MONTREAL – The bread to butter, the ice to cream, the straw to a berry and the turtleneck to a goatee.
One of those things is not like the other, but for Tomas Plekanec the formula that characterized his signature look was every bit as important and inseparable.
“It was just a coincidence,” Plekanec said in an interview on HabsTV in 2021 about wearing the turtleneck. “It was nothing planned or something I really wanted to wear. It just took my game up [a notch] and stuck with me.”
Look good, feel good, play good, they say.
One of those, he was still doing in the Czech Extraliga. The other, not so much. Last season, Plekanec produced at a near point-per-game rate with his hometown club, HC Kladno but after nine games this year, his body gave in and forced him to call it quits on Oct. 28, following a professional career that spanned over two decades.
“My back has some kilometers on it,” the 41-year-old laughed, referencing the wear and tear that he endured throughout parts of nine seasons in Europe and 15 more in the National Hockey League, almost all of which were played in a Canadiens uniform.
On that note, Habs fans are likelier to associate the words “Tomas Plekanec” and “retirement” to 2018. Fair to them, that’s when the Kladno, CZ native hung up his skates – and his turtleneck – on this side of the Atlantic, mere days after his 1,000th career NHL game.