NHL player ordered to stop licking other players

If you can’t lick ’em, don’t!

Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand has been ordered by the National Hockey League to stop licking other players.

NPR reported Marchand licked opposing players twice during the 2018 postseason. The Bruins were knocked out of the playoffs Sunday night by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In game 1 of the Bruins’ first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marchand licked Leo Komarov’s neck. The second incident happened during game 4 of the second-round series against Tampa Bay when Marchand licked Lightning forward Ryan Callahan. The Bruins lost that game.

Marchand was unrepentant and said afterward that Callahan had punched him in the face four times.

“I thought he wanted to cuddle,” Marchand told reporters. “I was just trying to get close to him.”

After that game, the NHL issued a statement on Twitter which said, “NHL’s Colin Campbell spoke with Boston’s Brad Marchand and GM Don Sweeney today. The League put the player on notice that his actions last night are unacceptable and similar behavior in the future will be dealt with by way of supplemental discipline.”

Marchand has earned the unofficial title of the biggest pest in the NHL, which has been embraced by his team. But his actions have angered others, and the League stepped in to order him to cease the saliva-related activity.

The Associated Press reported that Marchand shrugged off a question about the NHL’s reaction and said, “It is what it is. I think it’s pretty stupid, the whole situation, but if that’s what they want to do, it’s what they want to do.”