Dropping the Gloves: In defense of Jody Shelley

WOOOHOOOO Dropping the Gloves has returned.

In the Sharks season opener against the Avs they lost... boooooooo. But in the game Jody Shelley was in a fight... wooooooo... but he didn't beat anyone down... booooooooo

Okay so this Dropping the Gloves is going to be a twofer. 1st why Jody Shelley is on the Sharks and 2nd the fight.

Lately Jody Shelley has been taking a lot of heat. People say he's useless all he does is fight. That's true, he can't skate very well and he brings no offensive or defensive abilities. Why is he on the team? As you know he's the enforcer. He brings a different aspect to the game, something that the other players can't bring. He protects his teammates blah blah blah, not gonna get into the whole enforcer stuff.

Jody's been getting a lot of heat because he's not a "very good fighter." I'm willing to bet you that his teammates don't care about this. (As I said in the game thread) It takes some major balls to go day in and out willing to drop the gloves. Imagine stepping up for someone and fighting then the next day fighting someone who challenges you. I tell you when my friends punch me on the arm it hurts. I can only imagine what it feels like to be repeatedly punched in the face, get some bruises, and be willing to fight again.  For this reason and probably many more, Jody Shelley is respected in the locker room.

It kills me when people talk bad about Jody. He was a fan favorite in Columbus for a reason ya know.

Then there's Brad Staubitz and Frazer McLaren. If they have those two, shouldn't Jody Shelley be expendable? Probably not I guess. If Jody's still on the team, there's obviously some use for him. I'm not 100% sure on this subject, but I'll try to make sense of it. Staubitz isn't ready to be a full time NHL enforcer. He takes too many dumb penalties and isn't mature enough for the job yet. McLaren can be an enforcer but he's a guy that can put the puck in the net and could screen the goaltender.

**********************************************************************************************************************************

And now for Dropping the Gloves time!

Here's Jody Shelley in the first fight for the Sharks this season. David Koci was his opponent.

Before the fight Matt Hendricks makes a little run at Scott Nichol. Big bad Jody Shelley says, "Hey, I'm not gonna let you do that to my guy" so he shoves Hendricks in the face. Other fighter David Koci says, "Hey, if you're gonna go after my guy let's fight." They drop the gloves. They proceed to throw some punches but neither make much contact. They but got those little sweater jabs in though. Koci catches Shelley unbalanced and throws him down. This bout was a draw. booooorrrrrinnnggg. (If you're new to the win-loss thing for fighting take downs aren't taken into account.)

So, there you have it. The first Dropping the Gloves of the season.

(oops almost forgot the poll, the best part! Who doesn't love biased polls?)