A tale of two losers

I'm sure you've heard the hockey game that got in the way of the fight down in Philadelphia?

In my half-assed playoff preview, I had hoped the Pens and Flyers would just destroy each other. Well, surprisingly, the Flyers are doing it by playing actual hockey! Shocking! I know! However they're driving the Penguins completely mad in the process. And you know what? It's fantastic. That spoiled little brat of a team is falling apart at the seams, rolling on the ground kicking and screaming that mommy won't get him some wins. Or that Fleury is sucking more than Bryz, which is hilarious.

Basically, they're melting down more than the Habs in a third period. Only without CaKa for defence. However, they're not just being awful but losing every bit of dignity they had.

I don't care if Sidney Crosby flicked away a Voracek's glove. I do care that he's going around starting shit, knowing full well no one will DARE touch his head. The fight he had with Giroux was more of an intense hugging match. Even Scott Hartnell didn't dare punch him one. I have to commend the Flyers for their restraint because I'm sure they'd love to smack him good. And how douchey do you have to be to make the Flyers look like fucking saints?

Bottom line is the Flyers are playing great hockey, and Bylsma is getting out-coached. Again. While his key players are too busy being morons on the ice (hi Neal).

Of course the refs could help by throwing people out EARLIER. (Hi Neal, again).

Hop over across the continent to the Canucks-Kings series. The President's Trophy winner is down 3-0, much like the Pens. However they haven't lost their minds. Sure, we've had a few scuffles, but they were purely emotional outbursts during play. I hate fighting after clean hits, and Dustin Brown's hit on Sedin (the remaining one) was clean and hard. I understand the response as well, considering they're already down a twin. And not soon after, Brown was sent cartwheeling on a great hit (which he admirably sprung right back up and went back to business after). The Canucks are playing like a team completely deflated and at a loss, they're not playing very smart and aren't matching up very well, while probably wishing they had Cody Hodgson around at the moment instead of Zach Kassian.

The Canucks are equally frustrated to be losing. But instead of busting out the petulant child in a full donnybrook, they're continuing to skate and chip and try. Sucks to be them that Jonathan Quick owns their souls. Not much you can do when you face a hot goalie. But did you see that shift by Henrik Sedin? Or the relentless forechecking? They threw everything including the kitchen sink and the soap but came up empty.

Will the Canucks go down that dark path the Pens fell face first on to? The series is still young, and the League has fed this appetite for roidless roidrage. (Or we assume it's roidless). I guess it all depends if Shanahan has the balls to suspend Neal for what he did. He dropped the ball with Shea Weber and now the Penguins pushed him into a dark corner. However what the Pens are doing, the NHL created, and the officiating has taken a step back to allow on-ice assault. And now we're being told the ratings are high! That people are liking this? I'm sorry, no. We're here for the hockey. Hockey fights? They're fine. Hard hits? They're great. But the bullshit crap like crosschecking a kid high, flying elbows, or pounding a guy when he's already down? No, we're not watching for that. And why were we still watching the Pens-Flyers game? Well other than because it's hockey and nothing else was on, much like gawking an accident, you just couldn't look away. All we can do is hope the League has enough sense to make this crap stop instead of this fake caring about player safety.

I half expect these two teams to win their next game, but it wouldn't shock me to see either of them swept. If the Penguins could lose with dignity, it might be do them a world of good. Then again, there might be no one left on the team to douche it up. Maybe.

Suspenders

Denis Gauthier has been suspended 5 games and will surrender $56k for his disgusting flying elbow on Josh Gorges. League missed the boat, however, considering this isn't the first time he has hit with an intent to injure THIS YEAR let alone in his career. Even the Flyers didn't want him, and that says a lot.

And before you cry foul and go "what about Kostopoulos", this is in no way even remotely similar.

I'm honestly led to believe that because Gorges is like a black hole when it comes to receiving hits and didn't end up in hospital that the League didn't clamp down on this creature like they did with Downie (though, it really didn't stop him much as we still see him flying around trying to hit people with intent). Because Gorges is tough as nails, got up wobbly, went off, came back and then sat out with a headache, that Gauthier was let off a little easier than most suspected. Even the CBC were thinking "20 games" and they hate the Habs.

The fact Gauthier himself argued about his penalty to the ref and then later didn't think he threw a bad hit should speak a world of wonder. The guy never learns.

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So what about O'Byrne? I don't know, it was borderline... But frankly Rhino is tall and a little stupid when it comes to hitting. If they suspended him for a game I don't think anyone would crow about it. Carbo might even scratch him anyway for all anyone knows. But he should watch himself... We want him to HIT but we don't want him to kill.

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Tyler Kennedy was suspended for one game for trying to fight Luke Schenn while on a line change (tried to make him answer for his hit on Malkin). Silly, Kennedy... Didn't you know you can't touch a Leaf player? Apparently it's one of those weird rules we don't really hear about, but whatever. If he had waited for the whistle we wouldn't even be talking about it.

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Not NHL suspensions, but apparently Mike Smith is out with an injury which means Karri Ramo is going to hold the fort...however Ramo, like Downie, was called up while suspended by the AHL (for stepping off the bench to get into a fight, oh the old days of bench brawls...how they be gone). I guess since we saw Downie playing that Ramo will be allowed to play too.

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I guess you can say the Sens have suspended Craigh Hartsburg's NHL coaching career. Honestly don't think anyone could fix that mess though...but good luck to the bSens coach, who is probably just happy to be out of Binghamton.

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And now for something completely different, just because it cheered me up over the doom and gloom from losing Lang and the possibility of the team being shot in its Achilles heel (literally), losing Gui! to yet another bizzaro tally of shoulder injuries, watching the fans turn on Kovy for...being Kovy, and watching the press make up shit about Carbo/Kovy/Koivu.

Sheldon Souray, you may be a pylon half the time, but I love you anyway.

I'm sick and it isn't from the weather...

I'm so tired of elections and general politics that I'm really close to dumping my new condo, quitting my job, and hiding somewhere in the brush of the Northwest Territories. Or London, Ontario (assuming I can try again for that other job). And I'm not talking Canadian politics. My dad insists on leaving the TV on CNN every morning and night, even though he really just uses it to put himself to sleep. My friendly Americans, just watch the Daily Show, that's really all you need to know... And now there's word of a Provincial election that might happen. Great, just what I needed. More stomach churning worries that the PQ might be elected once more after they were booted out years ago 'cause god knows my fellow citizens for the most part have short-term memories even though our motto is "Je me souviens". (They don't even remember what that's from either). Thank god there's some hockey tomorrow.

I'm in your systems, raining on your day.
Tomorrow's forecast calls for rain, rain, snow, and rain. And I'm not talking about the Hurricanes. Well, no, they'll be here too. Hope the boys are awake, 'cause we all know how they tend to play on rainy days. Our ray of sunshine will be from Sergei's smiling face in practice pictures as he wrestles with Price (what? practicing goalie interference?) while big brother Andrei is skating around looking just fine. C'mon Doc, give the man clearance. Other than another black eye, he looks fine to me. (Which is good to see, considering he has epilepsy and god knows what head shots do to people with such conditions).

The 'Canes also just came off their own brush with the Head Shot. And I agree with their GM, the league just wants to say they care but don't give enough of a damn about it. Guess the same rule of fixing a bad intersection here applies: it takes 50 people to have their career end prematurely before they'll actually make a move. Or, maybe just Crosby. Thankfully it didn't end the career for Andrei, nor Mathieu Carle (who was just cleared and sent to the Bulldogs), and doesn't look like it'll end for rookie Brandon Sutter.

Carbo said it best, that hey in case you didn't notice, when you play hockey, the puck is usually on the ground, so you know, you're head is going to be down. He just doesn't buy that "keep your head up" crap. I'm also tired of hearing that old mantra. The league is quick to up scoring and changing rules there, but what'll happen if everyone is too concussed to do anything? Until players get some kind of suspension, they'll never learn to think about making a move on a vulnerable player. The game is fast, and accidents happen when one play goes bad, but that doesn't mean you can't think. I'll give it to Sutter, he actually had the puck, and it was just a hit gone wrong because he suddenly leaned down to play the puck forward just as Weight smacked him one. But Andrei didn't have it anymore, not for a while, and Carle was just off a simple dump in that really didn't warrant an open-ice Kronwall-y smackdown (in preseason, no doubt). It's just all stupid. (Of course I'm the first to note that no-check hockey is a fucking snorefest, I'm just asking for a little bit of brains, that's all).

Come down from Cloud 9
- Hey, like the Habs, the glaring errors on the Sabres finally caught up to them as Miller wasn't in nets to bail 'em out (nor was he being switched in). Sens HIGH-FIVE, Slugs 2. Lalime was in nets for the Slugs here. So that leaves the Minnesota Not-So-Wild as the only team that has yet to lose in regulation (6-0-1). Wee...Habs visit them Thursday...
- Detroit had to take the Kings to a shootout, 4-3. I'm intrigued by this.
- Rangers beat the...ya, it's not that hard to beat the Islanders these days, though.
- The Palin Curse didn't affect their games, but the Blues have no more goalies thanks to her. They now rely on two untested rookies that they seem to like swapping mid-game as if it were still pre-season. Not that they're facing many shots anyway.