There is an old saying in hockey, ‘live by the sword, and die by the sword.’ Finally Steve “the hack” Downie got what was coming to him when Chris Neil got him last night. Eventually if you run around the ice dishing out cheap hit someone is going to smoke you. I still think that Jack Johnson did the hockey world a favor when he elbowed Downie in the World Junior Championship in 2006. While people say it was a cheap shot, what they didn't talk about was how Steve Downie was hacking Johnson with his stick before that.
REGINA — The Senators finally got even with Steve Downie.
Dean McAmmond might be long gone, but Downie’s cheap shot from two years ago (earning him a 20-game suspension) wasn’t forgotten last night. Chris Neil nailed Downie, a Tampa Bay Lightning winger, with 6:04 left in the third period of a 3-1 pre-season win last night in front of a packed house at the Brandt Centre.
Neil was given a charging minor and game misconduct for his hit along the boards in the dying minutes.
“I didn’t get him as good as I would like to have,” said Neil. “He drops his gloves with me and then he says, ‘Oh, I’m not fighting.’ He tried to flip me. I got him with some good ones. I wish I got him with some better ones.
“I’m not concerned at all (about supplementary discipline). I finished my check. It might have been a little late. It was a clean hit. It’s one of those things. He was just lucky he was able to get me down before I got going.”
Asked if he thought he would hear from the league, Senators coach Cory Clouston said: “I don’t think so.”
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