Move Over, Chuck Norris and Dick Cheney. There’s a New Tough Man in Town.
This is Eric Belanger, a professional hockey player who, this year, is a member of my Beloved Washington Capitals. He is not this Eric Belanger, beefcakey fashion model. No, our Eric Belanger is a tough man who would not be caught dead on a runway unless perhaps it was an airport runway and he was guiding 747′s to their gates by hip-checking them there.
Is he that tough? Oh, you had better believe it.
Belanger says Saturday he “felt my teeth shatter, right away,” when Canadiens defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron’s stick hit him in the mouth in the first period of Montreal’s 2-1 victory at Washington in Game 5 of their playoff series Friday night.
Belanger needed some serious dental work at the arena, getting exposed tooth roots trimmed — then returned to the ice midway through the third period.
Explains Belanger: “I knew I was in trouble, but what are you going to do? It’s the playoffs.”
Let’s run through that again. Belanger took a hockey stick to the teeth and lost either 7 or 8 of them, including one he pulled out himself. Then he had some exposed roots “trimmed” and went back out and finished the game. That’s not just tough; that’s Chuck Norris tough.
Oh, and Bergeron, the tooth-shatterer, got away with it cleanly. The officials apparently thought that Belanger was ambushed by an overly-aggressive tooth fairy. Let’s hope she doesn’t show up for tonight’s game, too.
Other Posts of Interest:
- An Overdue Hockey Blog Post
- Who Wouldn’t Love the Jedi Council on the Ice?
- Ovie Knows Something We Don’t Know. He is Not Left-Handed!
Category: The Capitals and Other Pond Stuff
