When Shawn Thornton hops over the boards and steps on the ice, he has no friends. As the team's enforcer, Thornton's job is to protect his teammates...even if that means fighting one of his own friends. Thornton was faced with that situation on Saturday when former Bruins teammate and friend Andrew Alberts hit Marco Sturm with a cross-check. Thornton felt that Alberts needed to answer the bell for his actions and invited him to swap haymakers (although, Alberts was mostly on the receiving end).
There were also no hard feelings on the other side of the ice:"I think Albe [Andrew Alberts] plays on the edge. He’s a hardnosed player. I thought there were a couple of questionable hits so I felt it needed to be addressed. It is not fun when you have to fight a friend but if you play that game then sometimes you have to answer the bell, and that’s all that was. I think it was very big of him to step up and get them (the gloves) off, so credit to him."
- Shawn Thornton after Saturday night 7-2 home win over Carolina
"We are buddies obviously; he just said that was for the play on Savvy [Marc Savard], when Savvy [Marc Savard] ran me after I hit Sturmy [Marco Sturm]. It is just part of the game and we will be friends after it." - Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Andrew Alberts on fighting former teammate Shawn Thornton
Shawn Thornton could very well fight another one of his old buddies on Thursday when his former team, the Anaheim Ducks come to town. You could say that the Ducks have a few guys that are well-schooled in the art of the fisticuff.