Sarich Delivers Hit of the Year

Yeah, that is high praise but I have reasoning. First off, take a look at the hit that the whole hockey world is, or at least should be talking about.

Obviously, if you been a hockey fan of any kind, you seen hits like this many of times. Guy skating up the ice, head is down, and a D-man just steps up and lays his shoulder into him. What makes this hit, the hit of the year in my opinion, is the timing.

The Flames were down 3-0 in a pivitol Game Three, had no mojo whatsoever, and the Sea of Red might as well of been sitting in a library they were so quiet. Then it happened. Sarich freaking nails Marleau, which incites a scrum and gets the crowd to their feet. Also, Calgary managed to get a power-play out of the ordeal leading to their first goal.

The Flames came back to win when it all looked so glim, and this win will propel them to win the series… and all because of this huge hit by Sarich. He may have single-handedly changed the Flames entire play-off fortunes.

P.S. Mad, MAD props to Marleau for getting right up and getting in the scrum. That’s leadership baby, and that’s playing the game!

Avery Adds to his Douche-bag Resume

I’ve made no secrete of the fact that I hate Sean Avery, and the fact that I think he is a complete douche. He proved it once again tonight, when he was waving his arms and stick in front of Martin Brodeur’s face.

I have to say, that I get what Avery was trying to do. He was trying to distract Brodeur, and get him off his game. It’s just the way he was doing it, Avery wasn’t even paying attention to the play, he had his back turned to it while standing one foot away from Brodeur. Check it out for yourself…

Now, there is no penalty against this, not a concrete penalty at least, but Avery was warned by the referee while he was doing yet he still continued. However, I have to agree with Ron MacLean when he was talking about it. Under the rules of a misconduct penalty, if a player does an action in an attempt to incite the other team into taking a penalty, and continues after being warned from the referee, the player can be called for a 10 minute misconduct. Under this rule, there would be no minor, so the Rangers wouldn’t have been short-handed.

I do believe that the NHL is going to address this issue Monday. While I don’t know what they are going to say or what kind of action they are going to take. The NHL should send out a memo of some kind, either to say that these actions are allowed, or that they cannot be tolerated or something, but they have to do something.

Now before I stop, I should add this kind of disclaimer, I this isn’t a knock on Avery’s abilities. He has 3 goals already this post-season, and the Rangers are without a doubt a better team when he is on the ice. I simply hate these kinds of actions and on-ice shenanigans that Avery always seems to be a part of.

More Evidence For No-Touch Icing

As if we needed more evidence, it seems that there has been just as many, if not more, injuries from touch icing than there have been from hitting to the head. Here is Kurtis Foster getting drilled while chasing down the puck to touch up for icing.

Kurtis Foster broke his leg on the play, and Mitchell is not going to be suspended for his part in the incident. Its a tough call whether it was dirty or not. Foster was not protecting himself at all, and put himself into a vulnerable situation, but on the same token, Mitchell did ram him hard from behind, much like Randy Jones did to Patrice Bergeron. I believe a one game suspension would have been sufficient. I realize that Foster is out for the season, but I highly doubt that Mitchell intended on injuring Foster like he did.

There are talks about Foster’s career being hindered because of this. I will say now, that I am no doctor, nor am I studying to be one, or will ever think I am, but Foster had a rod implanted into his leg. I don’t know how that would affect someone long term, but I just can’t imagine that it wouldn’t. Hopefully Foster can return from this, as he has been playing great and had established himself as a top 5 defenseman.

DIGG ME