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Chirp/Counter-chirp: John Scott, Shawn Thornton exchange barbs

Shawn Thornton, Fernando Pisani

on March 29, 2011 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Elsa

It’s either a big shame or a great relief that the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks likely will only see each other once or twice a year, unless they meet in the Stanley Cup finals. If you’re a fan of fights and bad blood, it’s a disappointment; if you think that fisticuffs do little but detract from the high-level skill of hockey players, you might be glad they only meet on seldom occasions.

Despite the fact that the Bruins handed the ‘Hawks a tough (but probably not paralyzing) loss, it seems like the “chirping” between Shawn Thornton and the Blackhawks bench stole the show. This post has a good rundown of the events, but the basic gist is that the Chicago bench heckled Thornton as he left the ice after enduring a gash that forced him to get 40 stitches. Before you consider the Blackhawks bench totally indefensible, their vitriolic response stemmed from frustrations related to Thornton reportedly picking on far-from-gritty forward Fernando Pisani.

(It still seems silly of Chicago players to do so, especially with Thornton being a bloody mess.)

CSN Boston’s Joe Haggerty provides the latest of the chirp-fest, as he caught up with towering Blackhawks defenseman/enforcer John Scott. Despite being a healthy scratch during the game, the 6-foot-8 blueline bruiser had some choice - if periodically perplexing - words for Thornton.

“He said that? That’s fine. He can say what he wants,” said Hawks enforcer Scott to the Chicago Tribune. “He’s going after some of our littlest guys on our team to start a fight. He’s trying to challenge [Fernando] Pisani to a fight. What’s that say about him?

“He’s Mr. Tough Guy and he’s trying to challenge Pisani. If I’m in the lineup, he’s more than welcome to come chirp at me. I’ll kick the [bleep] out of him.”

(snip)

The smack-talking defenseman said somewhat confusedly that Thornton was a “stand up guy”, but also got what was coming to him when he suffered an injury that could have given him permanent sight damage had it been a few inches south of his forehead.

“I don’t know if [I would chirp at an injured player], Thornton is a stand-up guy,” said Scott. “I don’t know who said anything, but he was kind of being cheap that game. So whatever. He gets what comes to him.”

Thornton’s response to all this: “No comment.”


Wait, Scott thinks is a stand-up guy but still thinks that Thornton was being cheap and that he deserves of a bleep-worthy beating? OK, then. Actually, Thornton did have something of a comment later on, as Haggerty shared on Twitter.
Texted Shawn Thornton for response to Jon Scott’s “kick the (bleep) out of him” comments, and B’s enforcer 1st text back said it all: “Who?”

That’s a good one-liner, but considering the fact that Scott is listed at a height just short of Zdeno Chara, something tells me Thornton would be one of the people who would take notice of him if he did play. Scott isn’t making a name for himself in the league by playing shut-down defense, but rather for using his enormous size to beat other players to a bloody pulp.

In other words, if the two face each other, it’s quite possible one of the teams’ benches would have another chance to chirp away at a bloodied player. Whenever they actually meet again, that is.