On Friday night, the Anaheim Ducks routed the Arizona Coyotes 5-0, putting together a dominant road win. Unfortunately, the late-game antics of Coyotes forward Jay Beagle became the real story in the contest.
Late in the game, Beagle took a run at Ducks rookie Trevor Zegras, cross checking him from behind in front of the Arizona net. Naturally, a scrum had ensued and, as is hockey tradition, everyone grabbed ahold of a player on the opposite team, with Ducks forward Troy Terry was the one nearest Beagle and engaged the frustrated Yotes forward.
What happened next took the situation from standard post-whistle scrum to full on assault on the ice. When Terry locked up with Beagle to give him an earful for his dirty cross check on Zegras, Beagle began to tee off on Terry, who had not even dropped his gloves. This is the end result.
Obviously, hockey is a physical sport. But there is certainly a line when it comes to beating the brakes off of an unwilling combatant. If two guys wish to drop the gloves and go at it, it's just a time-honoured tradition. When one of the two players involved in a skirmish doesn't want to drop the gloves, it then becomes an attack.
Jay Beagle is a veteran player who definitely knows better. Terry, while no rookie himself, is anything but a fighter. He was simply a player stepping in to let another player know that he had crossed the line. Unfortunately for Troy Terry, Beagle doesn't mind crossing lines and did so here as well.
