Retirement is approaching for Marc-André Fleury and some of his teammates like to jokingly remind him of it. The Quebec goalkeeper made people laugh at practice on Thursday by using a stick as a stick.
The Minnesota Wild practiced in front of a crowd at the TRIA Rink in St. Paul and, as always, the prankster had fun. Fleury has been waging a friendly war with striker Brandon Duhaime since the latter teased him about his age two weeks ago.
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“For him to do all this at 50 is special and he's great.” “He's an excellent teammate, an excellent player and you can see what he's doing at 50,” Duhaime said during an interview with the Bally network Sports North.
Fleury, 39, quickly responded by stealing the American's clothes while the Canadian was moving from Montreal to Minnesota. Except that at the last practice, Duhaime returned to the attack by giving “Flower” a pink stick.
Again, the masked man did very well for a full minute, protecting the net with the barrel prop. He even tried to impale a teammate's leg with it.
The Wild's next game is Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets. John Hynes' men have emerged victorious in their last four games.