Ryan Reaves is one of the toughest guys in the league and always brings a physical presence on the ice. That’s why the Toronto Maple Leafs were so eager to bring him into their roster this summer, because of how he always stands up for himself and his teammates.
Reaves is beloved by all his teammates and a hilarious guy off the ice. His chirping is one of the best in the league, and every time he does a TV interview, especially with the guys on TNT, it’s hilarious. But as beloved Reaves is by his teammates, he’s as feared by his opponents, and if you play in the NHL, you better be on his good side.
If Reaves feels someone behaves wrong, he’s sure to let them know, which goes for his own coaches as well. During this off-season, Reaves was a guest on the Missin Curfew podcast, hosted by former NHLers Shane O’Brien and Scottie Upshall.
During the episode, Reaves shared a hilarious story about how he one time had enough of veteran head coach Ken Hitchcock and how it led to Reaves strangling him with his tie.
Reaves made a mistake on the ice, and Hitchcock let Reaves know he’d done wrong.
”We come off from a shift and I think I turn it over and they had a couple scoring chances,” Reaves said in the podcast.
”I sit down, so I’m all the way at the very end on the left side. Hitch is just f**king screaming, ’Reavo, you gotta get the f**king puck out of the zone!’ I’m like, ’Yeah, I know.’ I’m honest with myself, so I’ll say, ’Yeah, my bad, my bad.’ Cheek to the right a little bit, ’Reavo, f**k me, you gotta get the f**king puck out!’ I’m like, ’Yeah, I heard you! I know, I’m sorry, my bad!’”
Reaves continued moving to his right on the bench, and suddenly, Hitchcock was just right by.’
”Now, he’s right in front of me, ’Reavo, did you hear?’ It’s the only time I’ve really snapped. I turned around and I grabbed him by the tie. I was like, ’If you don’t shut your f**king mouth, I’m gonna strangle you with this f**king tie.’ The anger in my face when I said it was real, and then I said it the same way, I was like, ’Oh shit, oh shit.’ I was a little nervous,” Reaves said, laughing.
The following day, his then-assistant coach, Mike Yeo, approached him and advised him to apologize to Hitchcock.
”I didn’t know what was gonna happen, so the next day, we get to practice and Yeozi comes up to me, he’s like, ’Hey, you probably can’t say that to a coach and his tie like that. You should probably go and apologize.’ So I go to Hitch’s office, ’Hey, Hitch, my bad. I didn’t mean to grab your tie and say that.’ He’s like, ’What the f**k are you talking about Reavo?’” Reaves said with a howl of laughter.
Reaves’ impression of Hitchcock was just absolutely hilarious; watch it right down here. We promise it’s worth the watch!
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