A Farewell to a Flagship, an interesting factoid, and an Interesting Comment by a Blowhard (RW77)

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Say-Oh Nara Pittsburgh

Sad day for Gary Bettman, the NHL PR office, and the city of Pittsburgh.  Their glorious flagship franchise and their face of the NHL is now hanging up their skates for the offseason.   In truth, with the exception of Matt Cooke, there isn't a lot to NOT like about the Penguins... if you forget about all the media hype and attention lorded upon that franchise for seemingly no other reason other than Sidney Crosby.

The truth is, the same thing that haunted the Pens since Crosby was drafted reared its ugly head again:  Bad Team D and spotty goaltending.  The Penguins defense simply ISN'T GOOD.  In many regards, UND fans can understand this by stating the following:  Pittsburgh plays a similar game to Minnesota Gopher hockey.  The Penguins, like the Gophers, are a slick passing, great puck handling, finesse style team that can be disrupted and handled if you can play solid D and be physical.  The Bruins are solid defensively and played very physically.  They swept the Pens.  It was that simple.

The Bruins weren't flashy.  They weren't especially fun to watch (sorry Goon and B's fans).  They were sturdy, lunch pail type players... and Gregory Campbell wins the word for Oh my Goodness fortitude.  Good grief.  They don't nearly have the hype surrounding them as the Pens do.  And the B's let the Pens keep the hype.  I'm sure the media covered the victors only because they had to while really pining to get to the Pens lockerroom to see what the Golden Child had to say.

As for goaltending I don't know what to say about Tomas Vokoun.  I REALLY like Tomas.  I thought he was one of THE most underrated goaltenders in the entire NHL for about a 5 year stretch (until Halak stole that title from him while with Montreal).  It's sad that he's on the decline of his career and he'll have nothing to show for it.  Vokoun and Iginla (again, sorry B's fans) are two of the only players on the Pens I sympathize with.

As for Fleury, I said it before and I say it again:  Fleury is in the top 3 for most overrated goaltenders in the NHL.  The other two being Carey Price (Montreal) and Roberto Luongo (Vancouver), though Luongo is fading from this list because his career is fading as well.  I think Jonas Hiller of Anaheim may take Luongo's spot before long.  To be nicer to Fleury, though, Price is still #1 in this category.  But there's time left despite Price holding the edge in age.

Where do the Pens go from here?  To the Golf Course.

Good riddance.   Now Mr. Bettman... Now's the time to start marketting a team OTHER than your beloved.  Are you going to have the cahones to do it or are you just going to sit back in your office and sulk?

An Interesting Comment by a Blowhard

Speaking of Gary Bettman, I was listening to ESPN Radio blowhard Colin Cowherd the other day and he actually made a decent point (in between fluffing himself up as some sort of uber objective yackityyacker which only his fans actually believe is true).  He commented on the popularity of sports other than the NFL (he said that the NFL is far and away the most popular and there's no sport out there that will come close... and he's right) the NHL has a marketable product that is interesting and entertaining.  However, they don't market the product at all.  They don't make the media talk about the NHL at all.  They hide it away on a cable TV station (Versus) for a long time and then benefit by the purchase of Versus by NBC, which has the rights because they cannot wrest the rights to the NBA from the other networks.  They marketted themselves by saying "We're back" when that was outwardly foolish.

I agree.  I can't believe it but I agree with Cowherd.  ESPN doesn't care about hockey.  He says its because of this failure to make themselves marketable and in the mainstream.  That's probably most of the issue but not all of it.  ESPN's bread and butter is the NBA.  And whenever it mentions the NFL ratings go through the roof.  So, that's where they focus.  ESPN did put in a bid for the NHL TV rights but the bid was low and the priority was such that the NHL would invariably be buried or preempted if something they felt was more important was on.  I have no confidence that, outside of the NHL playoffs (provided they didn't conflict with the NBA playoffs or finals), would even appear on ESPN itself.  Mostly likely it would have been ESPN 2 or 3.  NHL Tonight, even during the years that ESPN did air NHL games, was aired closer to midnight than to primetime.  Why would Bettman, as questionable as his intelligence is at times, want that for his league?

But in truth, Cowherd is right in that the NHL does a VERY VERY VERY VERY bad job of marketting itself.  They put commercials on NBC and the NHL Network and NHL Center Ice does get some Ad time but that's it.  I bet they could find ways to get Crosby on ABC or Ovechkin on Fox Sports pushing the NHL.  I'm sure they could find storylines to push for just about every NHL team if they wanted.  But they don't.  They focus mostly on the Penguins, Crosby, and the Finals and let the rest twist in the wind.

Let's face it:  The NHL will NEVER EVER be as popular as the NFL.  I'm not suggesting they even try to compete with even COLLEGE Football.  But I'm pretty darn sure they could garner more of the viewership market than they are getting now.  Baseball is a slow, tedious, and downright boring sport to watch.  It takes FOREVER to get through a game... heck, it takes too long just for the pitcher to decide upon a pitch and then start his windup.  The NHL is fast, exciting, physical, challenging to play, and ENTERTAINING to watch.  It's time it was marketted that way.

A Final Interesting Factoid

I'll leave this rant with an interesting factoid.  Unless my research is off, if Chicago finishes off L.A., this finals will mark the first time Boston has faced Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals.  How mindblowing that you could have two Original Six teams that have NEVER faced off since the Stanley Cup finals began (1927)

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Penguins Puke Matt Cooke boards Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid

What a joke they nominated this clown Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke for the Masterton Trophy. This guy has been suspended at least 31 games by the NHL for his acts of transgression.

I think this hit deserves a game suspension from the NHL's department of Players safety. Why wouldn't it? It's Matt Cooke, he's an multiple time offender. I actually think that Boston Bruins rookie defenseman Torey Krug did his teammate a favor by slowing down Cooke, or this would have been even uglier. Thoughts, from readers.

Masterton Cooke at it again. When will NHL get a clue and ban this idiot?
— Jimmy Murphy (@MurphysLaw74) June 2, 2013

A Few more Ramblings by Redwing77

Minnesota Wild (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As usual, I will caution you that what I'm about to say is my OPINION only.  If you wish to consider it fact, that's fine.  I try to infuse as many facts as I can in my OPINION, but I'm not shooting for a run of the mill blog entry here.

Boston's Overcoming of Odds or Toronto's Epic Collapse?

Boston came back from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 in OT which can only be described as an incredible collapse by Toronto.  Sorry Goon, you can say that it was the determination and skill of Boston players to fight back from being down that much to win if you wish, but.... Toronto should have won this game.

Is the series a collapse by Toronto?  This one I'm not so sure of.  Neither team held a two game advantage.  It was 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, etc.  I think it was a pretty good series overall, but one, again, Toronto should have won.

The Hart Trophy

Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, and John Tavares are the three finalists.  Not Toews.  Brad Schlossman wrote a nice article explaining this and how some nice hockey media writers are questioning why, but...  Comon.  In a shortened season you go to your go-to player if that player puts up respectable enough numbers.

Sidney Crosby is going to win it.  Does he deserve it?  His stats are not poor enough to say "No," but then again, Ovechkin had a rough start and really poured it on.  At one point, I believe Washington wasn't even very competitive early on...  Tavares is just the dark horse on a team that played better than expected.  Tavares is the Stamkos of this year's Hart Trophy finalists.  Bless him he's good enough, but the NHL has other ideas.

Crosby will win it hands down.  Gives the media and the NHL the PR angle for the offseason.

Crisfield decommits from UND.  What does that mean?

Overall, not much.  Things happen.  Not sure why, but whatever the reason is, it happened.  What does it mean for UND?  Our game is changing.  And it has to thanks to the rules and the officiating.  It took long enough but I think it was bound to happen eventually anyways.  In short, North American hockey is becoming more European (Don Cherry is probably having a stroke about this...well that's karma because his suits just about give me epileptic seizures).  Physical hockey is being squashed for finesse.  Good news for my Red Wings.  Bad news for my UND.

So next year you can expect UND to be NOT very physical on D.  The only physical D we really have are Panzarella and Senkbeil (who might not have even played D last season?  Don't remember... and I don't know if he's especially that physical either).

Good news for Haters though.  They'll be able to diversify themselves away from the usual "Fire Hakstol" to "Hakstol is recruiting Gopher wannabes and wusses!"  Whatever.  We saw it last year as your PIMs went down again last season.

Minnesota Pro Sports Fall on their Faces again

Folks, I've watched Minnesota Pro Sports all my life and I've watched some collegiate endeavours as well.  I was watching when UMN Football coach Glenn Mason just about did cartwheels because they made it to the Music City Bowl.  And listened as he explained that just making a Bowl game is the mark of a successful program.

I was there when Twins GM Terry Ryan said Free Agency solves nothing and proved it by signing awesome players in Ruben Sierra, Rondell White (who he said would be a middle of the lineup power hitter that will hit 30 homers.. yet his career high was around 23), and a few fat pitchers.  No, Mr. Ryan, the way YOU run free agency solves nothing.  And the Twins have a bunch of conference titles and first round exits (showing that their conference was weak to begin with).

I was there when Wolves GM Kevin McHale signed Latrell Spreewell and all those incredible contracts and explained that he built a winner... Yup.  Wolves up until VERY recently, were the punchline.

The Vikings.... they don't sign free agents and they can't draft... or they couldn't for a long while.  They sniffed the promised land once but well.... they left their "dominant" offense in the hands of a kicker.

The Wild... OY.  Talk about a flawed team.

The attitude that a well rounded team is one that mixes a random strategy, a dart board, and the word "potential" pervades Minnesota pro sports.

The truth as I see it is this:  None of these teams will win it all.  They're not run the right way.  Some have bad ownership (Wolves, Wild, Twins for the longest time).  Some can't draft (Wild, Wolves, Vikings for the longest time).  Some can't evaluate talent (all.. though the Twins SOMETIMES hit home runs).  Minnesota Wild sign Parise and say that their goal scoring problems are over.... and you guys believe it!  Really?  It's the same statement they said when they went out and got Havlat...and Heatley...  I hate Pittsburgh but they didn't stop at Crosby.  They seemed to focus on one basic need at a time.  They drafted offense and then goaltender... their D stunk.  Then they worked on D... and now mediocrity like Fleury and Dupuis have their names on the Cup.  Minnesota's strategy?  Draft two way players, gritty defensive forwards, and some speed.  No finishers.  No scorers.  No grit in the offensive zone.  PM Bouchard is overrated and he's a perimeter player anyways.  Koivu and Parise... that's it.  Granlund might be good but who knows?  You all thought Brett Burns was good too.

What I'm getting at is that there seems to be absolutely NO strategy to building a Minnesota Pro team.  They just focus on the long term (how many times did Terry Ryan say the word, "potential" when describing any Twins player?  No "Now" talent at all) and never seem to get restless for the present.  Hey, I know the feeling.  I used to be a Cubs fan.  Offended that I'd compare teams that have been to the championship game far more times and far more recently than the hapless Cubs?  Think about it.  Take away the 105+ year futility streak and what do you have?  You have Minnesota.

The Wild need scoring.  They need to draft scoring.  They need to sign scoring.  They should basically do that ONLY for a year or two.  It's lopsided, I know.  But you aren't going to win the Cup with a team of Zuckers, Veillieuxs, Clutterbucks.  You've got Koivu and Parise... You need 2 or 3 more scorers.  You need two SOLID lines of scoring talent.  Pittsburgh can roll almost 3 lines and that's excluding their D.  It's why Pittsburgh will win, I kid you not, 2 more Cups, before Minnesota plays Game 1 of the Finals.

Minnesota is getting better... but will it continue?  What will this offseason bring?  I think the draft is a BIG indicator.  IMO, if the Wild draft anything but scoring talent in the first 3 rounds of the draft, I think they're just destined for a higher payrolled version of the same old same old.

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Did Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick call out Sidney Crosby for taking a dive?

I might have to admit, that I agree with Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick on this one here. I thought it was a bad call. I also thought that Sidney Crosby went down really easy. The word embellishment was on the tip of my tongue as well, after I saw the play live.

If I am not mistaken, they're kind of accusing Sidney Crosby of taking a bit of a dive there... Is that what others are hearing too? I am hearing buzz words here. Pittsburgh was the beneficiaries of a somewhat sketchy call at the end. Crosby also goes down a little bit too easy there. Hum!

Love reading all the tweets about today's games. Even all the bitching and whining those certain classless penguin fans r doing. Comical
— Jeremy Roenick (@Jeremy_Roenick) May 5, 2013

2013 NCAA Division I College Hockey Frozen Four Television Schedule (4/11, 4/13)

Here is next weekend’s National College Hockey television schedule. The NCAA’s Frozen Four takes center stage at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Starting on Thursday evening, there will be two semifinal games, as usual the semifinal games on Thursday will be on ESPN2.

The two winning teams will advance and play in the championship game on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. central on ESPN.

In my opinion, this is most wonderful time of the year. It’s also very stressful. There is a finality, which surrounds the college hockey tourney. Seasons and careers end, with losses in the National tourney.   In a one game tourney, the best team doesn’t always win.

Some the players that are playing in this tourney will someday end up in the NHL.

Check your local cable television guide for channels.

Thu.	Apr. 11	UMass Lowell vs. Yale	ESPN2	3:30 p.m.	209 / 144
Thu.	Apr. 11	Quinnipiac vs. Saint Cloud	ESPN2	7:00 p.m.	209 / 144
Sat.	Apr. 13	NCAA Championship	ESPN	6:00 p.m.	206 / 140

All times are Central Standard Time.

 Cross-Posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

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UND 2012-13 hockey season post-mortem

For UND hockey fans, the end of every season is always tough, especially for the last 13 years.  UND hockey fans don’t take losing well and UND hockey is a way of life, much like football is in Nebraska or Texas.

But I digress.

If you would have asked me how I thought this year would have ended, I would have said anything is possible including this ending.  Although, I was thinking that the Green and White’s season would have ended in a trip to Pittsburgh, PA culminating in their eighth NCAA title.

I thought this team had the “potential” to take it all the way to Pittsburgh, but in the last month, those expectations were quietly dampened as they had trouble getting sweeps against the likes of Bemidji State and Michigan Tech.

This year’s team was hard to put a finger on.  They never really clicked defensively or offensively.

The coaching staff was still messing around with line combinations up until the end of the season. Some of that was a result of UND’s incredible depth this season. There was also, for the most part, no major injuries so there were many combinations to play with.

Players that played poorly on the ice found themselves sitting in the stands the next game.

There never seemed to be a lot of great chemistry among the forward lines except for the top line and the energy line.

A great hockey mind told me earlier in the season; that if your team is still screwing around with the forward lines in late January, your season wasn’t going last very long. Hum…those words of wisdom, now proved to be very true. It’s not really rocket science per see, but it’ makes a lot of sense. Just seems like there was no continuity to this hockey team.

This year’s team never really had that killer instinct, they never seemed to have to have ability to put a team away and they had a propensity to let bad teams hang around longer than they should have.

That being said, this team wasn’t a bunch of talentless hacks either.

The 2012-13 version of the UND hockey team was still a pretty decent hockey team that at times looked like they could beat the best teams in the country and played one of the toughest schedules in the country.  They didn’t rack up 22 wins playing the weak sisters of the poor.

On the negative side of things, UND had two league sweeps all season long, UNO and MTU and both of these sweeps were on the road. UND swept one team at home, and that was nonconference foe Holy Cross.

The 2012-13 UND hockey team finished with a 22-13-7 record and also finished one win away from sharing the McNaughton Cup with Minnesota and Saint Cloud State.

Let this one sink in for you, this is the first time in 10 years that the UND hockey team isn’t going to go to the Frozen Four or win a Broadmoor Trophy or McNaughton Cup.  I didn’t even realize this until I read Brad Schlossman’s post game report in the Grand Forks Herald.

There are going to be those that will say that this UND hockey team didn’t meet expectations. There will be others that will say that this team lacked grit and heart.

Secondary scoring was an issue with this team and after Danny Kristo (26-g-26a—52pts), Corban Knight (16g-33a—49pts) and Rocco Grimaldi (13g-23a—36pts), there was a drop off of in scoring after the top line.

Next season, the junior class of Mark MacMillan (13g-12a—25pts) and Michael Parks (7g-1a—8pts) along with Roco Grimaldi are going to be expected to lead the way for UND.  Michael Parks was slowed this season by an injury and he never really seemed to regain his rhythm that he had from the previous season.

Fire Hakstol

As always, expectations are pretty high, especially when your team resides in Grand Forks, North Dakota, almost to a point of fanaticism. When the season ends prematurely without a NCAA title, some in the fan base begin to call for the coach’s head.

I can tell you right now that there is zero chance that head coach Dave Hakstol gets fired, he’s not going anywhere.  Not going to happen, first-off Hakstol just signed a long term deal and you would require a very big buy out.  If I had to guess, a buyout it’s in the $800,000.00 – $1,000,000.00, so no, coach Hakstol is going anywhere, unless someone is going to step forward to write the University of North Dakota a huge check and I don’t see that happening.  Nor am I suggesting that this should it happen.  The next quesition would be, who do you replace him with? Replacing him doesn’t mean the program succeeds either.

Lastly, Dave Hakstol is a very good hockey coach and has done a good job with the UND hockey program.  UND just won 20 plus games for the ninth year in a row and I think it’s just a matter of time before he leads UND to a national title. Then the naysayers will be running to catch up with the Hakstol bandwagon.

Cross-Posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

Martin Brodeur falls getting his goalie stick

s/t to the Score. I got a chuckle out of this while I was watching this game yesterday. For a guy that's 40 years old Martin Brodeur can still move really good, and with all that equipment on. If the puck had actually gone in, it wouldn't have counted because the Pittsburgh Penguins were off-sides on the play.

Megna leaves UNO after one season

In reading this World Herald article from Rob White this early departures really doesn't make a lot of sense as well - Jayson Megna who tallied (13g-18a-31pts) didn't exactly stand out last season as one of the top players in the WCHA, but I guess he would like to take his chances on developing in the minor leagues.

Rob White, World Herald --- Jayson Megna, the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s second-leading returning scorer, decided to turn pro with one of three NHL organizations and won’t return for his sophomore season.

Megna, who attended a development camp with Pittsburgh earlier this month, said he’d decide among the Penguins, Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets this weekend. He said he had six or seven offers in all.

“Obviously it was a tough decision for me to leave school after playing there for a year, playing with my brother (defenseman Jaycob) and my other teammates,” Megna said. “I love the city and the fans. But I made a decision that I think is best for me and my career.”

Megna, who made the WCHA all-freshman team in 2011-12 after recording 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points, becomes another high-profile offseason departure for a program that slumped at the end of a 14-18-6 season.

Megna will be the 12th player this summer from the WCHA to for e-o their college eligibility and sign a professional contract.  Megna is an older player at 22 so he won't be going to the CHL route. 

All Parise all of the time...

Today, NHL hockey fans from Pittsburgh, Minnesota and New Jersey are wondering where Zach Parise is going to sign. It looks like it's going to be another night before we find out where he is going to go.

Like most fans, I have been hovering by the computer all day long, waiting on the edge of my seat wondering where former Fighting Sioux All-American and New Jersey Devil Zach Parise is going to land, after Zach signs a new contract, he is going to need to buy a wheel barrow to take his money to the bank.



According to Russo, "the Wild are still in it."

I had a few people ask me what I think of Parise flying back to Minnesota tomorrow and I am not sure what we would even make out of it. I honestly don't feel all of that confident that Parise is going to sign with the Wild and that the Devils could have put a lot of pressure on Zach and that he is torn and having a tough time with the decision.

According to Lou Nanne, "he [Parise] is not going to Jersey, there is no possible way that they're in.



Here is what Lou Nanne had to say about the whole Zach Parise story. I always take what Lou Nanne says with a grain of salt.
"A signing of this magnitude should takes place in the area where he is going to play and the team would want him there," Nanne said. "I just can't fathom that he coming home to Minnesota to tell us that he is going to Pittsburgh."

New Frozen Four ticket policy

 Official Press Release

The NCAA has announced a new ticket purchase process for the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four, effective with the 2013 championship at the CONSOL Energy Center April 11 and 13 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The ticket purchase process, approved by the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee, will now be conducted beginning Oct. 1 and will no longer involve submitting an application for the opportunity to purchase tickets. Instead, ticket purchasers will be invited to purchase tickets, based on their priority level, and select their own seat locations at the time of the order submission.

“This new system gives our priority ticket holders something tangible,” said Sean Frazier, chair of the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee and deputy athletics director at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “A lot of people never fully understood what priority status got them. Now, with this new system it leaves no doubt because they will be able to pick their exact seat location first.”

An individual’s priority level is determined by the number of Frozen Four championships he/she has purchased tickets to through the NCAA ticket application process, beginning with the 1997 championship in Milwaukee through the 2012 championship in Tampa. Ticket purchasers are awarded one priority point for each year tickets have been purchased in his/her name.

Each priority level will be given a designated date to begin the ticket purchase process. Individuals with the highest priority level will be invited to purchase tickets starting Oct. 1. Individuals with the next highest priority level will have the opportunity to purchase tickets shortly thereafter, and so on until the available inventory has been sold. Ticket purchasers will receive an e-mail approximately one week prior to the designated purchase date for their priority level with an invitation and instructions for purchasing tickets. Each priority ticket purchaser is limited to a maximum of four tickets.

All orders must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, Nov. 30, and tickets will be mailed in late February 2013.

Under the previous system established in 2002, seat assignments were determined based on the ticket purchaser’s priority level. But that location was not determined by the buyer. Fans also had to purchase tickets almost a full year in advance from the event and seat locations were not known until the tickets arrived in March.

“When the Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee came up with the original system in 2002, it was done to ensure that we were rewarding the loyalty of our most avid fans,” said Lori Wolf, NCAA associate director for championships and alliances, ticketing. “However, with the new tweaks, it really takes the ticket-buying and seat selection experience to the next level. We really feel this will be a big hit with our fans.”

Those interested in the opportunity to purchase tickets for the 2013 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four, but do not currently have an existing account/priority level, are invited to visit http://www.ncaa.com/frozenfourtickets to complete a registration form with their contact information. Any individual who registers their contact information prior to Oct. 1 will be sent an invitation to purchase any remaining tickets.

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Interesting comments from Brendan Shannahan

Boston Bruins bench (Photo credit: slidingsideways)

I find it funny that Brendan Shannahan felt the need to comment on this situation, there is perception around the league that certain teams aren't going to get a fair shake because of his bias against those teams. Whether it's deserved or not, it's a perception that is out there. As a Wild and Bruins fan, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that I have seen things that are questionable and grounds for scrutiny.

Just today the NHL suspended Tyler Meyers for a very similar hit that went unpunished this season, more specifically, these were some of the same kind of hits that the Wild and Bruins players were a victim of but no punishment was levied to the perpetrator. There seems to be one set of rules for Stars and a different set of rules for the goons and third and forth line players.

D.J. Bean, WEEI --- As for the Bruins in general, Shanahan responded to the idea that he has a bias against the B’s when it comes to suspensions. Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference have all been suspended this season for various infractions.

“It’s funny, people in Boston might think I have something against the Bruins, which is so absurd and crazy,” he said. “It makes you feel any better I can promise you all I have to do is flip on my Twitter page, or if I ever wanted to venture onto the internet, almost every team in the league thinks there a specific reason I hate their market and hate their city as well.

“I have to defend why I don’t hate Pittsburgh, or why I don’t hate Montreal, or why I don’t hate Buffalo, or why I don’t hate Minnesota. For Boston, it’s even more absurd, quite honestly. Talk about a team I grew up admiring. Cam Neely is probably the one player I tried to model my game after more than anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team you grew up admiring, or a team you played for, there’s so much scrutiny in this job, you can do this job and you can’t sleep at night, if you don’t do it with as much integrity as possible. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect. You would love to have a perfect season in sports. You can objectively look at this hit and disagree with the assessment, and that’s fair. That’s always going to be fair. But it’s absurd to suggest in any market that we have a grudge or have it in against anybody.”

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Penguins' Goon Engelland suspended for three games

NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan threw the book at Deryk Engelland. I think this is the right decision and yesterday I said, "In my opinion you can expect a 2-4 game suspension would be the proper call." Shanahan had no choice in this case, you can not leave your feet to check a player and hit them in the head.

NEW YORK -- Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Deryk Engelland has been suspended, without pay, for three games for an illegal check to the head of Chicago Blackhawks forward Marcus Kruger during NHL Game #488 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Dec. 20, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and based on his average annual salary, Engelland will forfeit $9,189.18. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 8:55 of the first period. No penalty was assessed on the play.

Engelland will miss games Dec. 23 at Winnipeg, Dec. 27 vs. Carolina and Dec. 29 vs. Philadelphia. He will be eligible to return Dec. 31 at New Jersey.

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Gregory Campbell and Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale fight

I think teams had better take notice around the NHL, this is what happens to you when, you take a run at the Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. This is the correct response to said moment of stupidity by the Penguins Joe Vitale, hence the ensuing fight between Gregory Campbell and Joe Vitale.

Seriously, If players around the NHL think they are going to take a run at the Bruins net they're going to get the full wrath of angry bear. The Boston Bruins don't have to wait for the Brendan Shanahan and the NHL Department of Player Safety, they will take the matters into their own hands and settle it on the ice like men. This is one reason that I don't like the idea of taking fighting out of the game of hockey. It keeps players honest and the players will police the game via the hockey code.

I think that Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale will think twice before coming into the Bruins crease next time because Tim Thomas will also protect said crease.

Jay Beagle vs Arron Asham

Check out this fight between former UAA Seawolve and Arron Asham. The fight was a decent one and was going well for Beagle until he caught a punch by Asham and was K.O., post fight  Asham caused quite a stir with his post fight antics (you're out motion). The after the fight antics by Asham lacked a bit of class. Asham has since apologized for the guesture. This is what Barry Melrose had to say about the fight, love him or hate him Melrose is right.

Washington Post --- “And the people that are against fighting, right there is what fighting is for. It was a message sender. There was a reason that fight happened. It wasn’t just violence. It wasn’t just two guys trying to put on a show. Asham was sending a message to the Washington Capitals, Beagle was trying to send a message from Washington to Pittsburgh. And right there you see the value of a fight in the game. It changed the game around for a while, Pittsburgh took control of it after that, ended up tying it up and it went into overtime where Pittsburgh lost. Protect the skilled players. The player is the deterrent. The referee’s not protecting the player, the player’s protecting players on his own team.”