Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Avery the Most Effective Agitator

At CBSSportsline, Mihai Cercel answers the question of who's the NHL's most effective agitator...

"Take Sean Avery of the New York Rangers who seems to have one of the nastiest reputations among today's agitators. This guy can get under another players' skin almost by just skating past him. Throw in a mean word and an elbow, and the gloves are off. But in contrast to a few other so-called goon types, Avery is quite a skilled player and makes important contributions to his team not only by fighting, protecting some of the star players, but by also skating hard, playing defense and most important having the ability to score and score key goals at times. On occasions, Avery will get himself and the Rangers in trouble by playing a bit too aggressive, maybe a little too on edge, but the positives of his game are generally more than the negatives particularly in the playoffs."

...many people will say Lundqvist is the MVP of this team. But me, I say Sean Avery is the motor that makes this engine run. As Cercel says, its not just the agitator role his brings to the ice, the guy's got legitimate hockey skills as well.

...not only do his teammates feed off of his energy but so do the fans. When Avery fought the Penguin's Malone the other night the entire crowd was on their feet going nuts. I don't think I've ever seen a crowd reaction that insane for a fight.

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