At the very dawn of his hockey career, Nathan Gerbe, now with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, decided that even though he was always the shortest player on the ice, he could take on the biggest kids.
Some things never change.
The 5-foot-4 Gerbe is the shortest player in modern NHL history.
The only NHL player shorter than him was goalie Roy Worters, who retired in 1937, according to Sports Illustrated.
But Gerbe, 32, defined his combative spirit Thursday in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
As video of the game shows, Gerbe began the chain of events with a body check that flattened Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux.
Travis Sanheim of the Flyers, all 6-foot-3 of him, decided to even the score by going after Gerbe.
Mistake.