Mike Heika, with the Dallas Morning News, blogged today:

Mark Fistric will be a villain tonight. That’s just how they do it here in Nashville.

The Predators like to call the town Smashville, Jordin Tootoo is one of the most popular players here, and the fans are generally very aggressive toward the opposition with chants and jeers. When Tootoo was suspended five games in 2007 for hitting Stephane Robidas in the face, Mike Modano took the brunt of anger from the fans.

Modano was knocked down hard on a clean hit by Tootoo in that game, Robidas rushed to his defense and was sucker-punched by Tootoo, and Modano slashed Tootoo from behind in response. Still, Tootoo was the only one who was suspended.

Here’s the video from that game.

Nashville fans were irate that Modano was not suspended for his slash (and for not fighting his own fights), and they let him know it for the next five or six games, booing every time he touched the puck.

When Fistric was told the story, he replied, “They’ll have to boo quick, because I don’t touch the puck that much.”

For those of you who don’t follow hockey, or Dallas Stars hockey, Fistric is a 25-year-old defenseman, led (with his wife) the Stars’ Movember effort (to raise money for research on, mostly, prostate cancer), jokes with his team mates about not needing anyone to make a bobble head of him because he’s his own bobble head (apparently they feel his head is on the large size), has a shy smile and comes across as a really nice guy.

And sometimes he’s kinda funny with the press, too.

I love that Fistric guy!