Dallas columnist urges Stars to get revenge on Matt Dumba
When Matt Dumba legally, albeit brutally, rammed his right shoulder into the upper body of Joe Pavelski, little did he know that Pavelski would fall hard onto the ice and hit his head, knocking him out of Game 1 of the best-of-seven series between the Wild and Stars and leaving his status for Games 2 and beyond in doubt.
Less than 12 hours after the big hit and Minnesota's 3-2 win in double overtime, Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Mac Engel wrote about wanting the Stars to get revenge on the Wild defenseman.
"It needs to be handled. On the ice," Engel wrote, harkening back to 1998 when the late Bryan Marchment checked then Stars center Joe Niewendyk hard into the boards, ultimately resulting in Niewendyk suffering a torn ACL.
He called Marchment, whose son Mason plays for the Stars, a notoriously dirty player and then said Marchment would "know what to do" with Dumba.
"If it was the regular season, the first minute of the next game between the Stars and Wild would feature a Stars player, or players, going after Dumba. On ice justice remains one of hockey’s greatest strengths. This is the playoffs, and such decisions will be weighed accordingly. There are priorities. And then there are priorities. What Dumba did to Pavelski wasn’t old school, playoff hockey. It was dirty. It needs to be handled. On the ice. Bryan Marchment would know what to do."
Bryan Marchment was suspended 13 times during his 12-year NHL career and his hits resulted in numerous player injuries, some of them serious. Michael Russo, who covers the Wild for The Athletic, took exception to Engel's column, calling it "disgraceful and beyond unprofessional."
A credentialed media member campaigning for this type of vengeance is disgraceful and beyond unprofessional. And video reviews are done in concert with the NHL Situation Room in Toronto not Dept of Player Safety in NYC, fyi https://t.co/LEoOZgoeO8
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 18, 2023
Immediately after the hit, Dallas's Max Domi rushed Dumba and starting punching. He continued punching when Dumba was on the ice and the officials were trying to pull them apart.
"Just because Domi got a few pops in on Dumba means this is over," Engel puffed (note: we assume a "doesn't" is missing from that sentence). "This requires the type of old school, hockey justice that Marchment made famous, as did former Dallas Stars defenseman Derian Hatcher."
What's lacking in Engel's column is context about what would happen if Dallas attempted to harm Dumba. Minnesota has one of the toughest lineups in the league, highlighted by the ultimate enforcer in Ryan Reaves and then very tough customers like Marcus Foligno and Brandon Duhaime.
As for being Public Enemy No. 1 in Dallas?
"So be it," Dumba said.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.