The United States populace views the game of hockey as one would the proverbial red-headed step-child‭; ‬no one cares about it,‭ ‬the world would be a better place if no one spoke of it,‭ ‬and should it vanish for,‭ ‬say,‭ ‬a year,‭ ‬no one would notice.‭ ‬Yet,‭ ‬somehow,‭ ‬it maintains its position of one of America’s‭ “‬major‭” ‬sports league to the perplexment of many.‭ ‬Einstein,‭ ‬Freud,‭ ‬and The Brain have all studied this curious phenomena and came to one fictional conclusion:‭ ‬this nation’s lust for violence outshines our dislike of the game.‭ ‬Hockey,‭ ‬in the eyes of Joe American,‭ ‬is all about men on skates grabbing one another and tossing off-balanced roundhouses‭; ‬with fisticuffs exploding at least once a week in the NHL,‭ ‬we deem it must-see TV.‭ ‬Too bad the actual contest sullied the otherwise kickass show.

‬So when Electronics Arts brought the beautiful brutality of the NHL home with‭ ‬NHLPA Hockey‭ ’‬93,‭ ‬bloodthirsty bastards were in for a treat as the title promised to deliver a true-to-sport simulation down to the dirty,‭ ‬dirty,‭ ‬brawl – - and boy did it deliver.‭ ‬To this day,‭ ‬hockey gamers still call it one of the best in the‭ ‬NHL Hockey series thanks to the rough-and-tumble fighting and the king of thug antics,‭ ‬Tie‭ “‬I Breathe Only To See You Bleed‭” ‬Domi.‭

The flesh-and-blood New York Rangers enforcer wasn’t the most skilled offense stopper,‭ ‬but his God-given ability to play the bruiser role and kick someone’s teeth down their throat made him infamous in real life.‭ ‬Fortunately,‭ ‬EA captured his violence perfectly.‭ ‬As soon as the opening organ sounds,‭ ‬Domi’s ready to knuckle up.‭ ‬His Aggressiveness and Fighting Ability are both perfect 100‭ ‬out of‭ ‬100,‭ ‬so if you even skate in his direction,‭ ‬the man enters pitbull mode and commences a beat down of truly savage proportions.‭

Domi’s the videogame version of Jason Voorhees‭ (‬yes,‭ ‬I’m in denial that the craptacular‭ ‬Friday the‭ ‬13th game really exists‭)‬:‭ ‬you’re minding your own business,‭ ‬just skating along doing your job like a good little NHLer,‭ ‬when a fist goes straight through your freaking face.‭ ‬That’s violent.‭ ‬That’s brutal.‭ ‬That’s Tie Domi.

‭ ‬Yes,‭ ‬I realize that this entry is incredibly short,‭ ‬but when a guy’s entire professional career revolved around putting a sharpened skate into an opponent’s ass,‭ ‬well,‭ ‬that’s pretty direct and to the point.‭ ‬Not too shabby for a guy that has an Overall rating of‭ ‬20.

Bonus! Check  out the real Tie Domi in action. How can you not love this guy?