Categories
NHL General

Odds and Ends: Time to ask whether fighting belongs in hockey?


Is Colin Campbell insane? He told the Canadian press that “it’s time to ask the question” about whether fighting should be banned in the NHL. The only reason why hockey even registers as a major league sport is because of the fighting. Now for those who love hockey and not just hockey fights, fighting is still an integral part of the game. The enforcers, defending your superstars, having the back of your teammates, hell, even goalie fights are a big part of hockey tradition.

Sure it’s fun to see Sidney Crosby or Ovechkin do their thing but it’s also fun to see two goons square off. The problem with hockey is the cheap shots and the swinging of lumber. The old fashioned dropping of the gloves should never go away. That’s one on one man stuff that we love… in a purely heterosexual way of course.

In other news…

[MSNBC]: Kobe angrily denies contacting Durant for Nike… takes it out on the Grizz.

[Myspace]: Pro Wrestler (Edge) admits steroids use on myspace blog

[AJC]: Police deny Vick had any jewelry in water bottle. What they don’t know is that “jewelry” is the new street slang for weed

[Slam Sports]: Former Sixer Todd MacCulloch is the 208th best pinball player in the world. Falls 207 places behind deaf dumb and blind kid.

[The Big Lead]: Don’t worry USC, Tim Floyd isn’t going to Michigan

[Boton Herald]: ebay tells Manny to take his grill and shove it… but Jenn-Air wants Manny to do a commercial

And finally, don’t forget to watch everyone’s favorite awkward quarterback, Peyton Manning on Saturday Night Live.

Categories
New York Rangers

Another day, another NHL fight video

You don’t even have to go to the archives to find hockey fights anymore. It seems like there’s a new fight everyone is talking about. Next up: Todd Fedoruk of the Flyers vs Colton Orr of the Rangers. Knockout. This one is extra special because it happened 21 secs into the game. Those hockey players sure do hold a grudge.

Categories
NHL General

Feb 26 in Sports History: A good ole fashioned brawl

In 1981: In celebration of the brawl that took place last Thursday in Buffalo between the Sabres and Senators, Sportscolumn presents a video that reminds us how bad Our Dad’s NHL could kick our new My NHL’s pansy ass. The Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars didn’t wait to react to some borderline (hell, most outside of Buffalo, including the NHL, thought it was clean) hit on one of their so-called “stars.” All they needed to get going was for the referee to drop the puck to start the game. Seven seconds in, it started with a fight between Bobby Smith of the Stars and Steve Kasper of the Bruins. Then the fun began. By the time it was over, both teams combined for an NHL record 406 penalty minutes (Thursday’s game had 100) and 12 players were ejected.

Oh, and Boston won the game 5-1. I don’t even remember who won Thursday’s game.

Categories
Ottawa Senators

Ray Emery leads a good old fashioned hockey brawl

Check out this video of the brawl last night between the Sens and the Sabres. The absolute best thing about hockey brawls is that the goalies are compelled by hockey tradition to fight each other even though they probably never crossed each other’s paths the entire game. Ray Emery gets the nod for this brawl because not only does he dispatch with Martin Biron, he then turns his sights on Sabres goon Andrew Peters. They always say goalies are a little wacko. Emery is just deranged.

Don’t forget to check out our favorite Buffalo site Bfloblog for their reaction to the brawl.

Links:
[Toss in the Towel]: Ray Emery Fights Biron AND Peters! He’s Crazy…And I love It!

Categories
NHL General

Hockey fight ends with player taken to hospital

Ronald Petrovicky of the Penguins knocks out Kris Newbury of the Maple Leafs in this fight on Sunday. Newbury fell to the ice and a large pool of blood formed under his head. He apparently fell on his head and was taken off by a stretcher.

Afterward, Pretrovicky said, “We started fighting and he fell on his head pretty bad so, you know, sorry, but that’s part of the game. Hopefully he’ll be OK”

Newbury is OK. He was released from the hospital with “no neurological issues.” Hopefully, in the long run, the only lasting injury will be to his ego.

Links:
[Canada.com]: Leafs forward Newbury taken off ice on stretcher after fight with Petrovicky
[Sportsnet.ca]: Newbury released from hospital

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: Can Anybody Stop the Sabres?


1. Briere Blitzes Tampa
Daniel Briere led the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-1 bashing of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, scoring three goals for the first Hat Trick of his career. It is hard to believe that he’s never had one before this, seeing that he’s playing in his tenth NHL season (perhaps this is because he spent his first six seasons with Phoenix). Chris Drury also netted a tally, extending his goals-scored streak to four straight games. (Tampa’s Vincent Lecavalier also scored to continue his own streak of games with goals to four as well). Ryan Miller had another solid game between the pipes for the boys in the yellow slug jerseys, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced. Buffalo holds an 11 point lead in the Northeast Division, and still has not been below the number two spot in Matt Jordan’s power rankings this year.

2. Fredrik Fantastik
A sign of the apocalypse: the Columbus Blue Jackets have won two straight games, and their opponents haven’t hit the net in two full games. Say hello to Blue Jackets’ goalie Fredrik Norrena, who earned his second consecutive shutout in a 3-0 effort over the last-place Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday (his other victory came in a 4-0 win over Edmonton on Saturday). Norrena received help from Anson Carter, who racked up a goal and an assist in the game to lead the Jackets to their first-ever victory at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Readers, take it from us: you might want to read this paragraph again, because it may be a long time before we see “Columbus” and “won two straight” in the same sentence.

3. Hull To Rafters
The Detroit Red Wings crashed a nice little pregame celebration at the Scottrade Center, winning over St. Louis 5-1– shortly after Brett Hull’s #16 was raised to the rafters. Hull played 11 seasons for the Blues, and was able to tally up some impressive numbers in 19 NHL seasons (we won’t count last year’s brief stint in Phoenix), scoring 741 career goals and falling nine points shy of 1,400. The celebration, which came before the Blues lost their fifth straight game, seemed fitting to come on a night which featured two of Brett’s former teams (he played three seasons with the Red Wings). We highly doubt they’ll be retiring his number in the Glendale Arena, where he played five games for the aforementioned Coyotes before packing his bags and announcing his retirement.

Check It Out
Tuesday’s meetings to discuss possible changes to the schedule and the playoffs worked to no avail. NHL officials are keeping the schedules the way there are for the time being, meaning rare trips for Western Conference teams to the east coast, and vice versa. They also decided on keeping the playoff seeding format untouched, though there were some rumors that the postseason would be changed to a bracket-style tournament.

Game of the Night: Nashville at Anaheim
Top two teams in Western Conference battle it out

The Last Shot
Who doesn’t like a good hockey fight?