Brad Marchand has done an awful lot of good for the Boston Bruins. He was part of the 2011 Stanley Cup team. He’s been one of the team’s most reliable scorers, and he’s one of the best agitators the Bruins have had in the last twenty years. So far this season, he’s been the most reliable player to wear the Black and Gold. Tonight, he was awarded with an ‘A’ by the team for his overall play and leadership off the ice.
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He’s made a lot of positive progress since coming over to be part of the Merlot Men at the start of the 2010-11 season. He’s become a better player while cutting back on the bad moves, stupid penalties, and technical errors that kept him back from being a truly elite player in the NHL. Every once in a while though, Marchand will make one of those mistakes that will get the ‘Little Ball of Hate’ into a ‘Large Tub of Hot Water’.
During the first period of tonight’s Boston Bruins-Ottawa Senators match, Brad Marchand attempts to get around the screen Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki. Marchand ducks down low, and tries to pivot around the Senators player. What he ended up doing was up-ending Borowiecki, sending him to the ice and to the dressing room for a while. Marchand was not assessed a penalty on the ice for his actions.
As you'd expect, the Marchand hit on Borowiecki has been clipped by DoPS, per source. Will be looked at.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) December 30, 2015
It’s no surprise that this hit will be flagged by the Department of Player Safety. It’s a low hit, and Marchand (height jokes aside) has a history with them. Marchand has been suspended three times in his career, all of them for lower body hits. He was suspended for slew-footing Derick Brassard and Matt Niskanen, and for up-ending Sami Salo in a similar fashion.
Brad Marchand will know by tomorrow morning if he’s facing any serious action. If Marchand does receive a suspension, he will be unable to play in the 2016 Winter Classic. That would certainly be unfortunate for Marchand and the Bruins. The B’s are currently down several key players, and it would hurt to see the Bruins lose the player that is the most capable of crawling under the skin of the Canadiens.