Add a feud between Radko Gudas and Brady Tkachuk to the list of hockey’s new budding and entertaining rivalries.
The rugged defenseman from the Anaheim Ducks and the irritating Ottawa Senators forward matched up in Thursday’s World Championship quarterfinals game that saw Czechia edge out the United States 1-0.
Both players exchanged multiple big hits before a fracas saw Gudas, a former Capital, grab Tkachuk by the neck and briefly choke him.
“I wasn’t planning on messing with him from the start, but when he comes at me, it’s clear,” Gudas said to idnes.cz and per a Google Translation. “We go at each other in every game, it’s part of our game. We don’t give each other an extra inch.”
“It’s his style and I understand him, because I’m the same way,” Tkachuk said. “He deserves credit because he helped his team a lot.”
While the two got physical, Gudas — a teammate of Matthew Tkachuk in Florida — looked the other way in the end, calling Brady “a great guy” and someone he really enjoys playing against. Though their physical matchup in Europe may be a gateway to something more violent in the NHL.
“We were already talking about how we would fight together in the fall,” Gudas said per sportnet.sk and a Google Translation.
