Tribute or Ode to Mr. Recchi ~ A hockey Legend

Mr. Mark Recchi was born on February 1st 1968 In Kamloops B.C.

He played for 7 Professional NHL Teams from 1988 to 2011 and won 3 Stanley Cup's with 3 Different teams. Unless you were born on the Moon or live under a rock you would know that his Last year in 2011 he retired after helping Boston Win the Stanley Cup.

Recch’s Was one of my favorite ALL TIME NHL Players ever to wear the Orange & Black with the FLYERS. Although he did help many teams win Stanley Cups from Boston, To Carolina to Pittsburgh, sadly he did not win a Stanley Cup with Philadelphia FLYERS, a team he spent most of his career with.

Why did people Love Mark Recchi?  He had the heart of a Lion!  They Generously listed him at either 5’ 10" or 5’9" but in reality he probably was 5’8" and I have seen him tough it out and grit it with 6’2" enforcers blow by blow. His best production year was as a FLYER with 53 goals and 70 assists for 123 points on a Crappy 1993 Russ Farwell (aaaaaaaggggghhhhhhh !!!!!!) GM’d Nightmare of an NHL Club. He pretty much had the bulk of the scoring for the team and pretty much carried the team on his back. ON March 5th 2004 in one of the most penalized NHL games in History. Mark Recchi was the Archduke Ferdinand of the game as Recchi hooked Havlat in a game a week earlier in Ottawa .. Havlat Crashed into the boards awkwardly and retaliated. The link is below. (Ironically Zedeno Chara was on the Senators at that time.) What ensued was a powder keg explosion of penalties and brawls that resulted in one of the most penalized games in all of the entire NHL. Comments from the link are here.. 

“The brawl (In Philly) was likely to have been initiated because of a previous incident between the teams. About a week before the brawl, the Flyers were in Ottawa for a game against the Senators. During the third period, Flyers winger Mark Recchi was following Martin Havlat of the Senators when he crossed into the Philadelphia defensive zone.3 As this happened, Recchi hooked Havlat, causing both of the players to collide and fall into the boards.3 When Havlat got up from the ice, angered by Recchi’s hook, he took his stick above him and slashed Recchi, hitting him in the face.3
Havlat was given a five-minute major penalty for attempting to injure Recchi, along with a game misconduct penalty. He was later given a two-game suspension by the NHL due to the incident.”

Whats the point to this ?? .. I am merely trying to say that pound for pound Mark Recchi was probably one of the Toughest, Grittiest Players to play the game. He is known for his Playmaking abilities and took pride in setting up goals with assists. He often publicly stated that he wanted to be known as a playmaker rather than a speedy scorer. He was fast on his skates but not many people knew that Mark Recchi used to get into fist fights with guys that easily had 6 to 9 inches of height on him and 20 to 50 lbs of muscle more than him .. Yet he won a fair share of those scraps despite the size difference.

Simply Put… as I said earlier... he had the hart of a LION.

At 42 and 43 yrs of age his Play slowed his goal production was lesser and his hair was much much thinner .. BUT he was an Integral Key Element to the BRUINS winning their first Stanley Cup Championship since 1972. A Locker Room leader and an Inspiration to the players. How can Seguin, Krejci or Lucic take a night off on an 82 game schedule and a deep playoff run when a 42 Year old man never did ?! In Fact .. Mark Recchi Broke into the League in 1988 when Krejci and Lucic were soiling their Pampers and Seguin was a glimmer in his pappy’s eye as he wasn’t even born yet till 1992. Simply Put .. Recch’s had old hockey skates and Hockey Scars older than Seguin.

He was a warrior and a True NHL Player.

Mark Recchi… We loved ya .. say it ain’t so.. sad to see you go .. YOU WILL TRULY BE SADLY MISSED ON THE ICE.