Some Reads

“I have contact with junior hockey and NHL players and all of them are afraid to come out publicly,” Jaffe said. “They say (speaking out) will hurt their careers; they’ll be seen as chickens. There’s a code of silence. If you challenge the issue you’re going to be singled out.”

Jaffe wrote his letter to Bettman with Graham Pollett, London’s chief public health official, and Ray Hughes of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

A huge hockey fan, Jaffe says he has interviewed countless major-junior players and three NHLers who’ve expressed those anti-fighting feelings off the record.

“If you look at the replay, (Keane) probably landed 50 unanswered punches on that guy,” Fleury recalled with a chuckle. “That’s the thing about him. For the three years he played junior, two of those years he was voted the best fighter in the Western Hockey League, and that’s when Stu Grimson and Ken Baumgartner and Craig Berube and Dave Manson were all playing in the league. It just goes to show you how tough a customer he was.

“I’d seen him knocking guys out almost on a weekly basis in Moose Jaw.”

Hasn’t scored in over a year, got jumped by Sean Avery and completed the hat trick Thursday by skating straight into the glass and breaking his nose.

“I don’t know if somebody put a curse on me or what,” said Oilers defenceman Ladislav Smid, who looks like the president of the Tim Hunter fan club with his swollen, crooked beak.

“Standing up for your teammate is one thing,” Ference said, “but that’s what they’re trying to get rid of, and you can’t be hypocritical about it when it happens to you. You can’t say ‘it’s fine’ when your teammate does it. That’s hypocritical and not being honest.”

Sean, what are your future plans in fashion?

Avery: I’m actually not that involved as far as the fashion world goes as much as I was. I’m opening a new restaurant next door to Odeon, in Tribeca. In that pink townhouse right next door to Odeon. It’s call Tiny’s. I’ve kind of transferred my love of design and beauty into this restaurant. In my opinion it’s the best-looking restaurant downtown.

Scorgie has produced a seven minute sample of what his documentary will look like as well as a 20 minute package of interviews he’s conducted with former and current NHL tough guys. He’s interviewed a who’s who of tough guys like Dave Semenko, Clark Gillies, Nick Fotiu, Dave Brown, Gino Odjick, Derek Boogaard, last year’s NHL fights leader Zenon Konopka as well as star Jarome Iginla, to get his take on fighting in the game.

“Disappointing ... that I was sent down and then nobody took me,” said Stortini, who couldn’t quite get his head around all the scratches before his ticket to the the minors. He kept his mouth shut because he’s always been a good soldier, but there were a lot of whys in there.

The Elliot Lake, Ont., product played 256 games for the Oilers, but the drew the short straw as team brass decided to keep wingers J.F. Jacques and Steve MacIntyre as fourth-liners.

“It was a surprise the way things unfolded during the season.

“If the people watching the games don’t see that there are two sets of rules, one for me and one for everyone else, then I don’t know what they’re watching,” Avery told The Post. “I don’t play under the same rules as everybody else.

“When I go to [the officials] for an explanation, they tell me to [kiss] off.”

A few weeks ago, head coach Claude Julien was under siege. Despite denials from management, there was an ill wind blowing against the coach. Even Bruins president Cam Neely could only half-heartedly support the direction of the team. 

But since then, there has been a metamorphosis. From tenuous to assertive, from reticent to aggressive, the Bruins have become an entirely different team. A team that seems to have bonded, a dangerous proposition for others come playoff time. So how did this happen?

I blame it on Shawn Thornton!

“My first year, I drank a lot—you know first-year freedom, so I got after it with a few guys I lived with,” Bissonnette said. “Todd wasn’t there as coach that year, but I’m sure he heard from management and right off the bat didn’t like me.”

Then, Bissonnette got into trouble, including a bar fight. But Bissonnette went back to Wheeling of the East Coast Hockey League, was a point-a-game defenseman and eventually was recalled by Wilkes-Barre.