Darcy Tucker is one of the most beloved Leafs of all-time. His passion, loyalty, and grit were exemplified in just about every game that he slipped on the Buds’ blue and white and he quickly found his way into the heart of a historically critical hockey city.
One endearing quality that Tucker possessed was the total willingness to take on anyone, at any time, if they had so much as breathed on a teammate in the wrong way. One of the best examples of this quality is when Tucker went after Chris Neil on the bench instantly after teammate Travis Green pointed out that he was not happy with Neil.
As it turns out, Tucker wasn’t just going after Neil – he was going after everyone. Eventually the coaches would even get involved in the mayhem, tossing stuff from one bench to the other out of anger. After a series of various engagements, Tucker ultimately ends up squaring off with Shane Hnidy.
Saturday night, the Senators host the Maple Leafs as the battle of Ontario reignites. While lots of people recall the more recent memory at Canadian Tire Centre of Auston Matthews scoring four goals in his first ever game, Tucker made sure that his contribution to one of hockey’s greatest rivalries was not forgotten.
Moments like this affirm why Tucker is so beloved in the Leafs’ community. The league has seen many enforcers come and go, but nobody was quite like him.
