It’s tough being a professional athlete sometimes, especially when it comes to their bodies. While they may have top-notch facilities for healthy living and rehabilitation, their bodies go through wear and tear that us sitting at home can’t imagine.
That’s why iron man streaks are almost endearing. When an athlete is able to last for years in a contact sport without missing a game, you begin to cheer for the guy. Let’s see how far this guy can go!
That’s what makes it all the more disheartening when an iron man streak ends for avoidable, some would even say questionable, reasons. There was the case of Andrew Cogliano, who was suspended for a hit many are claiming as non-suspension worthy. Seeing Cogliano get emotional as his historic 830 game streak of consecutive starts (the 4th longest NHL iron man streak of all-time) came to an end was hard for anyone to watch.
Another questionable decision that led to the end of a pro athlete’s iron man streak was the infamous benching of Eli Manning. The Super Bowl XLII MVP was benched following the struggles of a New York Giants team that lost the likes of Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall, and Sterling Shepard for extended periods of time and had next to no running game at all. Hard to blame the quarterback for the lack of success, but what many people called head coach Ben McAdoo’s “death wish” saw the end of Eli’s consecutive starts count that dated all the way back to 2004.
It’s true that a team shouldn’t favour playing a guy based on iron man streak alone, but in the case of Karl Alzner, it’s a little more confusing than usual.
Along with another eyebrow-raising scratch in Tomas Plekanec, Alzner – and his 5-year, $23 million contract – will be watching from the press box Wednesday night. The healthy scratch apparently couldn’t make it onto the Habs defensive unit, one already missing Shea Weber and now featuring the likes of Victor Mete, Jeff Petry, Mike Reilly, Noah Juulsen, Xavier Ouellet, and Jordie Benn.
Here’s head coach Claude Julien’s reasoning for the decision.
The fan reaction hasn’t been great, as expected. Alzner has the 4th longest active iron man streak at the moment (622 games), trailing Keith Yandle’s 715 games, Patrick Marleau’s 706 games, and Phil Kessel’s 692 games.
Live by the scratch, die by the scratch.
