Mirë upafshim Tie

Everyone's favourite Maple Leaf Tie Domi is retiring from the NHL after spending the last 11 seasons in Toronto.

Chris Young eulogizes Tie with a few nice clips from YouTube. A tad unfairly, Domi will be remembered for a couple of high profile cheap shots. The first one was on Ulf Samuelsson and anyone that was a fan of Cam Neely, and knees in general, would probably admit that they cheered when they saw Domi drop Ulfie. What I liked was the "clean"-ness of this dirty hit. Domi did not attack someone from behind like Todd Bertuzzi or Matt Johnson did. He squared up to Ulf, dropped his glove, and then gave Ulf what he deserved for ruining Neely's career. I would like to think that Cam sent Tie a nice gift basket the next day. It did not even land him on the longest NHL suspensions list (8 games).

His other famous cheapshot did. His elbow to Scott Neidermayer's head cost him 11 games and the Leafs the series.

However, I will remember him for his refusal to back down from fights, his willingness to defend his teammates, and his child-like excitement. The biggest thing that I will remember is how he helped save the Easter Seals skate for my pee-wee hockey team. We had raised enough to win the corporate and team skate event but were erroneously registered in the individual skate. Of course, by the time the individual skate got on the ice all of the Leafs stars were gone and only Bobby Orr (yes, it was a nice consolation) stayed. A coach of ours wrote a letter to the team letting them know that we were really disappointed and Domi responded with signed pictures for all of us. That is a true example of the kind of guy that he is and he will be missed by all Leafs fans. His time has passed but we'll remember him as our Tie.

p.s. does that really say goodbye in Albanian? does anyone know?

Update: Tie is joining TSN!