A recent
piece in
The New Yorker pays tribute to
Derek Boogaard, the 28-year-old professional hockey player who recently died at his Minneapolis apartment.
As
writer Alec Wilkinson puts it, Boogaard, a forward for the New York
Rangers who previously played for the Minnesota Wild, was the "only
player on the team who was the best in the world at his role."
He
says Boogaard knew how to keep the peace on the ice. While other hockey
players may use intimidation tactics, Boogaard had a "stately
presence," and he knew how to avoid fights: "He was more Gary Cooper
than Charles Bronson."
At the end of the piece Wilkinson writes,
"I know I am not the only one who had been looking forward to the
Rangers home opener, and hearing the announcer say, "Number Ninety-four,
Derek Boooooooooooogaaaaard," and watching him step onto the ice, a
battleship among the swifter, more diminutive members of the fleet."