Craig Berube waited more than 10 years to punch Jeremy Roenick

Former Flyer Jeremy Roenick went on WIP on Monday to talk about the Flyers-Rangers playoff series, and about the time Craig Berube punched him in the Flyers' locker room.

Roenick talked about how Berube was the "perfect guy" to take over the Flyers after Peter Laviolette was let go.

"He lives and breathes hockey. He's passionate. He is 100 percent heart and soul," the 44-year-old said of Berube.

Roenick then described a game in 1990, during his time with the Blachawks, when he ran into former Flyers goalie Ron Hextall in the crease.

"[Paul] Holmgren wasn't very happy with me and sent Berube out to teach me a lesson," Roenick said.

Berube chased Roenick around for awhile and finally got the chance to challenge him to a fight in the third period.

"When a super star gets grabbed back then, everybody jumps in so it became a five-on-five melee," Roenick said. "The referee grabs Craig's arms and kind of has him in an arm lock but my right arm is totally free. So I had this choice to make: Do I hit him - you know, defenseless guy - or do I not?"

Roenick chose to slug him.

"For two or three years, every time we played the Flyers, every time I would jump on the ice, Craig would stand up on the bench and start yelling at one of his players to get off the ice because he wanted to get on the ice to chase me around," Roenick said.

"He would jump on the ice and chase me around and I would skate to the bench, and he would skate right to the bench and say, 'JR, I'm gonna [explicit] catch you. I'm gonna beat the tar out of you. I'm gonna get you one of these days.' He did it for like two or three years."

Fast forward to Roenick's time with the Flyers during the 2003-04 season, when the team hired Berube to a minor league contract as a player/coach.

"So [Berube] comes into the Flyers locker room," Roenick said, "where I'm getting ready and was just hanging out in the locker room and I go 'Hey, Chief, what's goin' on?' and he goes 'Hey JR, what's goin' on?' Boom! Just slugs me. Just cracks me. And I kinda went down on one knee and I get up and he goes 'I told ya' I'd get ya'.'"

Later on that day, Roenick said, the two of them went golfing with former Flyers Brian Boucher and Rick Tocchet.

"That epitomizes what Craig Berube is all about. He's all about pride and respect," Roenick said. "And that's what I love about him."