Will No One Rid Me Of This Meddlesome Priest?

With those famous words King Henry II signed Thomas Becket's, the Archbishop of Canterbury, death warrant. Four loyal knights sailed to England from France and slew the Archbishop on the altar of Canterbury. The fallout of the action was widespread and longlasting:

The death of Becket unnerved the king. The knights who did the deed to curry the king's favor, fell into disgrace. Several miracles were said to occur at the tomb of the martyr and he was soon canonized. Hordes of pilgrims transformed Canterbury Cathedral into a shrine. Four years later, in an act of penance, the king donned a sack-cloth walking barefoot through the streets of Canterbury while eighty monks flogged him with branches. Henry capped his atonement by spending the night in the martyr's crypt. St. Thomas continued as a popular cultist figure for the remainder of the Middle Ages.

Move along almost 1000 years and another Thomas/Tomas has become the centre of a pursuit for vengeance. I was not alone in my bloodlust in the immediate aftermath of the scrub's attempt to injure Kaberle. Being the enlightened person that I am I saw that such calls for revenge comprised the buildup to Bertuzzi's mugging and assault of Steve Moore. With news that Kaberle for the rest of the season (he doesn't think so) the outcry for some sort of retribution on March 20th will only increase, unimaginably so if the Leafs proceed to miss the playoffs because of the absence of their best defender and powerplay catalyst. Especially in light of recent criticisms of the Leafs being soft. Et tu Don?

However, the Leafs need to maintain their focus as the playoff drive winds down to its glorious/painful conclusion. If they allow their emotions to get the better of them then they will waste the game on the 20th trying to avenge their fallen teammate. What would it benefit the team to lose the game and possibly a player in an attempt to knock out one of the Albany River Rats? The best vengeance would be to come out pumped in that game and lay clean, devastating hit after clean, devastating hit on every Devil player that touches the puck to ensure that the next time one of their scrubs thinks about laying a late and dirty hit on a Leaf that he will be reminded of the physical punishment that was doled out to the entire team.

Belak will probably fight the scrub (if either is even dressed) but the kind of out of control scene that we saw in that ill-fated Canucks-Avalanche rematch should have no place in the ACC that night. Clean, devastating hits all night long should be on the menu for the Devils. That combined with a win will be the best way to avenge Tomas.