Detroit – Three summers ago, Ken Holland looked through the Plexiglas out at Tyler Bertuzzi on a rink at the Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City.
“Tyler’s a hockey player,” Holland said.
In the language of the sport, Holland’s assertion is among the finest compliments an NHL manager can offer.
Bertuzzi is a “hockey player,” among hockey players, because of his aptitude for the sport and his intuition that scoring goals and preventing them often results from dutiful, unglamorous work.
“Thinking the game well,” as they say, drives his performance.
And, while puck retrieving, establishing net-front presence, fore-checking, back-checking, blocking shots, agitating and “keeping the flies off” the stars are not listed on NHL scoresheets, they are important tasks.