Bad blood boils overQUOTE
The London Knights gooned him. Their fans booed and jeered him. The three-star pickers snubbed him.
But Kitchener Rangers blueliner Jakub Kindl, who blasted two power-play goals in last night's bitter 4-1 road win over the reckless and undisciplined Knights, was the best darn player in a very ugly game.
"I don't care about all that," Kindl said after the Rangers racked up a fourth-straight win to pull within six points of the Ontario Hockey League-leading London and Plymouth.
"We won."
Clearly, the Knights and their devotees carried a grudge against Kindl into last night. Kindl hit captain Rob Drummond hard on Feb. 20. He is still out with a concussion.
Seven minutes into last night's game, Knights forwards Josh Beaulieu and Jordan Foreman jumped Kindl and tried to fight him two-on-one.
Was it payback? Foreman said no.
Knights coach Dale Hunter didn't think so either.
Kindl felt otherwise.
"They probably got pissed at me from the last game we played," said Kindl, who fought Foreman late in a game that featured a whopping 14 misconducts. "I hit someone and he didn't finish the game. It's a part of hockey. I was kind of ready for this, but I didn't expect it to be tough like that."
Later in the first, Kindl scored twice in a span of 70 seconds. On his first goal, Knights fans booed as he shot.
Then, he scored.
Kindl pumped his fist at the Knights bench. He gave the crowd a papal wave.
"Right after I got jumped by a couple of guys, I was so happy we scored," Kindl said. "They were chirping me the whole game so I just tried to give them a little, you know."
Battles burn KnightsQUOTE
The coolest guy in the place was Jakub Kindl.
He'd just finished being chased all over the ice, run at by the London Knights, yelled at all night by most of the 9,090 in attendance at the John Labatt Centre.
He stepped out of the shower looking like he'd just gone for a walk in the park.
As each day passes, I become more excited about this guy. He’s a big guy who skates well and has a ton of skill, and he seems to be developing a bit of a mean streak which has been highlighted as a weakness in the past. For a guy who’s just turned 20, he sure does seem to have a lot of self confidence.
Edited by Aussie_Wing, 09 March 2007 - 09:15 AM.
