Don Cherry has called the Carolina Hurricanes a “bunch of jerks” but the biggest jerk in the NHL playoffs is Brad Marchand.
The Boston forward proved it again during his postgame interviews Tuesday after the Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 in Game 6 to win their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
In an on-ice interview with Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas, Marchand went into full-jerk mode. Marchand didn’t do anything as serious as licking Bukauskas’s face or punching him in the back of the head — stuff he has done to opponents before during the playoffs. Marchand simply decided to act like a jerk — a role he seems to enjoy — with very short answers to all of Bukauskas’s questions.
Asked by Bukauskas about the Bruins not panicking in the last three games after falling behind 2-1 in the series, Marchand said: “We did a good job.”
Asked about the opportunity that lies ahead for the veteran Bruins core: “It’s been fun.”
“So I can see where this is going here,” Bukauskas said before asking one last question about Marchand’s linemates.
“We’re good,” Marchand responded before quickly skating off.
“Thanks,” Bukauskas said. “Well, that was worth it.”
The interview went viral on social media and there were suggestions Marchand was upset at Bukauskas for a skate-sharpening reference in an earlier interview after the Bruins forward intentionally stomped on the stick of the Blue Jackets’ Cam Atkinson in Game 1, breaking it. When asked about the incident the next day in a media scrum, Marchand joked: “I think he was trying to dull my blade there. Send me to the room, get it sharpened. It’s kind of rude of him to do.”
During an on-ice interview before Game 2, Bukauskas jokingly asked Marchand: “Did you manage to get your skate re-sharpened after Thursday?”
Marchand was visibly upset by the question and blurted out a “yeah” before skating away.
Some on social media used Bukauskas’s question about the skate as the reason why Marchand acted the way he did after Game 6 on national TV. But Marchand continued to act like a jerk with other media members later in the locker room, using 19 words to answer 39 questions with a silly smirk on his face the whole time.
Dealing with the media is part of an NHL player’s job and league rules mandate it as part of selling the game to fans. Marchand has every right to answer — or not answer — questions however he chooses. But you have to wonder what he’s trying to prove.
If Marchand was looking to embarrass Bukauskas, the only people he really embarrassed were himself, the Bruins and the NHL. Bukauskas, 25, is a rising star at Sportsnet, as humble as he is talented, and handled himself like a polished veteran.
Reached at his home in Ottawa on Tuesday, Bukauskas said the Bruins had told Sportsnet before Game 6 that Marchand was good to do a postgame interview if Boston won and there wouldn’t be any issue.
“So we asked for him and then what happened, happened,” Bukauskas said. “It was completely out of our control, but it obviously still caught a lot of people by surprise and it caught the Bruins by surprise, too, because — as I said — they had told us that it would not be an issue if we were to interview him after the game in a Bruins victorious setting like last night.
“It’s his prerogative to answer questions the way he wants to,” Bukauskas added. “It didn’t bother me any. I did what I could and when it was over it was over and done with and now we get to move on, hopefully.”
As for the earlier question he asked Marchand about his skate, Bukauskas said: “It was a risk on my part to go there 30 minutes before a game and to try to playfully bring that up again. I only brought it up because it was him who had said it. You could tell he didn’t like the question and he skated off. Again, totally fine. That’s totally his right to do.
“Immediately I felt bad about it because the way he reacted, I went: Well, maybe did I cross the line there? Did I go too far in that situation? I did not intend to offend him or put him in a bad spot or make him look bad in any way. I realize I took a risk and I learned from it kind of knowing that was probably not the right time to ask the question that I did. So it was a good learning experience for me in that sense.”
Bukauskas said he approached the Bruins the next day, saying he would like to apologize to Marchand and explain himself, but was told there was no problem.
Marchand is a great hockey player — when he’s not being a cheap-shot artist. But when Marchand hangs up his skates after his career, I think many fans will remember him more for being a jerk than a great player.
Maybe he wants it that way.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
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