Time to change Rule 48 now!!!

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWhen I heard about this change yesterday I was very excited, because I am afraid that someone is going to get killed on the ice if these hits are allowed to continue going forward. I think going forward; hits to the players head need to be taken out of NHL hockey. I believe that it’s time the Raffie Torres and Matt Cookes of the world change the way they play the game of hockey.

Before I get told that I am about taking hitting out of the game, I am not, I am all for playing hard nosed physical hockey. I also believe that you can play hard nosed hockey without head hunting. Also, I am all for two willing combatants dropping the gloves and settle things like men, they know the consequences for their actions. It’s also time for the NHL leadership to take these types of hits like the one on Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook out of the game of hockey. If the game of hockey doesn’t change you’re going to have a bunch of drooling ex-hockey players walking around.

BOSTON — National Hockey League general managers will never be accused of moving hastily on the topic of blows to the head, and the Aaron Rome-Nathan Horton incident in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final hasn’t set a stampede in motion, either.

But little by little, the GMs — who met Wednesday at a downtown Boston hotel — appear to be sidling toward an acknowledgment that most head hits need to be punishable, in some fashion.

The GMs have put forth a recommendation to expand Rule 48, which deals with illegal hits to the head, by removing the words “blindside” and perhaps “north-south” as well, and appear to want the rule to cover hits to the head of any vulnerable player, anywhere on the ice.

There can be no new rule until the competition committee, NHL Players Association and Board of Governors all sign off on it.

But as for clarity, not much of it emerged Wednesday

Kevin Bieksa is whining now…

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeVancouver Canucks Defenseman Kevin Bieksa was whining to the media yesterday about the big bad Bruins. After watching last night’s game it would appear that the Boston Bruins have gotten into the Vancouver Canucks head’s.

That’s not the only whining coming out of the Vancouver Canucks locker room… I suppose you can mark it down as a “oh no he didn’t” moment or foot in mouth disease. Apparently the Vancouver Canucks hockey team aren’t very happy with Versus hockey analyst and former Boston Bruins player/head coach Mike Milbury; during the second intermission of last night’s game; Mike Milbury referred to the Sedins twins as "Thelma and Louise." I say if the ballet shoe fits, wear it!!! In all seriousness during the Stanley Cup Finals the Sedin twins have been invisible on the score sheet; however, the Sedin twins have been notorious for their constant and blatant diving, whenever they are tapped by the Boston Bruins player.

Douglas Flynn; NESN --- NHL vice president Mike Murphy announced on Tuesday that "the garbage that is going on" had been addressed and further displays, such as players shoving their fingers in an opponent's face, will draw penalties.

While the Bruins appear to have taken Murphy's warning to heart about the excessive extracurricular activity in the series, the Canucks refuse to take any responsibility for the ugliness seen so far. According to Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa, they're just innocent victims being bullied by the big, bad Bruins.

"This group in here, we're fine with that," Bieksa said of the league's crackdown after Wednesday's morning skate before Game 4. "We know to stay away from it. Last game, yeah we were holding our ground, but I don't think you saw any scrums in front of our net. They were always in front of their net, their guys pushing and shoving after the whistle and flexing their muscles and proving how big and bad they are, but during the whistles we're the top-hitting team in the league so we're going to punish them during the whistles and we'll let them do that stuff after. The finger pointing and all that stuff, it's getting a little old really quick. When you're the sixth guy to do it, I don't think it's that funny anymore. We'll see if there's any more of that [in Game 4]."

So by Bieksa's logic, teammate Maxim Lapierre's initial taunt of Patrice Bergeron in Game 2 after Alex Burrows was not suspended for biting Bergeron in Game 1 was just fine. But Mark Recchi and Milan Lucic doing the same to Lapierre and Burrows, respectively, in Game 3 wasn't "funny anymore."

On that, at least, Bruins coach Claude Julien would agree. He was upset to see his players stoop to the Canucks' level and happy to hear that the league was cracking down on such antics going into Game 4.

"It's unfortunate," Julien said. "I was one of those guys that voiced my opinion that I wouldn't accept it. I certainly didn't share that with my team. Consequently, we were responsible for a couple of those. Obviously it was clear after the game what I expected from our guys. I'm certainly not a guy that encourages that kind of stuff

Tim Thomas goes Hextall on Alex Burrows...

Former NHL goalie Ron Hextall would be proud of  Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas... Before Canucks fans start howling how Tim Thomas is a goon and should be suspended for the next game, go back and watch the film, Vancouver Canucks hack forward Alex Burrows chopped the goal stick out of Tim Thomas' hand so he responded appropriately.

Related articles

• Video: Brad Marchand goes wild on Vancouver; Alex Burrows and Tim Thomas tussle (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Tim Thomas the aggressor? Vancouver hopes officials will let them stand their ground (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Much like Tim Thomas before him, Roberto Luongo will stay the course despite defeat (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)

Boston Bruins even the series

I thought it was funny when I saw Canucks fans saying that the Vancouver Canucks were going to beat the Bruins four games to nothing before the series had even moved to Boston. This Boston Bruins team has faced a lot of adversity this season and has proved they are not just going to roll over and let the Canucks beat them. For the people that think that the Bruins can't win this series they are delirious. Now the series is a best two out of three games.

The Boston Bruins proved to be a tough, miserable team to play against, the Bruins were mean and nasty as they out muscled the Canucks and beat them to ever puck, up and down the ice. The Bruins finished the last two game at the TD North Garden by putting a beat down on the Vancouver Canucks out scoring the Diving Vancouver Canucks 12-1 in two games. Roberto Luongo has been absolutely brutal during the last two games in Boston.

Five things to think about...

1.) What will the Canucks fans whine about tomorrow?
2.) Where was this Bruins team the first two games?
3.) Thomas > Luongo...
4.) The Canucks are a bunch of diving frauds.
5.) Who starts in net for the Canucks?

Related articles

• Game (4) Boston Bruins vs Vancouver Canucks Live Stream NHL (oleole.com)
• Boston Bruins vs Vancouver Canucks Live Stream NHL Play Off 2011 Watch Stanley Cup! Online-CBC Cable TV Network Link (oleole.com)
• Enjoy Stream Canucks vs Bruins Live Streaming Game 3 NHL (oleole.com)
• Plenty of animosity growing between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins (thehockeynews.com)

Henrik Sedin; suspension was too harsh; Sedin the latest to get it wrong...

Listening to Sedin sister Henrik you would think that Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome is the victim in this situation. Maybe Henrik should grab some perspective and look at this situation from a different perspective/angle. Imagine if one of the big, bad, mean, Boston Bruins; say a defenseman with the name Johnny Boychuk had smoked your brother Daniel Sedin at the blue line and he was lying on the ice knocked out, his season ended prematurely from an unnecessary and illegal hit and then carried off the ice on a stretcher; then would you still think that the suspension was too harsh? I highly doubt it, you would probably applaud it.

Question for the Canucks fans

I ask the many Vancouver Canucks fans that have visited my blog in the last week, would the suspension be too harsh if it was a skilled Vancouver Canucks player that had been knocked out for the rest of the Stanley Cup Finals by a 6th defenseman? Do we really think that hit should go unpunished and why isn’t a four game suspension warranted? If your still not seeing the point, think of the trade off, your team’s 6^th ranked defenseman that has one point in 14 games (1g-0a-1pts) has taken out a player Nathan Horton (8g-9a-17pts) ... I think a four game suspension is about right.

Canucks fume at ruling

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAgain more whining from the Vancouver Canucks about the Aaron Rome suspension. I say again; imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and Boston Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton had smoked Ryan Kessler, Alex Burrows or one of the Sedin sisters twins at the blue line with a questionable check? Would they not expect the same kind of a ruling from the NHL?

Matthew Sekere; Globe and Mail ---- The Vancouver Canucks were furious with the four-game suspension handed down by the NHL to defenceman Aaron Rome Tuesday.

One day after head coach Alain Vigneault and captain Henrik Sedin admitted Rome's hit on Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton was late, the Canucks were singing a different tune, more defiant in their characterization of the hit, and outraged at the league.

And there’s good reason for that. Several of them, in fact.

For starters was Mike Murphy’s admission that he consulted with Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, a former NHL disciplinarian, before arriving at his decision. The mere mention of Burke’s name elicits anger from the Canucks, because his relationship with team owner Francesco Aquilini is toxic.

There were other reasons: Rome’s despondency at missing the rest of the Stanley Cup final; the stiffest suspension ever administered in the final; and the lack of disciplinary consistency and perceived injustices from earlier this postseason.

If it had stopped at that, there would have been plenty of bad tidings to go around. That Burke was dragged into it only fanned the flames.

General manager Mike Gillis would not comment when asked directly about Burke’s involvement, saying only that “we’re disappointed but we’re moving on.” Reached via text message, Aquilini said he would be making no comment until after the playoffs.

“I'm talking about Brian Burke. I don't like to mention people who I deal with,” Murphy said in a press conference. “He was one gentleman who I did speak with. There's a lot of other people I spoke with, too, not just Brian.”

Canucks: 'We thought it was a clean hit'

Image via WikipediaBut of course they see nothing wrong with the hit that sent Nathan Horton to the hospital and ended his season. What a buffoon... I wounder if the tables had been turned; say that one of the Sedin sisters twins had been injured with a illegal hit like Horton was; I can't imagine the whining we would hear from the Vancouver Cancucks fan base, but also from the Canucks front office and their coaching staff.

While there is no winners in this incident, the Canucks got the better end of this deal, the Canucks lose a mediocre defenseman from their third defense paring while the Bruins lose one of their best forwards from the top line it's hardly a fair trade off in my opinion, I believe the four game suspension is about right. 

BOSTON -- The Vancouver Canucks disagree with the NHL's decision to suspend Aaron Rome for the rest of the Stanley Cup Final for his tardy hit on Nathan Horton that left the Boston winger with a concussion.

"It was a little bit late, but anybody that's played this game knows that you have to make a decision in a fraction of a second," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "He's engaged in the hit. I don't know how the League could come up with that decision really."

NHL Senior V.P. of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy made the call to suspend Rome for four games after talking to the Canucks defenseman Tuesday morning. Rome, who was issued a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct 5:07 into the first period of Game 3, is done for the Stanley Cup Final, and if the series ends early his suspension will carry over into the 2011-12 season.

Related articles

• Aaron Rome Suspended Four Games, Will Miss Remainder Of Stanley Cup Finals (sbnation.com)
• Stanley Cup Finals: What to Expect from the Vancouver Canucks in Game 4 (bleacherreport.com)
• Nathan Horton Injury Will Keep Him Out For Rest Of Stanley Cup Finals (sbnation.com)
• Bruins' Horton out of Stanley Cup final with severe concussion (thestar.com)

Vancouver’s Aaron Rome has been suspended for four games

This is the right decision by the NHL, what troubles me is that I have seen Canucks fans defending the hit.

BOSTON— Bruins forward Nathan Horton will miss the rest of the Stanley Cup finals with a severe concussion after he absorbed a blindside hit from Canucks defenceman Aaron Rome during Game 3 on Monday night.

Horton had just passed the puck when Rome came at him, lowered his shoulder and flattened him – the kind of hit the NHL has tried to eliminate after several players sustained severe concussions. The 26-year-old Horton left Boston’s 8-1 victory on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital.

The NHL is scheduled to hold a disciplinary hearing with Rome at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Horton has eight goals and nine assists this postseason for Boston, which trails 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night. The Bruins updated Horton’s condition in a release Tuesday morning.

.

Nathan Horton done for the playoffs.

Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton is done for the remainder of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals after this vicious hit by Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome. According to the Canucks coach the hit was a little late. Yeah, oh, ok…

Eric Duhatschek; Globe and Mail --- To the surprise of no one who watched him wheeled off the ice on a stretcher early in Monday's 8-1 Boston Bruins' victory over the Vancouver Canucks, forward Nathan Horton will not play again in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins announced Tuesday morning. General manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed that Horton suffered a severe concussion in the third game of the Stanley Cup series after a hit by Canuck defenseman Aaron Rome.


After the play, Rome was assessed a five minute major for interferenceand a game misconduct. The NHL will hold a disciplinary hearing with Rome on Tuesday morning to discuss the play.

"It was a blindside hit that we've talked about taking out of the game," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "He made the pass. It was late. He came from the blindside. Whether it's through the motion of the hit, it appeared he left his feet a little bit.

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault is dillusional...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
I don't think the Vancouver Canucks are going to get off Scott free this time. Aaron Rome hit Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton in the head with with his elbow and knocked Horton out cold. The hit was also late.

Jeff Howe; NESN ---- Without actually saying it, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault tried to portray a message to the NHL that Aaron Rome's vicious hit on Nathan Horton was not worthy of a suspension.

Rome blindsided Horton early in the first period. Horton was taken off the ice in a stretcher and transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with a head injury. Vigneault knew the hit was late, but he tried to lobby for Rome, who will have a hearing with the NHL at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

"We'll let the league deal with that, but that hit was a head-on hit, [Horton] looking at his pass, [and the hit] was a little bit late," Vigneault said. "I don't think that's the hit that the league is trying to take out of the game. This is a physical game. You've got big guys, a fraction of a second to decide what is happening out there. It's very unfortunate. You never want to see that, but this is a physical game."

Rome lined up Horton as he entered the Vancouver zone without the puck. Rome planted his skates, launched himself at Horton and elevated his shoulder into Horton's head. Horton also hit his head on the ice when he fell, and he lay nearly motionless for several minutes.

Rome received a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

Related articles

• Video: Horton leaves game on stretcher after late Vancouver hit (thestar.com)
• Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault can finally tell Sedin twins apart (thehockeynews.com)
• Boston Bruins Give 'Game Jacket' To Hospitalized Nathan Horton (sbnation.com)
• Cox: Dirty hit on Bruins' Horton turns final on its head (thestar.com)

Thomas checks Sedin sister Henrik

Wow! What a game tonight, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas says no to Vancouver Cancuks' forward diver Henrik Sedin as he lays a shoulder into him... This is also not the first time Tim Thomas has done this. Tim Thomas also checked Jason Blake a couple of years back when he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lucic gives Burrows the finger(s)

Fist off Alex Burrows is a hack and the Bruins should hit him every chance they get, Alex Burrows is very, very lucky that the on ice official was able to rescue him before Milan Lucic whiped the ice with him. Game four should be a great game to watch after watching the Bruins dismantle the Canucks 8-1.

Aaron Rome's hit on Nathan Horton

In watching this hit on replay, you can see that the hit in question was at least three strides too late, Aaron Rome left his feet to hit Horton in the head, it was a very dirty hit. There is no way you can defend this hit, Aaron Rome needs to be suspended by the NHL. I am all for big hits but this was unacceptable. In my opinion it's a violation of the NHL Rule 48.

Related articles

• Bruins Vs. Canucks, Game 3: Aaron Rome Hits Nathan Horton, Gets Ejected (sbnation.com)
• Video: Bruins' Nathan Horton out after hit by Canucks' Aaron Rome (aol.sportingnews.com)
• Video: Aaron Rome's dirty hit on Nathan Horton overshadows a scoreless first period in Game 3 (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• VIDEO: Aaron Rome Hits Nathan Horton Really Hard, Illegally In Canucks-Bruins Game 3 (sbnation.com)
• Bruins Vs. Canucks, Game 3 Score: First Period Scoreless, Aaron Rome Hit On Nathan Horton The Story (sbnation.com)

Claude Julien unimpressed with Canucks Maxim Lapierre's antics

I don't think that Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien is the only person that is unimpressed with Canucks hack Maxim Lapierre and his on ice antics. Can you imagine if this buffoon had done this classless act to Gordy Howe or during the days where there wasn't an instigator penalty? You have to give Patrice Bergeron credit for not just hauling off and popping Lapierre.

Douglas Flynn; NESN -- They chose not to whine and complain when Vancouver forward Alexandre Burrows was not suspended for biting Patrice Bergeron in Game 1. They didn't use it as an excuse when Burrows was not only in the lineup for Game 2, but scored the game-winner in overtime.

And they're not going to stoop to the Canucks' level in responding to Maxim Lapierre's Game 2 taunt of Bergeron. Lapierre stuck out his finger at Bergeron after a whistle, challenging him to bite it, then was seen laughing about the incident on the bench.

"I can't really talk about their team," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Monday's morning skate in preparation of Game 3 at the Garden. "I'm going to talk about mine because I don't handle those players. I don't deal with those players on a one-on-one basis. It really isn't up to me to, I guess, comment on it. If it's acceptable for them, then so be it. It certainly wouldn't be acceptable on our end of it. I think you know me well enough to know that.

"[There's] not much I can say on that," Julien added. "The NHL rules on something and they decide to make a mockery of it. That's totally up to them. If that's their way of handling things, then so be it. Again, we can't waste our time on that kind of stuff. We really have to focus on what we have to do. The last time I looked, we're down two games to none, and all our energy has to go towards that."

The rest of the Bruins downplayed the incident as well.

Related articles

• Claude Julien's had it with biting and taunting; Lapierre has no comment on being called "punkish" (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Julien steamed about Canucks' biting, taunting (theglobeandmail.com)
• Bruins Vs. Canucks, Game 3: Claude Julien Didn't Find Max Lapierre's Finger Joke Funny (sbnation.com)
• Bruins coach steamed about Canucks' biting, taunting (theglobeandmail.com)
• Julien: Canucks made 'mockery' of Burrows bite (sports.espn.go.com)

Bruins stand behind Tim Thomas...

Hockey is a team game and there is a lot of blame to go around for the game two loss, so for the Boston Bruins fans that are blaming the goalie Tim Thomas for the loss, seriously, you can't blame just one person for the game two debacle. Back to the first point; hockey is  a team game and when the systems break down the "team" loses, I think that its short sighted to put the blame solely on the shoulders of Vezina Trophy candidate Tim Thomas.  Go back and watch the video of the goal and you will see what I mean. [Click to view video]

There are a few good points in this ESPN video post above, that are worth looking at, it was a comedy of errors that led to the game winning goal by the Vancouver Canucks, it was a horrible defensive effort all of the way around. (1) The ill advised turn over at the blue line by Andrew Ference, that was brutal, Ference violated a cardinal sin by not getting puck deep, and the Vancouver Canucks who were pressuring hard blew by the Bruins defenders like they were pylons... (2) the bad effort behind the net by Zedano Chara, you have a guy that is 6'9" pull him down if you have to, there is a good chance that the Bruins penalty kill would have killed the penalty. (3) Tim Thomas over played the puck and lost, stay in the net and give your self a chance to make the save.

Roberto Luongo loses his mask...

h/t to the Program... On this shot it doesn't look like Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo had his goalie mask that tight when the puck hit him in the head. The shot didn't seem to rattle Roberto Luongo who has played well during the Stanley Cup Finals so far.

Mind's a Messin': Redwing77's Psychology Musings

Watching the Playoffs this year, listening to friends talk about the aftermath of games, and reading content got me thinking: We talk about the intangibles of hockey but what about the psychology?

The Finals this year reminds me a LOT of the Blackhawks vs. Canucks tilt from last year's playoffs.

Let me take you back... Then Hawk Dustin Byfuglien (IMO one of the most underrated players in the NHL) quite literally and almost single-handedly obliterated the Canucks game plan on multiple nights by simply getting them so enraged that their game plan was to basically head hunt Byfuglien (without actually hitting him in the head). This took the Canucks so off kilter that the Hawks won the game.

Right now, right or wrong/good or bad, the Canucks are doing the same thing to the Bruins. True, statistically the series still has been pretty even. True, the gripes about the Canucks methods of doing so have been merited. However, the job of the Bruins isn't to point out the cheap play of certain players. It isn't their job to go after the players either. It's their job to look at their opponents tendencies and make a game plan that expects those tendencies that still affords the Bruins the opportunity to win.

Coming into the Finals, the Bruins should have already known the following things:

1. The Canucks are a fast, great skating team
2. The Canucks are solid fundamentally
3. The Luongo of old has only temporarily shown up, but never for long enough to kill his team's chances.
4. The Canucks have been diving and getting away with it all Playoffs long
5. The Canucks aren't afraid of taking pages out of the Penguins and Blackhawks books. Penguins book- cheap hits, borderline on ice tactics. Hawks book - Aggravation, instigation, and getting under the skin of their opposition
6. They are a momentum team. The only way to beat them is to get them to lose their momentum.
7. They are a balanced team with pressure on them but only at the top. The media is swooning over the Sedins but that takes the spotlight off of players like Bieksa and so on.

Look, I'm no fan of Burrows or Bieksa, but you have to acknowledge that they've had a pretty good playoff run. I'd argue they've been more effective than the Sedins.

The flaw that the Bruin's face is that they are relying too heavily on Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara to bail them out when the likes of Burrows and Bieksa get under their skin. And that's not working. The Bruins aren't out of it yet, but if they lose one game in Boston, they will be.

Game 3 and 4 are must wins for the B's if they expect to win. With 3 wins under the Canucks' belt, winning 1 of the next 4 should be almost a sure thing.

I'm looking at Dennis Seidenberg, Patrice Bergeron, and either Michael Ryder or Rich Peverley to step up. Tyler Seguin is a rookie and, though immensely talented, relying upon him would be a recipe for disaster.

I still have the Bruins in 7 but Game 3 will tell a lot about the possibility of there even being a Game 7.

Rich Peverley checks Kevin Bieksa's cup

I have seen today where some suggested that Boston Bruins forward Rich Peverley should be suspended for this little love tap on Vancouver Canucks defenseman fraud Kevin Bieksa. As you probably know, if you read this blog, I am on the record as not being a big fan of Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa and his on ice antics, I could also care less if he played his hockey at Bowling Green State University, so one might say that Karma has finally caught up with Mr. Bieksa, couldn't have happened to a nicer more deserving person.

Since Richard Peverley is a semi skilled hockey player that doesn't fight very often he will have to be on the look out for Kevin Bieksa because he is known for going after skilled players that don't like to fight and has fought with the following heavy weights during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Viktor Stalberg, Troy Brouwer, Patrick Marleau).

Ottawa Sun --- “I’m sure everybody knows what happened and they’ll keep a better eye on him next time,” said Bieksa of Peverley, whose slash went undetected by referees Kelly Sutherland and Dan O’Halloran.

 “There’s such a thing as karma. Whether it’s next year or the year after, he’ll get something from somebody else. He got me on the back of the knee. Luckily, it’s okay.”

Now before someone says that I think that Kevin Bieksa deserved to be stuck in the groin with a stick, I didn’t say that  he deserved it, however, Bieksa brought that reaction on himself by the type of game that he plays on the ice. I do believe in Karma like I mentioned earlier. I also want to be clear I am not a fan of using your stick to settle differences on the ice and Peverley  deserved a penalty for his cup check, but this stick fowl nowhere comes close to a suspendable offense.

Edit: Here is what the Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault had to say about the Peverley love tap on Kevin Bieksa. You can judge for yourself, but it looks like the war of words is heating up in this series.

 Joe Sullivan, Globe Sports Editor ---- Vigneault also talked about the physical nature of his team and the series plus a reference to what he called a cheap shot by Rich Peverley of the Bruins.

"I think if you look at the stat sheet at the end of the day, we're hitting as hard as they are. If you look at the stat sheets throughout the playoffs, we're the team that's got the most hits. That's part of our game. Kevin (Bieksa) didn't get hit, he got a cheap shot in the back of the knee (by Peverley), so that's totally different. He went down because of something that obviously you don't want to see in the game. But at the end of the day, we know that they're a big, physical team. We can play a speed game, but we can also play a physical-type game, which I think we've shown throughout the playoffs."

Related articles

• Rich Peverley Slashes Kevin Bieksa In Leg, Runs Away (sbnation.com)

KDP; it’s time to give up the fight

If anything KPD article gives us reason not to take fighting out of hockey, and yeah Mr. Dupon you’re nuts. All you have to do is witness some of the antics that happen when you take fighting out of hockey, the Stanley Cup playoffs are a perfect example of this, you have players bitting each other and running over the other teams goalies.

Let's break it down further, if you take fighting out of hockey you’ll have buffoons like Alex Burrows, Steve Ott, Dan Carcillo, Raffi Torres, Matt Cooke and Steve Downie (I am sorry if I missed anyone there are many others that I could have included in my post) getting away with all kinds of egregious and questionable acts, the Boston Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton is right. You’ll have these gutless pukes performing all kinds of random acts of thuggery without ever having to answer the bell; this would actually make the game of hockey more dangerous that it is already.

Kevin Paul Dupont; Boston Globe ---- Too much of today’s game is about hitting to hurt, literally to break the opponent, and that’s not just a danger to players but also to the game’s image, its marketability, and I think its sustainability. To abolish fighting won’t be a cure-all, but I believe it can be key in unraveling a complicated, dangerous, and ultimately losing environment.

So I made that very case the other day to Bruins career tough guy Shawn Thornton, whom I respect as a person, a player, and a fighter (my kind of hat trick). He looked at me in dismay, and then in all sincerity, and with a good amount of animation and invective, told me I was nuts. He made his points in support of the sweet science (all in line with my lifetime position) and really couldn’t be swayed with my “culture change’’ postulate.

“I think if you take fighting out,’’ said Thornton, “you’ll see the game go to places where you’ll want it back just to stop the nonsense — more stick work, more cheap shots, just all the junk. Maybe that’s my old-school thinking, but . ..

I mean seriously, If you took fighting out of the game of hockey, it would be open season on the skilled players in the NHL. This would give players like Kevin Bieksas and Dan Carcillos a green light to perform their bag of tricks. I would not be an understatement to say that players of this ilk would be licking their lips in anticipation because they can skate up and down the ice taking liberties on the skilled players in the NHL without ever having to answer the bell. In the past, there has been little if any consequences for their questionable actions, why would they now all of a sudden behave, you can’t count on the NHL front office to discipline them.

I can see players like Sidney Crosby becoming victims of more random acts of violence. Let's not be confused, just because Colin Campbell has stepped down as the head disciplinarian in the NHL don’t expect the newly anointed Brendan Shanahan to change the culture in the NHL. This is a bad idea and its’ ill conceived… I suggest taking the instigator rule out of NHL Hockey and it would clean the game up tomorrow.

If you think that I am over exaggerating this point just watch a game in the WCHA of the NCAA, there is no fighting in college hockey, the players wear full cages and almost weekly there are all kinds of random acts of violence, these egregious hits by the players are rarely punished and the players never have to worry because they know they won’t have to answer for their acts of thuggery. As we have seen in the past that players can take out a team’s skilled player and know that there will be no repercussion and they will only probably get suspended for one game anyways. What do you think? Lets start the debate.

Sunday Morning Links…

The Stanley Cup Finals are now moving to Boston after the Vancouver Canucks won the first games of the series in Vancouver. There are a lot of good story lines in this series between the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks.

I would have never guessed from watching the first to games of the series... Bruins Have 'A Lot of Hatred' for Canucks, Hope to Thrive With Continued Physical Play in Cup Final. [NESN.COM]

The Boston Bruins were shut out in game one by the Vancouver Canucks, finally the Boston Bruins broke through the Cauncks defenses and scored two goals in game two; however, it still wasn’t enough. One minor bright spot for the Boston Bruins is that they also scored a goal on the powerless play power play after going 0-6 in game one. That was only the Boston Bruins 6th power play goal (6-76) of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Boston Bruins actually failed to score a power play goal during their first round series against the Montreal Canadians. Few teams have actually won a series during the Stanley Cup playoffs without scoring a power play goal. [NESN.COM]

It would appear that Mike Milbury is less than impressed with some of the antics of the classless hacks known as the Vancouver Canucks, especially Burrows and Lapierre. Can't say that I am fond of either player either. [Boston Globe]

"And look at the punks now out to play," former Bruin and current NBC NHL analyst Mike Milbury said during the Game 2 telecast regarding Lapierre's mocking of the Burrows bite on Bergeron. "Punks like Lapierre come out to play and make fun and denigrate the game the way it should be played ... This [Burrows] is a good player who shouldn't be in this game, and if you're a Boston fan, you should be pretty angry."

One can make the argument that Alex Burrows shouldn’t have been playing in game two, due to Burrows biting Patrice Bergeron in game one. Gauging from some of the comments that I have read on Twitter and the various fan blogs there are quite a few people upset with Burrows this morning. Personally, I wish the Bruins would have paid more attention to Alex Burrows during last night’s game because he had a hand in all three Vancouver Canucks goals last night (2g-1a-3pts).

The much despised Vancouver Canucks' forward hack/biter Alex Burrows was the overtime hero in 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. [Vancouver Sun]

Burrows shook off the Game 1 controversy he found himself immersed in after he was alleged to have bitten the finger of Boston forward Patrice Bergeron. He said it didn't affect him, but bothered his parents.

"The negative press I have been getting the last few days doesn't affect me at all," he said. "I don't read you guys, I don't listen to you guys a lot. But if affects my parents and my dad listens to everything and it affects him and he told me to go score some goals. He said that's what is going to hurt them. I listened to his advice and it worked out."

Vancouver native Milan Lucic says he's sorry, but he's busy with Boston Bruins right now. [Vancouver Sun]

Matt Kalman of the Bruins Blog breaks down Zedano Chara rough night in Vancouver, it wasn't pretty folks. If the Bruins are going to win this series big “Z” needs to play better. [The Bruins Blog]

Here is an interesting story that caught my eye this Sunday Morning. Seems as if some think that the Flyers might be interested in Tim Thomas. Gormley: Thomas makes sense for the Flyers, if they can work the deal... [Delaware on line]

There is still a chance that the Boston Bruins can still win this series, regardless of what the naysays and over confident Canucks fans have said… While the Bruins are only down two games going into game three; history is not in the Bruins favor. That being said, I will not give up on this team. Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe breaks down the numbers, and they are not pretty. [Boston Globe]

History is not the Bruins’ friend at this hour. Winning a Stanley Cup after trailing, two games to none, is not impossible, but of the 46 teams who’ve dug this hole, only four have recovered to win the championship. The Bruins, meanwhile, haven’t won a Cup since 1972 and are mired in a championship drought that conjures memories of the local nine. Dating to 1978, the Bruins have lost 12 of their last 13 games in this celebrated event. Boston is 5-22 in Cup Final games since Chief Johnny Bucyk last hoisted the chalice in ’72.

The Green Men will be in Boston, yippee skippy... [Slap Shot Blog]

Alex Burrows proves that father knows best... [National Post]

I am not sure where to put this article but it doesn't really fit here, but oh well, I will include it anyways... Don't count on Max Domi going to college he was dealt from Kingston to the London Knights of the OHL.[Coming down the Pipe]

The NHL returns to Winnipeg

The NHL team in Winnipeg Manitoba sold their 13,000 season tickets in a matter of minutes and also froze their waiting list at 8,000. [Fox Sports]

True North reaches 13,000 season ticket goal in Winnipeg, MB. [TSN.CA]

Back in Winnipeg, Bettman Strikes Different Chord... [Slap Shot Blog]

Winnipeg's NHL season tickets sold out in about two minutes... [CBC.CA]

True North Sports and Entertainment has told Thrashers GM Rick Dudley that he will not be the team's GM when the team relocates in Winnipeg, MB. [TSN.CA]