In ice hockey, a pest (also known as an "agitator"), is a type of player who attempts to annoy, anger, or distract opposing players in order to reduce their effectiveness or cause them to take a penalty. They differ from enforcers in that although they seek to anger their opponents, they do not primarily seek to fight with them.

Anglophone rivals often resorted using prejudice against francophone star Maurice Richard with insults (frog, French pea, lousy French). Richard, one of the greatest goal-scorers in NHL history, was also occasionally known for being competitive and hot-headed, so opposing teams frequently exploited this to attempt to get Richard penalized. ^[1]

Pests employ legal, illegal, or borderline tactics to accomplish their goals. Some common tactics include trash talk or slashing and hooking while referees are not looking. Also, they may sometimes employ the tactic of goading opponents into a fight but then backing off in order to draw a penalty against them. Some pests may not only use these tactics against opposing skaters, but opposing goaltenders as well.^[2]

Pests are also found in other sports. In association football, a clear example is Marco Materazzi provoking Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup Final resulting in the latter getting a red card.

[edit] Examples of NHL pests

While exactly who is considered a pest may be debatable among fans, some players are so well-known for their pest behaviour that they are frequently referred to as such, both in the media and in hockey circles. In 2009, Sports Illustrated put forward their own list of the 17 Most Notable Pests in the NHL ^[3].

In general, some of the best known pests include:

• Adam Burish
• Sean Avery^[4]
• Matthew Barnaby^[2]
• Alexandre Burrows^[5]
• Garth Butcher
• Daniel Carcillo^[6]
• Dino Ciccarelli^[7]
• David Clarkson
• Matt Cooke^[8]
• Steve Downie^[9]
• Dan Hinote^[10]
• Scott Hartnell^[11]
• Dale Hunter^[12]
• Patrick Kaleta^[13]
• Darius Kasparaitis^[2]
• Bob Kelly^[2]
• Ian Laperriere^[2]
• Chad LaRose^[14]
• Claude Lemieux ^[15]
• Kirk Maltby ^[13]
• Tyson Nash^[2]
• Ville Nieminen^[9]
• Steve Ott^[16]
• Jarkko Ruutu^[17]
• Esa Tikkanen^[2]
• Darcy Tucker^[6][18]
• Jordin Tootoo^[19]

[edit] See also

• Enforcer (hockey)
• Penalty (hockey)

[edit] References