Caps @ Blackhawks 3-14-2010 Post-Mortem

We told you there wouldn't be a shutout today...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Facing a team that tends to out-shoot its opponents 34-25 per game, the Caps actually out-shot the Blackhawks 30-23 despite some moments of bad over-passing in the third period.
• The Power Play was officially 1 for 5 and officially blew a 2 minute 5-on-3 but the Caps scored three seconds after the 5 on 3 ended and the Caps second goal was a direct result of the pressure applied by that Power Play.  And to give credit where credit is due, Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi did an outstanding job to keep the Caps at bay as long as he did.
• Nicklas Backstrom with two goals and one assist though you might be able to credit him with an assist on his game winning goal as he recovered his bad turnover to start the rush going the other way.
• And a shout out to Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore who couldn't be faulted on any of the three goals he allowed (on two of them a forward blew his coverage) and made some big saves with the game tied that allowed the Caps the chance to win this game in overtime.

THE BAD:

• We knew we're beating an empty glue bottle here but Bruce Boudreau's love of Tomas Fleischmann continues to confound us.  Fleischmann was promoted to the first line and it was his blown coverage that led to the 3rd Chicago goal.  Otherwise, he was as invisible as usual.
• And as infuriating as it was to see Fleischmann on the first line, Alexander "Slappy" Semin had one of his "enigmatic" games today.  Two totally and completely unnecessary penalties in the offensive zone in the first period and then floating around and not really trying for much of the rest of the game though he did draw the double minor that got the Caps going in the third period.  However he didn't earn time on the first line today with the way he was playing. Though we did find NBC's line combinations and defensive pairings funny as they listed Slappy as a second line winger and third pairing defenseman.
• The Caps got pwned in the faceoff circle today.  Eric Belanger was the only Caps above 50% going 10-7.  The rest of the Caps were a combined 9-23 for the entire game and not a single Blackhawk had a losing record on draws today.

THE UGLY:

• Look folks, there's no denying it, Captain A.O.'s hit on Brian Campbell was worthy of a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct penalty.  No the hit was not vicious, it wasn't cheap or dirty, but it was totally and completely unnecessary.  To make matters worse, it was at a place on the ice where a serious injury could take place.  But what we already know is going to get us and everybody us riled up is the lengthy suspension Collin Campbell is going to hand down to the "Repeat Offender" at some point tomorrow.  The fact that "Repeat Offenders" Matt Cooke and Dan Caricllo got away with what they did last week will be immaterial and we're interested to see how Campbell attempts to justify it.
• And for good measure, last night the Oracle of the Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans, Don Cherry, said it was outrageous that Matt Cooke wasn't suspended and called for a ban on shots to the head from the side and back but NBC's Mike Milbury refuses to back down and even gave a slight nudge to Cherry for selling out.  Both men have a point that the players need a clearly defined standard of what is and is not permissible ASAP.  But Milbury is just wrong to continue to beat the drum of a "sissfied" NHL where no hitting is allowed.  Nobody is talking about ending the hits like the one Captain A.O. landed on Jaromir Jagr in Vancouver, but at the same time, nobody wants to see players carted off the ice stretchers and their careers placed in jeopardy.  And we'd really like it if this stupid red herring of "softer" equipment were ignored.

Well folks, we have to admit, we didn't have much hope of winning today's game heading into the third period.  We thought that the Caps played well for the most part in the first period despite spending most of the period trying to kill off penalties.   The Caps understandably had a hard time getting back into their groove in the second period and weren't trying to get to the front of the net to score some goals.  The Caps finally got in front of the Chicago net in the third period and look at what happened.  3 goals scored on 11 shots in the period and Chicago only took one.  The Blackhawks have suffered some horrible collapses lately and that the Caps were willing and able to give them another one today shows the character that this team needs to become very tough to beat come playoff time.  But in the interim, the Caps have to keep their edge as they play out the last 13 games of the regular season.  The Cup was not won today and should the Caps and Blackhawks meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, we doubt that this game will play much of a role in the series.

It has been... A TWO POINT DAY!!!

A Notch Above Professional Wrestling

Back when Mike Green was slapped with a three game suspension for delivering an elbow to the head, we knew that it would only be a matter of time before another vicious and intentional hit to the head would come along and the NHL would look the other way. It only took 36 days and we happen to think it only took that long because of the Olympic Break.

By now everybody knows what Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguin Scum did on Sunday afternoon to Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins. And you also know by now that the NHL has decided to look the other way in the matter. Today’s mealy mouthed excuse from the NHL? “It wasn’t a penalty.”

Funny, when Donald Brashear clobbered Blair Betts with a clean open ice hit that injured Betts in Game 6 of the First Round last April, no penalty was called on Brashear for the hit. (He did receive a roughing minor along with Paul Mara who came to the aid of his fallen comrade) Yet Colin Campbell felt it was necessary to tag Brashear, who like Cooke was considered a repeat offender, with a five game suspension in the playoffs. A sixth game was added because of Brashear’s actions during the warm ups that day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is why we (and the rest of the sports world) happen to think of the NHL as something just a notch above professional wrestling. The only difference we happen to think is that the members of the media who follow professional wrestling are in on the joke that it is all setup whereas most of the media are like a majority of hockey fans who think the NHL is a legitimate sport. But folks, it isn’t. Legitimate sports leagues do not operate like this.

Quite frankly, it is simply craven and cowardly for Campbell to hide behind the “it wasn’t a penalty" excuse for his inaction as it related to Matt Cooke when the NHL couldn’t change their rules fast enough to stop the New York Rangers’ Sean Avery from waving his stick in front of the New Jersey Devils’ Martin Brodeur’s face in the playoffs just two years ago. After a few days in the sun with the league’s General Managers discussing whether or not to do something about head shots (as Traumatic Brian Injury comes a bigger and bigger issue nationwide) for Campbell to look the other way on Cooke’s actions and then blame the fact that the NHL Suggestion Book is silent on the matter and therefore effectively tying his hands is simply outrageous. But not very surprising.

Further adding to the problem is the NHL’s timeframe for making these decisions. The Penguin Scum have been off since Thursday so the NHL felt no need “to rush to judgment” on Cooke but in the interim, everybody looking at the NHL for guidance is left wondering just what that guidance is going to be. There were 11 games played on Monday and Tuesday, including one with the Philadelphia Flyers, before the non-decision decision was handed down by Campbell on Wednesday afternoon. That’s 11 games where the players had no idea what the current standard was going to be set at. We understand letting the emotions settle, we understand “getting all the facts before making a judgment” but allowing three days to pass after the incident in question because the player under the gun won’t be playing anyway puts other players in the league at risk just as much as not suspending a player like Cooke.

But by dragging their feet on these situations, the NHL allows their various “old sage voices” to publicly plead “not to take hitting out of the game.” After all Don Cherry says he knows what Americans want, he says we watch NFL football all time and the NFL has nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero on the issue of head shots ever in the history of the leauge. We just watched an amazing Olympic Hockey Tournament under international rules that include penalties for headshots and we can tell you that there was very little hitting or excitement in any of the games. Jaromir Jagr can personally attest to the lack of hitting in Vancouver.

No, Don Cherry tells us if we want to protect the players, we need to soften up their equipment so that these faster, stronger, and bigger players who train all year can’t hurt each other. (Sadly enough, the NHL is seriously heading in this direction). We’re also told that the instigator penalty is the reason why we have all these problems too. The idea that a team would target a Nicklas Backstrom late in a game they’re leading with a fight to get him off the ice is just ludicrous! Nope, the same players who are taking the cheap shots in the first place will be entrusted to “police the game” and call the offenders into account for their actions and all will be fine with the world.

But what is really sad is that this situation once again shows that the NHL is not serious and is making the satire of Slap Shot! into reality. The NHL could clean up its act overnight as it relates to cheap shots, headshots, and outright thuggery and it would start by getting rid of fighting. Because while we typically disagree with Larry Brooks, he had a great point last year that the NHL cannot seriously do anything about headshots and still allow fighting in the game.

And we have what we happen to think is a great idea on how to get rid of fighting without actually getting rid of fighting directly. The NHL should first all, start actually enforcing their own rules on a consistent basis, making them rules instead of the mere suggestions they currently are. But after that, a rule should be added that any player who is assessed with any major penalty during a game is automatically assessed a game misconduct and ejected. Furthermore, players who receive game misconducts are automatically suspended on a progressive scale. A player’s first game misconduct in a season is an automatic one game suspension, the second one a two game suspension and on until the fifth game misconduct when the suspension time doubles from five to ten games. A player who manages to amass five game misconducts in one season will be suspended for a total of 20 games and facing a 12 game suspension for his next game misconduct. It wouldn’t take very long for players to figure that one out. Additionally, the only person who should be able to rescind the automatic suspension is the NHL Commissioner. Since the Commissioner is the public face of the NHL Front Office, we don’t think he would be too inclined to defang a rule designed to clean up the game.

Yeah a Zenon Konopka would spend more time in the press box than he would on the bench, but who would really miss him? Including the pre-season, he’s had fighting majors in 25 games so far this season. Under our proposal He wouldn’t have gotten to ten games with a fight because with the 18 game suspension for his 9th game misconduct, he would be suspended for a cumlative total of 80 games in just one season. And who would miss the likes of Konopka? He’s not exactly somebody the NHL is clamoring to get on David Letterman or the Today Show. How many covers of Sports Illustrated or The Hockey News has he graced?

No, the only ones who would miss a Konopka, or for that matter a Matt Cooke, are the Don Cherry, Mike Millbury, and other Ultimate Fighting on Ice fans that have been an albatross around this game’s neck for too long. And because Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell are too cowardly to confront them, it is time for the NHL owners to get people who will stand up to that crowd for the betterment and growth of the game. The owners have openly wondered just what do they get out of shutting down their league and letting the players go to the Olympics every four years? The answer is nothing because Olympic hockey does not tolerate the nonsense that the NHL does and everybody knows it. Which is why if the owners were serious about growing the game, they would be pushing for an end to this nonsense too.

Caps vs. Thrashers 2-5-2010 Post-Mortem

How's it going to end???  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• First of all, a shout out to the 16,000 other maniacs who joined us in coming out to the game tonight.  Bandwagon fans aren't going to turn out in the numbers we saw tonight with what we're experiencing around here this weekend.
• Captain A.O. keeps trucking along.  Another goal and an assist upping his season points total to 82 points and extending his lead in the Art Ross race over Henrik Sedin to four.  He's broken the tie with Patrick Marleau for the Rocket Richard but holds the tiebreaker (fewest games) over him anyway.
• Michal " Bebe" Neuvirth gets recalled from Hershey, rings up 43 saves, and gets the win.  Maybe he is ready for full time duty?

THE BAD:

• While the Caps seemed to have cured their first period funk, it simply moved 20 minutes later as the Caps had all sorts of trouble in the second period.  The Caps allowed 22 shots on goal and as has also been the case in this winning streak, the goaltending bailed out the team out as no goals were allowed and the Caps carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
• Nicklas Backstrom with the migraines in the third period again.  We noticed three other Caps head off to the bench in pain and while Brooks "and Dunn" Laich and Jason Chimera specifically missed some shifts, they returned to the game and contributed with much needed points in the third period.  But the grueling stretch of games is starting to take its toll.
• And part of the funk that the Caps fall into tends to come from a lack of puck possession.  The Caps don't help this cause when they get impatient with the puck and try to force passes that aren't there instead of retaining the puck.  The Caps also skated the puck into danger numerous times tonight which also leads to short possessions and turnovers.

THE UGLY:

• While we salute John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles for catching Marty Reasoner with a clean open ice hit in the Caps zone, we're livid over him accepting Chris Thorburn's invitation to a fight.  Erskine Bowles fight thwarted a rush that the Caps had going and cost the team a good scoring chance.  Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans are having a harder and harder time defending the sacrosanct "Crock" when clean hits lead to fights like tonight's which is the John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game.
• The Penalty Killers were 3 for 3 tonight but usually do a good job on home ice.  They're ranked third after all.  But the unit allowed 12 shots on goal during the six minutes they were killing them off.
• Alexander "Slappy" Semin lost an edge trying to stop on a backcheck after coughing up the puck at the Atlanta Blueline and knocked the puck into the net to give Rich Peverley a shorthanded goal after Bebe had stopped the initial shot.  And that wasn't the only Keystone Kops routine the Caps pulled tonight either.  Only the most glaring.

It seems to us as if teams facing us now and seeking to end the streak are trying to come out firing from the drop of the puck.  The Caps however are turning things on in the third period to either complete the comeback, pull out in front, and/or blow the game wide open.  It's looking like it will either take an insurmountable lead in the first period or a third period collapse to end this steak.  But the truth is, for tonight the fast start by Atlanta it wasn't that bad on an idea.  Though if you remember earlier this season, the Caps had all kinds of trouble closing out games in the third period.  Finally, you aren't going to string together 13 wins in a row without a healthy measure of luck in your favor.  Some of the bounces tonight lead us to believe that our good luck is starting to run out but there's still enough to keep it going.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!

Sunday Smorgasbord 1-3

• Happy New Year Ladies and Gentlemen.  We guess we'll launch into the Redskins scrubs being unable to hold off the Chargers scrubs and losing in the closing minutes yet again..  That's four times now this season where all the high regarded and touted defense had to do was hold a team off the scoreboard at the end of the game and the Redskins would have come away with a victory, but the defense just could not do it.  Yet people think the problem with this team is the offense.  Folks, the problems run deeper than the Head Coach and whoever is under center as the quarterback.  And if you're stewing over the "Fall from Grace"  this 4-12 record is still better than Norv Turner's first year mark of 3-13.  Now the speculation turns to just how quickly will Jim Zorn be fired and Mike Shanahan be introduced as Head Coach.  Hopefully Zorn will hold onto his job through the flight back to Dulles but with the Ashburn Circus, you never know.
• And speaking of Jim Zorn's successor, we're disgusted by some of the reaction to Jerry Gray "interviewing" for Jim Zorn's Head Coaching position while Jim Zorn was still officially Head Coach.  First of all, it was pretty much common knowledge that Zorn had to not only make the playoffs, but make a run in the playoffs to keep his job because he was almost fired at the end of last season.  So when the 2009 season started going down the tubes pretty quickly; nobody should be surprised that the Redskins started looking for their next Head Coach.  And when you consider that Vinny Cerrato was "resigned" in the middle of the season and replaced in only two hours by Bruce Allen and the Redskins were deemed in compliance with the Rooney Tokenism Rule; it again shouldn't come as any surprise that the Redskins were also looking for a new Head Coach at roughly the same time.  The idea that Gray is "traitor" or "backstabber" to Zorn, a Dead Coaching Walking, is just mystifying to us.  Every coach in Ashburn knew that they were on their way out and so it is no surprise that it turned into an "every man for himself" situation.  Yet there are also those who are calling Gray a "sellout" and "Uncle Tom" for allowing the Redskins to properly make a mockery of the Rooney Tokenism Rule.  Aside from the Redskins being denied the opportunity to hire whomever they want to hire as quickly as possible, we're wondering where the problem really is.  Is Jerry Gray the first person to be given a token interview?  What about the interview given to Gregg Williams two years ago?  If that wasn't the very definition of tokenism, we don't know what is, yet nobody was complaining about that.  We wonder why...
  
• And speaking of NFL overreach, the fact that the NFL is going to discuss teams already qualified for the playoffs with nothing left to gain resting their star players late in season before the playoffs start shows just how out of touch they really are.  If there was no benefit whatsoever to resting your players at the end of the season, it wouldn't occur because the NFL is nothing but a copycat league.  But for those who think that there's no way the NFL could enforce a rule dictating star player participation, keep in mind the Rooney Tokenism Rule.  Where does the NFL get off telling its clubs who they have to interview for certain positions within the club?  But getting back to the topic at hand, the NFL is talking about expanding the regular season to 18 games.  Does anybody think that the teams heading to the playoffs won't start phoning it in earlier?  But what we want to know is how can the NFL take a look at this "issue" with a straight face while it still has a league-wide policy requiring tickets to pre-season games to cost the exactly the same as regular season games?  Better yet, why hasn't anybody called the NFL on the carpet about this?
  
• One final note on the Ashburn Circus; if this report is true, that Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache really did twist Albert Haynesworth's comments into criticism of his team mates when Blache knew that Haynesworth was upset with him, Greg Blache should be fired as soon as the team plane arrives at the gate tonight.  While Haynesworth's comments were wrong, the last thing any coach should be doing is fostering dissent among his own players.  We understand that things are crazy in Ashburn and that the inmates run the asylum, but Blache was doubly wrong in what he did and totally unprofessional.  He should have been dismissed immediately for what he did.
• We watched more College Bowl Games on New Year's Day this year than we have in the past years and we have to admit, we were happy with the Rose Bowl because normally in these College Bowl Games, the teams are going at best 3/4's speed.  You occasionally get a situation where one team is going full speed against one that isn't and that's where your routs and major upsets come from.  But Ohio State and Oregon went at each other full speed and as a result it was a joy to watch.  Furthermore, we've also come to the conclusion that Joe Paterno over at State Penn is senile and has no idea what is going on around him after watching his on-field interviews during the Citrus Bowl.
•  And because we were watching College Football on Friday, that means we weren't watching the Winter Clunker in Fenway Park.  We were boycotting viewing the game because of the NHL's continuing to snub the Caps and A.O.  But we did see from the box score that the Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans finally got their wish and that a fight occurred in the game.  We're hope you're happy and note that the Winter Olympics will have higher TV ratings than the Winter Clunker primarily because there won't be any fighting in the Olympics.  And while we have no reason to doubt Tarik El-Bashir when he says that the Caps are the frontrunners to play next year; we are not surprised in the least that A.O. could very well be forced to share the stage with Canadian Diving Team Captain, Lowblow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby.  As we've shown over and over, the NHL just can't help itself in that regard.
• We also went to the bookstore on Friday trying to find the Tim Donaghy book.  We were surprised to find out that it was a "print on demand" book according to the Barnes and Noble we went to.  That means that the publisher doesn't bother printing the book until somebody orders a copy of it.  That seems like an odd way to publish a book but in this day and age of everything being digitized, we guess it only makes sense.  We just don't think that is a good way to get a book into circulation.
• And speaking of the decline in publishing, as everybody knows, the Washington Times put their Sports Section out to pasture on Friday.  It is a bit of a shame because the people over there did good work.  We also feel a little nostalgic about the section because many years ago the Times was willing to run a letter we sent to the Sports Editor that blasted Susan O'Malley's stewardship of the Caps ticket office.  Our vast network of spies and informants told us that the fallout from the letter made us persona non grata in the Caps offices at the same time but there were many people both inside and outside the organization who were happy at somebody finally saying what needed to said.  And that was what the Washington Times Sports Section was good for.  The Times was always more willing than the (Com)Post to call things as they were as they quickly got into hot water in Ashburn in the early days of Dan Snyder's ownership.  However, the Times also knew how to criticize without going to far overboard into outright negativity.  That is something that the (Com)Post and certain local acts on ESPN 980 haven't figured out.  The Times Sports Section would have never run a total hack job like the (Com)Post did with their ticket articles last year and you never saw them going as so far as to criticize everything about FedEx Field, including the P.A. announcer (whom we happen to think does a very good job).  They will be missed and hopefully they can give a boost to the folks over at the Washington Examiner.
• This week, the Caps host Montreal and Ottawa on Tuesday and Thursday night before traveling to Atlanta on Saturday night.  The Terp Men are off again this week before opening ACC play next Sunday at home against F$U on Fox Sportsnet.  The Terp women are in Raleigh facing the Wolfpack on Thursday night.
  
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, questions, suggestions, corrections, and Facebook Friend requests (we never reject them, but take forever to check them) to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.

Dirty Is In the Eye of Beholder?

We couldn’t help but notice an increase in readership the last couple of days.  We normally see these kinds of spikes in page views when the Penguin Scum appear on the Caps schedule or when we hurl further insults at Pittsburgh.

So we figure you’re surfing on by to get our take on A.O.’s suspension.  Fair enough, who are we to deny our adoring public what they want?  Aside from our busy schedule (and us more loopy than normal on the various fumes emanating in our command center right now) we were refraining from commenting because once we weighed in on this situation, there wouldn’t be anything else for anybody to say about it.

First of all, we’ll admit we were wrong with our prediction of a 10 game suspension.  We thought that the NHL would take the opportunity to “send a message” and ensure that A.O. couldn’t win another automatic award this season.  Sure, you could say that 10 games would be too many for the league to sit one of their superstars, but you would be forgetting the fact that the NHL does little to push A.O. on their own in the first place. Unlike other alleged NHL Superstars, A.O. is as popular as he is because of what he’s done on the ice, not what the NHL has done for him off of it.  So the short of it is, despite being the two-time MVP and goal scoring leader, the NHL doesn’t feel like they owe him any favors.  After all, the more he plays, the more he makes a mockery of the NHL’s marketing ploy.

Yet, the NHL shockingly did to A.O. a favor here by suspending him for only two games.  First of all, it is a good bet that A.O. would have missed tomorrow night’s game at home against Florida as a precaution and it wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world for him to miss Saturday night in Philadelphia either.  However, from a business standpoint, neither the Caps nor the Flyers need much help when it comes to selling tickets.  But the Ning sure do and that’s when A.O. is eligible to return, next Monday night in Tampa.  Of the next ten opponents, only Tampa and Colorado have had trouble selling tickets this season.  So by allowing A.O. to possibly return on Monday, the NHL helps their overall bottom line.  After all, under the current CBA, the league needs to generate as much revenue as possible to keep the players happy and the only way the NHL can reliably do that is through ticket sales.  So while A.O. gets two games off to heal, the NHL does itself a favor by only shelving him for two games he might have missed anyway.  (Though the $98,844.16 in forfeited salary goes to the NHLPA’s labor battle war chest.  Another reason to shorten his suspension as much as possible.)

Though the dominate topic of conversation over thee past couple of days has been, “is A.O. a dirty player?”

Our answer is no.  Here’s why.

First of all, as our Ultimate Fighting on Ice (UFOI) brethren love to tell us, hockey is a contact sport.  Those of us who want to see fighting banished from the NHL are often accused by UFOI fans of wanting to take all hitting completely out of the game as well.  But that is not the case and just one of their many red herrings and strawmen.  A.O. plays the game hard, the way many think the game should be played.  Yes, we agree that he can be reckless and out of control at times but there’s a difference between being reckless and out of control and dirty.

Have you ever seen A.O. deliver a two handed slash to the back of a player’s leg? (No he’s not Mary-OH! and Mary-OH! never got suspended for the times Mary-OH! did exactly that)  Have you ever seen A.O. clobber somebody in the head with his stick or try to carve up somebody’s face with the blade? (Too many players in this category to name)  Have you ever seen A.O. spear somebody in the gonads? (We’ve seen it happen to A.O. three times already)  Have you ever seen A.O. sucker punch somebody? (Paging Mr. Ward.  Mr. Aaron Ward…) 

We haven’t.  And if you have, please send us video of said incidents to capsnut over at gmail dot com because we’d like to see it.  Those are the marks of a dirty player.  In addition to never seeing A.O. pull those kinds of stunts, we've also never seen him run away or back down from a challenge.  It is well know the easiest way to "awaken the beast" is to start hitting A.O. and many players don't want to do it, because he's likely to to hurt you more than you could hurt him.

Yeah, there was the hit from behind on that Scumbag Dani Briere during his rookie season.  But as soon as he delivered the hit, A.O. knew he messed up and he pulled off from the hit.  If A.O. had followed through on that hit, Dani might have never gotten up.  The slew foot on Rich Peverley earlier this season was in a battle for a loose puck, not an open ice kickout at the end of the game of a player whose team is beating you.  The hit on Patrick Kaleta last week was a charge, not a board, and in the grand scheme of things, a result of officials trying to get home early for Thanksgiving.  There was all kinds of nonsense going on when A.O. applied that hit and the refs had to put a stop to things right away.  And as we said before, the hit on Monday night was a lot like the hit on Sergei Gonchar in the playoffs.  Tim Gleason tried to jump out of the way of an oncoming hit and A.O. couldn’t react in time.  Had Gleason and Gonchar not reacted the way they did, yeah they would have been plastered and posterized by A.O., but there also wouldn’t have been any knee on knee contact.  And please note, despite what some reprobates might say, we're not blaming Gleason for following his natural instincts.  We wouldn't to be hit by A.O. either.  The same goes for Gonchar whom A.O. concussed in a Russian Super League Game during the 2004-2005 lockout with a clean shoulder on the chin.

So if you want to take hitting out of the game, tell guys who play the game hard like A.O. does to “tone it down.”  While we abhor the racism card, we have to believe that the typical Canadian mindset is coming into play.  After all, Bobby Clarke is hailed as a national hero for his slash of Valeri Kharlamov in the 1972 Summit Series.  Why should a Russian who plays the game "the way it is meant to be played" be afforded the same courtesy?  After all, didn't Don Cherry once say that A.O. played the game like a Canadian before he realized he was a Russian?

Desert Dogged

We have to give Jim Balsillie credit for one thing. He has single handedly prevented NHL observers from having nothing to talk about this summer. But that's about the only good thing this scumbag has in his dealings with the NHL recently.

First of all, credit goes out to James Mirtle who has done an outstanding job of chronicling and following the Phoenix saga and Jim Balsillie's activities surrounding it. Without Mirtle posting the documents for us to read and sift through on our own, particularly the Daly declaration of the NHL's 0-26 vote against Balsillie, we would be left in the dark about why the NHL so strenuously opposes him buying an NHL team.


And that's because from where we sit there are basically two forces at work right now. #1. Only the Canadian media is paying any attention to this story while Balsille wraps himself in the Canadian flag. Balsillie has been handed a huge assist in this whole battle by Canadian media outlets like TSN who have used the graphic to the left in their ongoing coverage of the Phoenix saga. We seriously wonder what the preeminent media ethicists over at the On Frozen Ombudsmen have to say about this. (But we can't because we've been banned from reading that blog.) But it should be noted that Daly has made it clear that it does not oppose franchise relocation nor are they opposed to another team in Canada. The NHL has a serious, and we think rather a legitimate problem with Balsillie. If you bother reading the Daly declaration above, you'd know that he's been gunning to move a team to Hamilton since he tried to acquire the Penguin Scum and an unwillingness to follow league rules as it related to relocation and put a pen to paper to agree to abide by those rules.

Furthermore, there is Exhibit C from Craig Leipold which illustrates Balsillie's actions in Nashville and is further illustration of his disregard for the rules. He is, to use the term, a "Billionaire Bully." He nudged the Predators towards bankruptcy and then demanded total secrecy from Leipold while the transaction was being worked upon. A truly neutral party would ask themselves, "why would they insist upon this?" Furthermore, Balsillie violated the signed agreements between him and Leipold. Why would the NHL want a person like this in their ranks?

To our knowledge, Balsillie has never answered these allegations against him and has chosen to attack the character of current and former NHL Owners instead. It should be pointed out that guys like Bruce McNall and John Spano ended up in jail after purchasing NHL teams and the NHL is not in the business of forensic accounting. While there is certainly some owners that the NHL wished they had never had in league (our favorite still being the initial Japanese owner of the Ning that Gary Bettman never met during the time he owned the team from 1992-1998) it doesn't change the fact that Balsillie acts as if the rules do not apply to him.

But the largest force behind the push for Balsillie to take over the Coyotes and move them to Hamilton is the anti-Gary Bettman sentiment which has reached a fever pitch with this whole Phoenix saga. We happen to believe that if Bettman were willing to accept Balsillie as an owner and pave the way for him to move the Coyotes from Phoenix to Hamilton and/or Winnipeg, many NHL fans would be decrying the move. They would point out the obvious that neither Hamilton nor Winnipeg currently has an NHL size arena. And in the case of Hamilton, they would note that putting three teams in one market is overkill and bad for the third franchise much like the struggles the New Jersey Devils have in a New York market occupied by the Rangers and Islanders.

But nope, the self-appointed hockey purists have used this occasion to once again claim the utter failure of Bettman's "Southern Strategy" and use it as proof positive that the NHL needs to move teams back to Canada or eliminate them entirely. Never mind that one of the self-appointed hockey purists goals is to get the NHL back on ESPN and that reducing the league's profile in the lower 48 while raising it above the 49th parallel would be counter-productive towards that goal. Also don't look at attendance issues in the past ten years in cities like Pittsburgh and New York. Those weren't a "failure" of league strategy. Furthermore, pay no attention to the bankruptcies in Pittsburgh, Ottawa, and Loserville...er...Buffalo. Those too aren't an indictment of the local market's ability to support a hockey team.

And how quickly us Caps fans forget our old friend Larry's love letter to A.O. just two years ago now; begging him to go somewhere where his talents would be appreciated and put on display in one location that was sold out 41 times a year. Is anybody now talking about taking the Caps and/or A.O. out of D.C. because of a lack of support? If they are, they're idiots because as we've seen time and time again, success at the box office has more to do with success in the standings than anything else. Sure there are always exceptions but unless a franchise can become an institution in its market, their fortunes at the box office will rise and fall with its win-loss record.

Of course, the fact that the Coyotes are seeing their ticket sales dwindle and their sponsorships dry up is directly related to Balsillie attempting to backdoor his way into the NHL. Would you sign up to support a team in a crummy economy that is not likely to be around much longer? But when the judge clearly states that there is no precedent for him to do what Balsillie is asking him to do (hand over a sports franchise to an potential owner that has been rejected by the league he is seeking to enter) it looks as if Balsillie is going to end up losing this battle with the NHL in spite of the NHL's constantly shifting positions.

While that certainly would not be very satisfying to the anti-Bettman forces and all patriotic Canadians, we here at Bleatings From a Caps Nut respectfully offer this suggestion. We all know that there is bad blood between the two sides here and sometimes the only way to get rid of that bad blood is to have the two sides fight it out mano a mano. Furthermore, most self-appointed hockey purists are also Ultimate Fighting On Ice Fans so let's satisfy their blood lust by having Balsillie and Bettman have a good old-fashioned hockey fight at Jobing.com Arena. And to really hype things up, let's have Balsillie and Bettman dress up in goaltender gear for their fight because we all know that fan go really bonkers over goalie fights! But we feel as though we must add this one caveat to the fight. In the spirit of Bettman's beloved gimmicks, each combatant can only throw one punch at a time and must allow the other party to throw a punch before they can throw their next one. The winner of the fight gets control of the Coyotes and has carte blanche to do with them as they wish. Because let's face it, this is probably the best and quickest way to bring an end to this Phoenix saga which has gone on long enough and shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

I'm Sorry Mr. Cherry, How Many Times Is Your Name on The Cup?

One week after foaming at the mouth over A.O.'s goal celebrations, Don Cherry this week trained his sights on Ted Leonsis, and specifically made certain to thank him for comparing him to Rush Limbaugh. Cherry of course however went into passive aggressive mode and then ripped Ted for the whole Jagr fiasco noting, "he really knows hockey."

And then just went we didn't think Don could sink any lower in defense of the Ultimate Fighting on Ice he loves, he compared "hockey tradition" to "baseball tradition." He mentioned how baseball tradition dictates decorum, especially on home run, or you'll get a fastball in the ribs. He further told all the writers who criticized him how HE knows sports and THEY don't.

Yeah, we guess the NHL should bring back the bench clearing brawl seeing as how baseball fans all cheer when the benches clear after a little bit of beanball has gone on. It certainly keeps guys like Joe Carter from bouncing around like fools after hitting a home run. (and he did that to Philly!!!)

But seriously folks, A.O. is right, Don Cherry is senile. There's no need to get worked up over the guy and his weekly foot-in-the-mouth act.

UPDATE: Thanks go to Dan Steinberg here. Somebody should show this to Cherry ASAP...



Destruction on Set from Tanner Cooley on Vimeo.

The whole problem would be solved.

Where's the Real Larry Brooks and What Have You Done With Him?

They say that even a broken clock is right twice a day which is why weren't too surprised when on November 30th Ol' Lar joined us on "the dark side" and agreed that fighting should be banned from the NHL. His reasoning? Well it actually made sense too in that, if the NHL is looking to outlaw hits to the head in the normal run of play, how could they continue to allow hits to the head during a fight?

Not exactly the reason we want to see the thuggery end but hey, any port in storm right? We agree that this concern for the health of the players has to include fighting especially when fighting majors are on the rise with even clean, legal, open-ice hits now becoming cause for dropping the gloves. (And the UFOI knuckle draggers say that we want to take hitting out of the game...) Of course some of the commenter's said Larry was just seeking to protect his boyfriend, Sean Avery, from ever having to defend himself instead of addressing the logic as obvious as the nose on their own faces. But it sure beats the red herrings of no touch icing and "softer" equipment.

We had just recovered from the shock of Larry actually agreeing with us when on December 14th he said the NHL should freeze ticket prices. Larry is 110% absolutely correct. The NHL would score a PR coup by freezing ticket prices for the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, 2009-2010 Season Ticket Packages, and single game prices. We don't know (and neither does Larry) if it will actually stimulate ticket sales with certain "Hockeytowns" having trouble selling tickets at their current prices to begin with, but we do know that NHL needs all the good PR it can get.

What makes this so amazing is that a Union Thug Mouthpiece like Brooks suggesting the NHL freeze its best revenue source under a Collective Bargaining Agreement where the players receive a guaranteed portion of the revenue. How bad does the NHL economic outlook have to be in order for Larry to say that something needs to be done now? Because folks, we all know the "I told you so" column is coming when the salary cap takes a huge step backwards.

But what has made us forget all probabilities and seriously wonder if somebody has hit Larry over the head, hard, is last week's plea to get more coverage of A.O. out of the NHL. This isn't the first time Ol' Lar has joined the backlash against the Canadian Diving Team Captain, Low Blow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby, but this is by far his strongest argument since his love letter to A.O. from last year. We too get that the NHL wanted to ensure a sellout of its First Winter Classic in the U.S. (well, if you consider Buffalo part of the U.S. because Buffalo doesn't) and wanted to help revive an original six franchise with this year's game; but we again agree with Larry that there's no excuse not to have the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers playing next New Year's Day in RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

The NHL would only have to sell a minimum of 46,000 tickets (5K more than what they're selling at Wrigley Field today) with the current configuration of RFK and could sell up to 5K more if the ticket demand warranted. Furthermore, the folks at the Eagle Bank Bowl have already gone ahead and dubbed RFK as "Historic"; something the New Yankee Stadium does not have going for it. Finally, when Caps fans get the stadium bouncing it will more than make up for the lack of a "snow globe effect" because you're not likely to have a snow storm in D.C. on January 1st. You'd have the best player in the NHL going up against an original six franchise, you might even be able to get the Obamessiah to come and drop the ceremonial first puck (forget that, we can't mix politics and sports), and we would love to see certain heads explode around here as the NHL does up a commercial with Frank Herzog's famous "and now the stadium is rocking" call as "Hail to the Redskins" plays in the background that is endlessly repeated.

But we digress folks, if Larry keeps this up, we'll have to find a new punching bag. So could somebody please hit Larry over the head, hard, again and give us our old Larry back?

Round I: Caps vs. Flyers Series Preview

Series C: Washington Capitals (43-41; 94 points; 1st Southeast Division, 3rd Eastern Conference, 12th Overall) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (42-42; 95 points; 4th Atlantic Division, 6th Eastern Conference, 11th Overall):

Tomorrow night the Caps make their triumphant return to the NHL Post Season for the first time in five years looking for their first Playoff Series win in a decade. Only two players remain from the Caps last appearance in the playoffs and only one remains from the last time the Caps won a Playoff Series. Neither player, Michael Nylander and Olie Kolzig, is expected to play much, if at all in this Playoff Run. So what does this collection of neophytes have to do in order to beat the Philadelphia Flyers and make it to the second round? We're about to give you our take on the task at hand.

First and foremost, the Caps MUST remain disciplined. After the worst season in franchise history, the Flyers made a renewed commitment to the continuing 30 year plus failure that is the Broad Street Bullies style of play. The Ultimate Fighting on Ice fans are all atwitter in anticipation of this series; expecting all kinds of blood to flow freely. As a matter of fact, we too will be surprised if Game 1 gets more than five minutes old without at least two fights taking place. Matt "Omar" Bradley, Mr. Donald Brashear, and John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles are going to need to keep their cool and stay out of the Penalty Box as much as possible. The Flyers were the most penalized team in the NHL but they also had the second best Power Play unit in the league. There's no doubt that the Flyers will try to intimidate the younger Caps players making their first Playoff appearance in order to get Power Play opportunities for themselves through retaliation penalties. However, should the Caps remain disciplined, they'll greatly increase their chances of winning what really matters; the series.

Secondly, the Caps are going to need Cristobal "WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE" Huet to continue his run of stellar play. Of course it helps that the defense has stepped up their play recently and limited the chances that UA has faced, but UA can't allow any soft goals. There is some concern among Caps fans about UA's 2-4 playoff record with a 2.33 GAA and .929 save percentage, but Kolzig entered the 1998 playoffs with a 3-3 lifetime playoff record with a 1.87 GAA after two playoff seasons. At the other end of the ice, Martin Biron has been to the playoffs before, but has never played a game. This could easily come down to which goaltender answers the call better which is why the Caps are going to need UA so much. Should UA falter, Kolzig has the experience but he's been sitting for almost three weeks now. The Caps not only have to worry about rust with Kolzig, but also calcium deposits.

Finally, as important as UA is and as important to the Caps A.O. is, neither one is going to be the most important player for the Caps in this series. Sure, without solid play from UA, the Caps will be in trouble and should A.O. phone it in (not bloody likely) the Caps won't go anywhere. But the Flyers are going to do everything they can to shutdown A.O. We saw Carolina, Tampa, and Florida go as far as triple teaming A.O. every time he touched the puck last week and A.O. still came away with three goals in three games. But the success of the Caps will fall upon players like Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, and Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green who have to continue to produce in order to take the pressure off of A.O. in what is also their first playoff appearance. Sergei (#3) Fedorov should be able calm Semin and Backstrom down if they get too hot but James Traficant's illegitimate son will have to figure things out on his own. Green is capable of skating the puck from end to end by himself and helping the Caps establish their forecheck which will expose Philadelphia's blueline which is slow and immobile. This will force the Flyers forwards to do most of the work and wear them down as the series goes on. Furthermore, guys like Brooks "and Dunn" Laich and Tomas Fleischmann will have to cash in on their chances for the Caps to advance. Again, A.O. will get his points, but the Caps cannot expect him to score one goal every night, have the rest of the team collectively score one goal, and expect UA to do the rest. That won't work.

This is probably the toughest of the First Round Series to predict. Just one year ago the Caps and the Flyers were the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference and now they're facing each other in the playoffs. The Flyers bought their way back into the playoff while the Caps have been building their way in for the last four years. The Caps are riding a seven game winning streak but not a single one of the teams that the Caps beat in that streak made the playoffs. The Caps won't get the luxury of playing a disinterested Atlanta team or a punchless Ning. The Caps love playing that Al Pacino clip from "Any Given Sunday" and they'll need to claw with their fingernails for every inch in this series.

Still, the Flyers aren't without their flaws either. If the Caps remain disciplined and don't get intimidated, the Flyers are just about out of options for beating the Caps save for the cheapshot route. The Flyers are also riding a hot streak into the playoffs though not nearly as hot because the competition was a little, but not a lot tougher and not nearly as long as the Caps winning streak is. The Flyers can thank the Penguin Scum for tanking their game on Sunday and inflating their point total and giving them this series instead of one against the Penguin Scum. We think the Flyers would have had a better shot with their physical game against the Penguin Scum than against the Caps who have only one player listed under 6 feet tall, Matt Kent Cooke. While the Caps aren't a physical team, they've shown that they do not mind playing a physical game and can handle the teams that try to push them around.

So will this series live up to the hype and deliver the blood and guts everybody is expecting? We'll find out. It's been 19 years since these two teams last met in the playoffs and quite frankly, it could take some time for the hate that used to exist between the two teams returns. There's no love loss between the two fanbases but that doesn't mean these two teams are going to have line brawls at least twice a game. It should be somewhat fast paced, hard hitting, and fun to watch. Our pessimistic attitude around here is well known but our gut tells us that this series will be won by the Caps in Six.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot, Wonder Why The NHL Doesn't Get Anywhere

In today's sanitized PC world, you have to admire a guy like Bobby Clarke for speaking his mind.

We've known all along that the sacrosanct "Code" is really a "Crock" and Clarke only provides more evidence to this fact.

And there's really no point in getting outraged by his comments supporting Steve Downie's sucker punch of Jason Blake. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that it is a violation of the The Crock because Blake had no chance to defend himself.

Nope, the only reason to mention this in its own posting is that the Ultimate Fighting On Ice (UFOI) fans like to equivocate fighting in the NHL by saying, "well, the thuggish behavior is confined to the ice in the NHL and is only business. The thuggish behavior in the NBA and NFL extends off the playing surface as well and is usually personal." Ok, that's fine but tell me how is this situation any different from the street thuggery commonly seen? It's "ok" for Downie to sucker punch Blake because Blake "dissed" him in the media? A couple of weeks ago in my old neighborhood, a man was killed because another man thought he was pointing at him.

I guess Blake was lucky Downie didn't think he was pointing at him. I could only imagine what Downie would have been allowed to do to Blake under The Crock if that had happened but it would not have been pretty. It would have been "business as usual" in the NHL.

I Thought Removing the Instigator Rule Was the Answer?

Every so often you have to give Larry Brooks credit. He does get things right from time to time like last week's column where he points out that divisional games sell more tickets than out of conference games (expect in the Southeast Division). This is important because the NHL is almost entirely driven by ticket revenue and is the only one of the "big four" who operates like that. So holding fewer games that sell the most tickets doesn't make much sense.

But when Larry writes two common-sense columns in a row. You really have to wonder, has Larry been hit, hard, on the head?

Yesterday Ol' Lar proposed an innovative and harsh system of punishment for players who "go over the line" and run afoul of the rules. Lar believes that a player who commits an egregious act should not only be suspended for the upcoming games but for an entire season series against an opponent as well. In his example he points out that not only would Steve Downie have to sit for 20 games, he would have to sit for the next four contests against Ottawa, no matter what team he is playing on or what season it was.

But wait, Lar' goes even further, a suspended player could not be replaced on the game day roster by his team. So if a player was suspended, his team would only be allowed to dress 19 players and if two players were suspended, 18 and so on while the player or players in question were suspended. That really makes not only the players, but the coaches and franchises accountable for one knucklehead's actions.

For the record, I think this is a great idea. Sure, you'll see players taking dives and faking injuries in an attempt to get a player suspended and his team hamstrung. We see it now all over the place with the umpteenth obstruction "crackdown" that only puts a team on the Power Play. But aren't you tired of seeing players getting carried off the ice on stretchers? Aren't you upset that Todd Bertuzzi is still allowed to play in the NHL? I mean if you have a better idea, let's hear it. I know this will require the NHL's Front Office to have a backbone and either continue to use the same standards they currently employ to hand down suspensions or tighten them up in order for this to really work. The Flyers are finally on notice after having their fifth suspension handed down in just the third month of the season. Clearly, the current procedures aren't enough to discourage thuggish play.

But here's the odd thing about Larry's column, we know that Larry is a disciple of "Old Time Hockey" which of course is code for "Ultimate Fighting On Ice" (UFOI). For the UFOI crowd, the one and only thing that needs to be done to "clean up" the game is removing "Gary Bettman's Instigator Penalty." (Never mind that wasn't Bettman who instituted the penalty.) We're told that removing the instigator penalty would allow the players to police the game to the point that referees and NHL Front Office Disciplinarians would be unnecessary. The players would settle all scores on the ice at the time the incident took place and everything would be alright. Furthermore, the NHL would sell more tickets, get back onto ESPN (and be treated with respect by the World Wide Leaders in Schlock), get a Broadcast Television contract in the U.S. that rivals the NFL (those well-known purveyors of violence), end Global Warming, and finally bring peace to the Middle East.

So will the UFOI crowd join Larry and myself in supporting this innovative idea? Or will Larry be chastised by the UFOI crowd for his blasphemy? Or am I a fool for thinking that Larry has finally had a lasting conversion experience? (Which I don't BTW, I fully expect Larry to write something somewhere down the line that disassociates himself from this idea and puts himself squarely in the UFOI camp of "the instigator has got to go.")

Nope, Athletes Are Not Role Models

Where do kids get these ideas? (Link from DRUDGE)

This is right of out of the "You Reap What You Sow" file. Of course this is a concept that Ultimate Fighting on Ice (UFOI) Fans just don't seem to comprehend. But then again, what else is new?

Sure you can show me UFOI Fans who are wringing their hands and nervously rubbing the back of their necks saying that this is inappropriate and way out of line. Some might even try to pull a slight of hand and say this is not the fault of the kids but of their coaches and the adults who encouraged them to fight. While I'll come back to this later, the question still begs, who got the idea in the first place that not only is this a good idea but acceptable behavior at any level of play?

To answer that question, it isn't too hard to find out. You have the UFOI Fans who insist up and down the street that not only is fighting in hockey a noble thing, it is also necessary for the survival of the sport both on the ice and at the box office. We're told that taking fighting out of hockey would, well make it just not hockey anymore. We're told that the players want it in the game that it would keep the game "clean." We're told that the fans want it and that without the possibility of fights, the stands would be empty, nobody would watch the game on TV anymore, and newspapers wouldn't be able to sell their papers anymore.

Well folks, these eight year olds were just playing hockey. If fighting is a vital and integral part of the sport, why shouldn't these eight year olds play the game the "proper" way and be fighting each other just like the pros? I mean the Boogaard Brothers held a fighting camp for kids this summer saying it's part of the game and they're only helping these kids by showing them how to defend themselves and not get hurt as their justification. If there is little to no outrage over this, why should anybody be seriously outraged when kids take the lessons they learned at camp and apply them in their games? How low must things go before the hand wringing and neck rubbing stop?

As for blaming the coaches, again, aren't they just upholding the game's glorious tradition by bringing some "Old Time Hockey" to youth level? Personally, I think not only should these coaches be suspended but they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children again. We do the same thing to pedophiles in this country (I know this took place in Canada but allow me to finish my point) and I defy anybody to tell me that these coaches aren't harming these children by encouraging them to fight like this. The tournament organizers also did a grave injustice by not throwing the teams out of the tournament. Those organizers gave a tacit seal of approval despite the fact that the police had to show up at their event. Usually when you have to call the police, it is because you don't want somebody around anymore.

Until fighting is totally removed from the NHL, you're going to see these kinds of things pop up. I'd dare say you'll see them popping up more and more too. Professional Sports is often described as "grown men getting paid to play a kid's game" and how sad is it that NHLer's fight like that? If you UFOI Fans want to know why some people believe that hockey is just people beating up on each other you need to look no further than this incident. Why on earth should anybody think otherwise? If you really want these black eyes from the game to be removed and stop occurring, you'll have to get rid of the fighting because the sad part is, this isn't even the worst fighting incident to occur this year at the youth hockey level, only the youngest.

NFL Toughening Up

Those well-known purveyors of violence, the National Football League, very quietly last week continued their longstanding tradition of making their game increasingly tougher by mandating the ejection of players for flagrant helmet-to-helmet contact in addition to the 15 yard penalty along with the fines and suspensions that are handed down by the League's Front Office.

In other news, after a rash of injuries and suspensions, the NHL is being encouraged by certain well respected voices in the media to look into making the dasher boards and Plexiglas that surrounds the rink "softer" and "more giving" for when hockey players are run into the boards by opposing players, decreasing the likelyhood of injury. Kinda like what NASCAR did when they introduced the "SAFER Barriers" in their tracks in an attempt to cut down on the injuries and deaths their drivers were suffering because of crashes.

How the NHL can continue to survive with the people looking to take the "emotion," "passion," and "intensity" out of the game while the NFL becomes more and more gladiator-like is beyond me...

Now We Know One Of Larry's Sources

If there is one thing we love about our old friend Larry Brooks, it is his absolute shamelessness. We've caught Ol' Lar contradicting himself from one week into the next and even in the same column. But thankfully, Ol' Lar keeps on at it. This blog would be lost without him.

Now I warn you, his love letter to Ol' Puddin' Head Erica Lindros yesterday is almost unfit for mixed Christian company. This of course only means this thing is easier to pick apart than a Thanksgiving Turkey.

Like most fiskings of a Larry Brooks Sunday Column, it is tough to figure out where to begin. I guess I'll start with his harsh words for former Flyer's Captain and GM Bobby Clarke and Flyers Owner Ed Snider. Now, I too have no love for either one of those neanderthals but I wonder why Ol' Lar is so angry at them? Next to Don Cherry, these two guys are the biggest proponents of "Old Time Hockey" that Ultimate Fighting on Ice (UFOI) Fans can't get enough of. Clarke himself if probably the second biggest Icon for UFOI Fans behind Don Cherry (at least among those who actually saw a game before 1982). As a matter of fact, I think it is pretty safe to say that it is because of Snider and Clarke that fighting and general thuggish play remains an accepted and celebrated part of the NHL. (Notice I did NOT say hockey). Ol' Lar has on more than one occasion joined the UFOI Chorus denouncing the "softening" of the NHL and is an open advocate and fan of "Old Time Hockey." For him to spew such venom at two kindred souls like Clarke and Snider is confusing to say the least.

But then again, that's just par for the course when it comes to reading Larry Brooks.

But the worst part is the fawning over Ol' Puddin' Head Erica Lindros finally accepting reality and deciding to retire. (On a side note here, I wonder what the coverage will be when Jason Allison finally accepts reality too, I know Rumor Boy will be very disappointed because that name can no longer be floated in every other e-mail over the summer) Make no mistake though, Clarke and Snider's disdain for Erica is anything but unfounded (odd isn't too that Clarke supports Erica being in the Hall, but that's beside the poimt). Erica always was and always will be a whiny little crybaby who never cut the umbilical cord from his parents. Erica cried his way out of Quebec, cried his way out of Philly, and just cried because he never won a Cup.

Despite being listed at 6-4 240 pounds, Erica was also well known for avoiding contact with players close to his own size or who could throw a good hit on him in return. I remember Easter Eve, March 29th, 1997 when Erica and the Flyers were at the old Cap Centre. Erica lined up all 5-9, 190 pounds of Martin Gendron and ran him over as Gendron circled out from behind the Flyers net. The troglodytes from Philly in the crowd reacted if Lindros had just won the first Stanley Cup for Philadelphia since 1975 with that hit. But when 6-4, 215 pound Mark Tindori was nearby (or even 6-3, 220 pound Joe Reekie was around), Erica was hiding and didn't want to be hit.

Now in fairness to Erica, I do remember an occasion when he tried to throw a check on his arch-nemesis, Scott Stevens, once. Stevens had his back turned to Erica initially but turned around at the last second to knock Ol' Puddin' head on his rear. I have to admit, that was fun to watch.

Now considering that Erica was nothing but a bully on the ice and pouted his entire career, Ol' Lar declaring that he's "one of the most popular and well-respected players in the NHL among his peers" seems a little odd to me because it certainly wasn't because of the way he played the game...

But Ol' Lar praises Erica for being a player in charge of his destiny. Not letting those rat-you-know-what (this is a family blog folks) owners run his life. Erica is to be praised for refusing to play for the Nordiques who drafted him and engineering a trade to the Flyers before he ever set foot in the NHL. Ol' Lar however piles on further misguided hatred for the Flyers when he says:

If Lindros had played on a team with Patrick Roy in nets while Peter Forsberg spent his prime playing with Ron Hextall and Garth Snow, Lindros would have the Stanley Cup championships and Forsberg would be dragging his aching feet around seeking his first.

Now exactly who's fault is that Larry? It wasn't Bobby Clarke and Ed Snider who refused to play for the Nordiques who later became the Colorado Avalanche. Do you honestly think that the Canadiens were going to trade Roy to a team in their own conference? It is a well accepted fact that the only reason why the Colorado got Roy from Montreal was because they had moved out Quebec and into Denver and out of the Eastern Conference and into the Western Conference.

But folks, this is a Larry Brooks column. You should be used to this by now.

Oh and for the record, Peter Forsberg did have to play a couple of games with Garth Snow in the nets. You can look it up. It should also be duly noted that Ron Hextall was sent to Quebec along with Forsberg as part of the deal for Erica. Though old baldy only lasted one season in Quebec.

Though at least we now know another one of the Union Thugs passing information for Larry to print. That's the only rational explanation for this column.

Only 25?

Well, the NHL has handed down it's sentence to Jesse Boulerice and it is a rather predictable 25 games.

Why is this predictable?

Well it is what Chris Simon got for his stick swinging last year and with teammate Steve Downie already serving a 20 gamer, I guess you could say that Downie reset the counter to zero for everybody.

But if you ask me, Boulerice deserved at least 30 if not more because of his past. Quite frankly I also think it is high time that these Head Coaches and franchises start getting penalized for this nonsense as well. Coaches would rethink their tactics if they knew they were facing suspensions as well if a player "reacted badly." We've seen the end of the bench clearing brawl because not only does the first player off the bench get 10 games, the head coach is slapped with a 3 game suspension as well.

And while a franchise like the Philadelphia Flyers can afford it, hitting franchises with huge fines will also increase the pressure to end this nonsense. It is bad enough that the NHL only makes headlines when somebody "reacts badly" but how much longer will it be before people stop paying attention to even the outrageous incidents such as this out of the NHL?

And to think, the Ultimate Fighting on Ice Fans love this kind of stuff. Sure, they condemn it with the rest of us, but they insist that more fighting will "clean this up" and that these ugly incidents have nothing whatsoever to do with fighting (except of course, fighting preventing them in the first place). Besides, if there aren't cheapshot artists running around taking cheapshots, then there's nobody for the "enforcers" to beat up on.

Simply put, we've tried it this way and it has failed. Nobody wants to see somebody get killed, yet that is exactly where we are heading unless the NHL gets serious about this.

More Crock

Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers (are you really surprised?) and Jesse Boulerice.

Now I'm sure the usual suspects of the Ultimate Fighting on Ice (UFOI) crowd will join the rest of the hand wringing crowd in roundly condemning Boulerice's hit on Ryan Kesler. There will even be a few that will once again insult our intelligence and insist that this has nothing whatsoever to do with fighting.

But as we learned when reading about "The Crock"...er... "Code" this summer the universal "Let's go!" sign is a tap on the shoulder. Any doubt's that Boulerice was trying to "call out" Kesler with a tap on the shoulder? Boulerice even said he was upset with Kesler trying to hit Flyers defenseman Randy Jones which is why Boulerice went after Kesler. (Because we all know that in the rough and tumble sport of hockey where there is nowhere to hide, you absolutely positively cannot hit another player without that player's explicit consent. And even then, it isn't allowed.)

And if you still want to attempt to maintain the innocence of fighting, notice that Boulerice's gloves are almost off after the hit. Boulerice wanted a fight with Kesler but got a little too amped up about calling him out.

Furthermore, Jesse Boulerice isn't any stranger to stick swinging and thuggish play. He was suspended for an entire year in the OHL for a stick swinging incident (he was also charged with assault).

Look folks, follow the tags below, I've said it before and I'll say it again that if you get rid of fighting, you get rid of the fighters and you get rid of this kind of nonsense. It isn't the skill players running around doing this stuff. It is the fighters. It is the thugs.

And now the NHL will for the second time in a month and for the third time in less than year hand down a double digit length suspension. It is pretty clear to me that 20+ games isn't enough of a suspension for these guys. Hades, the most recent suspension, Steve Downie's 20 games, was handed to Boulerice's teammate and even Boulerice's ejection didn't stop another Flyers thug, Ben Eager, from running over Vancouver's backup goaltender Curtis Sanford to set off a line brawl in the final minute of a 8-2 rout the Flyers were winning. It just goes to show you how much the Flyers listen to their coach.

That is of course, if you're gullible enough to believe that John Stevens is upset about this whole thing and said that stuff was no longer needed in a game that was well in hand. Stevens was drafted by the Flyers organization and has spent a considerable amount of time in the organization as a player and coach. Needless to say, I have my doubts about his contrition.

I seriously guess these UFOI people won't be totally happy until somebody gets killed. Even then they'll say, "hey, it's a part of the game, leave it alone."

Ultimate Nonsense

A big story in Las Vegas for the last couple days of my vacation was the Renato "Babalu" Sobral - David Heath light heavyweight "fight" on Saturday night. It was an under card bout that made headlines because Sobral not only badly bloodied Heath, he also choked Heath unconscious after Heath tapped out. Sobral claimed he did that because Heath "has to learn respect."

Does any of this sound familiar?

And what may you ask was Heath's transgression that required the lesson in respect?

Heath mistook Sobral for Oedipus.

This of course folks is what we're told by our Ultimate Fighting on Ice (UFOI) friends is the "fastest growing sport in America." Yet there's some outrage (at least what you can find considering the massive coverage this "sport" gets) over Sobral's actions, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission withholding part of Sobral's fight purse while they investigate his actions. Furthermore, there's talk the "fight" won't even be aired. (Gee, I wonder why???)

I know I'm beating a dead horse folks, but if even the powers-that-be in the UFC are sickened by these kinds of actions, just what in the world is it going to take for powers-that-be in the NHL to finally get the message that the NHL needs to clean up its act? Note too that Sobral's antics were not well received by the 11,118 (which is less that what the Caps and every other NHL team averaged last season) in attendance. If actual UFC fans don't like to see guys bloodied beyond recognition and knocked completely out, what does it say about UFOI advocates who worship and go to extraordinary lengths to defend blood and KO's on the ice?

In news that I "missed" while I was gone, the Caps resigned John Erskine Bowles for the next two seasons. At over $1 million for the next two years, I really have to wonder about this for a couple of reasons. #1. Erskine-Bowles wasn't a hot commodity last season considering he wasn't signed until the night before training camp opened. For the life of me I just can't figure out what he did to raise his stock so high that we not only qualified him, but gave him a two year contract to sit in the press box/play in Hershey. #2. With the logjam on the blueline, his value as a "depth" defenseman becomes highly suspect. While he's by far the most physical of the "depth" defensemen (which is a stretch because he whiffs more than he actually hits), he'll only serve to impede the progress of a younger player with greater upside. And should we trade one of the youngsters for the much needed "veteran physical blueliner," Erskine-Bowles becomes even more obsolete.

But hey, it's great work if you can get it. You'd could almost be forgiven for thinking that this contract is nothing more than an attempt to hit the league's salary floor but that isn't going to be a problem for the Caps this season or next. But one thing is for certain, Sections 204 and 205 at the Phone Booth should be well secured during the upcoming season.

Act Quickly!

About two months ago I dived into a conversation with The Venerable Off Wing Opinion about why the NBA is quick to remove video files of NBA brawls from websites such as You Tube. The VOWO suggested that the NBA does want those videos being spread around because they could be used to hold the league and its players in a bad light. I agreed with his assessment and of course asked why the NHL shouldn't feel the same way? I got bunch of gobbledygook in response.

One month ago I continued my tradition of posting fight videos from other sports and rhetorically asking "Where are the boos? Why are these leagues going after players who are doing things that are making the fans cheer? The fans love this, don't discipline these players." This of course is in response to our Ultimate Fighting On Ice (UFOI) fans who constantly point out how hockey fans go nuts when the fights begin and for that reason alone, fighting should remain in the game.

Well, I'm sure most of you have heard by now about the dust up between Jason Ellison and Joe Blanton after Ichiro Suzuki was shoved by Blanton. I finally found a video clip on You Tube yesterday of the incident but I did not have time to post it over here.

Well today the clip is gone because according to You Tube "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by MLB Advanced Media" As a matter of fact, the Derek Lee-Chris Young fight is also gone from You Tube. So now add MLB to the list of professional sports leagues who think that video clips of their athletes fighting on the field of play is a bad idea.

The evidence is becoming overwhelming, despite the roar of approval from the fans in the stands, sports fans do not want to see fighting when they are attending a sport that is, well... not boxing or Ultimate Fighting. If this were not the case, the NHL would have a national broadcast TV contract in the United States that pays for the rights upfront and the NBA and MLB would be relegated to networks trying to build a profile for itself.

And if you want a laugh, check out the VOFO tut-tutting over color commentary about the Tony Kannan - Sam Hornish, Sr. brouhaha. When you sleep with dogs my friend, don't be surprised you wake up with fleas.

Game 5 In The Books

I have to admit something here and I know I am not alone. It is very difficult for me to get into watching the playoffs when my team didn't even come close to qualifying. Today is June 7th, the last time the Capitals played was April 7th and for all intents and purposes, the Caps were out of the playoff picture sometime in February. So in short unless there is some sort of suspense involved in the game, it is very difficult for me to watch a hockey game right now between two teams I don't have any real strong feelings towards even though I'm developing a hatred for the Thug Ducks.

Especially a game like last night's where it was glaringly obvious that Ottawa was just not going to win that hockey game no matter what they did. Ottawa was even clearly aware of this fact. Clue #1 was what turned out to be the Cup winning goal credited to Travis Moen. When Chris Phillips and Ray Emery got their wires crossed and the puck ended up in their net without any pressure. You were only kidding yourself if you thought it wasn't over yet and if you needed any other evidence; Wade Redden's stick breaking on the point in the third period as the puck arrived and Antoine Vermette not even getting a shot off on a penalty shot were other glaringly obvious indications that Anaheim was winning the Cup last night.

That game was so in the bag for the Thug Ducks that the Hockey Gods did not feel at all compelled to punish them for having the Stanley Cup Championship banner already in the rafters waiting to be deployed. Is there a Caps fan out there that thinks the Caps could get away with this? I hope not because you're dead wrong to think so.

During Game 4 Doc Emerick mentioned that only four teams in the history of the NHL had ever won the Stanley Cup while leading the league in PIMs during the regular season. Anaheim becomes #5 and now we get to hear about this from the Ultimate Fighting on Ice fans for at least the next ten seasons. Though I do give Anaheim (and Ottawa too) full credit for not gooning things up once the outcome was decided.

So now we head into the offseason. Trade and Free Agent rumors now become stock and trade among puckheads until training camp opens in September. Live hockey won't be seen until then as well and we'll hear in about 3 1/2- 4 weeks who, where, and when we'll be playing in the 2007-2008 regular season.

Of course the draft is coming up in just two weeks; I'm not a draft geek for many different reasons and sorry, I don't care very much for draft day parties. As I've said before, I find them rather boring for the most part.

As for this site, things will keep going. Like I have throughout the playoffs, I'll post on the Caps when conditions warrant but mostly I'll shoot my mouth off on whatever interests me, especially if it involves the local teams. I also plan to do a site redesign in the coming months. I'll provide more links and try to have a decent organization of them. I'll also try some different things to see how they go so please don't go anywhere. Thanks!

Game 4 In The Books

And it's all over now except for the shouting. It has been 65 years since Toronto came back on the Red Wings from 3-1 down to win the Cup and quite frankly, Ottawa just does not have the discipline to get the job done.

I missed the opening period last night for Council business and I understand that the Senators came out with their pants on fire and came away with a 1-0 lead after one. The Thug Ducks had their go in the second period and they ended up tied at two.

However at the end of the second period and in the decisive third period, the Senators reverted to what they had done in Anaheim and tried to beat the Thug Ducks at their own game. On the game winning goal, two Senators went after the Anaheim player deep in his own zone and the once the pass got by them, the Thug Ducks had all sorts of open ice and used it to their advantage. The Senators had to know what a loss would mean and for them to lose their composure like that is inexcusable.

Ottawa might be able to force a Game 6 and maybe a Game 7 but this series is over folks. That could very well end up being good news because Don Cherry's much ballyhooed appearance on NBC last night was a total dud. Cherry flat out called for more fighting in the NHL and perpetrated all of the myths that I've been debunking. NASCAR took off when restrictor plates were added to slow the cars down and the roof flaps installed to keep them from flying through the air resulting in less crashes and less fatal crashes. The NFL has been for years cutting out the gratuitous violence. Yeah, we can kill the QB as long as he still has the ball and don't touch his head under any circumstances. Is Don Cherry even aware of that? Of course he calls for a return of the days of Dave Semeko when the NHL didn't have a U.S. National TV Broadcast contract and ESPN had about as much coverage as Versus does today (and of course, the NHL was kicked off of ESPN at the end of the 1980's). Don didn't do the NHL, CBC, or Canada any favors with his rant.

The only good thing is that it was highly unlikely anybody was watching Don Cherry on NBC last night...