Avery Gets 'Old Time Hockey' Welcome Back to the NHL From New York Islanders

Sean Avery returned to the NHL last night with the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders gave him an "old time hockey" styled welcome back into the NHL at the Nassau Coliseum.

The New York Rangers beat the New York Rangers 4 to 2, but that was not the story of the night. The headlines of some game summaries said "Avery Sparks Rangers Win Over Islanders," but that was not the whole story, either.

From the start of the game, the fans in the stands booed Avery every time he got on the ice. When he fell, after running into an Islander, everybody cheered. Islander fans continually booed Avery all night.

Avery says, "I don't need acting lessons—I entertain twenty thousand people every night we play hockey." He said that when he played with the L.A. Kings and led the NHL in penalties for two years in a row.

Last night, Avery took one penalty, and that was at the end of the game, when the Rangers were already safely ahead by two goals.

According to Newsday.com writer Steve Zippay, the Islanders kept taking runs at Avery all night, hitting him as though he was their personal pinata. It was a way of saying "welcome back to the NHL."

It was also a test of Avery's mettle. He didn't retaliate to hits from behind, to being boarded, to getting his face smashed against the glass above the boards, or to anything the Islanders said to him on the ice.

He drew penalties, instead. He also drew the Islanders attention, allowing the Rangers to execute their game plan and get on the scoreboard.

Distracting the other team is the agitator's goal and it doesn't get recorded with the other game statistics but it was worth three or four goals last night.

The punishment dished out by the Islanders last night was nothing new to Avery. It came at the end of a long period of punishments.

First the NHL punished Avery for something he said on TV, before a game, by suspending him indefinitely. That turned into a six game suspension, without pay, for what he had to say to reporters, trash talking in the media.

His team at that time, the Dallas Stars, punished him further by making it clear they did not want him to rejoin their team after the NHL's suspension. The NHL sent him to anger management or behaviour modification.

A few fans argued that Avery's punishment did not fit his crime. A six game misconduct looked way out of whack when other hockey players were getting much shorter suspensions for dirty hits on the ice that caused injury and even concussions.

The word was that Avery's punishment was not just for saying "sloppy seconds" on television, but for a whole string of comments on and off the ice, over the years, culminating in The Avery Rule for unsportsmanlike conduct.

He has been accused of trash talk that was racist, as well as sexist, and grossly insensitive, but the biggest claims did not stick. Avery sued a radio station for broadcasting claims about something a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs told people Avery said to him while suffering from cancer. A black Canadian hockey player with the Edmonton Oilers claimed he made a racist comment but there was no proof or witnesses and Avery denied it.

Avery's punishment, after passing the course in anger management, included a stint in the AHL, where all kinds of tough young hockey players trying to make a name for themselves tried to hit him and get him to fight.

He drew penalties instead of taking them and his team, the Hartford Wolf Pack, went on the longest winning streak of their season, with six victories in a row. Their previous best, without Avery, was three wins in a row.

For Avery's return to the NHL from the AHL, the New York Islanders called up an enforcer from the old IHL. Joel Rechlicz, nicknamed "The Wrecker," made his NHL debut but surprised everybody by avoiding the penalty box.

Rechlicz (pronounced WRECK-lidge) is a a native of Brookfield, Wisconsin. The 6'4", 220 pound forward is billed as a tough-as-nails type of player. He spent last season with the Albany River Rats of the AHL and the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL.

The Wrecker played in 25 games for each club, scored one goal and had one assist for two points, and totalled 206 penalty minutes. Dressed as an Islander, he was like a welcome back present for Sean Avery.

Rechlicz likes to play old time hockey, apparently, like The Hanson Brothers in the movie Slapshot.  Avery survived his welcoming party and got great reviews for his second debut on Broadway.

The headlines tell the story. Newsday's said "Avery Plays Well In Return To Rangers." The Associate Press said "Avery Makes Successful Return To NHL And Rangers." The Daily News said "Sean Avery Is Just What The Rangers Needed." The New York Daily News said "Great To Have Avery Back." The Gothamist said, "Avery Sparks The Rangers." The Canadian Press also said "Sean Avery Makes A Successful Return In The Rangers 4-2 Win Over The Islanders."

There was no mention of Rechlicz or Avery's inititiation, but that was the story. Chances are that story will be repeated as Avery and the Rangers travel to play against the other teams in the NHL in the final games of the season leading up to the Stanley Cup playoffs.