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Modern hockey nicknames kinda suck. They used to be kinda cool, but now are generally created by splitting a guy’s last name in half and adding an “s” or a “y” to it. Boooooooring.
Well, the Islanders have had enough! Or at least, they were tired of two guys with similar lazy nicknames getting called out, leading to chaos on the bench. So as he often has over the last five seasons, Johnny Boychuk stepped up and made a key block at the right time.
Via Andrew Gross’s notes column in Newsday:
Boychuk dubs thee
There was confusion on the Islanders’ bench. Too often as the coaches called out the line changes, Barzal’s nickname, “Barzy,” was getting confused with Cole Bardreau’s “Bardy.”
Defenseman Johnny Boychuk finally ended the confusion shortly before Bardreau scored his first NHL goal on a penalty shot on Tuesday. Boychuk told Bardreau his new nickname was “Tuna.”
Why?
No real reason, much the same way John Belushi’s “Bluto” character in “Animal House” dubbed Stephen Furst’s character, “Flounder.”
Bardreau’s penalty shot for his first NHL goal in a game that ended up being the Islanders 10th in a row is already a signature moment of this season. Even getting returned to Bridgeport after Saturday’s win over Florida can’t take that away from the 26-year-old who overcame an often horrifying string of ailments to finally make it to the NHL.
And now, on top of all that, he’s got a Delta House nickname straight from Bluto Boychuk himself. Not a bad month, Tuna.