Lightning upset with this penalty call...

This was the penalty that led to the Boston Bruins power play that Boston Bruins forward Mark Recchi scored on. The Tampa Bay Lightning took issue with this call that cost them the game.

TBO.COM ---Don VanMassenhoven, the referee at the trailing end of the play, put his arm up and called boarding on Stamkos, giving Boston a man advantage with under two minutes to play.

"Not a penalty, a shoulder on shoulder hit,'' Boucher said. "I've watched it 10, 12 times and I still can't get myself to see what others saw. … This is a game I firmly believe should have went to overtime. It's just very, very difficult to swallow for everybody, everybody. I'm not going to point my finger at my players for this one. They battled hard enough to win this game. It was not decided on something I could control.''

To make matters a bit worse, Adam Hall got picked at the Tampa Bay blue line by Michael Ryder as the Bruins entered the zone, preventing Hall from getting to Dennis Seidenberg and putting pressure on the puck at the right point. One pass later, Recchi found open space at the top of the slot for the winning goal.

I guess I can see why the on ice official called a penalty on the play; we have seen players in college hockey get thrown out of the game for the same hit. As a player you really have to be careful when you hit someone into the end boards, especially with the number of injuries that have happened recently. You run the risk of getting thrown out of the game or have a penalty called on you if a player has his back turned. In this case I think it's a grey area, it was close to being a shoulder to shoulder hit. The Bruins players thought it was a questionable hit...

The IIHF throws the book at Slovakia hack’s Martin Marincin and Peter Hrasko

I applaud the IIHF for throwing the book at the two Slovaks and giving Martin Marincin three additional games and Peter Hrasko two additional games for their bush league hits during their game with team USA…

BUFFALO – Dan Marouelli, the IIHF`s appointed Disciplinary Single Judge, handed out suspensions totalling six additional games to three players for flagrant violations in games played yesterday.

The Slovakia-United States game produced five of those games to two Slovaks, the heaviest suspension going to Martin Marincin (three games). Peter Hrasko received two additional games while Canada's Zack Kassian got one extra game.

The IIHF has very specific rules regarding dangerous hits. These are not limited just to the head but to the neck area as well, which is defined by that part of the body above the collarbone and shoulder pads (i.e., unprotected areas).

All players were automatically given one-game suspensions for their match penalties for a hit to the head and neck area. Here are the details for each violation.

Slovakia’s Martin Marincin was assessed a further three-game suspension (four games in total) by the IIHF for his hit to the head and neck area on American forward Jason Zucker with 7:51 left in the third period of the United States-Slovakia game on December 28.

In making his assessment, Marouelli analyzed the play on DVD. As well, he received a verbal report from the IIHF’s medical staff and discussed the play with the referee supervisor and the chairman of the championship.

Some of the criteria used to make this decision included the distance travelled by Marincin to deliver the hit. In Marouelli’s opinion, this was a premeditated act as the puck had long left the vicinity of the play. Marincin took advantage of a defenceless and unsuspecting opponent and deliberately targeted the head and neck area, resulting in an injury to Zucker.

Slovakia’s Peter Hrasko was assessed a further two-game suspension (three games in total) by the IIHF for his hit to the head and neck area on American forward Jerry D’Amigo.

In making his assessment, Marouelli analyzed the play on DVD. As well, he received a verbal report from the IIHF’s medical staff and discussed the play with the referee supervisor and the chairman of the championship.

Hrasko deliberately targeted the head of the American player, using his elbow and upper arm to deliver the blow and causing D’Amigo to be thrown violently into the boards. As a result, D’Amigo struck his head against the glass, sustaining an injury... [Read the Rest of the article]

In reviewing the video its safe to conclude that Dan Marouelli, of the IIHF`s made the right decision in severely punishing the offending Slovak players. From the drop of the puck you could tell that the Slovaks were going to play a dirty game and were out to get their pound of flesh.

Can SCSU finally beat Miami?

Tomorrow the Miami Redhawks will play the SCSU Huskies again for a third time this season tomorrow in the Championship game of the Florida College Classic. Miami has had SCSU's number as of late going 0-4-1 against them since 2007. Actually, Miami has been dominant against the WCHA since 2005 and the only team to have a winning record against Miami from the WCHA is the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux which is 1-0-1, DU is 0-2, SCSU is 0-4-1 and UMD is 0-1-0 that is a combined 7-1-1 against the WCHA. I would say that this is a statement game for the Huskies tomorrow night...

October 8th 2005 UND 3 Miami 0
October 6th 2006 Miami 5 DU 2
December 27, 2007 Miami 2 SCSU 1 O.T.
March 27, 2009 Miami 4 DU 2
March 28, 2009 Miami 2 UMD 1
October 09, 2009 Miami 3 SCSU 2 O.T.
October 10, 2009 Miami 2 SCSU 0
November 28, 2009 UND 5 Miami 5 O.T.
October 15, 2010 Miami 6 SCSU 3
October 16, 2010 Miami 1 SCSU 1 O.T.
[Goon's World]

Another example of Slovakian Thuggery.

s/t to Bruce Ciskie here is the hit of Slovakia player Peter Hrasko as he smoked Jerry D'Amigo of team USA with a dirty elbow, notice taht Hrasko leaves his feet to hit D'Amingo in the head... Maybe this guy should get an extra game as well.

Were the Slovaks looking for revenge?

In reading the awesome WJC blog United States of Hockey, Chris Peters speculates that maybe the Slovaks were seeking revenge on USA Forward Jason Zucker for his hit on Martin Stajnoch during the 2010 WJC... In looking at the video of Zucker hit on Stajnoch it appears to be a legal shoulder to shoulder hit, so maybe the Slovaks need to learn how to take a hit and play with in the confines of the rules.

The United States of Hockey --- As a side note, you may recall this hit delivered by Zucker at last year’s World Junior Championship. The U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team played Slovakia’s under-18 squad in an exhibition prior to last year’s IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Belarus. During that game, it was noticeable that the Slovakian players were out to get Zucker. One of my fellow Team USA staffers quipped, at the time, that the extra attention was perhaps retaliation for the hit at the WJC. Maybe it was, I can’t be certain. However, Martin Marincin delivered a deliberate knee-on-knee hit to Zucker that earned Marincin a major penalty and game misconduct (Here’s that game’s box score). So yeah, there’s a history.

There is one thing about hockey if the score is out of hand you can expect the game to get rough, even in international play. I guess if you can't beat the opposition on the score board you start taking liberties against the opposition, last night the USA outshot the Slovaks 22-1 in the first period, so maybe the Slovaks should concentrate on getting pucks on net and playing instead of trying to injury other players. What a bunch of classless hack and they are a disgrace to the game of hockey…

Slovak Hack Martin Marincin's dirty hit on Team USA's Jason Zucker

I dare someone to defend the play of Slovak defenseman Martin Marincin... There is no excuse for this kind of play in the WJC or in level of hockey. Personally, I thought that the Slovak WJC team played very dirty hockey from the drop of the first puck till the end of the game the Slovak defenseman Martin Marincin should be suspended for the rest of the tourney for this bush league hit. The Slovak hockey team is lucky that fighting isn't allowed in the WJC.

Potential vs. Current Development, a RW77 Rant

Ok, I am feeling rantish today and I'm in need of some enlightenment from the reader base.

On and on throughout my online fandom, I've read post after post about fans expectations of collegiate players based upon draft status and position. I find this extremely laughable.

Here's my rant:

Draft position, or even the fact they were drafted, is only marginally relevant to the college game. It's not even all that relevant towards junior player-rostered international competition. Why?

The NHL is always trying to draft for "now" talent, but it's not all that often that there are those sitting around beyond, say, the top 5 picks overall, and that's not always the case even so. Those who are good enough for the NHL when they are drafted are usually signed by the NHL right away. There are exceptions, sure, but for the most part, they are drafted based upon potential... or what they're predicted to develop into.

With this in mind, it's amazing on how people can base whether or not a player has done well or is living up to expectations based upon when they were drafted. If they weren't drafted at all, then there is no such expectation. Talk about hypocrisy.

The most recent example is the fact that Finland hung in there with the US WJC team despite the US having more draft picks on the team. What does that have to do with anything?

Sure, the American players have a higher potential towards professional play according to NHL Scouts, but that's hardly what's being graded at the WJC. Remember, Herb Brooks had the option to put even "better" players on his 1980 Olympic team than he did, but he did not. Craig, the goaltender, IIRC, wasn't the best goaltender available to Brooks at the time. BTW, Craig didn't have an altogether stellar pro career either.

Why is draft stock held in so much higher regard towards expectation than the players' current level of development?

I'm reminded of the former Wild GM Risebrough (sp?) who talked about the potential of his team being the key to his system. Yet, year after year, the Wild sucked. Why? Because potential relates directly to the future... a future that isn't guaranteed, just predicted. Teams that want to win NOW sign players who are able to produce NOW. Much like why the Red Wings are so successful as of late. Yeah, they are older than the sky but their potential has been realized and Babcock can better assigned them into roles within the team that should bring the most success.

College Hockey deals almost exclusively in players who have not yet reached their potential. In fact, if they did before they reached DI, they're typically on the watch for being busts... (See Mike Fink, Sioux fans). Yet, if an NCAA player is drafted, especially if it is in the first round, they are expected to be absolute monsters right away. If they're not, or play differently than the expectations the fans build on them, they're usually criticized, more often or not, unfairly so.

It's one of the main challenges of being college fans. We want our players to play fantastic, win it all, etc. We bang our heads against the wall when the NHL takes notice and signs them early. But if the player takes a normal developmental curve, they're open for criticism for not being as good as a player who bolted early.

So what is it? Allow the players to play their game at the current developmental rate and criticize them according to their play or let draft status cloud our judgment and grade them according to what they should be X years down the road today?

It seems rather harsh to me.

T.J. Oshie to return in late January?

The St Louis Blues got some encouraging news, it appears that former Fighting Sioux forward T.J. Oshie might be eying a possible return at the end of January, that would be good news for the Blues. T.J. Oshie was hurt November 10th during a scrum in the third period of a game where the Blues were down 8-1 in the game, Oshie lost his balance and fell backwards with his ankle pinned under his weight breaking his ankle.

NHL Hockey --- Blues forward T.J. Oshie could return to the lineup as early as late January, according to Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong.

Armstrong made the announcement to members of the media on Tuesday after the team's gameday skate.

"Oshie is doing very well. He's been out skating the last week or so I'd say and he's progressing very well," Armstrong said. "With his work ethic and his healing and the way he's been, we're comfortable that (his return) somewhere around the All-Star break is a realistic goal for us."

Oshie was injured in the Nov. 10 game vs. Columbus and was originally projected to be out of the lineup until at least mid-February with a broken ankle. But Armstrong said an early return is possible thanks to Oshie's positive attitude off the ice.

Is Chris Osgood worthy of the Hall of Fame?

I think the table has been set for the discussion that is about to follow. Chris Osgood is 10th all time in wins, most of the people above him on the list are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lets break it down further - (3) Thee Stanley Cups 1997, 1998, 2008, (400) four hundred wins, Osgood has played in 742 NHL game has a .905 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average, in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Osgood has played in 129 games .916 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.09. Just for comparison sake Grant Fuhr played in 868 games had a not so impressive 3.38 goals against average and .887 save percentage and he was inducted into the hall of game in 2003. In my opinion it kind of sounds like Osgood had a NHL Hall of Fame career to me...

1 MARTIN BRODEUR 607
2 Patrick Roy 551
3 Ed Belfour 484
4 Curtis Joseph 454
5 Terry Sawchuk 447
6 Jacques Plante 437
7 Tony Esposito 423
8 Glenn Hall 407
9 Grant Fuhr 403
10 CHRIS OSGOOD 400
[ESPN]

Maybe it's not so easy, Colorado Avalanche - Claude Lemieux

Cal Clutterbuck made quite the impression this past week (December 23rd 2010) when the Wild faced and beat the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. Apparently, Cal Clutterbuck rattled the Colorado Avalanche so much that their Denver Post beat writer went off on a Cal Clutterbuck diatribe in a fashion that would mirror a fan blog type rant, minus the profanity, fine for fan blog but it does seem out of character for beat writers of a major news paper. Here is what Adrian Dater had to say about the NHL's hit leader.

All THINGS AVS ---- Clutterbuck is who he is. A hit-and-run artist. A trash talker. A guy who has no problem catching you with a big hit, as long as your back is turned or you have no time to react from the front. If you want to get him back, he’s going to cover up, play possum, and hope you draw a penalty. And a lot of his defenders point out that he leads the league in hits every year, but also has low penalty minutes – which kind of makes my point. He’s trying to artificially jack up his hit total, but doesn’t want to back anything up with a fight or two.

Like I said, he’s good at it. But it still doesn’t change that ultimate truth about Cal Clutterbuck: that he doesn’t stand up for himself, that he wants to hit and run and cower. Teammates hate those kinds of guys, because it means their guys are going to be targeted right back since he won’t fight his own battles. These teams will meet again soon, and we’ll see if Cal is clucking as loudly that night.

Personally, I find it funny because the Avalanche don’t have the moral high ground in this situation. One could say that the Av's fans have short memories eh? Rewind to 1996 when the Colorado Avalanche employed one of the most disgusting players to ever wear a uniform in the NHL, that pukes/hacks name was Claude Lemieux. On May During the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs Lemieux hit Chris Drapper face first into the dasher causing him to suffer a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheekbone, and a concussion… I don’t remember an incident where Cal Clutterbuck has committed an act of aggression like that in the NHL… To top it all off, for the Av’s fans that have short memories, Claude the Fraud never apologized for his transgression against Chris Draper. Yeah, that’s something I would be proud of if I was an Avalanche fan. So don’t come pointing your finger at the Wild and their players because your franchise had one dirtiest, disgusting players to ever put on a uniform.

First example;Claude Lemieux turtles as Redwings tough guy Darren McCarty delivers a beat-down… [click to view video]

Second example; after delivering a bush league high stick to Cam Neely Claude the Fraude turtles again... [click to view video]

Lucic 'happy' he didn't warrant a suspension

For those that said the Meyer hit on Milan Lucic wasn’t high or dirty think again. The NHL disciplinarian Mike Murphy thought otherwise and decided not to suspend Milan Lucic for his punch on Freddy Meyer. The rematch in Atlanta on Thursday night should could (since no one attends Thrasher games) be a barn burner as the Bruins and Thrasher are starting to become a bit of a rivalry. Here is the box score to the game in question. [Box Score] Check out what Joe Haggerty had to say about the matter.

SUNRISE, FL. – Milan Lucic called the Sunday disciplinary call with NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy a “slap on the wrist” while talking about it following Monday’s morning skate at Bank Atlantic Center.

Lucic said he was ecstatic about avoiding a suspension.

The Bruins’ top left winger was slapped with a match penalty in the middle of the line brawl in the third period of win over the Thrashers, and some assumed he’d end up with a one-game suspension after the incident.

Instead, Murphy and the NHL took into account the dangerous nature of Meyer’s hit that precipitated the entire chain of events -- and Lucic’s contrition after the fact certainly didn’t hurt his cause.

“That’s basically what it was: a slap on the wrist,” said Lucic. “They made it clear it’s something that shouldn’t be a part of the game, and I feel the same way. Looking back on it it’s something I shouldn’t have done, but sometimes you do things that you don’t mean to do once you get your adrenaline going.

“I’m just happy it wasn’t a game suspension and I’ll take the fine. We were looking back at some previous sucker punches and mine was more of a straight jab. I didn’t cock my hand back or anything like that. You can look at the Scott Walker/Aaron Ward incident where he brought his hand fully back for a haymaker where mine was a jab.”

The big power forward admitted wrongdoing while talking about the punch thrown to Freddy Meyer’s head, and the middle finger he “accidentally” extended out at the Atlanta bench as he was escorted off the ice.

Lucic was fined a total of $3500 by the NHL for both the punch and the obscene hand gesture, and chalked it up to a matter of basically seeing red.

“I didn’t feel anything on kind of hit to my chest. That was straight to the head area,” said Lucic. “He’s a lot shorter than me and he did leave his feet.

“I took it right on the head and the chin, and that’s why we reacted as a group. It was great to see that all of the guys had my back. We all had each other’s back on the ice. It’s a great feeling to know the other guys have your back no matter what the situation.”

Freddy Meyer came in high with a hit on Lucic in the third period that the refs deemed an “elbowing” penalty, and the 22-year-old said Meyer’s hit was very reminiscent of a Bryan Berard hit during his rookie season that knocked Lucic out for five games with a concussion.

With his mouth bleeding and his anger stirred, Lucic went at Meyer after he was tackled by Andrew Ference – and eventually found him with a right-handed jab that decked the surprised Meyer after refs had begun regaining order in the scrum. Lucic said he’d be ready if the Thrashers come looking for revenge against him when the Bruins travel to Atlanta on Wednesday night.

WCHA shines in USA WJC win...

What an exciting game; or what I saw of it because the feed from the broadcast was substandard, I guess I would expect more from the NHL network. None the less, the opening game for the USA WJC turned out to be a great night for WCHA players; the Bulldogs’ freshman defenseman Justin Faulk got the first goal for team USA that was followed up by Denver University forward and Wild Draft choice Jason Zucker, he got the second USA goal and the game winner in overtime by Minnesota forward Nick Bjugstad…

Team USA got some bad news as Jeremy Morin might be done for the WJC because of an injury, if true that is bad news for the Americans.

Sources say Team USA winger Jeremy Morin, on loan from the Chicago Blackhawks' AHL farm team in Rockford, apparently suffered a shoulder injury that could be significant.[TSN.CA]

Video link for the Canada and Russia WJC game [click for link]

Phaneuf versus Kovalchuk

I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that this isn’t a very good fight between Dion Phaneuf and Ilya Kovalchuk I think the biggest statement is the fact that no one from the New Jersey Devils comes to the aid of the Devils super star.

Ilya Kovalchuk who signed in the offseason for 100,000,000.00 has had a tough go of it in 34 games he has (8g-10a-18pts) and is an unimpressive -26 maybe the New Jersey Devils should ask from some of their money back.

After Knocking Out Matt Cooke, Evander Kane Says Milan Lucic Texted Him

I came across this article on the NESN site. I would have also liked to have thanked Evander Kane for knocking out that gutless puke/POS Matt Cooke, heck I would have bought him a steak dinner. Evander Kane did the hockey world a favor...

BOSTON -- Most opposing players come into the Garden expecting to be treated like the enemy.

But Atlanta forward Evander Kane might just be the exception to that rule as far as Bruins fans are concerned.

The Garden faithful certainly don't want to see Kane lighting up the scoreboard when the Thrashers take on Boston on Thursday night, but Kane should get a warm reception regardless of what he does.

That's because last year, Kane did what most Bruins fans wanted to see one of their own players do, when he delivered a devastating knockout punch to Pittsburgh cheap-shot artist Matt Cooke. Kane administered the beatdown on April 10, just over a month after Cooke knocked out Marc Savard with a blind-side head shot on March 7.

Thursday will be Kane's first game in Boston since that fight, but he's already heard from some of the Bruins. They certainly appreciated what he did to Cooke, even though it wasn't actually his intention to avenge the cheap shot on Savard.

"I know when it happened, I got a couple phone calls from the guys," Kane said after Thursday's morning skate. "I know it got a lot of buzz throughout the league. It just so happened to be Matt Cooke, who did that to Marc Savard earlier on in the year. I wasn't really looking for payback for that. It was more for myself and for my team, but I guess it worked out."

Kane's KO of Cooke was especially gratifying for Savard's longtime linemate Milan Lucic.

Looch will not be suspended for pounding Freddy Meyer...

Boston Bruins got some good post Christmas news today as they found out that the Bruins tough guy Milan Lucic will not be suspended for punching former BU Terrier Freddy Meyer... Watching the video you will see that Lucic while being tied up by a linesman punched Freddy Meyer who was also tied up by a linesman. Lucic was given a match penalty for the punch to the side of Meyers head. In my opinion I believe it was the right call and no other discipline was warranted at this time…

WILMINGTON -- Bruins coach Claude Julien said general manager Peter Chiarelli told him after practice at Ristuccia Arena that forward Milan Lucic would not be suspended for his actions in Thursday's 4-1 Bruin victory over the Thrashers at TD Garden. Lucic received a game misconduct and a match penalty after a fight with Atlanta's Freddy Meyer (a BU grad). Lucic is expected to comment tomorrow.

Chiarelli then issued a statement: “The NHL has informed us that Milan will not be suspended as a result of the match penalty assessed to him during our game against the Thrashers last Thursday. He will be fined $2,500 for the punch thrown in the scrum and $1,000 for making an obscene gesture directed at the Thrashers bench. He will join the team on the flight to Florida and be available for Monday’s game against the Panthers.”

That makes the line juggling much easier for Julien, as the Bruins head to Florida to start a five-game road trip. "For me, all I need to know is he wasn't suspended,'' said Julien.
"It's great to see he's going to be in our lineup tomorrow night.''

Merry Christmas from Goon's World... (Gift included)

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year... Go Fighting Sioux..
So for Christmas I have a gift for everyone. I uploaded the interview Scott Williams did with the WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod during the historic BSU and UND series; unfortunately for some reason I could only down load the interview in 36 second increments, so there will be four parts... Enjoy...

Part one Scott Williams interview of Bruce McLeod [Click to view]

Part two Scott Williams interview of Bruce McLeod [Click to view]

Part three Scott Williams interview of Bruce McLeod [Click to view]

Part four Scott Williams interview of Bruce McLeod [Click to view]

Permission was granted by Lakeland Public Television and BSU Hockey 

Cal Clutterbuck: It’s just too easy

Surfing the net this morning; I found this blog post from the Denver Post Avalanche beat writer to be remotely entertaining, it’s worth a look. Recently, I have had this on going discussion with a friend of mine in the hockey media about fan bloggers and how some of them let emotions drive their blog posts, I am probably a little guilty of that… Fast forward to this gem, this is a blog post from a beat writer for a national newspaper that writes for an NHL hockey team… This is my text book definition definition of blatant homerism. This is like Michael Russo writing Av’s goon David Koci (114 games 2-1-3, 388 pims) is a untalented hack that can barely skate, lucky to be in the NHL and basically a punching bag…

All things Avs --- There are some players I just have to laugh at in this game, though, and Cal Clutterbuck is one of them. Nothing against the guy at all. He’s good at what he does, which is drive you crazy with the game of “I hit you first, then try to draw the penalty with your retaliation hit against me.” These guys have been in hockey for time immemorial.

That’s fine, I respect that. It’s a game. You have to play every angle, and if being the agitator who gets the opposition to lose their minds and, hence, the game is what you need to do to succeed, then by all means do it, especially if you’ll be paid a million dollars for it.

But, and part of me hates saying this in a way, because I really don’t care either way. But, Cal Clutterbuck is a cowardly hockey player. He’s Bill Laimbeer on skates, folks.

Again, if it works for you and you have success being that type of player, then you’ll actually get grudging respect from me. Anything that makes you a winner, we can all admire that in the end.

But Clutterbuck is a coward. I mean, come on, did the Wild forward really talk a lot of smack about the Avalanche tonight, after a December 3-1 victory? Really, he did?

In fact, he did. Here’s what was in the estimable blog tonight of Michael Russo, the ace reporter of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and one of my better friends among the hockey writer zeitgeist.

Clutterbuck clucked: ““There’s some guys over there, two guys in particular, I’m shocked they’re still even playing in the league. If they’re going to take a penalty, take a penalty.

“We’re on the road, we’ll take a power play any day of the week. If they want to flaunt their egos, they want to show how tough they are, well, guess what, we’re going to beat you, and we’re coming for them in the standings.”

Let’s just establish a couple of islands or irony first, before we move on. Clutterbuck talking smack after a 3-1 win over an injury-ravaged team in December, is bathed in irony considering his team hasn’t made the playoffs for two straight seasons.

Cal Clutterbuck is an aggressive player that likes to hit, Cal is far from being Bill Laimbeer of the NHL… Bill Laimbeer was a diver and a hack Clutterbuck is not. Clutterbuck has played three season in the NHL and has a grand total of 150 minutes in penalties, each season his penalty minutes have declined as well, this season Clutterbuck has gooned it up so bad that he has a grand total of 22 penalties minutes.

Bruins line brawl... Lucic has hearing on Sunday

Wow what a game! Shawn Thornton and Eric Boulton started the game by dropping the gloves and fighting. I think this could turn into a pretty good rivalry.

This is my definition of a good old fashioned line brawl or Donny Brook and what a marvelous way to end a hockey game. I think that Milan Lucic reacted in the right manner the Trasher's Freddy Meyer hit Milan Lucic up high with a questionable hit to the head and kudos to the Boston Bruins for sticking up for their teammate. The league will review this play and possibly give Lucic a couple game suspension, in this situation I think this dirty hit had to be answered for so I think the consequences of the reaction to the hit are worth it…

It's nice to know if someone cheap shots one of the Boston Bruins that a teammate is going to have their back. Meyer will think twice about hitting Lucic or another Bruins like that again.

Boston Globe --- Last night in the third period, Andrew Ference was a step behind Milan Lucic when the left wing got popped under the chin by Freddy Meyer. Naturally, with one of the best views in TD Garden of the play, Ference’s first reaction was to shed his gloves, grab Meyer, and let the Atlanta defenseman know such hits would not be tolerated.

“It was a high hit. Without a doubt,’’ said Ference. “Looch is going down the boards. I was following right behind him, so I had a really good view of it. The guy just put his stick and his hands right in Looch’s head. It’s a high hit. No question about it.’’

If you hit someone in the head like Meyer did you're going to get this type of a reaction. This is how the Boston Bruins needed to respond to the Freddy Meyer hit. Edit: Milan Lucic will have a disciplinary hearing with the NHL on Boxing Day (Sunday) to see if he will receive any punishment for his beat down on Meyer.

One thing that did concern me from this scrum was Marc Savard getting into a fight, that’s one thing the Boston Bruins do not need, one of their top forwards who’s had concussion problems squaring off in a fight. In my opinion it was an ill advised move on Savard’s part. Thank God he wasn’t hurt…

Festivus - Airing of grievances...

This was one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes. I thought I would give hockey fans a chance "Airing of Grievances" and "Feats of Strength," and the labeling of easily explainable events as "Festivus miracles"....

Today I decided I would air a few of my personal grievances; 1.) is the poor quality of the officiating in the WCHA. 2.) the college hockey pollsters for picking teams number one that have no business being number one. 3.) the "mask" in college hockey time to go to the half shield. 4.) time to use the KRACH instead of the PWR to pick the teams for the NCAA tourney.

Go ahead and tell us a few of your grievances.

Lucia Article (by LGM)

The Star Tribune ran an article about Don Lucia and his struggles with health issues and the hockey team. Click HERE to read it.

I found it to be an interesting read. I'll be the first to fully admit that I have a huge bias against Don Lucia ever since he publicly stood up for Brian Shack and his actions towards Channing Boe a couple of seasons ago. You'll all remember that Shack came charging from across the ice to tackle Boe and didn't stop beating his head into the ice until he broke Boe's leg and had to be pulled off.

It is no secret that LGM is a big Channing Boe fan, thus these actions made me livid. Then to have Lucia stick up for Shack's antics several times made me lose all respect for the guy.

So, onto this article. After the above stated bias I will state my position. I think Lucia participated in this article as a last ditch effort to keep his job and have people feel sorry for him. Lots of excuses seem to go on in the article. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for what he's gone through but he should have taken a medical leave if he was so rageful for so long. Also, if he wasn't in the position to do so why didn't the UofM step in and have him take a leave? Really, they allow someone to be a "madman" (as he described himself) and just lets the assistant coach make excuses to players and other professionals? Total BS if you ask me. The U needed to grow a pair and put him on leave. Now they can live with their decision.

Yep, I know I'm going to get some mean comments on my position but that's fine. To each their own. I do hope the best for recovery for Lucia and he has gone through some horrible things...but there's also the aspect of professionalism, which I think both he and the U have lacked for years.