Tommy Wingels "embarrassed" to be part of Antoine Roussel's antics

Punching? Sure. Tripping? Fine. But hair-pulling?

When asked about the incident after the game, Wingels—who is a “call it like I see it” type of player—did not hide his high level of disgust:

“I was embarrassed to be a part of that on-going fiasco the entire game. You’re allowed to hit in this game since you’re a peewee, and he doesn’t like to get hit… He comes after me (as) I come out of the penalty box. We fight—that’s fine, it’s over with. Then he’s going to yap in box, ask a fan to fight, he’s going to yap at our bench, yap at our coaches—I don’t get it. It’s embarrassing. I don’t believe that stuff belongs in a game. Every shift after that you’re going to try to fight again? The refs don’t want that. The players don’t want that. You’re teammates, the fans, they don’t want to see—after every whistle (the play) has to be broken up.”

Wingels was asked if he though the behavior was calculated on Roussel’s part.“I don’t know,” the forward said with a shrug. “If it was, good for him, because he created a lot of attention. But I don’t know.”

When asked the same question, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer smirked. “I think that’s part of his, ‘thing.’ That’s what he does.”

This wasn’t the first time Roussel has gone above and beyond to ruffle the Sharks’ feathers. Last season, he upset Team Teal in a game down in Dallas when he bulldozed  Alex Stalock, leaving the then-Sharks backup goalie with a lower body injury that sidelined him for months. Lucky for San Jose this time around, Roussel didn’t pummel anyone quite that hard.

So do the Sharks think they handled the animosity  the right way? Wingels thought so. “This team sticks up for each other,” he commented. “ One of my roles is to be physical. I did that in the first, and like I said, he didn’t like it. I obliged with a fight. That’s what you do when you get hit, you kinda always want to fight the guy that knocks you down, and I gave him that opportunity.”