Laperriere a Force On and Off The Ice
(from the Courier-Post)
By Chuck Gormley
Staff Writer
October 5, 2009 - Ian Laperriere's nose tells you all you need to know about how he plays the game of hockey. It's narrow bridge slopes sharply then turns left and flattens at his nostrils.
By comparison, Rod Brind'Amour's looks like Mona Lisa's.
Upon reviewing the fact Laperriere has surpassed 100 penalty minutes in 11 of his previous 15 seasons and is one fight shy of surpassing 1,800 career penalty minutes, the natural assumption is that his snout has been broken a time or three.
So a nosey reporter went ahead and asked him what most people wonder all the time.
"How many times has it been broken?"
"Never," Laperriere replies with a straight face. "I was born like this."
He follows with a hearty laugh.
"Only kidding. Seven or eight times, rough count."
He has been a Flyer for all of two games but already the light-hearted presence of Laperriere is being felt in the dressing room, while his relentless play is being felt on the ice.
Signed to a three-year, $3.5 million contract over the summer, Laperriere is quickly making friends in the locker room and enemies on the ice, just as he has over a 15-year career, mostly in the Western Conference.
"Lappy is full of energy and keeps things loose in the dressing room," Flyers captain Mike Richards said. "He's a guy we know will do anything for his teammates."
Aside from a brief 28-game stop in New York with the Rangers, Laperriere has spent his entire career in the West, playing for the Blues, Kings and Avalanche, where he dropped the gloves 74 times over 15 NHL seasons.
That's a whole lot of fist throwing for a 35-year-old guy who looks smaller and lighter than his advertised 6-foot-1, 200 pounds.
"I do fight, it's part of my game," said Laperriere, the oldest player on the Flyers. "But it's not the only part of my game. You don't last in this league just by fighting. I'm not a heavyweight at all. I'll lose three quarters of my fights, but I'll be there for my teammates."
That, perhaps more than anything, has been Laperriere's trademark since he entered the league in 1994 after being taken by the Blues in the seventh round of the 1992 draft. Minnesota Wild forward Andrew Brunette, who played with Laperriere for three seasons in Colorado, called him one of the best teammates he's ever had.
Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, who came into the NHL the same year as Laperriere, called him one of the hardest players he's had to play against during his 15 years in the league.
Through two games, Laperriere already has more goals (1) than penalty minutes (0), but he doesn't expect things to stay that way once he works up a little hate for opponents in the Eastern Conference.
"I'm all new, I'm not mad at anybody yet," Laperriere said after Saturday night's 5-2 win over the Devils in Newark. "Give me a couple games and I'll get mad at someone. I need to look at the stats to see who they are and I'm sure they're doing the same thing for me. When you get a couple cheap shots here or there you remember that. But it's only two games, Trust me, I'll work up my rivalries."
Laperriere and Pronger will get their first taste of two of the Flyers' most heated rivals when the Washington Capitals visit the Wachovia Center Tuesday night, followed by the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday.
Matched with shot-blocking faceoff specialist Blair Betts and the ultra-aggressive Dan Carcillo, the Flyers' new LCB line has earned significant ice time over the first two games, logging nearly 13 minutes in wins over Carolina and Jersey.
"The fourth line has been just tremendous," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "They cycle the puck, they make you spend long stretches in the offensive zone and they take their checking roles seriously."
With a nightly lineup boasting four legitimate fighters -- Carcillo, Scott Hartnell, Pronger and himself -- along with two more willing combatants (Riley Cote and Arron Asham) on the scratch sheet, the Flyers have the potential of being one of the NHL's most penalized teams for the third straight season.
Laperriere believes physical intimidation still exists in the NHL, but not the way it did a decade or two ago.
"We have talent and grit and that's what it takes to go all the way," Laperriere said. "We need to get to be a team. It's a long marathon. I guarantee you one thing: the teams that play us won't like us, not only because of the fighting but the way we play. The Detroit Red Wings are tough to play against and they don't have one guy who fights."
Reach Chuck Gormley at cgormley@courierpostonline.com