Maybe it's not so easy, Colorado Avalanche - Claude Lemieux

Cal Clutterbuck made quite the impression this past week (December 23rd 2010) when the Wild faced and beat the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. Apparently, Cal Clutterbuck rattled the Colorado Avalanche so much that their Denver Post beat writer went off on a Cal Clutterbuck diatribe in a fashion that would mirror a fan blog type rant, minus the profanity, fine for fan blog but it does seem out of character for beat writers of a major news paper. Here is what Adrian Dater had to say about the NHL's hit leader.

All THINGS AVS ---- Clutterbuck is who he is. A hit-and-run artist. A trash talker. A guy who has no problem catching you with a big hit, as long as your back is turned or you have no time to react from the front. If you want to get him back, he’s going to cover up, play possum, and hope you draw a penalty. And a lot of his defenders point out that he leads the league in hits every year, but also has low penalty minutes – which kind of makes my point. He’s trying to artificially jack up his hit total, but doesn’t want to back anything up with a fight or two.

Like I said, he’s good at it. But it still doesn’t change that ultimate truth about Cal Clutterbuck: that he doesn’t stand up for himself, that he wants to hit and run and cower. Teammates hate those kinds of guys, because it means their guys are going to be targeted right back since he won’t fight his own battles. These teams will meet again soon, and we’ll see if Cal is clucking as loudly that night.

Personally, I find it funny because the Avalanche don’t have the moral high ground in this situation. One could say that the Av's fans have short memories eh? Rewind to 1996 when the Colorado Avalanche employed one of the most disgusting players to ever wear a uniform in the NHL, that pukes/hacks name was Claude Lemieux. On May During the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs Lemieux hit Chris Drapper face first into the dasher causing him to suffer a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheekbone, and a concussion… I don’t remember an incident where Cal Clutterbuck has committed an act of aggression like that in the NHL… To top it all off, for the Av’s fans that have short memories, Claude the Fraud never apologized for his transgression against Chris Draper. Yeah, that’s something I would be proud of if I was an Avalanche fan. So don’t come pointing your finger at the Wild and their players because your franchise had one dirtiest, disgusting players to ever put on a uniform.

First example;Claude Lemieux turtles as Redwings tough guy Darren McCarty delivers a beat-down… [click to view video]

Second example; after delivering a bush league high stick to Cam Neely Claude the Fraude turtles again... [click to view video]