Just saw a clip of a ref pulling a player out of a scrum (while scrappy doo was flailing trying to get back IN the scrum) and it felt so very rookie!shane to me. We have talked a bit about Shane’s style when it comes to fighting, for me he’s not always getting into them but I think he has a strong sense of justice. He does NOT want to let certain bullshit fly. Even as a rookie.
So I laugh at the idea of a ref grabbing 18 year old Shane, hissing and spitting, being like alright kid you got a few punches in but you need to work up to being in that big of a brawl
If there was ever a time Shane would have been more impulsive about fighting it would have been as a rookie, and also, anons have told me, that there’s like. There are specific situations in which fighting is so expected that you do it on principle, like if the other team fucks with your goalie. I think before I knew more about hockey, I could buy the idea that Shane never goes out of his way to fight, that he’s probably been in very few fights, etc., but I don’t anymore. I think Shane fights pretty regularly, or at least, it’s not an anomaly when he does. But when he chooses to fight is either very strategic to the game - this is just what needs to be done to win - or it’s to follow these unspoken codes, because first of all, when Shane has a script he follows it and perfects it, but secondly, I think that’s part of why he loves hockey and why he’s so good at hockey. It is so ritualistic at times, and Shane is very good at learning and following rituals. So like, in short, yeah I buy that for sure.
