Ottawa's Swedish stopper collects bloodthirsty fish and has named each of them after one of the team's beat reporters, making the metaphor come true.
Nothing makes for fun Friday reading like those terrifying little fishies that turn you into a skeleton after they swarm you, at least in cartoons.
Ottawa Senators goaltender Robin Lehner is a colorful, emotional personality who typically isn't afraid to speak his mind to the media. He's also known to have a temper and maybe, just maybe, the pressure of playing more this season and struggling (9-15-6, 3.22 goals-against average, .909 save percentage) has made him a bit sick of reporters. It makes sense, then, that Lehner named his five pet piranha after Sens beat writers: Don Brennan, Bruce Garrioch, Sylvain St-Laurent, Ken Warren and...a fifth piranha that died, according to Lehner. The reason is easy enough to figure out. Lehner is playing up the metaphor of journalists as bloodthirsty piranha, gnawing away at a story. Stick tap to Brennan listing his namesake fish as "yours truly"
as he told the story.
Lehner has put a new spin on a trend started by a teammate,
defenseman Marc Methot, who has piranha of his own. Now, which NHLer will start collecting cockroaches and giving them familiar names?
Matt Larkin is an associate editor at The Hockey News and a regular contributor to the thn.com Post-To-Post blog. For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, subscribe to The Hockey News magazine. Follow Matt Larkin on Twitter at @THNMattLarkin