Maybe it’s a good thing I’m blocked at work. I don’t know if I could put myself through it. Ah, hell. I’ll watch it tonight.
And, to cap off a frustrating injury-riddled year, Carey Price has a mild concussion and is shut down for the season. Doesn’t change much for the team, but he’s one of my fantasy league goalies - unless the league manager approves an emergency call-up for me, I have no chance of winning the league at all (I’m currently in the finals but down by a little under 50 points).
sigh
I still don’t like Bertuzzi much, but damn I love that whole gangsta smooth thing he has going on on the shootout.
[conspiracy theory]Man, the refs have it in for the Habs…they are giving them power plays and trying to help them WIN in order to deny them a top draft pick!!![/conspiracy theory]
Even I’ll admit that the refereeing in the Habs-Canes game has been heavy-handed and…weird. The last few calls were dubious, and the Canes got screwed on a few penalties, especially at the end and Staal was right about getting a penalty shot. OTOH, the Canes seem to love accidentally leaving their sticks in people’s skates. OTOOH Subban has been a total dumbass in this game and deserved not only each penalty but to be nailed to the bench too.
Weird.
#meaninglessgame
#cheeringanyways
OK…Canes fans…congratulations…but in a 2-1 SO win, you don’t throw hats on the ice. Seriously, WTF? Can someone teach these fans some Hockey 101?
Yes, Hab fans can teach them what to throw on ice.
A ten year old, out of context low blow? Sure. But it was the same team, too, so it was too juicy a setup, Mnemosyne. 
EDIT: AND it was after a 2-1 OT victory too! Ceteris Paribus, eh?
Force of habit. Someone usually gets a hat trick on hat giveaway night. 
As a Caps season ticket holder, I’ve had to watch the “verizon center hat trick” where hats fly after two regulation goals and then a shoot out goal. :smack:
Any guesses about what will happen to Ryan Clowe? Late in the third period last night with the game tied 5-5 and LA on a power play Clowe interfered with the puck from the bench. Amazingly, none of the officials on the ice caught the move. San Jose went on to win the game in the shoot-out. Playoff seedings are at stake here, and Clowe claims not to know what everyone is talking about.
Suspension worthy? I think so.
oh yeah, did anyone catch Brian Boyle getting butt-ended last night? Again no penalty called.
I understand the general concept of letting the players decide the outcome not the refs but I want to see a hockey game decided, not a cheap shot contest.
antonio - when several fans throw several bananas as a matter of habit onto the ice, then the comparison will be relevant. 
It’s not like bananas have any actual significance to a hockey game, whereas hat throwing does. Damn American teams, diluting the significance of a hat trick.
Perhaps the free hats given out in Carolina are just that ugly and no one wants to be seen with them after the game? Perhaps the marketing department will want to think about that for a bit.
I missed the Clowe and Boyle stories, but methinks the Pittsburgh Penguins will be starting the playoffs without Brooks Orpik - that was an entirely avoidable contact, IMHO. Two previous suspensions for Orpik should - in a fair league - result in a lengthy one this time. Though that’s making tons of assumptions about the integrity of the NHL and Brendan Shannahan which I don’t think are necessarily warranted :smack:
You want a suspension for a minor penalty??
Not gonna happen
It’s more than just a minor penalty, it’s blatant cheating. So the precedent has been set that players on the bench can interfere with the game for, at worst, a minor penalty unless none of the four refs on the ice happen to see the play (which is mind boggling that not a single one was even watching the puck at the time) in which case they get away with it scot-free?
I don’t know that it was necessarily suspension worthy, though I wouldn’t have complained if he were, but not even a fine? That’s just ridiculous.
But then again, it’s about par for the course when it comes to the League’s handling of things. They completely ignore a pretty blatant knee-on-knee by repeat offender Brooks Orpik on Derek Stepan and instead fine The Fonz $20k for implying that the League protects the Penguins, though they don’t say that’s the reason and so leave it open to interpretation that it’s really because he deigned to speak the truth about the goons on the Allegheny. Nothing wrong with the fine, really, but to not explain their reasoning and to do that while overlooking the play that led to the whole brouhaha is just another example of their ineptitude.
And now it seems the Penguins have called up a basher for their tilt with the Flyers today. This will end well…
The irony of a Devils fan complaining that a team won through “blatant cheating” kills me.
I can’t believe Orpik didn’t get a single game. This league is disgraceful. “Player safety” is the last thing on Shannahan’s mind - he’s an idiot and by failing entirely to address the source of Torts’ comments, he kind of proves his point for him. The league turns a blind eye to easily avoidable and clearly dangerous situations depending on what jersey the offender wears. We’ve seen it before and we will see it again - no problems suspending some no-name fourth liner out of Columbus to prove a point, but OMG if it’s a name player on a money-making (for the media) team, well, then, it must have been a “hockey play” even when the guy took out a couple of swords, decapitated a few people and set the other team on fire. :rolleyes:
Ridiculous.
It’s not like there aren’t, in fact, objective standards. Sure the game goes fast, sure mistakes are made and sure, there are just some bad luck plays. But to constantly pretend that players couldn’t possibly have controlled their own arms and legs because of the speed of the game is just stupid - and proven wrong whenever a player avoids a hit, rushes into the offensive zone around defensive players, stickhandles and dekes the puck and does all the other stuff they are actually there to do.
It’s a 2 minute penalty for a high stick, whether you meant to do it or not. That logic needs to apply to other offenses - stop trying to consider “intent”. The offender will always claim to have not intended to break a rule, and you’re left with just plain guessing. It doesn’t matter - you did something wrong, you pay the price, regardless.
But none of this is stuff I haven’t said a thousand times, and will continue to say whenever the league buries it’s head in the sand and screws up again. I don’t have much hope that I’ll ever get to stop saying it any time soon.
I hear what you’re saying, but its not like the knee didn’t go unpunished…he got a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. Looking at the replay it looked to be more along the made a quick move and didn’t control the body well kind of knee rather than a blatant attempt to injure. Worth a 5 minute major? Yup. Suspension? Not really…though I wouldn’t have been upset if the league had decided to take a game or two.
Unless the rule is Major Penalty= automatic suspension, I don’t see the outrage.
Do explain this one.
Firstly, I’m not complaining, merely trying to understand the backwards reasoning as it was definitely, 100%, no-doubt-about-it cheating. And secondly, how have the Devils blatantly cheated to win?
OK, fair enough: it is supposed to be supplementary discipline and 5 and a game is fairly harsh.
The thing is, haven’t we seen similar things get suspensions? And haven’t we seen similar things go entirely unpunished, or only get a 2 minute minor?
There is no consistency from game-to-game, referee-to-referee (heck, even the same referee within the same game, depending on the score and how much time is left!), let alone consistency with how the league then hands out punishment.
So perhaps Orpik was “adequately” punished, if we look at this hit on it’s own. But in the context of all the other hits and knee-on-knees and boarding and whatnot, in the context of all the other things that HAVE earned supplementary discipline, was the punishment given to Orpik correct or fair?
Give me a small army of minions to review game tape from the past few seasons, give me the NHL rule book and give me time on a spreadsheet and I could come up with a relatively fair, consistent and just system of penalties where all players are treated equally regardless of superstardom or the jersey they wear. There would be a basic level of penalty assessed no matter what- not nearly as much as the referee’s “discretion” - and then perhaps additional suspensions or fines for repeat offenders, but on an objective and consistent scale.
It really isn’t hard, it just takes time, willingness and the ability to put aside emotion and come up with a system that works rather than a system that doesn’t, which is what they have now.
“Clutch-and-grab” ring any bells?