The Rocky of Hockey in Rocky's Hometown as Rangers Fight Flyers

Sean Avery, the Rocky of hockey, is in Rocky's hometown as the New York Rangers fight the Philadelphia Flyers in the NBC's game of the week. They are promoting the game as "Avery and the Rangers", just as they did last weekend when the Rangers upset the league-leading Boston Bruins.

"How can you possibly think Sean Avery is the Rocky of hockey?" a reader wrote in response to a recent column.

"Rocky's character was a guy that everyone wanted to win. He played—err, boxed—fair and square, took his lumps, didn't take any cheap shots, and toughed it out until he found his opportunity and pounced on it. He did things the right way, and eventually it paid dividends."

The comment came from a Philadelphia sports fan and hockey fan, Steve Prudente, who writes for Bleacher Report.

He says, "Sean Avery, on the other hand, is a guy that no one wants to see succeed, except the Rangers and their fans. He's hated by every other fan and every other player in the league for one reason: his play. He is dirty, and let's just leave it at that."

Avery, the A-Dog, is the underdog, making a major comeback. That's why he's the Rocky of hockey. Also, he's a good fighter.

For a while, it looked Avery was out of hockey completely, or would wind up playing in the KHL, somewhere in Siberia, like Ray Emery and a few other NHLers. Going from Siberia to New York City is an incredible journey.

Avery is not known as a cheap shot artist, unlike another  guy making an unlikely comeback to the NHL, by way of the China Sharks, named Claude Lemieux.

Lemieux was known as a violent cheap shot artist who ruined the careers of some hockey stars but also performed well in playoff games. Avery's known as a tough guy who yaps or chirps a lot and is a top ten trash talker who is ready to back up his words with his fists and come to the rescue of any teammate with his fists, too.

And he performed well in the playoffs last year, playing his heart out for the Rangers, or his spleen. He made hockey history with The Avery Rule, playing against the New Jersey Devils, with Martin Brodeur in net.

The Rangers fans love him primarily for the passion he plays with and the energy he brings to the team. They called him the spine of the team.

Avery isn't hated for his dirty play, he's hated for the things he's had to say, and the role he's had to play, as agitator or instigator on the third line. He has a new role now.

After bringing so much energy to a team that was called comatose and vanilla before he got there, Avery has been rewarded by the Rangers new coach, the fiery John Tortorella, by being promoted from the third line to the first. And Tortorella was on record saying he was not an Avery fan, before they both became Rangers.

Glen Sather, the Rangers GM, predicted Tortorella would learn to love Avery, the same as the Rangers fans, and he was right. Torts went from saying Avery doesn't belong in the NHL to saying, after his last game, leading the Rangers to a come-from-behind win over the Nashville Predators, "Avery, Callahan, and Gomez played great."

Now Avery's on the first line and he's expected to score—and does! He got the first goal in the game after being moved up to the Rangers big line. And he got no penalties, even though referees are watching him like guards expecting a prison break.

He was the hockey player everybody loved to hate, the bad boy women loved, including supermodels and Hollywood stars. It turns out he's not the idiot everybody thought he was. He's more complex than the average hockey player, with an interest in fashion.

He has become a crossover celebrity with a Gap ad and a movie in the works with New Line Cinema, based on an article he wrote for Men's Vogue, like a journal describing his internship there.

Stallone's a painter, an artist, and a writer, but Rocky wasn't. Avery writes and has a strong interest in the arts, or at least high fashion.

A-Dog has overcome great odds making his comeback to the NHL and has changed his role from hockey villain to symbol of hope and change in this era of hope and change in America and the rest of the world.

All kinds of people down on their luck or wiped out by the global economic meltdown watch Avery's comeback and get re-energized, thinking that if a guy like that can go to Anger Management and come out of it with a Gap ad, movie deal, avoid Sibera, and make it in New York, or anywhere, then, well, you know the story.

"If A-Dog can make a comeback, so can I!" That's why he is the Rocky of hockey.
 
Also, he's had a series of 53 fights against guys who are bigger than him. He's 5'10—just like Rocky—taking on guys like Dion Phaneuf who are 6'6"...