Real reason Kyle Clifford attacked his former teammate revealed
On Saturday night, the Toronto Marlies faced off against his Springfield Thunderbirds. This AHL matchup would usually not draw very much attention. However, an incident involving Kyle Clifford has captured audiences.
In the third, Thunderbird's defend Joey Duszak scored a wrap around goal and immediately chose to taunt the Toronto bench. While, usually this would be enough to upset even the savviest of veterans. There was more to the story.
On his next opportunity on the ice. Kyle Clifford took an opportunity to have a conversation with Duszak. So while many felt this was just an incident that involved one player being upset about a celebration, the truth ran much deeper. In fact it runs all the way back to 2018, when Duszak abandoned his own teammates.
Two years ago, Duszak refused to dress for the Marlies final game of the season, and they had to play short. He also left the arena before the end of the game and never showed up to another Marlies event, until he was released shortly after.
Then here, after scoring a goal, he goes straight to the Marlies bench and starts taunting them.
To think this response had anything to do with a goal celebration is just lazy and ignorant. Duszak was not very well liked, quite on the team, and then in after his first goal against his old teammates, yells at the bench....
At the time that he bailed on his teammates, Duszak was reportedly unhappy with his limited role. Instead of playing that role to perfection, he chose to leave his team short and put his own interest ahead of the team before being cut just days later.
It's clear that Clifford didn't have a short memory of the situation and wasn't going to allow his team to be disrespected. Unlike Maple Leafs, Morgan Rielly, Clifford went about it trying to drop the gloves while Duszak covered up all his important organs as if he were trying to survive a bear attack.
| POLL | ||
Who was in the wrong? | ||
| Kyle Clifford | 83 | 21.8 % |
| Joseph Duszak | 141 | 37.1 % |
| Both | 119 | 31.3 % |
| FAFO | 37 | 9.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
