Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Mike Danton is coming to town.

Merry freaking Christmas Halifax media.

Remember Mike Danton?

He was the guy who played for the St. Louis Blues who sorta, kinda, almost committed murder... well it was indirect really... clearly a smooth dude, he unknowingly hired a cop instead of a real hitman in a murder-for-hire plot against his agent and former coach David Frost. Of course some didn't really see a problem with this whole plot thingy after Frost was convicted of 12 counts of sexual exploitation related to acts on three females and four males between the ages of 14 and 16. I mean this guy sounds like a real Graham James (see: Sheldon Kennedy and Theoron Fluery).

Anyways, clearly when you hire a cop to murder someone you pretty much end up in jail. In 2009 he was transferred to Canadian prison where he was granted parole in September.

However, somewhere along the lines Danton is all like... oops, I actually meant to kill my dad... not David Frost. Dude, seriously? I was actually feeling kind of bad for you after hearing all that creepy stuff about Frost. (CBC's Fifth Estate did a doc on the controlling relationship Frost had over Danton. And backs up my theory this guy is another Graham James and a parasite on society.)

Okay now that you have the background. Mike Danton has decided to enroll at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. He's also going to play hockey for the Saint Mary's Huskies varsity hockey team.

"I'm very proud of the fact that Saint Mary's is standing behind this situation in the light that we are," says Saint Mary's athletic director Steve Sarty.

"I'm happy to be involved in the situation and Saint Mary's being the progressive university that we pride ourself on, has taken a very humane stance on this."

That's great, maybe this kid (not really a kid... he's 29) needs a second chance. Clearly he's been surrounded by crazy people his entire life. And really it's not like he's planning on heading back to The Show... he can't travel to the United States. And he did take correspondence courses through Queens while in the slammer.

So maybe this is just a guy trying to get his life in order.

And I guess he better, hockey coach Trevor Steinburg said it's good for him to have a second chance... but it's also his last. So basically: Smarten the F&^%$ up and I guess I'll keep ya around if I have to.

Anyways, from what I can tell the guy is a natural at making friends, so he should be fine in his new surroundings.

For example, those in Moose Country out there, perhaps you were around for the 2000 Memorial Cup when Mr. Danton went by the name Mike Jefferson.

Remember when he strolled into Halifax, said he wanted to spear Ramzi Abid (then the CHL's second highest scorer, and a Mooseheads fan favourite) in the face.

Then went on to taunt the QMJHL by saying the CHL's leading scorer Brad Richards was basically a pussy and wouldn't last three days in the OHL.

Like, I hated Brad Richards back then. He played for the dirty ol' Rimouski Oceanic. Despite the geographical distance between Halifax and Rimouski, I would've considered them a bitter rival at the time. Annnnnd they had just swept Halifax out of the playoffs a few weeks earlier. But HEY we were hosting the Memorial Cup so we still got to go to the tea party.

Anyways, point being, despite my hatred for Rimouski and Richards, suddenly I found myself cheering for them when they weren't playing the Mooseheads.

Why?

Mike Jefferson/Danton.

Oh did I mention Richards won the tournament MVP, and Jefferson/Danton refused to shake his hand afterwards.

Have fun with THAT one SMU. I mean, you've always been known as the school who recruits for... shall we say brawn, not brain? I can only imagine how you plan to top this one.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx

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