Wes Walz explains the Hockey Code: Chris Stewart fights Cody McLeod

FSN hockey analyst and former NHLer Wes Walz breaks down the Hockey code after Chris Stewart fights Cody McLeod. I am very excited the Minnesota Wild picked up a tough guy that can actually fight and play the game.

Avalanche's McLeod, Landeskog fined by the NHL

Looking at the schedule. The Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche play again on March 8, 2015, at the Xcel Energy center. This has the possibilities of being a very interesting game.

This time, the Wild will have some added muscle with newly acquired forward Christ Stewart who was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres.

NEW YORK -- Colorado Avalanche forwards Cody McLeod and Gabriel Landeskog each have been fined the maximum amounts allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for their respective actions during the final seconds of NHL Game No. 930 in Denver on Saturday, February 28, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today.

McLeod has been fined $3,091.40 for entering the game on a legal line change for the purpose of starting an altercation with 8.1 seconds remaining in regulation. Directly off a face-off at center ice, McLeod launched into a bodycheck against Minnesota center Mikael Granlund and then engaged in a fight with Wild forward Charlie Coyle. McLeod was assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, a major penalty for fighting and a misconduct penalty.

Landeskog has been fined $5,000 for throwing a punch at Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu while both players were on their respective benches with 3.3 seconds remaining in regulation. Landeskog was assessed a misconduct penalty.

The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Differing Opinions of the Wild Dismantling the Av's

As I mentioned yesterday, I am not anti-fighting. I understand the hockey code and I don't think fighting should be taken out of the NHL game. I recently covered this subject in another post at the Hockey Writers.

the NHL game is evolving, and fighting is becoming less prevalent. That’s a positive development. In today’s game, there’s not a lot of room on an NHL roster for a five shift, four-minute player that can only fight.

Okay, in Scott’s defense, over the past five games that he’s played in, the Sharks behemoth has averaged about six minutes a game. That being said, the Sharks have seen little if any production from him. He’s taking up space in the lineup.

Teams no longer can afford to have a tough guy taking up space on the player’s bench. One dimensional players like Scott are a dying breed. So why is a player like Scott still in the NHL?

That being said, what Cody McLeod did at the end of Saturday's game needs to be addressed further. It was a bush league move that should cause him to be fined and or suspended. I predict nothing will happen to Mr. McLeod. According to Michael Russo, the NHL will announce today the Colorado fines for Patrick Roy, Gabriel Landeskog and Cody McLeod.

For those that think that Sean Bergenheim hit on Nathan Mackinnon was dirty, go back and watch the video of Bergenheim's hit on Nathan Mackinnon. This was a textbook example of a clean shoulder-to-chest. Nothing more, nothing less.

I found this blog post on Mile High City and this paragraph is worth reading just to get the other side of the argument. I also found it comical that Avs fans are calling Minnesota a dirty team. The Wild don't even have a designated pugilist and their agitator Matt Cooke is currently on the IR. I have watched 85-90 percent of the Wild's games this season and they are not a dirty team. Especially with Cooke out of the Wild lineup.

If you’re keeping track at home, Kyle Brodziak (4) and Ryan Carter (3) lead the Wild in fighting majors. Those two are hardly heavy weights.

MacKinnon just got elbowed in the face and is bleeding all over the ice. Heads straight to the locker room. No call because these refs are completely overwhelmed by this game. Avs do get a call in their favor...somewhere but I missed it completely. Avs on the PP. Avs PP continues to be more flaccid than a stale banana. Barrie taking all kinds of chances pinching and Iggy does a great job getting back to help mitigate a Wild 2-on-1. Avs running out of time real quick now. (PS on second look, MacKinnon looks to have received a shoulder to the face, not an elbow. I retract my officiating complaints, sort of). (Mile High Hockey)

Maybe the refs didn't call it because it was a legal hit.

Hockey is a physical game and injuries happen as are result of physical contact. Again, this was a legal textbook shoulder-to-chest hit. The players own stick breaks his nose. How does this act warrant McLeod jumping two of the Wild's star players? It doesn't. Also, goons taking a run at star players that don't fight breaks the hockey code. It's a bush league act.

I also think that the NHL doesn't want neanderthal goons taking runs at star players because one of the players was hurt with a legal check or because the other team doesn't want to fight. That's not the Wild game.

Cody McLeod Jumps Mikael Granlund and Fights Charlie Coyle

I want to be clear, I am all for fighting and sticking up for your teammates. I get that, but what the heck is Cody McLeod doing? Or better yet, what is Avalanche coach Patrick Roy doing?

My question is: Wouldn't this be an intent to injure? McLeod took a run against an unexpecting player after the faceoff. I don't know?

Second, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund are skilled players, they're not goons. You really don't want to see Coyle or Granlund stuck in this situation.



If you're a Minnesota Wild, you're probably talking about this today. The Minnesota Wild the Colorado Avalanche are at it yet again. In four games against the Wild the Avalanche has scored a grand total of one goal.

There are rules in place to prevent what McLeod did, but you need the refs to actually call it.

“That’s garbage is what it is,” Yeo said of McLeod’s antics. “You feel it was going that way all game long. They were obviously very emotional all game long. In an emotional type of game, we did a good job of keeping our focus and I really think that was the difference in the end.”

Asked what he thought of Roy putting out McLeod, Yeo said, “We’ve seen the league respond to things like this. There’s rules in place to try to prevent things like that and I’m quite certain that they’ll take a good long look at that.”

We’ll see if the league does examine this and determines the only thing that kept this from being an instigator with less than five minutes left is that the refs decided not levy one for some unexplained reason. (Michael Russo, StarTribune)

Apparently, Av's coach Patrick Roy sent their goon out at the end of the game because of a legal shoulder-to-chest hit.



If you don't believe me that this is a legal hit check out the GIFs embedded below.

Shoulder-to-chest hit. RT @ybba2026: @goon48 Bergenheim? pic.twitter.com/t5UTb3INs1
— Eric J. Burton THW (@goon48) March 1, 2015

GIF: Bergenheim hit on Mackinnon, cc @WalterNorris pic.twitter.com/BEdxfRb9M5
— Steph (@myregularface) March 1, 2015

Dougie Hamilton Fights Gabriel Landeskog (Video)

Being a Minnesota Wild apologist, I was very happy to see this. In my personal opinion, this was long overdue.

Finally, someone decided to collect the bill with Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog. For those keeping track at home, this was the first professional fight for Boston Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton.

Wild Make Avs Night One to Forget

With a season of very high expectations in Minnesota, the Wild open the regular season at home against division rival, the Colorado Avalanche. The two teams met 13 times last season, regular season and playoffs, and Minnesota advanced against the Central Division champs to the second round of the playoffs after a game 7 overtime victory. 

With a roster deeper than most in the NHL, Minnesota came out flying and made the Avalanche look like they didn't belong on the same ice as Minnesota. Jason Pominville scored the lone goal in the first, but the overall period was dominated by Minnesota. The score made the game seem much closer then it actually was. The period would end at 1-0, but the Wild put up 17 shots to Colorado's 5.

As the second rolled around, the floodgates opened for Minnesota as four different players would tally goals in the period. Just over four minutes in, soon to be breakout defenseman, Jared Spurgeon, finds a lane, takes his shot, and boom, the Wild are up 2-0. Not even three minutes later, the top line strikes again. This time it was Zach Parise who lights the lamp right off of an offensive zone face-off. Minnesota's offensive zone presence in the second period kept on pushing shot after shot on net, and much of this was due to amazing puck support deep in the zone and the wonderful cycle. As the period drew to a close, Nino Niederreiter and Ryan Suter would both find the twine as a total of four of Minnesota's 21 second period shots found their way behind Semyon Varlamov. His night would end here. 

As one would expect, the Wild took a little off in the third, but did enough to maintain a shutout and still have much of the offensive zone play. There were still a couple of great scoring chances right on top of the crease for Charlie Coyle, Zach Parise, and Jonas Brodin, but were unable to put the puck home. As the clock ran down, there were many things you could take from this game and just say wow. Maybe it was the franchise record 48 shots on goal totaled for Minnesota, or the five different players who found the net tonight. 

Special teams was a spot where Minnesota was not that great at last season, but today showed a gigantic improvement. In four power plays surrendered to the Avs, Minnesota would not allow one single shot. This was not the 27th ranked penalty kill from last season. Although the power play did not score tonight, they still looked dangerous with crisp puck movement, and a willingness to shoot the puck multiple times.

Minnesota's top line put on a show tonight as well. the trio of Pominville, Parise and Granlund totaled a combined seven points, and were a combined plus 10 rating on the night. The trio also totaled as many shots, 16, as the complete Avalanche roster could muster up for the game. They looked in mid season form and were controlling the game like they were the best line in the entire NHL. If this keeps up, I could see this tremendous trio to possibly total 200 combined points come seasons end. This line is dangerous and the NHL needs to take notice of this. 

Having a quiet night tonight was Thomas Vanek. The newly acquired forward only put two shots on net, but I expect many great things from him this season. I don't think that he played to his full potential tonight.

The Avs and Wild face-off once again on Saturday night, but this time at Pepsi Center in Denver. Will the Avs have a response to this beating, or will the Wild come in and spoil the home opener party for Colorado?

Hockey News: Steve Moore/Todd Bertuzzi settlement proves NHL can’t justify culture of revenge

The Steve Moore and Todd Bertuzzi settlement has been reached. I thought this article was worth a read. For those that don't read the Hockey News, they're very anti-fighting and I refer to them as the Anti-Fighting Cabal.  That being said, this was an ugly incident.

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News -- Perhaps they’ll be able to shovel enough money toward future plaintiffs to convince all of them to settle prior to a trial as Moore has. But what keeps owners and league brass awake at night is the lingering fear lucrative payouts won’t protect them forever; that they’ll be called to account in public and under oath; and once that happens, all their empty chatter about “tradition”, “our game” and “the code” will be exposed for what it is: insular, anachronistic, indefensible bunk.

The biggest tragedy/irony of the Bertuzzi/Moore narrative is that both of its main actors were broken by it – Bertuzzi never was the same player – yet hockey and the NHL carried on unscathed despite creating and cultivating the conditions that led to it. The truth is, the game was broken long ago, and in a way that led directly to the events that took place when the Canucks and Avs squared off on March 8, 2004.

The money that’s been paid to Moore does nothing to fix that fissure. Sadly, all it does is leave open the possibility there will be more Todd Bertuzzis, Steve Moores and legal showdowns to come.

The Steve Moore/Todd Bertuzzi lawsuit is over, & @Proteautype says it shows the NHL can't defend its revenge culture: http://t.co/XwkPHG4TBt
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) September 5, 2014

Kings vs. Av's at the Broadmoor World Arena

For those people that live in Colorado Springs you can order your tickets at this link.

Score, Six players who will never win a Stanley Cup

Jarome Iginla and 5 other players who will never win a Stanley Cup. http://t.co/OjqYATTn0U pic.twitter.com/MQIWcT8y12
— theScore (@theScore) July 17, 2014

Interesting list by the Score. Noticed Phil Kessel and Alex Ovechkin are part of this list.

NHL Releases 2014-15 Schedule

#490588433 / gettyimages.com

Today, the National Hockey League released it's 2014-15 schedule. As soon as the NHL releases their television schedule, I will post some games of interest.

Perusing the schedules, I found a few items of interest. My two favorite NHL teams, the Boston Bruins and the Minnesota Wild will meet on October 28, 2014, at the TD North Garden. They two teams meet at the Xcel Energy Center on December 17,2014.

The Boston Bruins play the Winnipeg Jets on Friday November 28, 2014 at the Boston Garden. On Friday December 19, 2014 the Bruins play the Winnipeg Jets in at the MTS Centre.

The @NHL has announced the #NHLBruins 2014-15 regular season schedule. View the 82-game slate here: http://t.co/gz0BwxZ41J ^BB
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 22, 2014

#490242283 / gettyimages.com

The Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche kick off the regular season with a home-and-home series. This should prove to be interesting, because the Wild eliminated the Av's in the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Also, this will be the first meeting between Matt Cooke and Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie. Cooke took out Barrie with a dirty leg check.

Hey #Avs, we'll see you Oct. 9 at @XcelEnergyCtr for the #mnwild opener: http://t.co/MKhIaqoR1V pic.twitter.com/2Bfw6QfKFn
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) June 21, 2014

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Awkward moment? Brendan Lemieux interviewed by Red Wings at the Combine

#480690719 / gettyimages.com

This might qualify as an awkward moment. Former UND hockey recruit Brendan Lemieux was interviewed by the Detroit Red Wings. Brendan's dad probably doesn't have a lot of fans in Detroit, especially after he destroyed Chris Draper with a dirty hit during the 1996 Western Conference Finals.

Mike G. Morreale - NHL.com --- One of the more intriguing interviews for Brendan took place with the Detroit Red Wings. It was during Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Final that Claude Lemieux, then with the Avalanche, hit Detroit's Kris Draper from behind, driving Draper into the top of the boards near the Red Wings' bench and leaving Draper with a broken jaw, cheek bone and orbital bone.

Draper, now a special assistant to Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, was on hand when the interview took place with Brendan.

"We had a great conversation," Brendan said. "He's a really nice guy. I did not think I was going to get interviewed by them, let alone have it be serious. I thought they were going to walk in, make a few jokes and I was going to leave, but I have nothing but good things to say about their organization. They were extremely professional and they barely brought it up. I tried to joke about it and they weren't even budging.

"I have no problem playing in Detroit after that interview, for sure."

Note to the NHL Officials, Cross-Checking is a Penalty

#becauseitsthecup ... Even thought it's the playoffs, cross-checking your opponent in the head is still a penalty, right? It should be. This should be called, this is a dirty hit and should be a five-minute major in my opinion. Thoughts?

Let me clear, I am not a dove by any stretch of the imagination, and this is coming from a guy that has the nickname Goon, but this could be classified a deliberate attempt to injure your opponent. This is why the NHL players are suffering from concussions in high numbers.

(Video) Nick Holden's controversial goal - Game 7 Wild vs. AV's

This goal by the Colorado Avalanche's Nick Holden shouldn't have counted. Minnesota Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper is clearly interfered with.

Again, incidental contact (inhibiting a goalie from making a save) is not reviewable. It's a ref's judgment
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) May 1, 2014

Hey it's only the season on the line. No reason at all to have video review on an interference play like that! Makes total sense #brutal
— Strombone (@strombone1) May 1, 2014

(Video) Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche end of game scrum

Feisty end to a very good game between the Wild and Avalanche.

20:00 MIN Clayton Stoner Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Patrick Bordeleau
20:00 COL Patrick Bordeleau Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Clayton Stoner
20:00 COL Cody McLeod Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Nate Prosser
20:00 MIN Nate Prosser Misconduct (10 min) - 10 min against Cody McLeod

Wild score their empty net goal to go up 4-2, Yeo with a fist pump http://t.co/T3u8QOBCWK
— Steph (@myregularface) April 29, 2014

(Video) Avalanche forward Paul Stastny cup checks Wild forward Cody McCormick

Another day, another cup check. This time, Colorado Avalanche forward Paul Stastny cup checks Minnesota Wild forward Cody McCormick.

Stastny gets his first slashing penalty of the series; It was his 25th slash, but first to the box. Wild PP
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) April 29, 2014

(Video) NHL Hockey: Where's the obstruction? Av's game tying goal offsides

This officiating crew for the NHL should be fired. This is absolutely a travesty. The Av's are also offsides on the game tying goal as well. You can see by the video that Paul Stasny was offside as well.

Much better look- RT @johncanref: Why we teach linesmen to work the line! This call needs to be made inside the line. pic.twitter.com/aZA6XQLQgH
— Chris Long (@jclong) April 27, 2014

Irony: tomorrow's #mnwild #avs notebook, I quote Roy saying it's time for coach's challenges b/c of the bogus Parenteau offside in Game 2
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) April 27, 2014

@jthock @CharlieMpls @adater @jclong incorrect, skate must be in contact prior to puck crossing.
— John Moulton (@johncanref) April 27, 2014

Wild Dominate Avs, Tie Series

In another must win for the Minnesota Wild tonight, they came out of the gates guns a blazing, physically, and skillfully dominating the Colorado Avalanche in every aspect of the game. Not giving Colorado many scoring chances, and keeping the threat of rookie sensation Nathan MacKinnon at a stand still, the record playoff crowd at the Xcel Energy Center would go home loud and proud as the series would be tied up at two games a piece.

As I said already, the Wild came out of the gates on a mission tonight, and would strike first off of a Jared Spurgeon blast from the high slot and the Wild would be up 1-0 early in the first. Also as expected, the Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund line was on fire once again tonight as well, and Parise and Granny would both earn themselves apples on this first goal. Minnesota would go into the locker room up 1-0 and out shooting the Avs 14-3 in the period dominated by the home team. If it wasn't for that first Avalanche power play opportunity, they probably would have skated off the ice with just one lousy shot on goal.

The second and third periods were the same story as the first was, Wild domination. With the team playing physical, and strong on the puck, they were seeing a lot of puck possession time in all three zones, which brought them success for much of the season. This is how coach Mike Yeo wanted his team to play all season, and are finding that the method to his madness is granting them their playoff success..

Minnesota would also cash in on their first power play opportunity off of the stick of Charlie Coyle. Jason Pominville would take the initial shot which would deflect off of the glass behind the net and Charlie Coyle would just have to slide it into a wide open net. However, like in almost every other game in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, two goal leads were not safe. Just 30 seconds later, Ryan O'Reilly would put one through Darcy Kuemper's five hole in a shot he would likely want back. This would conclude the scoring for the game, even though Minnesota could have had five or six goals if it wasn't for Varlamov.

Another story line for this series so far has to be Matt Moulson for the Minnesota Wild. The guy can't seem to catch a break or a bounce in the first four games in this series. He has been snake bitten by posts, missed shots, robbery saves, and blocked shots. One can only wonder when Moulson will find the back of the net, and when/if he does, the flood gates will open for him.

Darcy Kuemper has been lights out since coming in relief in game two for Bryzgalov. In just over 150 minutes played in these playoffs, he has surrendered just one goal. However, it is easier to do this when the team around you isn't allowing pucks to get to the net, but none the less, Kuemper is the backbone of this team and will take them far if he keeps playing lights out like this.

Going into Colorado on Saturday night, the series is in the hands of the Minnesota Wild. I believe that if Minnesota is able to sneak out a road victory in game five, the series will be over in game six when the Wild return home. However, if the home team winning trend continues, we will see seven games. I'm excited to see how this series will turn out, and I'm sure both fan bases are too.

(Video) End of the Minnesota Wild game against the Colorado Avalanche

What a fantastic finish to an exciting game. Wild forwards Erik Haula and Mikael Granlund were huge in the final seconds of the game. The Minnesota Wild limited the high flying Av's to 12 shots on goal.

One assist, 3 drawn penalties, 3 ginormous blocked shots down 4-on-6 for Granlund
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) April 25, 2014

Matt Cooke suspended 7 games by the NHL

Wild forward Matt Cooke has been suspended for kneeing Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie. Video: http://t.co/FmOyHriqkT
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 24, 2014

This is about the length of suspension that I thought he would get. Matt Cooke's history was taken into consideration, and as the video said, he has been suspended or fined by the NHL nine previous times. Now, we can only hope that the Cookie Monster has "finally" gotten the message and will not have any more of these moronic brain farts.

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NHL Dishes 7 Games for Cooke

After a long day of waiting to hear how the in person meeting went for Matt Cooke today, we now know that he will be out for the next seven games for his knee on knee hit on Avalanche player Tyson Barrie.

Cooke, a player who not many NHL fans like, has had a suspension history that if it were all written down on paper could write a 500 page book. However, he has cut his penalty minutes per game nearly in half over the past couple of seasons, and is attempting to clean up his game.

I think Cooke should have gotten at least 10 games for his knee on knee hit on Barrie. He lead with his knee, I don't care what you say on the speed of the game, still no excuse for leading with the knee, and the defenseless Barrie didn't even see him coming.

Plays like this one have no place in the game of hockey and players who do this deserve to be suspended for their actions. I just hope the NHL fan base doesn't give the Minnesota Wild a bad name now because of this one player. This does not represent the organization, or the rest of the players on the roster.