In my daily perusal of the online sports media yesterday, I came across some sad, sad news. Much to my surprise and dismay, I read that defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, a 16-year veteran of the league, is retiring. It seems that no team was willing to take a risk on the hard-hitting defenseman. After reading this, I sat back and thought to myself, "Good riddance."
The day that I have been waiting for has finally come.
While there are plenty of NHL players I dislike, there are few who I despise as much as Ulf. Claude Lemieux? Doesn't even come close. Pat Verbeek? Nah. Alexei Yashin? Not at all. Ulfie ranks up there among the annals of the all-time most hated players in my world. I think you would be able to find a few others with the same mindset in Boston and other cities around the league too.
Ulfie had a long and marginally successful career. He played for five different teams, but his prime years were with the then-Hartford Whalers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won two Stanley Cups with the Pens during their back-to-back reign in 1990-91 and 1991-92. His career totals included 57 goals, 275 assists and 2,453 penalty minutes in 1,080 games. Obviously Ulfie was no offensive superstar. That wasn't his job.
By his rather cumbersome penalty minutes total, you may be able to tell that he was a goon. Now, don't get me wrong. There is certainly a place for fighting and physical play in the game. I have nothing against players whose sole job is to protect skilled players and wreak some havoc once in a while. Marty McSorley made a career out of being Wayne Gretzky's personal bodyguard. While McSorley is no model citizen (note the infamous stick swinging incident last year), he is at least tolerable.
What I can't stand is consistent cheap play that won't be backed up. Samuelsson was the master of this. He was very good at delivering career-ending hits, but when time came to pay the piper he would cower in the corner like a little puppy.
Here is a personal testament to his cowardice. In 1991 in the Wales Conference finals against Boston, Samuelsson delivered a low knee check (a la Darius Kasparitus) to Cam Neely, Boston's skilled power forward. The check caused Neely's thigh muscle to turn to bone, and set off a series of injuries for Neely that ended his promising career too early.
While I am a little biased since Neely was my favorite player, it wasn't so much the hit itself that bothered me. Those hits happen sometimes. It was the way Samuelsson reacted to the hit that rubbed me the wrong way. After Neely recovered from that injury, whenever it would come time for the Penguins to play the Bruins and for Ulfie to face the music, he would somehow come down with the flu.
Finally there came the game when Ulfie dressed to play against the Bruins. Neely would get his chance to avenge the injury. The first time Neely was on the ice with Samuelsson at the same time, he went straight for Ulfie. When Neely challenged him to fight, Samuelsson politely declined. Unfortunately for Ulfie, Cam would not accept that, grabbed Samuelsson's shirt and began pummeling him. True to form, Ulfie collapsed to ice and turtled up to deflect the blows.
The Boston Garden crowd grabbed hold of this dishonorable show and rode Ulfie hard for the rest of the game. Even after Neely made his second attempt to make Samuelsson pay for his actions and was kicked out of the game, Ulfie did not hear the last of it.
This display of total cowardice was common for the Swede. He saw nothing wrong in hitting from behind, making dangerous open-ice hits and sundry other sneaky moves, but when another player accosted him because of his actions he backed down. He was the worst kind of goon. If you are going to play dirty hockey, at least take responsibility for your actions.
Hockey is a game of skill and physical play, and has its dangers. NHL players perform at such high intensity that even the most minor of hits could prove career-ending. However, with a player like Ulfie, those hits come heavy and often. Trying to injur an opposing player is one of the lowest actions a player can take. It shows a lack of respect for the game and its participants and a lack of honor on the part of the perpetrator. These are values the NHL needs in its players. The league will be a much better place without Ulfie. Goodbye, and good riddance.
