Satan on Ice

I kind of lost interest in hockey when Beautiful Bobby (#4-Bobby Orr) hung up his skates. Back then, I followed them religiously, just like Eddie Coyle*. Beside Bobby, the team had numero sept, Phil Esposito (whose Brother Tony played for the Black Hawks), Johnny "pieface" MacKenzie, womanizer Derek Sanderson and Teddy Green, who had a steel plate inserted in his head. Those were the days. Yeah, I know.

Anyway, Bobby retired. They hung his number up in the rafters. And the game turned all gladiator, best typified by the late great Warren Zevon's song, "Hit Somebody."



My interest has been piqued a bit lately due to the fact that the Bruins are in the playoffs. It's fun to have the Bruins, Celtics and Red Sox all playing at the same time. Like a convergence of pastimes, diverting my attention from oil spills, sunken cities, crazy politicians and an announcement that Sarah has another book coming out.

So I read in the New York Times about this guy on the Bruins. The headline was, "Satan and the Bruins Finding Their Grooves." What? Have the Bruins gone all Satanic on their fans?

Alas, this is the price for not following the game of the puck. Satan's been around. He played for the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins before landing with the Bruins. The New York Times article described Miroslav Satan (from Slovakia... not the netherworld, as one would surmise), "Satan, who has a pointy goatee and arched eyebrows... "

Here's a sample quote from the article, that, taken, even slightly out of context is devilishly funny...

"Bruins center Marc Savard said of Satan: 'I'm sure he wanted to prove something to himself, that he could play again. You always want to prove something to yourself.'

Satan apparently proved something without saying a lot to his teammates."

Evidently, the fans at the Garden are loving having "Miro" on the team. "At the last playoff game in Boston, a white sheet was unfurled that read, 'Satan: Putting goalies through hell since 1993."

The article also pointed out that his last name is pronounced shuh-TAN. Whatever. And the man upstairs is known by many names, too.


*I saw The Friends of Eddie Coyle recently. Aside from some dated aspects of it and awkward scenes, like the ones of Eddie with his wife, the movie holds up really well. Peter Boyle was a hell of an actor. But no one--and I mean no one--conveyed weary and tired like Mitchum. He was one of the best. I loved him as Marlowe and in Out of the Past. Hell, DeNiro didn't come close to his quiet evil in the original Cape Fear. They don't make 'em like that anymore.