Shawn Thornton’s Advice Helped Krys Barch Advance His Career
Shawn Thornton, former mentor to fellow enforcer Krys Barch
Barch had taken the previous season off from hockey and came back in 2004-05. Never a highly skilled player, he was trying to make his way up from the bottom by playing with an edge. He had 154 penalty minutes for Greenville, but wasn’t a heavyweight fighter.
“He plays hard,” Thornton said. “He plays a certain style that I think he had to answer a few times. He fought tough guys a few times and it didn’t go as well.”
Thornton was in his seventh season as an AHL enforcer, with St. John’s and Norfolk. Still several years from becoming a Bruin, he had learned the ways of a hockey fight long ago.
“I just showed him a few things, trying to help out if he had to protect himself,” Thornton said.
