Fan power shames NHL and makes a hero of All-Star MVP John Scott

He was never taught to think big, at least not real big. For John Scott, success would have been a corner cubicle at General Motors in his hometown of St Catharines, Ontario.

He was merely hoping for a white-collar job in a blue-collar town and like all of his friends, Scott had a love for hockey, if not an aptitude for the game.

Thanks to his towering size, Scott managed to get an offer from tiny Western Michigan Tech where he graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. But somewhere between the engineering degree and the corner cubicle, he became an international sensation.

Last week, Scott set the hockey world alight when he was named MVP of the NHL All-Star game. The fact that Scott was even in the game was remarkable in itself.

A slow-footed, gangly 2.03 metres, Scott is a career journeyman who has played for six NHL teams and scored a grand total of five goals in 285 games. He does, however, have 534 penalty minutes and close to 50 fights.

Scott is an enforcer, a dying breed whose job is to fight. For years, he has been paid to protect star players and for one game he finally got to skate among them.