from Mari Faiello of the Tampa Bay Times,

He was new to the area. He was new to the job. In fact, Dr. Gil Rivera was so new he didn’t know who the Tampa Bay Lightning were or what they did.

But the dentist learned this quickly: John Tortorella has plenty of bite.

Rivera came dressed casually for a meeting when Tortorella was the Lightning’s coach, and Torts chewed him out for breaking the dress code.

Rivera walked into his bosses’ office the next day to tell them he may have lost the Lightning gig.

Instead, as he looks back on it 18 years later, it was Rivera’s unofficial welcome-to-the-club moment....

On average, Rivera said he deals with 20 serious cases every season, excluding regular visits from the players, coaching staff and even some families related to people in the organization.

Most of his cases come from high-sticking or friendly fire.

“It (high-sticking) is the most subtle, yet the most violent to the teeth,” he said. “I see it because I see their reactions. High-sticking happens so often, yet, it’s barely caught.”

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