Sometimes it’s just best to find your niche and know who you are. As Zack Stortini hopes to stick with the Philadelphia Flyers after years of AHL play, it’s pretty clear that he’s not shy about his role as an enforcer.
According to various onlookers, the 29-year-old engaged in his third fight in less than four periods of preseason action on Tuesday, in the latest case piling up penalty minutes against David Broll.
Zack Stortini hit with 2+5+10 after 3d fight in less than 3.5 periods of preseason hockey for what looked like late punch vs. David Broll.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 23, 2014
Side note: Some believe that Stortini might have landed a late punch in the bout. Hockey Fights already uploaded video of the scuffle for your own perusal:
Stortini spent last season with the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, fighting his way to a staggering 299 penalty minutes in just 73 games by fighting a whopping 33 times by Hockey Fights’ count.
He last appeared in a single NHL game with the Nashville Predators in 2011-12 while the rest of his 256 NHL appearances came with the Edmonton Oilers from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
The role of the one-dimensional enforcer seems to be fading rapidly - even guys who are labeled as such admit as much - so it’s anyone’s guess if we’ll see much/any of Stortini in meaningful action. It doesn’t sound like there should be much doubt about what he’s prepared to do if he does make any NHL appearances with the Flyers or another team in 2014-15, though.