Remember last week when Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette shoved Dallas Stars winger Steve Ott as their teams were leaving the ice, and then Laviolette had to do the loafer shuffle of shame across the ice and through the Zamboni entrance the following period?
No harm, no foul, no fine, according to the NHL.
The league investigated the incident and spoke to both parties involved but in the end asked that Ott and Laviolette speak to each other over the phone to hash it out, a source told ESPN.com. The league was satisfied Ott and Laviolette settled things and decided no fines were warranted. Laviolette shoved Ott as the teams were leaving the ice after the first period of last Wednesday's game at American Airlines Center.
Oh, to have been privy to the details of that call. That brief, brief call.
The shove sparked a snarky little rant from Ott after the game in which he accused Laviolette's "arrogance" for creating the incident. Brad Gardner of Defending Big D wonders if the incident might have also created a change in protocol at the arena in Dallas:
It may or may not be worth noting that Barry Trotz and his staff left the bench and actually walked with their team across the ice to the visitors tunnel on Friday night.
What we've learned thanks to Coach Lavy in the last week: That you can shove another player in the tunnel without any recourse, other than an apologetic phone call; and that the Canadiens getting all the "fricking" calls on home ice is "Montreal Typical."