For the Boston Bruins, Mark Recchi gets sent out on the ice for a number of reasons. For one, he knows where to be and what to do at all times. With more than 1,800 career games, 177 of which were playoff games, Recchi’s pretty much seen it all.
Claude Julien also sends Recchi onto the ice because he’s a leader, because he can go to the dirty areas and find goals and because he never takes a shift off.
But Recchi really isn’t out there to hit people. He’s 5-foot-10, 190 pounds and 43 years old. He’s not going the Roger Clemens “play half a season” route, either. In the past three seasons, Recchi’s missed a grand total of four games.
So having skated hard every day since August, you’d have to wonder if the veteran Recchi was getting tired. He answered that question midway through the third period, when he saw Mattias Ohlund lining him up for a big hit.
Recchi was undersized by about five inches and 30 pounds, but he used that veteran savvy to turn the tables.
Check it out in the video below.
