He’s known to be one of the nicest enforcers of the ice, but on the ice, Tie Domi was a beast. He was a feared fighter, and during his career, spanning over 16 seasons, he accumulated over 3,500 penalty minutes in 1,020 games.
Domi is mainly remembered for his many years in the Toronto Maple Leafs, where his primary job was to protect star center Mats Sundin at all costs.
Domi didn’t let anyone near the Swedish superstar, which created a great bond between them; to this day, they’re close friends.
“He protected me all those years. It was a tough job, both physically and mentally. To be an ’enforcer’ was the toughest job in the league,” Sundin once said.
Tie Domi was a machine, completely fearless, and if someone did something on the ice he didn’t like or appreciate, you bet he’d let them know about it. Domi could go after anyone, but not just with his fists.
He was a great chirper, and sometimes, when an opponent who wasn’t a fighter or enforcer did something, he would let them know more politely.
When Marcel Hossa (yes, Marcel, Marian’s brother) played his second-ever NHL game, he managed to score his second NHL goal.
He was thrilled and over the moon, like everyone would be if they scored their second NHL goal. But Tie Domi didn’t approve.
”We played the Leafs in Toronto and I managed to score my second goal in second game,” Hosta said in a Slovak podcast.
”I was over the moon, and as I was celebrating, Tie Domi skated past me saying, ‘Holy f*ck, take it easy with your celebration kid.’”
Tie Domi, what an absolute legend!
