EVERETT — First off, let me say that I like Kyle Beach, so save the e-mails that condemn me to a week in a locked room with Rosie O’Donnell for the following comments.
In the past, I’ve written about the Silvertips belligerent but NHL-quality skilled center. He’s an interviewer’s dream. Not only does he readily answer the tough, sometimes unflattering questions we ask, he does so candidly and, I believe, honestly. He’s eloquent. He knows the media have a job to do, even though we may not write glowing reports about his conduct.
Beach knows of his on-ice personality issues and his inclination toward controversy. He says his chippiness and running commentary is, more often than not, calculated to throw a chosen opponent off his game.
I remember him telling me, and I’m paraphrasing, “If they’re worried about me, their heads aren’t where they should be.”
It’s not exactly beyond belief that the Western Hockey League is all atwitter at Beach’s latest dust-up, Wednesday’s melee with Spokane Chiefs captain Chris Bruton. Bruton was slapped with a two-game suspension, which, thankfully for him, put him out of Saturday’s grudge match at a hostile Comcast Arena.
But even though Beach got a concussion out of the deal, more than a few around the league are of the mind that he probably did something to deserve it.
Silvertip foes and Beach haters would order the video immediate induction into the YouTube Hall of Fame: Game ends. Everett’s Graham Potuer and Spokane’s Mitch Wahl mix it up along the Silvertips net. Beach grabs Wahl from behind. Linesman tries to break it up, but the trio stagger around like it’s Amateur Foxtrot Night at the Monroe Reformatory. Beach sticks his reeking glove into Wahl’s face. Wahl returns with a weak swing.
Bruton and Beach exchange good wishes. Beach sticks a glove in Bruton’s face. Then, for some odd reason, his arms hang at his sides. He’s completely unprotected. Naturally, Bruton merrily lands a right that Mike Tyson would frame and hang on his living room. Down goes Frazier.
Were he any other player, Beach may have been a sympathetic figure. Couple of facials. Maybe a shove. Big deal.
But Beach carries baggage. To the rest of the league, Beach is to hockey what the boll weevil is to the cotton industry. As advanced as Beach’s skills are on the ice, many wonder why he engages in behavior more commonly associated with body lice.
Although coaches in most any sport at most any level rarely publicly criticize opposing players, something in Beach moved Spokane coach Bill Peters to all but hand Beach the Oscar for Best Fake Fall. Peters referred to Beach as “a high-maintenance guy” and his actions “part of his schtick” and “a charade.” His assessment cost him a $500 donation to the league.
Give Beach one thing. He’s not picky about those he ridicules. He’s messed with some of the league’s most fearsome tough guys, such as Milan Lucic, Frazer McLaren and Aaron Boogaard. He seems unconcerned of repeating his 2007 fight with Chilliwack’s Cody Smuk, who ended their brief skirmish with a textbook punch that sent Beach to the hospital.
He wins a few and he loses a few, but Beach bugs nearly everybody. There’s something to be said about that. What, I’m not certain.
Even Silvertip fans seem to have polarized views of Beach. Here’s a sampling from those at the past two games:
n Ed Henry, Snohomish: “I love watching him play the game, but it’s not hard to figure out why people want to squash him like a cockroach.”
n Jessica Fitterer, Everett: “I wish he wouldn’t do half the (bleep) he pulls. We need him on the ice, not in the penalty box. He’s a good player.”
n Joe Holland, Everett: “He can be an idiot, but he’s our idiot.”
n Pete Hendrickson, Everett: “It’s getting old. It used to be funny, but if he put the energy in playing the game as he does with this other crap, he’d be unstoppable.”
n Becky Bates, Edmonds: “If it helps the team, what’s the big deal? It’s not figure skating out there.”
n Dennis Smith, Monroe: “Sometimes, my eyes just follow him to see what he does that (ticks) people off. Mostly, it’s his big mouth. Sometimes he gives them a little, ya know, cheap shot and skates away. It’s hilarious. But someday he’ll (tick) off the wrong guy. Then it’ll get ugly.”
Beach HAS ticked off the wrong guy, multiple times. It HAS gotten ugly. It doesn’t seem to matter to him. The coaching staff has talked to him about picking his spots. Lord knows, opposing coaches and players have objected in their own little ways.
Nothing about Beach has changed.
As long as he wants to be, Beach will be Beach.
Like it or not.
Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. For Sleeper[`]s blog, “Dangling Participles,” go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.
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