And i liked TSN....

TORONTO (CP) - Tie Domi announced his retirement as an NHL player Tuesday, but he'll be staying close to big-league hockey as a TSN analyst.

"I am excited and nervous in my new role and I promise to bring the same passion and dedication to the broadcast arena that I delivered on the ice night in and night out," Domi said during a 30-minute news conference at Air Canada Centre organized by the Toronto Maple Leafs. "I'm not going to hold much back.

"What you saw on the ice is what you're going to see on TV every Wednesday night from coast to coast. I might need a six-second delay when I start. I'm not a guy who vanillas many things."

Leafs fans adored him and he was public enemy No. 1 in opposition rinks, but the enforcer's role was quickly making the 36-year-old right-winger a dinosaur in a time when speed and skill are being accentuated.

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Friends told him during lunch that he better not cry in officially hanging up his skates and, while he stopped briefly several times to compose himself while reading a prepared statement, he managed to hold back the tears.

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"I may not have been the most talented player but I played the game with every ounce of my commitment and determination to win," he said. "If I could have a career in professional hockey, then every kid can dream the dream."

The Leafs bought out the remaining season of his contract during the off-season. They are paying him US$833,000 over two years, which is two-thirds of the $1.25 million he was owed.

He repeated several times during a question and answer session that he wasn't bitter about how his playing career ended. Business is business, he said.

"I kiss my lucky charms I got to play here for so long and become a household name in this city," he said.

Domi always prided himself in riding shotgun for his more artistic teammates, but with fighting down in the NHL his role clearly was becoming redundant.

There was no contract offer from any other team, but there were nibbles. He didn't bite.

"I just couldn't put on another jersey other than the blue and white," he said.

He called Mario Lemieux on Monday to let his good friend know he was quitting, and the Pittsburgh Penguins owner teased him.

"Mario said, `I gave you a three-year offer last year and you stood me up,"' said Domi.

Domi said he opted for a two-year renewal with Toronto so he could end his career as a Leaf.

In his last season, he scored only five goals, assisted on 11 and served 109 penalty minutes. In all, he played 1,020 NHL games in 16 seasons for Toronto, the New York Rangers, the Winnipeg Jets and the Leafs again. He scored 104 goals and assisted on 141. The Leafs honoured him for his 1,000th game in an on-ice ceremony last season.

Domi is third on the all-time NHL penalty minutes list with 3,515, trailing only his boyhood idol Dave (Tiger) Williams, who rang up 3,966, and Dale Hunter, who amassed 3,565.

Two of the most notorious incidents of his career occurred weeks apart in 2001.

He was fined $1,000 by the league in late March for squirting spectators with water while in the penalty box in Philadelphia and then getting involved in an altercation with one of them.

He was suspended that April for the duration of the playoffs for deliberate attempt to injure after knocking out star New Jersey defenceman Scott Niedermayer with an elbow to the face near the side boards with 20 seconds left in the Leafs' 3-1 home-ice victory in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. When the Devils eliminated the Leafs, the suspension carried over to the first eight games of the following season.

Niedermayer spent a night in hospital and missed the series clincher but was otherwise okay. His teammates were enraged at Domi's cheap shot.

"It's an insult to hockey, especially at this time when the game needs to reach a wider spectrum of fans," Bobby Holik, then a centre with the Devils, said at the time.

Domi wishes he could relive the moment and not deliver the hit.

"That was probably the stupidest thing I did in my career," he admitted. "I regret it.

"I really let my teammates down."

Domi also was suspended for eight games in 1995 for sucker punching defenceman Ulf Samuelson.

Domi's antics on the ice didn't make him a preferred role model by many, but pro hockey was his career, fighting was allowed, and he did what he had to do to make a handsome living. He was asked what he cherished most about it all. He mentioned fan support and his longevity, and something else.

"My father got to see me play in the NHL before he died," he said.

His official website lists his fights season by season. The last posted punch-up was last Jan. 23 against Ottawa's Chris Neil, who Domi commended Tuesday for being good at the enforcer's job. Only five fights are itemized on the website - down from 16 in 2003-2004. It's not an easy job, he said.

"There were nights when I had injuries to my hands or my shoulders that other teams didn't know about," he said. "One or two guys in our room might know, but that was it."

But he played anyway.

He separated a shoulder in hitting the boards last season, and a doctor popped it back into position.

"We had six or seven guys injured at the time," he recalled. "I missed three games.

"I should have missed nine or 10 games but I felt an obligation to get back in there."

GM John Ferguson reiterated his respect for the role Domi performed, and Mats Sundin, Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, Kyle Wellwood and Matt Stajan dropped by to wish Domi well.

Among the many people he thanked, he added thanks to the media "for being fair to me." He also tossed out a word of advice the day after his former teammates lost their pre-season opener 4-0 to the Buffalo Sabres.

"Don't be so hard on the guys. It's only one exhibition game and you're all over them already."