Ryan Callahan talks about the Marchand licking incident and how his Bruins teammates reacted
It may have happened close to three years ago now, but it's still widely talked about in the hockey world, if for nothing else but how odd it was that it actually happened. During game four of the second round playoff series between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning, Brad Marchand of the Bruins would lay a large lick on the face of the Bolts' Ryan Callahan while the two were involved in some back and forth. Callahan recently retired from pro hockey due to injuries and appeared on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast this week to discuss his career. Of course the licking incident was brought up and Callahan addressed it full-on.
"It was shock," said Callahan, trying to describe his emotions after getting Marchand's tongue in his face. "People asked 'why didn't you go after him'? I'll be honest, I was in shock. I didn't know what just happened, you know?"
"If you look at the video (we've posted that below), I tried to grab him," Callahan continued. "I needed shoulder surgery at the end of the year so my right shoulder was pretty much taped to my side. It's like an awkward, me trying to claw at his face awkwardly. I couldn't lift my arm up, but I was just in complete shock."
Callahan said after the game his phone just blew up with messages, pictures and memes of the incident and all he could think was "this is the worst." He added he was told several of Marchand's own teammates were unhappy with him.
"But I heard there was a lot of turmoil in the Bruins locker room a little bit about it, so, I'll take it. It was playoffs."
Callahan said he would rather get speared in the face than have someone lick him, even though he can look back on it now and laugh. He also said he tried hard after the game to get Marchand suspended, admitting that he tried his best to talk up the lick by likening it to spitting in someone's face, but it didn't work. Marchand had been involved with a similar incident with Leo Komarov in the Bruins first round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. While the league did not suspend him, he was put on notice, as evidenced by the Tweet below.
Since then, there have been no other licking incidents by Marchand or anyone else in the NHL. Hopefully, that was the last of it as, let's face it, it's pretty gross and 100 percent disrespectful.
«I'll be honest I was in shock. I have no idea what just happened.»@TheRealCally24 joined the show to discuss the time Brad Marchand licked his face during the 2018 playoffs.
📺: https://t.co/DsjPI6fbFN pic.twitter.com/f1PhESAz1F— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) February 12, 2021
| POLL | ||
FÉVRIER 12 | 161 ANSWERS Ryan Callahan talks about the Marchand licking incident and how his Bruins teammates reacted Should the NHL have suspended Marchand for licking Callahan? | ||
| Yes | 103 | 64 % |
| No | 58 | 36 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
| David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 22 | 18 | 4 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 31 | |
Wild | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
Golden Knights | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 30 | |
Capitals | 21 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 29 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 20 | 13 | 7 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||