the NHL. [Wikipedia; whahockey.com; billsportsmaps.com] Supplementary players that didn’t get a shot in The Show (the NHL) now had a chance to impress and become integral parts of a top club, not just stuck in the minor leagues. Teams that are made up of all the same type of players very rarely are successful and not effective long term. There are various roles to be filled on a squad to provide balance such as pluggers, checkers, defense-first forwards and defensemen, offensive defensemen, power-play and penalty killing specialists and more. Not to discount the very backline of a team, the goaltenders. It is well known in hockey that a hot goalie can make up for a host of mistakes by their team. [Goalie Quotes - msu.edu/user/baujason/quote.html; hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showthread.php?t=1267123]

The big leaguers’, as well as, individual NHL team owners attempted to react and combat the new league through many methods. Plus, there was the painful matter of the rival circuit’s somewhat successful raiding of talent from National Hockey League squads. Quick action was taken to the assignment of new expansion franchises in key metropolitan markets to shut out the upstarts. Cut off the places where the new guys hoped to succeed and prosper and hopefully they will go away. For instance, the NHL granting an immediate new entry in the New York City area, which is considered by many to be the media capital of the world. The idea was to squeeze out any potential rival from setting up a flagship club there in the most influential press market in the world.

Other owners made life difficult for the upstarts by playing nit-picking games, adding ridiculous fee charges for basic necessities and amenities, etc. Specifically in cities where the WHA teams needed to share fan bases and already established facilities for home matches until the new clubs could secure their own home digs. {Wikipedia; billsportsmaps.com; The Hockey News; whahockey.com; Sports Illustrated]

The rapidly maturing young man thought, by way of his pre-tour research, about some possible reasons for the two top North American hockey leagues’ turf war tactics, counter strategies, & subsequent actions taken. Mekkar did gain some business sense from the many trips by being involved with both his mama and papa in various settings. It is well to note that any business, especially large ones always want to have and keep a dominant share of the marketplace for their particular industry. In this case for a sports franchise to monopolize the fan base in their sphere of influence. It is considered to be paramount for any company or team to be both profitable and have long-term stability.

Even a young Mekkar, who was now a teenager, understood that the old guard, the already entrenched circuit had to execute their plan to force the upstart league out of the larger media markets altogether. That tactic alone could pretty much minimize the threat to the status quo and keep their dominance in the professional hockey industry on the continent. These actions had the effect of pushing the newcomer (WHA) clubs away to the fringes. At the same time, punishing the other league, as well as, new team owners in a variety of ways for even having the audacity to invade the NHL’s so called turf. The wish was that the newer coalition might disappear sooner than later as a result of these many actions taken against them. It is well to note, the National Hockey League never expected any threat to their domain. They believed the WHA would not get start to get off of the ground nor any playing games, in the first place.

This was excluding the on-going, continuous legal battles conducted through the corrupt court system. Contradictory as it is in administering real justice to aggrieved parties to right wrongs. Not to forget the double standard decision making process normally based on a concept of who is supplying the legal industry members with the most favors and outright financial bribes. The court oligarchy created backroom deals and behind the scenes buddy-ship which protects each other and the status quo. Ruled by the premise of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours. Mekkar sees this pattern as a double dealing downward slope to becoming much worse in the future with very little possibility of ever being fixed.

However, the dominant league miscalculated the resolve of a few individuals involved against them, as well as, the future effects that would ensue. The main rival was dismissed with all of its faults including being new and fairly unstable, but the impact was far reaching upon the hockey landscape.

Mekkar learned from his business savvy parents early on, to have any chance of success at all, the newer and smaller business has to do it differently. Especially in an established business environment or in this situation, leagues must look for ways to make positive modifications or tweaks while still being innovative and fresh. Yet, not totally destroy the integrity of the sport itself. Mekkar says, “Throw the standard means of carrying out the old status quo and the rulebook right out the door.” That is, like in battle planning, attack areas where you think the big guys are weakest. Also, like in warfare, strike at positions the stronger group either ignores by choice, arrogance, or complacency. This is a phenomenon used in the business world since the beginning of time itself.

In a historic manner the World Hockey Association did that and went far beyond expectations. The era resulted in some changes for the good of many affiliated with the game. Well, maybe except for the old, big league club owners like the Toronto Maple Leafs Harold Ballard who lost a bit of control over player personnel. Soon the fervor increased and everyone was looking for talents in greater numbers all over the globe. This included the virtually untapped United States hockey pool. The prior trend was forever reduced of purposely restricting the searches in Canada alone for able athletes. It was now time to widen the scope to recruit talent.

The experts were now realizing that players from all over could adapt, with time, to the North American brand of ice hockey. Possibly, at least blend that style with each individual skill set. For the longest extent the neglect of broadening the horizons for new proficient players was controlled by many doubters. There were the restrictive beliefs that talent from locations outside of The Great White North (Canada) & a slightly south of the border were incapable of successfully adapting in North American pro leagues. This mistaken idea was proven to be false and even more so as the years have passed. [Wikipedia; billsportsmaps.com; whahockey.com; hockeyfights.com] 

WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR - SAN DIEGO (D)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – SAN DIEGO (PART C) in July, 2016.]

This squad, the Selects that Mekkar was a part of and representing his nation for on this tour was not considered the real, true, or top level national team. Yes, they wore a similar version of the national team jerseys with the same color scheme. There were slight visual differences to the trained eye from the top level national squad, which was also on their own scheduled jaunt through different nations. The Selects were considered as a young second tier or even less a C-level squad similar to a high junior in age or lower rung minor league pro team. Mekkar was of the opinion that they had been hastily thrown together without a whole lot of time beforehand to jell their individual talents together as a unit. The original idea was to expose and prepare these young athletes to other surroundings for future matches, so there would be less chance of being overwhelmed when appearing overseas for games.

Any all-star team that is made up of a collection of stars has issues. It is even more true in ice hockey where timing and positioning is crucial due to the extreme speed of the sport. The executives who assembled the squad planned on the players becoming a cohesive team as a result of all the players being together on such an extended long, long road trip. This same journey that would take them through the North American continent and later beyond to other regions around the globe.

Trouble was, the erratic schedule along with the individuals not meshing together as well as management hoped showed in the Selects play on the ice. It was especially true in the early portion of the trip. In addition to the fact, the competition they were facing was getting stronger as the matches progressed. Mekkar felt that the team executives should have known better of what to expect since most of them were former players themselves. He chalked it up as either one or two reasons for this oversight. The first was the lack of time to assemble a decent squad and let them learn how to play together to take advantage of their individual strengths. Nobody wanted the Selects to embarrass the powers in charge that put together this journey.

Most of the team management time was spent on the logistics of the tour itself due to ever changing scheduled matches in the various locales. Mekkar thought those in charge of the team did a bad job with poor planning. The other reason that was plagued this trip was that possibly the executives had forgotten, similar to many bosses in the workplace and all politicians, about the resources needed to complete the work at hand. In this case supplying the players who perform their duties on the ice with all they need to succeed, just like other entertainers such as movie and television actors and actresses. This is how the inquisitive mind of Mekkar operates!

The Selects were a fairly young team with the oldest player being almost twenty-one years old. Everyone else on the squad was younger. That maturity was the reason the oldest member of the club was also chosen as the captain of this Selects team. Alf was the most youthful of all the players, even though his outward appearance and size reflected an opposite image. The Selects wished that their squad could have been designated as the junior national team. Unfortunately, that was impossible because the rules state that all individual players on the team, except a few, must be eighteen years old or younger depending on the time of the actual tournament being participated in.

Despite their relative youthful ages individual members on the team had varying levels of experience against international competition. Thus, not all of them were completely green in lacking true big stage game experience as a group. It was a good thing for the Selects that the statistics and results of these exhibition matches would not count in the standings of the home teams. Unlike a few other touring international game tilts during the decade. Nor would these games versus the Selects effect any of the host clubs’ playoff aspirations. The hosts clubs only focused on things which would affect the bottom line in regard to gate receipts and potential profits. [Playing Hockey The World Over…wha.htm; whahockey.com]

If these matches had counted in the standings, increased nastiness probably would have the order of the day in Mekkar’s mind. The Far North Native was also glad there was no radio or television broadcasts of any of these matches back home just in case of possible blowouts in favor of the home sides as previously predicted against the Selects.

So, it seemed to Mekkar that some of the professional North American squad’s older veteran players lacked full fledged efforts in a few of these exhibition matches. They appeared to be going through the motions as much as possible in a collision sport such as ice hockey. The lights may have been on but it was questionable if somebody was home in the head. At the same time the home clubs’ younger members and non-superstars were bearing the brunt of responsibility for their team’s on-ice performance. Mekkar surmised it was either to keep those individuals on the big league team and out of the minor circuits. If it took using their fists to gain themselves a roster spot, so be it. Also, to preserve the pride by showing that the North American style of hockey was superior to the international norm. [Playing Hockey The World Over…wha.htm; whahockey.com]

Mekkar thought this helped his touring squad, even if he didn’t mention it outwardly. It was a rare thing for The Arctic Warrior since he keeps very little bottled-up inside of him. He is the complete opposite of his brother Alf. Mekkar felt that might be part of the reason for the Selects having more success against their rivals on this tour than expected. Even more than Mekkar had anticipated after noticing the North American pros, at times, had much stronger performances against top tier travelling competition on other jaunts. “Maybe, some of the squads over here have begun to wake up and are gaining understanding from the error of their ways,” reasoned Mekkar, “But, not all of them.”

By this time the WHA was the most successful challenger and rival of the big boys on the block, the National Hockey League. The overall quality of play in the World Hockey Association circuit might have been slightly less than the totality of the whole NHL. Some of the teams in the upstart league consisted of a few established stars who jumped to the newer, more fragile and unstable circuit. For, in some cases, much higher promised salaries than they earned before. In other instances, it was about more opportunity to exhibit one’s skills or gain more playing time. Another reason was that some players were just more suited to the run and gun, up-tempo different WHA style of hockey and those stats reflect this. 

WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR - SAN DIEGO (C)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – SAN DIEGO (PART B) in July, 2016.]

Even though this aspect of Mekkar’s team gave them more confidence, the Selects’ as a club needed a lot of improvement of their own regarding their penalty killing. The short handed specialty outfits probably would get better if players like Mekkar would use his own good sense. For example, decrease his own retaliatory infractions. He is acutely aware that referees almost never notice the initial rule violation, but almost always catch the response. Mekkar needed to get his pest shots in first to have a better chance of not getting caught and thus would pay less visits to his home away from home, the penalty box.

A true assessment of the Selects performance on this tour was that they were still getting dominated at full strength five-on-five play. The coaches were not happy about the squad getting their rear ends handed to them during these points in the earlier scheduled games. If the Selects found a way to get better in this area there was the assumption by the staff that most, if not all, of the goonery might cease. Most athletes want to avoid a wounding of their pride when performing in front of their own fan base.

To Mekkar, it still was a good thing to take advantage of any opportunity the Selects’ could get. Some of the earlier opposition thought that they could intimidate Mekkar and the whole Selects squad through the use of rough and tumble tactics, while employing a more physical style. Just like some of these same clubs had employed with other previously visiting international squads. Since it worked before for the most part, continue to use those nasty tactics. However, the young barnstorming team was catching on. [Playing Hockey The World Over…wha.htm; whahockey.com; hockeyfights.com; Wikipedia; billsportsmaps.com; The Hockey News]

Unfortunately for The Native from The Far North, most of his teammates on the Selects squad were learning these lessons much too slowly. They were effectively bullied by some of the more pugilistic home sides on this far flung schedule, but not Mekkar or Lasse.

Though after suffering a serious injury prior to this matchup, the teenager promised to be ready for anything. That is despite being hampered in his effectiveness to carry out all of his on ice responsibilities, in full measure. Of course, Mekkar’s cockiness wanted to write checks his body couldn’t deliver at this time. Mekkar just wanted to enjoy and participate in as much as he could during this perceived once in a lifetime journey or so he thought at the time.

The arctic boy was of the view that some of these teams that would brawl first to open up space for offensive opportunities and scoring goals later. For example, like the Bulls and Fighting Saints had not learned any lessons from their earlier employed stupid strategy. These errored ways lead to the use of similar undisciplined, bully-style hockey now - during matches here at their home rinks. It was also the case when back when they were visiting Mekkar’s own area of the world on quite a few instances throughout the preceding years. [whahockey.com; Playing Hockey The World Over…wha.htm; The Hockey News; billsportsmaps.com; hockeyfights.com]

 

Mekkar’s response was quite predictable for anyone who really knew him because he was so bad at hiding his true feelings. His thought process was always to get mad and get even or try his hardest to proceed on this course of action. Not only would Mekkar fight with his enemy opponents, he would also return the cheap shots and uncalled for stickwork of his own, if necessary. At the same time he and his team would attempt to punish them for their stupidity and arrogance on the scoreboard by converting more often on the power play as a result. “Kick their butts in both ways”, as Mekkar put it.

The adolescent saw an example of this, of which he was present at, as a younger spectator with Alf, Lasse, and his papa at a match back in his home area. During that tilt the squad from North America was being completely outplayed early in the game and could not match the skill level to keep up with the local club, as Mekkar described this scenario. So, the visitors got crazy and became more of a thug squad on ice and started to really goon it up. It was a nasty brawl-fest. Thus, they dug themselves a deeper hole. That visiting team was eventually spanked and humiliated by looking at the score. [Playing Hockey The World Over…wha.htm; whahockey.com; The Hockey News]

On this particular trip, Mekkar figured if these teams wanted to conduct themselves in the same manner of thuggery on the ice as before, punishment would ensue. He knew that he would have to be one of the players on his team to help beat the lessons from those earlier episodes into the thick skulls of his opponents. Mekkar hoped there would be increased scoring for his side due to more power play chances acquired by his team from the enemy tactics. “Go ahead and continue this undisciplined moronic strategy and we will embarrass you!”, he snapped. Mekkar would repeat a saying that he learned from a previous coach on a team he played for not long ago back home. He quipped, “If you want to play like a clown, we send you back to the circus with your tail between your legs, so you can hide from your shame.”

Plus, Mekkar wanted to retaliate too, if needed. He was not one to just stand there take abuse like a fool and a victim without doing anything in response. He also desired to kick some butt because that was in his personal nature. It did not matter to him that he wasn’t the biggest person in statue. The Arctic Warrior was the shortest person in his immediate family, by far. Still he had to heart, training, and skill to brawl. Mekkar would take no grief from anyone and unlike some famous fighters, take on all comers who challenged him. No person on this planet scared him at all. Mekkar termed it as just a matter of relative perspective considering where he grew up. He has observed aggressive action of wild and sometimes large animals such as various types of bears, moose, etc. on a regular basis in the arctic. Plus, Mekkar has encountered on occasion some of the beasts himself. It is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. After those experiences, even the largest human beings look kind of small in his eyes. The problem is he is not afraid to tell them that fact to potential combatants faces either.

WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR - SAN DIEGO (B)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – SAN DIEGO (PART A) in July, 2016.]

Mekkar’s best friend Lasse would refer to The Arctic Warrior’s personality change on the ice as one (Mekkar) who goes to his deep, dark place inside of himself. Lasse describes it as an area that sometimes Mekkar himself does not want to visit. The hulking Lasse should know too. Since many have said outwardly, and Lasse agreed with affirmation, that he has almost the same exact nasty on ice disposition as Mekkar. The difference is Mekkar’s best friend is physically much bigger, stronger, meaner, and nastier of the two. Lasse is always on the lookout to carry out his brand of bad intentions than Mekkar ever could, at his worst. Added to the fact, that Lasse had less control and it was hard for him to turn off the nastiness switch in other parts of his life. This is possibly the main reason they got along so well with each other because they could relate to each others’ inner demons, just waiting to come out.

Lasse and Mekkar both had a similar character and they had an almost exact upbringing by growing up together in the same village. Mekkar’s best friend recognized that he will always need some type of physical or creative outlet to combat that internal tug-of-war and subsequent outward mean streak manifestation. This will be especially true when his competitive athletic days are completed. Otherwise, there will be episodes of lashing out or blowing off steam. Lasse joked many times about the fact that Mekkar will never get married due to the fact that he is extremely uncompromising, unlike politicians. He is very consistent in his stances and unwavering in those areas of his nature.

Like or not, these behaviors are an ongoing struggle for many athletes in violent contact and collision sports. These matters become worse for athletes as they approach the end of their chosen profession with diminishing skills or after career ending injuries or forced retirement. The issue is that the particular individual loses their outlet or expression that was the focus of their inner drive. After the active sports career is over there is no way to get out that built-up inward conflict out of themself. In other words, the release mechanism is now absent and something else must fill the void. The associated problems with lack of aggressive expression require a permanent resolution or it never gets solved without an extreme amount of help from others.

Most ex or former athletes are taught to push it down deep inside or to ignore these issues. They are told it will take care of itself, but in reality that usually is not the case only the exception. That is only one factor that was mentioned above as related to the psyche of an individual. There are other considerations as well such as the loss of higher income in most respects. Those accomplishments and blessings which normally are perceived as being at the top rungs of society at large disappear. Don’t forget the loss of adulation from fans and no more attention from the crowds. Even temporary glory, fame, and other post endeavor lost benefits like daily life structure for the most part of a professional athletic career is suddenly gone. The great upheaval and understanding is lost on those people who have never experienced these factors. Thus, depression can set in big time. If there is a lack of post career preparation the questions come like a flood, what do I do now?

The cold weather young man would describe his central condition by using an external example such as like the horn type sound that is made during a heavy London fog. If no sound is made or the noise is ignored most likely bad things can occur. A ship or boat loses its sense of direction and runs into another object or aground. Mekkar would at other times express the continuous resident turmoil as boiling to the surface. Another indication was small tremors released to hold off and avoid a large earthquake.

He always felt he needed that abrasive edge in his game because of his smaller stature for his position. Some would say Mekkar went over the edge on many occasions. Mekkar went out of his way to get respect. He also knew that by carrying himself in this manner, he was playing with fire and could get burned. Even go over the edge or just snap on a mental level and become a basket case. Yet, those risks Mekkar was willing to take in the short term without assessing long term ramifications.

At times Mekkar would do this to kick-start and motivate himself. The idea was to knock any listlessness out of him through the dishing out of taking a hit to make a beneficial play. If there was any lethargy left in him, he was determined to removal it all any way he could. Many times after games Mekkar felt more relief than joy in this frame of mind, even if his squad was victorious. It was physically exhausting and mentally draining to play the style he did. Then, normally he would revert back to his regular frame of mind. The dilemma was that, not even Mekkar could predict the tone and expression of his own character. The Far North Native has some major questions regarding the realm of his daily existence outside of participating in active sports. Would he be a personal, but guarded individual when he was away from all sports or games? Or would he be a total jerk and have an explosive personality toward everyone around him? This is how Mekkar imagined himself and his outward demeanor. Of course, others around him saw Mekkar in different light, which included those closest to him on this trip such as Alf and Lasse.

In Mekkar’s mind, he was glad that some of the more physical teams and good squads at the beginning of the tour. He was hoping this would result in his team playing some better hockey when the fear factor was removed. The benefit of that schedule for him is that it got Mekkar’s competitive juices flowing in those early matches. The downside was that it could wear him down rapidly, if he wasn’t careful despite anything to the contrary that his mind told him.

There was the belief of Mekkar that the Selects as a team had been fairly fortunate to achieve a couple of victories so far on this ice hockey expedition. Well, considering the high level of opponents the Selects had encountered. Any early success by Mekkar’s squad was mainly due to an increased effectiveness on the man advantage power play unit. It seemed to start to click and produce more timely goals. A good power play is an effective weapon to punish opposing teams for undisciplined play and taking stupid penalties. The travelling team’s power play became more dangerous and was operating at a higher clip with each successive outing. Ever since the recent surge of the Selects man advantage unit, the competition began to think twice before taking unnecessary liberties with Selects players. Careless play and the parade to the sin bin was greatly reduced. Too bad the lesson was lost on Mekkar because he mainly lived in the short term.

WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR - SAN DIEGO (A)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – WINNIPEG (PART C) in July, 2016.]

Mekkar had been to San Diego a couple of times before, once with his papa, but he was too fairly young to remember much of those trips. Travelling to different places wasn’t such a big deal to him either since he has been many places. People are normally surprised The Arctic Native has journeyed all around the world at such a young age.

This jaunt was different because this time it was to play hockey. He felt there was a lack of quality ice rinks in the area. Even back home someone seems to know something about always sunny California, especially the southern part of the state. It was an image created by marketing campaigns to draw foreign tourists. Part of that was the surfer music of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, The Ventures, and more that perpetrated those myths about Southern California throughout the whole world.

The youngster listened to some of that music and had even heard statements such as it is the land of the beautiful people. He didn’t believe it because he was there right now and was not the recipient of his mama’s model looks. Mekkar thought that the city seemed like a nice to be, perhaps a little on the warm side for his taste. After all the area is a desert, just not an arctic one.

Adolescent Mekkar loved playing on the smaller ice surfaces in North America as compared to the standard twenty foot wider ones back home. Plus, some here in The States and Canada were even smaller than norm regulation size which even more suited Mekkar’s hitting style game. The more dinky, the better in his mind because he regarded the boards as his friends. He also used them to angle opposing forwards in his defensive zone to crush those who venture there with devastating hits. Mekkar employed his powerful legs, lower body core, and very low center of gravity to play the body on enemy players. That meant all types of hits were dished out in many forms, even open-ice hip checks too!

He figured if there is less ice for speedy opponents, then it is easier to track them down. Hopefully, he is not chasing them. In that scenario, it would mean that Mekkar is already behind the play. The Arctic Warrior loved to hand out to other players a hard body check that hopefully would create a turnover. The lack of rink size equals more restricted maneuverability of the opposition’s part. Also, a turnover can start the transition to offense for Mekkar’s squad.

The concept of Mekkar was that, if he could apply more energy to the actual hit itself, it would zap some energy from his enemy. Additionally, Mekkar felt confident that he could use less physical exertion to get to the spot and make it happen in the first place. The benefits would show later on in the game when fatigue on both sides set in. Towards the end of a match when more frequent positional mistakes happen, especially in overtime. Not to forget, Mekkar had other distractions as result of his hand injury.

Mekkar was not a respecter of persons when he reached the ice. He just didn’t have any fear or concern about any individual opponents’ size or the name on the back of their jersey. It didn’t matter to him if that player was popular or not. He did not care in the least bit. Everyone was fair game to be hit by him. In other words, Mekkar considered himself to be an equal opportunity punisher or body checker. That was part of his job on the ice and he did it as best as he could.

The Arctic Native was an original that is for sure. Mekkar was also a pain in the rear end. Even his own mother would describe him that way and took the opportunity to tell him on a not so infrequent basis. Mekkar had another role to play and that was to be a pest on the ice and possibly, or at least willing to, brawl too if needed. He used all of these factors together to get into other competitor’s heads and mess with them. The goal with these tactics was to throw the opposition, especially the stars, off of their top game. That might make the difference between victory or defeat. Later on, Esa “Super Pest” Tikkanen used this same strategy to accomplish the same result, but Tikkanen had much more offensive upside than Mekkar. [hockeyfights.com; The Hockey News]

It is a risk using these types of tactics because the potential to receive a great amount of bodily harm is high. These schemes worked more often than not for Mekkar. The Native from the Far North’s reasoning was if it works, even most of the time, keep doing it. Thus, he continued to follow that same course of activity. Mekkar attempts to use the principle of: If it isn't broken, don't (try to) fix it. [T. Bert Lance, 1977; Ann Landers; & possibly before]

Alf’s described his older brother as being an absolute ruthless, mean individual on the ice. The Far North Native could be one at times outside of hockey as well, depending on his mood. The best way to describe Mekkar’s playing style was that it was quite similar to another undersized individual of more recent times. That person was still larger in statue than Mekkar. Mekkar is reminded of himself when he has observed the play of Darius “Kaspar The Unfriendly Ghost” Kasparaitis. Plus, Darius had more offensive prowess than Mekkar. The ice cold young man Mekkar was meaner than Kasparaitis and chose to focus more on his defensive responsibilities. Mekkar did this at some expense and sacrifice in the offensive end. Both players were however unflinching in their own zone on defense and suffered for it. Even though Darius’ last name sounded like some kind of ailment or disease, the only cure was to try to remove him from the game somehow. The same as Mekkar. [hockeyfights.com; The Hockey News]

Some of Mekkar’s teammates described his metamorphosis as he transformed into like a werewolf or similar type creature right when the match began. Mekkar’s brother Alf said that his sibling turned into a super-jerk at game time. Alf one time explained it as, “Being sometimes more than just a jerk in any competitive atmosphere to everyone around him. This included coaches, teammates, and fans also. He (Mekkar) makes no apologies or excuses and carries out this attitude without any apprehension or hesitation whatsoever. It is like there is no doubt in his deranged mind that what he is doing is correct and proper.” Alf went on to say, “Mekkar is not one to consider one bit about the effects or consequences of his outward actions regarding others around him. He doesn’t seem to care either. Like a type of narcissistic selfishness on my older brother’s part. I don’t think Mekkar totally realizes the complete change going on. Similar to an old time berserker warrior in a trance state.” Alf continued, “Mekkar would then revert to his usual inconsistent moody or at times outgoing self afterwards when the match was over. Trouble is, you never knew which one it was going to be.” 

WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – WINNIPEG (C)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – WINNIPEG (PART B) in July, 2016.]

The last period of this game still gave Mekkar incentive that with a few breaks here and there the Selects could still be competitive in this match. Well, if Mekkar or someone else on his team could draw some man advantage opportunities by way of penalties on the Jets. However, Winnipeg was loaded with talent such as Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson – the Hot Line (Mekkar instead called it the International Line), Willy Lindstrom, Veli-Pekka Ketola, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Heikki Riihiranta, and more. During this third period the Jets got hot & lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine. There was a hope in his brain of an outside possibility to win this matchup. It was not to be however. A Break was the correct term, but not in a manner that Mekkar expected.

Some minutes later in the final stanza and toward the latter part of the game, Mekkar was on another man-down situation because of a stupid penalty on the part of a teammate. He was just glad it finally wasn’t him this time since he was so well adapted to the confines of the sin bin. Mekkar became fatigued and this started to affect his judgment during play. Unfortunately, it was not quite time for him to be replaced either.

As he was drawing near to the shooter at an angle, Mekkar slightly lost his balance during a sharp turn. This while chasing the movement of the puck on the Winnipeg player’s stick. The Jets’ player was winding up to take a slap shot. Mekkar began falling at an odd angle and going down to the ice quicker than he normally did to half-heartedly attempt to block a shot from that point (Problem was, shot blocking was much less common in those days). He thought that he might have hit a rut in the ice or something similar. Yet, he discounted that thought because the ice here is known as pretty good for the most part and there was still too much time to go for that.

Anyway, he was more concerned about hindering the potential shot on goal. As Mekkar was going down he put his one hand up to protect his face, jaw, and neck region. Problem was that it was turned palm side open towards the shooter. On this occasion, Mekkar forgot to turn his hand the opposite way so that the back of his hand with all the padding was facing forward instead. He was tired and not thinking straight out there and probably should have been already off the ice.

The hard shot was taken and the rubber disc hit the unpadded palm at full bore. Instantly, the cracking and crunching sound of bone being broken was heard by anyone nearby the bench. Some of his teammates that close by at the bench heard it too and cringed. There was also damage to the ligaments and tendons, as well as the wrist area. Mekkar knew it was bad right then and just tried to tough it out and finish his shift, which still had about twenty more seconds to go. At this point, those twenty seconds seemed like an eternity to The Arctic Warrior.

Soon after the puck was successfully whisked out of the Selects own zone. The Native from the North finished his shift and went directly to the dressing room area. He heard the news about his injury and found out after the x-rays about a number of broken bones in his hand and wrist from that episode.

Mekkar received treatment and showed his toughness by having his hand heavily taped to get back out there to help his team. Of course, the medications and alcohol helped a bit. He ended up only missing a total of two shifts on this tour. Both were during this time as he was being tended to in the locker room for this particular injury. Mekkar’s hand was badly impaired. He was unable to even hold a pen to sign his name. The teenager would now have to wear a removable soft cast or brace when not playing. The brace was not allowed to be used during matches, so the continued practice of heavy taping would be required if he wanted to soldier on.

Fortunately, he could eat and carry out some functions with his healthy left hand. The rub was that his minutes per game went significantly southward as determined by the coaching staff. Mekkar was a right side defenseman with a right hand shot. Now the injury affected his grip on the stick in his fingers and in turn greatly reduced the effectiveness to shoot the puck with his stick in the desired direction. Mekkar’s wrist shot was in effect fairly negated at that point. The key was not letting the opposition know to avoid exploiting that shortcoming. After the match, he was really starting to feel the effects of the all the things he was given.

Alf’s older brother began to be a wise guy and tried to conceal the seriousness of his injury to his teammates. Mekkar came back with the comment to Alf and Lasse, “Do you know who broke my hand with his famous slapshot? At least, my hand was shattered by a wicked shot by the great Golden Jet, Bobby Hull!” Alf spoke up again to his older sibling, “Everyone, who is familiar with the game, knows who he is! You are at fault because you were star gazing instead of being in the correct position.” Lasse and Alf and a few others on the squad then just shook their heads in mock disbelief at the jest. They thought it was the mix of medication and alcohol doing the talking.

This incident changed the tour for Mekkar and made it less enjoyable. The main reason was it limited his peak performance for awhile until the affliction fully healed. Even to this day one can still hear the cracking and popping sounds from numerous movements by Mekkar’s right hand and wrist. He describes it as if there is a spring or something resembling that in there.

WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – WINNIPEG (B)

Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR – WINNIPEG (PART A) in July, 2016.]

Anyway, Mekkar has determined that eliminating fighting altogether from the game of hockey at the professional level endangers the player. Specifically the stars who people buy tickets to see. By taking away the fist-cuffs completely would result in more injuries to them. Plus, add a watered-down product which could affect the number of fans thus the amount Continued of gate receipts. Since hockey is so much more dependant on fans attending games than the other big sports. The financial health of teams and leagues would be severely hindered.

The instigator rule already is detrimental and curtails the ability to combat cheap shots against the star players that puts fans’ butts in the stands. Mekkar reasons that designated policemen also free up space on the ice and create for more unobstructed movement and offensive flow during the game. However, those fighters’s must have other skills to contribute to the rest of the club.

The Northern Native further comments, “Fighting in our sport is a preferable alternative to other adverse effects from vicious surgical-like stickwork and nasty elbows.” [cbc.ca; Wikipedia.com; Livestrong.com; bleacherreport.com; thepolitic.com/archives/2006/11/09/why-fighting-is-good-for-hockey] He knows this from experience and the number of scars from the evil stick tactics and cheap shots on his body. Even in some non-descript places. Mekkar’s advice is check with some individuals who participate in pro hockey leagues in other locations of the planet that have banned fighting. Those people will tell you stories and give a very different picture regarding that dispute.

He doesn’t want the want the sport to adjust its core self to win over fringe fans in locations that reject the game of hockey. Mekkar nails it in a off the cuff manner, “If they don’t like it, forget them!” He also quips, “The largest gridiron football players don’t scare me, and I have never met one that I couldn’t handle. That goes for most sports athletes including fighters. Remember, I rapped a (non-polar) bear in the nose and told it to leave or it would lose its life!” Mekkar has victoriously tangled with a few of those from other endeavors before. He is afraid of no human, just the trepidation of not succeeding.

As he was watching a hockey game on one of the local channels in the hotel his team was staying at, Mekkar became bothered. One of the hockey commentators, he doesn’t remember which, made a statement that set Mekkar off shouting, “That is such a crock!” at the television. The person on the tube was mentioning something about taking shots on net from sharp angles on the ice. The announcer commented about this factor normally results in a higher percentage of initial goalie saves and rebounds back out in the slot area. That is, in front of the net from the face circle on in to the net. Mekkar notes his disagreement  because netminders are getting better at redirecting the puck over toward the corners and boards away from the net to remove second chance opportunities. He says that opinion is old and changing much quicker than anticipated. At least that was the case with goalies Mekkar has played alongside and against.

Mekkar has the mindset of why should an attacking offensive player intentionally limit themselves and their options for potential goals. Especially by swinging out wide and taking the shots from there only. There are more options and holes to score a goal when shooting on net when an offensive player is directly in the center of the ice in the slot and goal crease areas. The netminder is unable to cover all of the net no matter how large they are and they have to be nimble as well. Well, there is more logic to this train of thought Mekkar asserted. When a goaltender stands in the net in the ready position, there are seven open areas that the goalie must cover: Glove side – high and low, Stick side – high and low, between the pads or legs, and added later between the goalie’s glove or blocker and rib cage. [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-hole; hockeygoalies.org/resources/glossary.html; schoolyardpuck.com/2010/10/why-it-called-five-hole-in-hockey.html] Why shoot where it is easiest to stop?

Then there is matter of goaltenders playing and cutting off the angels to dramatically increase their ability to stop pucks. [hockeygoalies.org/advice/rule5.html; ehow.com/how_2294079_improve-angles-playing-goalie-hockey.html] This was even more helpful to Mekkar due to his frequent riverboat gambling and aggressive style in relation to checking attacking opposition forwards. Don’t forget about the amount of communication on the ice needed between teammates. Most definitely between goalies and defensemen like Mekkar. These are nuances that are only acquired through familiarity and pre-arrangement between team members. [hockeygoalies.org/advice/rule4.html]

The burgeoning young man has seen many instances of hockey matches at many levels where one team has vastly outshot their opposition. Yet, that team lost the game anyway because that squad had the majority of their shots on net from the sides instead of directly out front. To Mekkar, it is the matter of prime scoring chances right out front of the net and in the middle of the ice that means more than the shots on goal statistic.

Yet, the Youngster from the Arctic felt that the goaltending on the Selects squad had to be absolutely superb - very similar to the early part of this tour, to have any chance of winning this game. It could not be lackluster as in the last couple of matches. Mekkar has seen the Jets play some exhibitions against various teams outside of North America. He had even seen others on film as well. So, he guessed that he was familiar with their style of play. The fact of the matter was that Mekkar was wrong and way off base.

Winnipeg had added a few members on their roster recently and were about to show why the Jets were considered one of the most talented hockey clubs on the planet. The skill level was beyond Mekkar’s expectations and he would get a close up view this night at the Winnipeg Arena. [billsportsmaps.com; Wikipedia; whahockey.com; Playing Hockey The World Over … - wha.htm] A butt kicking was about to begin at Mekkar’s expense. Fortunately, the whipping was only going to be on the scoreboard and not smacks to the head.

This match was not a goon-fest unlike some of the others. Part of it was the difficulty for the Selects to keep up and catch those in the Jets’ uniforms on this night. Thus, there was an absence of challenge them to a few bouts of let’s go or do the tango – aka fighting. Otherwise, the lopsided score probably would have been worse than the nine to one embarrassing defeat Mekkar’s squad suffered.

During the second period of this ongoing debacle, the Selects received a few too many men on the ice bench minor penalties. Normally in most rinks both team benches are roughly the same size and on the same side of the ice surface. There usually are the sin bins and possibly a scorer’s box or something similar in between them. Each team switches sides of the ice for each period, thus creating a rotational change for a team but keeping the same bench. In this scenario, the second frame results in the team’s bench being further away from a particular club’s defensive zone. This makes on the fly line changes, without the benefits of a stoppage in play, more problematic. Due to the fact that your team’s bench is now further away.

Overtime play is harder because of the matter of player fatigue. The smooth and fluid Jets took advantage of those infractions and capitalized on those man advantage power play situations. One thing Mekkar did notice while skating near the home Winnipeg bench to arrive at his own was difference between the two. It dawned on Mekkar that the hometown club had a quicker change of players between shifts. Maybe, he thought, it was because their area was a lot larger and was more spacious than the one available to the visitor’s.    

Mekkar thought to himself then no wonder the Selects were receiving all these were due to a lack of space. It felt kind of cramped on his side and he wanted to find out who was going to makeup for the disparity or receive punishment from him. He later found out, from an arena worker who admitted the discrepancy, that the visitor’s bench is quite a bit shorter than the homeside area. Mekkar quipped distastefully, “Another home ice advantage in their favor as if they needed it.” It made a difference when a player coming off of the ice approaches the bench within five foot range. A player outside of that limit cannot replace the one coming off of the ice and join the play. Otherwise it is a penalty for too many men on the ice for your team. Once a player removes themselves from the activity from the frozen surface there is a shifting and readjusting process on the pine.

Usually offensive trios and defense pairs on a squad sit together on the bench and converse with each other about the game. Sometimes, it is instruction by a veteran to a younger member of the club. There are questions regarding assessment of the play, recognition, anticipation during action, a quick breather, and much more. This all happens until you are re-inserted back into the fray. The intense adolescent wasn’t about to let easier line changes, homeside differences and preferences, and awe of his opponent effect his performance on the frozen slab of water.