Busy Week

I can not fucking believe the Bruins took another too many men on the ice penalty today. Again, while on the Power Play. If this isn’t the most poorly coached team in the NHL, then I don’t know what is.

At any rate. Here is a snap shot of my week last week.

Monday: Work. Outback Steakhouse. Reno 911 Movie. Home.

Tuesday: Work. Quick one at 99 that turned into 5. Home.

Wednesday: Work. Lowell Devils vs. Albany River Rats. Home.

Thursday: Work. Bruins vs. Wild, left at the end of the second because I was so fucking bored. Went to the Fours watched Simon’s tomahawk chop on Hollweg. Home. Poured MOL into bed.

Friday: Work. Quick three at the 99, then the Woo Sharks vs. Hartford, Papa Razzi, Home.

Big whoop. We are all busy. Point I am making is it was a very busy week for me, but it was equally busy for controversy in the NHL. That, ladies and gentlemen, is called a segue.

It actually started last Friday night. For those of you under a rock or without Youtube, New Jersey forward Cam Janssen was suspended three games for hitting Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle in what the NHL deemed an illegal way. I have seen the hit a zillion times, and I think it was three things.

1. It was very late. Kaberle was admiring his pass and Janssen in on the forecheck had plenty of time to turn back up ice. Instead he drilled Kaberle, who wasn’t even looking at him.
2. It was totally unnecessary. I understand Janssen’s role, and what he was trying to do, but he could have really hurt Kaberle, and it didn’t need to be done.
3. It was dirty. Again, I understand what he’s trying to do, but to drill a guy that is prone like that isn’t the way to do it. You want to stir it up, go hit a guy fair and square. Doing what he did perpetuations the notion of hockey and enforcers being barbaric.

What I found most shocking at the time of Janssen’s hit was the half hearted response by the Leafs. Only Travis Green did anything on the ice, and it didn’t look like his heart was really in it. I was reading in the book I have about Bobby Orr, Searching for Bobby Orr, about an incident in Boston many moons ago. Basically Bobby was clipped in the face accidentally by a Maple Leaf, and it started a brawl on the ice, and a near riot in the Boston Garden. After I thought about it for a couple of days, the shock really wore off. This is the new NHL people. There is no emotion in an 82 game exhibition season. I do have March 30th circled on my calendar though, as the Devils and Leafs play each other and there should be some fireworks. Having said that, see the above sentence about the new NHL and most likely nothing will happen.

The second incident was far more fiendish, and sinister carried out by Islander forward Chris Simon. For those of you emerging from a coma, first off welcome back and secondly I will recap. Chris Simon, after being drilled from behind by Ranger forward and super pest Ryan Hollweg, picked himself up off the ice. As Hollweg was coming back at him because the puck was in Simon’s area instead of Simon dropping the mitts and taking Hollweg on one on one, he went crazy for a second, and chopped Hollweg in the jaw with his stick. You no do that. Never never. MOL and I watched it at the Fours after leaving the most boring Bruins game ever. The Simon slash was one of those incidents where the whole bar saw it, and yelled out loud.

I understand what happened here. Simon lost control of his emotions for a second, and instead of doing what he should have done, i.e. drop the buckets and whale on Hollweg, he did something really stupid. I am in no way condoning what Simon did, in fact, quite the opposite. Hockey is an emotional game, and you need to try your best to harness that emotion in the right way. I am sure there isn’t a single guy that has played against Hollweg that hasn’t wanted to chop him in the face with their stick. His job is to be a pest, and he does it well. Having said that, Simon should never, ever have done what he did. I am sure he is very sorry about it, and wishes he could take it back, but that is no excuse. You have to respect the other players out there, even if you want to smash them to death with your stick. You just don’t do what Simon did, and I think the NHL did exactly what they needed to do in suspending him for 25 games.

There is a place for fighting in the NHL, and the stick work shown by Simon is a big reason why. He should have challenged Hollweg to a fight if he felt wronged. People that are against fighting should get used to seeing a guy getting chopped in the face like Hollweg was, because if and when it is regulated out of the game, it is going to be happening all the time.