The Year Is 2022. Sean Avery Signs A Contract In The ECHL With A Potential Fight Against Matthew Barnaby On The Line
Christopher Pasatieri. Getty Images.The last time Sean Avery played hockey was 10 years ago, and then he retired to focus on his acting career. Unfortunately since then, his IMDb page hasn't filled up quite as much as his HockeyDb page. He picked up some roles in a few shorts, and played Red Soldier 1 in Tenet. But he was getting less screentime than playing time, so now Sean Avery is making his return to hockey by signing with the Orlando Solar Bears in the ECHL.
Avery is 42, so let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I don't think he has it left in his legs to be a 2x ECHL All-Star like Paul Bissonnette. But I mean…regardless of how "controversial" of a player Sean Avery was, he did play 580 games in the NHL. It doesn't matter that the last one of those games was a decade ago. He still provides some…experience to the roster. And most importantly, he brings entertainment. Because at the end of the day, that's what Sean Avery is. A performer whose stage is a sheet of ice. And the stage is set for his final act.
Barnaby and Avery have been going back and forth online for a while now. Just a couple of retired former Rangers who everybody else in the league absolutely despised putting all of our brains in a pretzel trying to decide which player we hated more. Trying to pick between Matthew Barnaby and Sean Avery is like trying to choose between getting punched in the face or kicked in the balls. But as long as an ECHL team out there doesn't actually care about winning hockey games as much as they care about giving the fans what they want, there's a chance we could see Barnaby punching Avery in the face and Avery kicking Barnaby in the balls. Which is a huge win for everyone.
Both of them love to talk about fighting one another. And miraculously somehow in the year 2022, we finally have a chance to make it happen. The Solar Bears have a ton of games left against the Jacksonville Icemen, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, the Florida Everblades and the South Carolina Stingrays. The Stingrays are in last place in their division so that would make the most sense. Give Barnaby the contract and let's make it happen. Loser leaves town.
P.S. - Not enough people talking about how heroic it is that Avery is even able to still play after getting brutally murdered by Jaromir Jagr all those years ago.