Montreal Canadiens Alexei Emelin Hits Jason Spezza (Video)

I am sure that Montreal Canadiens fans are very quiet tonight after watching this transpire.
I am not a fan of Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin, can't stand the kind of player that he is.

That being said, I am not necessarily suggesting the league suspend the Habs defenseman, but I just want to illustrate that he's not a clean player. This is a dangerous hit that need to be punished more severely. I do like that fact that the officials gave him a five-minute major. I believe it was the right call in this situation.

It will be interesting to see if the league give him anything especially after he was fined in November by the NHL's Department of Players Safety.

Time for the NHL to Embarass the Divers

#57060815 / gettyimages.com

s/t Pro hockey talk... I really like the idea of exposing and publically humiliating the divers in the NHL. I am all in on that idea. In fact, let's have a wall of shame and expose the frauds weekly that cheapen the game of hockey.


I have a great idea. Let's have an end of the season dishonor award for the frauds that get caught diving and embellishing the most. I would suppose the players union won't let this happen, but if you don't want to get called out and publically humiliated, stop flopping and diving all over the ice. It's really that simple.

Dan Rosen - NHL.com -- The players in the session, including Ottawa Senators center Jason Spezza, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa and Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman John-Michael Liles, led an impassioned discussion on enforcing the diving/embellishment rule (Rule 64.1), [Colin] Campbell told NHL.com. He said the players want to distribute a list of divers around the League so it can be posted in all 30 dressing rooms and be delivered to the on-ice officials.

“They want to get [the list] out there,” Campbell said. “They want the player to be caught, whether it’s on the ice by the referee or by us on video. They are all tired of diving. The object is to make them stop eventually and, by doing that, they can get it out there around the League, embarrass them. The referees will know it, too, so the divers don’t get the benefit of the doubt.”

According to Elliott Freedman of SportsNet.ca the NHL seems to be moving away from exposing the divers and frauds. Again, diving to draw a penalty is cheating and poor sportsmanship.

The first example the NHL showed in its diving video was Tomas Plekanec’s head-snap in the Eastern Conference Final. The league wasn’t so sure about publicly naming those warned or fined, but the players pressed for it. Montreal’s centre is going to be closely watched at the start of the season

Related articles

• Enforcing the NHL's New Diving Rule

Updated Uneventful Free Agency

Pretty light free agent action during the holiday weekend. In my opinion, this has been an uneventful free agency signing so far. Looking at the list, there's not a lot of attractive options out there. 

Buffalo Sabres no goal.

This is one of the plays that kind of made a stir tonight on the internet.... I think it's a blown call, but I guess if you read the explanation, it makes sense.

At 15:30of the second period in the Senators/Sabres game, the Situation Room initiated a video review because the puck entered the Ottawa net. The referee informed the Situation Room that he had a delayed hi-sticking penalty against Ottawa's Jason Spezza therefore the play was stopped as soon as any Ottawa player gained possession/control of the puck. According to Rule 15.1 "When the team to be penalized gains control of the puck, the Referee will blow his whistle to stop play and impose the penalty on the offending player." This is not a reviewable play therefore the referee's call on the ice stands. No goal Buffalo.

(Video) Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki With A Backhand Into His Own Net

In a move which could be classified as being unfortunate. Ottawa defenesman Mark Borowiecki backhands the puck into his own net. Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel was the last one to touch the puck so he ends up being the beneficiary and gets credit for the goal. That’s goal number one on the year for Roussel. And it gets even better; the game was also Borowiecki’s NHL debut. Also, the Borowiecki miscue broke a 2-2 tie in the third period. The Senators would battle back before losing in a shootout 4-3. as well.

NHL looks at Obstruction

I am sure that my buddy Redwing77 will give his spin later on this subject.

According to NHL.COM, the NHL is having a two day summit to discuss the NHL current standard of rule enforcement.

Translation, the National Hockey League is looking into whether there too much obstruction in the NHL right now, especially after they had players sounding off on the leagues officials during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The following people listed in the Paragraph below are part of the discussion.

If you need refreshing here are some examples about players being upset with the reffing during last season's NHL playoffs... [example one] and [exmaple two]

While they’re at it, I would like them to look at the diving and flailing about on the ice that some like to use to draw penalties.

Tim Campbell, Winnipeg Free Press --- Players present for the meeting were Mike Cammalleri of the Calgary Flames, Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators, Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, John-Michael Liles of the Toronto Maple Leafs, James Neal of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks.

The coaching roster included five NHL bench bosses -- Chicago's Joel Quenneville, Nashville's Barry Trotz, Phoenix's Dave Tippett, Boston's Claude Julien and Washington's Adam Oates -- as well as three active referees, Stephen Walkom, Brad Watson and Wes McCauley.

Also attending were five NHL GM's -- Pittsburgh's Ray Shero, Tampa Bay's Steve Yzerman, Buffalo's Darcy Regier, New Jersey's Lou Lamoriello and Vancouver's Mike Gillis.

After reading some of the tweets that Paul from Kuklas Korner posted on line it appears that the NHL is going to tighten up the calls if the NHL ever plays a game this season.

#NHL met today to discuss rules, namely obstruction. Looks like they’re going to tighten things up a bit for next season. — George Popalis (@SNGeorgePopalis) August 22, 2012

For fans that want to watch a more wide open game I think that this is really good news – I don’t know anyone that wants to watch the players hanging all over each other like groupies at a hockey party.

I also think that if the league cracks down on the obstruction they also need to crack down on the poor sports that like to embellish to draw penalties – you know the frauds like Ryan Kesslers (video evidence) and Alex Burrows (video evidence) that skate up and down the ice flailing around and snapping their heads back.

Lastly, It will be interesting to see if anything actually comes out of this or will they call it tight for a few months and go back to the horrible job of officiating we saw last spring during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Michalek kicks Girardi

This is the kick that everyone has been discussion on line today. If you watch the video you will see that Ottawa Senators forward Milan Michalek actually kicked NY Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi during the closing minute of the third period of game six. This Michalek kick happened during the scrum on the controversial Jason Spezza goal.

The Senators were unable to get the game tying goal and there is a good chanced that Henrik Lundquist is going to be fined by the NHL for bad mouthing the officials after Monday night's game.

"It's an absolute joke. Oh my God. It scares me," Lundqvist said in an emotional rant. "When it's such an obvious play, goalie interference and a kick, and they still call it a goal? It scares me that someone can call that. It's just unbelievable. It still upsets me, because we have this game, and then they get a chance. Someone wants them back in the game obviously, because there's no other explanation, I think." [Daily News]

The National Hockey League Department of Players Safety has decided not to discipline Michalek for his kick on Dan Girardi, but he was given a warning from the Shanahammer.

Jason Spezza's controversial goal - Rangers nation not happy

This is one of the reason that I love playoff hockey. There is so much going on in the game and the players take it up a notch from the regular season. Unfortunately, the right call isn't always made or is it?

Here is the controversial goal that was scored by Senators' forward Jason Spezza. It would appear from the video that Chris Neil going hard and crashing the net; did help the end result. Obviously the Rangers didn't like the call.

Fortunately for the Rangers, the Senators were unable to get the game tying goal in the closing minutes of  game six and held on to win the game 3-2. The Rangers and the Senators' will play game seven in New York (TBD).

This what the NHL officials had to say on the controversial goal.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was less than pleased with the Senators' second goal. “I just think it’s an absolute joke," Lundquist said. "I am going to freeze the puck, he pushes me out and kicks the puck. It scares me that they can call that a goal. Someone wanted them back in the game for sure. It upsets me but we played a really good game and deserved this one.”

Those comments could get Lundquist a fine from the NHL.

The Senators' tough guy Christ Neil has been was a big factor in this series and was named the third star of tonight's game, Neil scored a goal for the Senators and fought Brandon Prust at the 15:10 mark of the first period.
In game five Chris Neil nailed Brian Boyle with this monster hit [click to view] causing Boyle to miss tonight's game with an concussion.  The tide would turn for Neil as he would end up on the receiving end of a  hit by the Rangers Michael Del Zotto behind the Rangers net in the third period. Neil laid on the ice for a few second before he got up and skated to the Senators' bench.

Related articles

• Report: Chris Neil Won't Be Disciplined for Big Hit on Brian Boyle Despite John Tortorella's Displeasure (Video)
• Rangers' Boyle concussed after hit from Neil
• NHL Playoffs: Senators shut out Rangers to take 3-2 series lead
• Hagelin Back, Boyle Out For Rangers In Game 6; No Punishment For Neil?
• Senators blank Rangers, lead 3-2

Marc Staal hit on Jason Spezza

This is kind of an odd hit by the New York Rangers forward Marc Staal on Senators forward Jason Spezza during the second period of tonight's game. While the hit by Staal on Spezza doesn't seem real egregious or malicious, it's still a hit to the head that should have resulted in a two minute minor. Spezza would leave the game but return for the start of the third period. I personally don't see anything coming out of this hit.

Related articles

• With Alfredsson Likely Out, Senators Dig In (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Spezza looking forward to possible reunion with Alfredsson (cbc.ca)
• Senators looking for a playoff hero against Rangers (theglobeandmail.com)