Great news.
I hope he stays, umm, returned this time.
I hope that the “soft tissue neck injury” was the right diagnosis. Otherwise he’s one (even clean) hard hit away from ending his career and a rough rest of his life. This is one of those basic statements that sounds threatening, but I don’t mean it to be so and it is a sincere sentiment.
I hope he keeps his head up. Hockey is a rough sport clean and with the playoff race narrowing down, teams are going to be playing hard. Nobody is going to see him on the ice and put him in a bubble. He’s going to get treated like any other player.
Probably also be a good idea for the Pens as a team to keep their heads as well. Putting players in the box all night by seeking retribution for any hit on Crosby will end badly.
Marty Turco let in 3 goals in the first five minutes of the Bruins blowout loss to the Lightening. Thomas wasn’t much better and they Bruins put Turco back in.
Thomas had better quit focusing on right wing politics and play better or else the Bruins are going out in the first round of the playoffs.
That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, IMO.
I started dancing around the house when I heard about this. (I’m still worried, but at the same time, if he can repeat his performance from his last comeback, AND remain healthy, the rest of the NHL is fucked)
Ohh, please let that happen! 
I’m going to the Sens@Habs game today. These are the tickets my brother got us for Christmas - the ones he thought were for the January game but he was mistaken. Back then, we were so hopeful…:smack:
At least we get to see Andrei Markov’s return to the Bell Centre, which is pretty cool. I hope he’s in the starting lineup - I want to hear Michel Lacroix announce him “Le numéro soixante-dix-neuf - number seventy-nine - Andrei MARRRRRRKOOOV!!!”
Like most of the Habs’ fanbase, I’m conflicted. The team is three back from the Laffs, and I’d love to beat even them in the standings because, well, who wouldn’t, and it’s the natural order of things, except that I want the team to get a top draft pick and so I don’t want them playing themselves out of the draft lottery. I can’t cheer for a loss, though - I love it when this team wins!
Tonight I’ll be cheering at the Phone Booth while chowing down on steamies and beer, and tomorrow I’ll go back to worrying about the standings. GO HABS GO!
I was kind of shocked to note this morning that Boston is only two points and one game ahead of Ottawa for the NE division title. They could actually slip to 7th.
OK, I like Ottawa enough - and loathe Boston more than enough - to want this to happen!
Boston in 7th, first round exit would make me rather happy.
Update: My husband doesn’t want steamies…so La Cage aux Sports it is.
Tyler Myers was suspended for 3 games for the boarding hit on Scott Gomez - Gomez was concussed on the play. A rare good call by Shanahan, IMHO - I was actually assuming he’d only get suspended for a game or two.
What pisses me off is the on-ice officials - how do you miss that call, by giving only a minor? It happens way too often that the officials clearly ignore a play or give a lesser penalty to the one deserved because of…what? Bias? Idiocy? Incompetence? The stupid-ass concept that the number of penalties handed out has to be equal? The “speed of the game” - which I don’t buy in blatant situations like this.
Either way, it angers me that a man who did a play deemed sufficiently outside the rules to merit a 3 game suspension was allowed to stay in the game (and score the winning goal). There is something seriously wrong with the system. The league and the officials have got to get on the same page on this crap.
Fun game, though pretty bad hockey by both teams 
I also like being able to laugh at my Sens fan friends, so yay, bonus!
You’ll get yours on Friday. :mad:
(EDIT: and I always said the refs were against the Sens. This just cements it. ;))
20 games for hitting a ref…
I think anyone who thinks Cole merits a suspension or any kind of discipline is a humourless moron. I’d laugh just as much if it were anyone else, on any other team (except Chara. I hate that guy).
The sad thing is, while reading post-game news articles, I get sucked into the comments and some loser Sens fans actually think that this is evidence that the refs were paid off by the Habs. All kinds of conspiracy nonsense out there… I was at the game and these refs missed a ton of slashing, holding, interference and diving, then made some really questionable calls (only in the second period, naturally), then stopped calling anything at all for the end. Incompetence was the rule, to be honest, as usual. If anything, the refs came down harder on the Habs for a few calls because of the high-five, though they would never admit it.
Is Shanahan going to look at Greening and (Neil? I forget who it was) for the hit on Cole in the third? I think it’s worth another look, maybe a game or two, but I admit to being more concerned about the player on the ice than looking at the replays on the jumbotron.
Also - at the start of the game, right before the Habs came out, they always have a couple of kids skate around with a Habs flag. Chris Neil - he who probably eats kittens for fun - nearly checked one of these kids…just skated up behind him and jumped aside at the last minute, missing him by inches. During a warmup. Seriously, the guy has a few loose screws, to even joke about hitting a child like that.
Also, also, it appears that when one considers the intended regular line up for the Habs this year, they haven’t played a game since late October (their 6th game of the year) in which at least 5 regulars were missing. That’s kind of crazy.
::Woosh::
Oh, not at all, Ike - I knew you were joking but, sadly, I’ve seen some commentators online who weren’t! 
I am so psyched! LET’S GO PENS!!!
(Kris Letang is back too! WOOOHOOOOO!!!)
Those bastards in MSG are actually BOOING Crosby. WTF???
Crosby beats their team and their country. Why would they cheer for him? I’d boo his ass too.
The day he retires in glory, skating around the rink to say farewell, then you can cheer for him. When he’s playing against your team he’s the enemy.
This. Not that I’d ever defend the ‘class’ of Rangers fans, but they’re perfectly in their right and there’s no reason to take it so personally.
Also: Crosby overload.
We all acknowledge that he’s an amazing hockey player and I’ll root for him on Team Canada any day. Many people feel he’s not all that great of a person on the ice (in terms of perceived whining and bitching), and the 24/7 news regarding whether or not he was gonna return and the constant reporting on everything he’s done (Crosby eats a sandwich. Crosby brushes his teeth. Crosby skates a little. Crosby takes a shit), while not his fault, really, has kind of resulted in a lot of people basically disliking him in response because they are sick and tired of hearing his name. As a (semi-)comparable, how much of your local news was dedicated to Markov’s return? Probably not much, and that’s to be expected - report it and move on.
Looking at last night’s box score, Malkin gets his 39th goal of the season, Cooke pots two, it’s a two-point night for Neal, the whole team plays well and all the headlines are “Crosby gets an assist.” Good for him - great, really, and I hope he continues to heal and play well, he’s a sick, talented player - but at the same time ShutTheFuckUpAboutCrosby.
This made me laugh.
I was talking more from the angle of, you have someone just coming back from a major injury – THAT’S how I saw it. Rangers fans just never struck me as the type – I’d have expected it more from say, Philadelphia or Washington.
And all this talk about how “Crosby is always whining” is bullshit. If you actually take the time to read about the guy, he’s actually got a rep as a stand-up individual. It’s hardly his fault that the media’s on his ass 24/7.
The most amazing thing about his assist, actually is that Kunitz got a goal that actually WASN’T waved off.
(Besides, when people boo him, he usually plays better. Chant “Crosby sucks”, and he usually gets a goal. 