TORONTO — Craig Berube absorbed plenty of bumps and bruises on his road to becoming the NHL’s seventh all-time career leader in penalty minutes with 3,149.
But that was during his playing career, which went from 1986-2003.
Now, 23 years later, in his role as the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, you don’t expect him to be banged up like that.
Yet, there he was during his media availability at the Maple Leafs morning skate Friday, sporting a shiner on his left eye and a huge gash on his scalp that was sealed with a series of stitches.
What happened?
“Just had an accident in the gym yesterday,” the 60-year-old said. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t look fine. His bruised pride certainly isn’t.
“Stupid. It was a bad accident. It's on me, my fault. I'm fine,” he said.
At least his sense of humor wasn’t damaged.
"The other guy looks way worse. There were three of them,” he joked, breaking into laughter.
Berube chose to be vague about the specific details of the incident, but said his players enjoyed seeing their coach battered.
“They love it, especially when I told them what happened,” he chuckled.
Berube added that the injury, which obviously was of the upper body variety, would not prevent him from coaching against the Vegas Golden Knights at Scotiabank Arena on Friday night
Once a warrior, always a warrior.
