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Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand checks New Jersey Devils defenceman Will Butcher into the boards during the second period of a game in Boston, on Jan. 23, 2018.Charles Krupa/The Associated Press

It hardly looks like the office of a vice-principal.

But that's exactly what the visitors' dressing room at Canadian Tire Place felt like on Thursday as Brad Marchand – sometimes called "Rat" by his teammates – was cornered by several cameras and a dozen microphones.

Red-eyed from whatever, sweaty from the morning skate, Marchand stood on his skates and forced his mouth to say words chosen for their political expediency. The Boston Bruins' leading scorer had, after all, been officially slapped with a five-game suspension for Tuesday's elbow to the head of New Jersey Devils forward Marcus Johansson. The mouth turned and twisted as if someone inside was forcing it. "I respect the league's decision on the matter," Marchand said before sitting out the night's match against the Ottawa Senators.

"It was never my intent to get into a situation like this and to injure Marcus. I let my teammates down and I let my organization down. I have to be better. There's no question. The last thing I want to do is anything to hurt the team."

What he was trying to do, in some eyes, was rip Johansson's head from his spine. The blow left the New Jersey player with a concussion, his second of the season, and it is unknown how many games he might sit out.

In the eyes of Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, the elbow was merely the accidental result of Marchand trying to "protect himself from contact." The day after the New Jersey game, which Boston won 3-2 with Marchand scoring two and setting up another, Cassidy told reporters, "I absolutely agree players should protect themselves if they see a hit coming."

A day later, however, Cassidy was less into defensive play. "I always respect what the league decides," he said in Ottawa. "They've been at this a while. I don't think there was any intent to injure Johansson. But at the end of the day, Brad's responsible for his actions on the ice."

The suspension came at a most awkward time, with the NHL about to break for all-star weekend and Marchand slated to be in Tampa Bay for the festivities. The suspension, the league decreed, would not affect the traditional no-contact all-star shinny. "I'm going to go and enjoy every second of it," he vowed.

It came with Marchand as the Bruins' leading scorer (21 goals, 50 points) and the team the talk of the league with an opportunity in Ottawa to extend its point streak beyond 17 games, something the Bruins haven't accomplished in 35 years. They had not lost in regulation since Dec. 14.

The talk, however, was not at all about whether the Bruins could extend their streak against the hapless Senators and their four-game losing streak. It was all about Marchand, who has now been suspended five times and fined three other times in a nine-year career.

Montreal talk radio was advising him to get "professional psychological help because this is a deep-rooted issue within him." NBC sports was tagging him "the NHL's most frustrating player," a late-blooming 29-year-old from Halifax whose 0.50 goals-a-game average over the past three seasons is tied with Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews and behind only Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

Over at The Hockey News, columnist Ken Campbell took a mighty swipe at the NHL itself, saying this is the same league that "has proved time and again that it has no interest in protecting its star players from the actions of thugs and miscreants [and] is more than happy to protect stars who are thugs and miscreants themselves."

Campbell slammed the five-game suspension as "ridiculously feeble." Marchand's elbow, he wrote, was "so egregious, so blatant and so gratuitously vicious and dirty." The fix was in, Campbell argued, from the moment Marchand was told he would be dealt with by telephone – for the league to give any longer a suspension requires an in-person hearing.

"And despite the suspension," he concluded, "this guy still gets to play in the all-star game this weekend."

Marchand's coach was not amused by the "opinions out there." Such people, Cassidy said, "don't know him as a teammate, as a father, the work he puts in to be a better player … after games he's always right in there with the children in the family room. He's just a great person with a great heart. That's the part that sometimes gets lost in all this."

At the same time, Cassidy did say Marchand had to "take responsibility for his actions."

It has, however, been nine years. When he came into the league, he bragged about loving to hit other kids back in atom and novice, even though bodychecking wasn't allowed "It just kind of stuck with me," he told The Globe and Mail during the 2011 playoffs.

Now, however, the goal is to get unstuck.

"It's something I've been trying to work very hard to get away from," a reflective Marchand said Thursday. "If you look at my game all year long, speak to the refs. I've taken a big step this year. I've taken another step away from that game. It's something that I will continue to work on and be better at."

It's not been an easy change in style from superpest to superstar. "I'm not trying to make any excuses for myself," he said, "but the game's played differently from when I came in.

"It changed a little more quickly than maybe I did."

"We'll talk to him about it," Cassidy said. "Hopefully, going forward, there's no more incidents. Because I think Brad's really earned respect around the league for how he plays the game. He plays hard every night. For the most part, I think he's kept his nose clean."

And if he doesn't, surely next time it's the vice-principal's office for an "in-person" hearing.

The head coach of Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey team, which includes no current NHLers, says the players shared a 'dream' to compete for their country. Willie Desjardins was at the team announcement Wednesday in Calgary.

The Canadian Press

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