Radko "Gudas," yet another in the long line of Philly goons

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


With 1:27 to play in a game that had been over for some time Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas pulled a punk-ass, thug-move on a prone Danieal Catenacci and laid him out at center ice with a shot to the head. The Buffalo Sabres forward would eventually get up, a little wobbly, and head to the dressing room. Catenacci is in the NHL’s concussion protocol.

This isn’t the first time Gudas has head-hunted. In a Matt Larkin piece for The Hockey News the author lists a few of incidents this season that has drawn the attention of the NHL’s players safety people. Larkin notes a hit to the head of the Ottawa Senators Mika Zibanejad (a three-game suspension,) a blow to the head of the NY Rangers Viktor Stalberg in October, and an ejection (but no suspension) for clipping Montreal’s Lucas Lessio

 

Add in a couple more last night and Gudas, in 47 games this season, has had the NHL looking at his actions five times already. That, my friends is approaching, if not surpassing, Patrick Kaleta levels. And Goudas stat-line of 0 goals, 3 assists and 72 penalty minutes is a strong nod to John Scott, whom many labeled anything but a hockey player.

 

Last night Gudas gooned it up again twice, the first time late in the second period with a faux hipcheck should have been a tripping call on Marcus Foligno. With Foligno on the rush at the Philly blueline, Goudas, who would have been beaten on the play, missed his “hipcheck” by a mile, and tripped up Foligno with his leg as the Sabre was passing him by. Foligno went flying and to add insult to a potential injury, Foligno turned the puck over, the Flyers turned it up ice then scored on a goal by Michal Raffl.

 

It was a dangerous move that infuriated Foligno. He sent a stiff crosscheck to Goudas and the two dropped the gloves. And to add salt to the wound, the Flyers ended up with a powerplay.

Not satisfied with that, late in the third with the game in hand, “Goondas” lined up Catenacci as he was entangled with the Flyers Chris VandeVelde. The 5'9" 191 lb. forward reaching for the puck while VandeVelde kept him hunched over. Goudas took advantage of the situation and just leveled Catenacci with a vicious shoulder to the head. Why he would essentially pull a third man in and follow through with a hit on a prone player, especially very late in the game with the outcome determined, is anyone’s guess. Maybe it was his off the charts hockey-sense. Or maybe it was simply a case of a loveable lunkhead pulling off a meathead move that makes the Flyers proud as he’s yet another in a long list of goons that have paraded through Philadelphia.

It’s the Flyers' way.

Gudas received a three-game suspension for the Zibanejad hit and with one game left reporters converged on him after practice with the name Ogie Oglethorpe bouncing around the room according to philly.com’s Sam Chiardi. Chiardi would emerge that day with an article entitled Gudas' impact on Flyers surpasses his "goon" rep and would go on to label him “a throw-back player” with the caveat, “when he plays smartly.”  

“Gudas has kept opponents on their toes with his physical play,” continued Chiardi. “He can be desribed thusly:  Old. Time. Hockey.”

Kudos to Chiardi for taking off the Orange and Black glasses when he said that the suspension for the hit on Zibanejad was justified, although he did complain in the next sentence that “the NHL erred when it did not suspend Boston’s Zac Rinaldo—who has a long history of being disciplined—when his head hit gave [the Flyers] Sean Couturier a concussion in October.”

Yeah, that Rinaldo’s he's another real gem, isn’t he?

By the way, that would be the same Rinaldo who was drafted by Philadelphia in 2008 (178^th overall) and spent that long history of being disciplined” as a member of the Flyers for 223 games while racking up 572 penalty minutes.

Go figure.