Head Hunters Must Pay!

Kudos to the NHL for their suspension on forwards Steve Downie and Jesse Boulerice, both with The Philidephia Flyers. Steve Downie charged from 45 feet out and leaped at Dean Mcammond of the Ottawa Senators in preseason action. He hit him clean in the head with his shoulder. Other then leaving his feet and a 20 stride start, it was a decent hit. He was given a match penalty and then after league review a couple days later, a 20 game suspension. This is fair.


Jesse Boulerice on the other hand, viciously crosschecked a player in the face in the 3rd period of a game when his team was winning 7-2. Ryan Kesler didn't even have the puck, was nowhere near the puck, and wasn't even looking. Out from the front of the net comes Boulerice and WHAM!!! Right in the jaw is Boulerice's stick. Boulerice got a match penalty and after review a 25 game suspension. Fortunately for Bolourice, Kesler got back up!


There was a time where there had to be a decision about elbowing. It was determined that it was a dirty hit. Now, comes a time again where a decision has to be made. Is any hit to the head dirty? I say it is. Heads should be off limits period. No excuses, exceptions. You hit someone on the head whether they are looking or not, you're outta here. Game over man! When you hit someone in the head you are taking a risk of ruining someones career. Head hunters should be banished. Even if they are the coaches that are telling these players to do this! Coach of the Flyers, should have a 50 game suspension for the 2 hits produced by his players. Note to John Stevens: Do your job better. The league wants less of these shenanigans. Apparently somebody didn't get the memo!
Below you will find one of my favourite Boulerice clip! Enjoy!

Keep Your Chin Up McCabe...

Note to self: Never ever take a player position with The Toronto Maple Leafs.
Note to Bryan McCabe: You'll never be as bad as Dmitri Khristich.

As for the rest of you, the ones that are talking negatively about Cabber... Close your mouth while you are eating, thats disgusting. We all knew when he signed that he was getting paid for his offensive numbers not his defense. Big deal, he put the puck in his own net in game 7 of the regular season. Let me ask you this. Who was in the penalty box when that goal went in? Raycroft was in net, we all knew what was going to happen. Bryan McCabe shoots the puck 1 inch further to the other side, horn sounds, end of overtime. Goes to a shoot out, and Raycroft lets in 2 of 3 and we lose. Bryan McCabe has 18 career game winners ( Same amount as Chris Pronger) and is just under a half a point a game. He is a plus player for his career and has played on some pretty crappy teams like the Islanders and Canucks. I find it funny sometime, reading a message board and seeing someone making fun of McCabe for being fat. That he needs to work off the cheetos he ate all summer. Lets be real here for a second. Its not Bryan McCabe. Sundin was on the ice for ALL 5 goals. McCabe was only on the ice for the one he scored. Every time a goal went in it was off of the player Sundin was taking.

Note to McCabe: On the brightside, you are not the most hated person in Toronto... that is reserved for Mr. Kerry Fraser... and Daniel Alfredsson

Playoffs

So the standings are final. First I would like to congratulate the Chicago Black Hawks for getting the 1st overall pick in this years draft! I hate Philly!

What first round match-ups that should be good you ask? Well as much as I hate Ottawa and Pittsburg, that should be the 1st round match up you should keep your eyes on. Can Sid the Kid preform in the playoffs? Will the Sens finally be successful in the playoffs? Well the answer to those two questions are Yes and No. Crosby will come out on top and will likely be the point leader in this series, with the Sens crumbling under pressure yet again!

My 1st round winners are Sabres, Rangers, Devils, Penguins, Red Wings, Canucks, Ducks and Sharks.

My pick for the Stanley Cup is The Anaheim Ducks! The Ducks will put out the Sabres Simply because no one in the east will be able to.

Check back for 2nd round predictions!

The Franchize

Do The Ducks Have What It Takes?

Leading the NHL in points after 39 games with 62, puts The Anahiem Ducks on pace for 130 points. This would put them on pace to end the season well over their franchise record of 98 points (2005-2006 season). Can The Ducks maintain this over the course of the season? or will they crumble under the new NHL? This years Ducks has 16 Canadian players on their roster, Including Vezina Trophy candidate Jean-Sébastien Giguère. The 6ft 200lb goaltender already has 23 wins (1st in the NHL) and the 2nd most shutouts with 4. They have the NHL's highest scoring defencemen in Chris Pronger. Pronger, on pace for 82 points would elipse his previous career best of 62 points by 20. Not very many teams in the west that could keep pace with The Ducks for a full 60 minutes. When playoffs come, Anahiem must watch out for teams with good goaltending such as Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. The Ducks have only lost 2 games by 3 or more goals, and only 4 games by 2 or more goals. This means that The Ducks have been in every game this year except 2. Critics could say that because both goalies are injured right now, that The Ducks could fall. I say to that, They wont for 2 reasons. First reason is their 3rd string goalie this year is 2-0-0 with a .885 save% and a GAA of 2.15. So the goaltending shouldn't be an issue for the short term. The second reason The Ducks should be fine is, they have a 9 point lead on the second place team in the conference, Nashville, and a 12 point lead on the second place team in the devision, San Jose. So to answer the question "Do The Ducks Have What It Takes?" Yes, they do...

Sweep or No Sweep?

Another OT win for the Buffalo Sabres against the division rival The Ottawa Senators. J.P. Dumont's goal at 5:05 of the first overtime period gave Buffalo their 9th straight playoff win against Ottawa. Talk about dominance! Now with The Sabres up 3-0 in the series, the Senators are on the bring of elimination. For anyone that has fallen a bit behind in this series, let me catch you up. Game 1 in Ottawa was a very exciting game to watch 13 goals were scored in the game combined. Buffalo tied the game up late in the 3rd period to push it into overtime. Within the first minute of overtime, Ottawa coughed the puck up and Buffalo took advantage popping the puck behind Emery to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Game 2 in Ottawa was a much different game, it was close checking with both goalies standing on their heads the entire game. Buffalo scored 2 goals in the second and Ottawa could only muster 1. Ottawa had great chances in the 3rd to tie it up, but couldn't solve Miller. They won the game 2-1 and lead the series 2-0.
Do you think that the Buffalo Sabres can sweep the Power house of The East, Ottawa Senators?

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Goal of the Year: Malik or Ovechkin?

This is a toughy. We have Marek Malik, a defenceman for the New Your Rangers, and Alexander The Great for the Washington Capitals. Both scored completly amazing goals this year. Lets start off with Malik's goal. This is his 1st goal of the year came via a shootout on Washington's goalie Olaf Kolzig. Its a beauty, through the legs, jaw dropping goal. Now normally someone like him, Defenceman with 0 goals, wouldn't get a shot in the shootout with the Likes of Jagr, Rucchin, Straka, Prucha, Rucinsky or Nylander ahead of him, but it went to the 15th shooters. Heres a look.

Then there is Ovechkins goal. A crazy on his back, over his head, one handed, oh did i mention that it was on the backhand WITH a goalie in the net!? You can take a look, but make sure you are sitting down for this one.


Now you can look at it this way. Malik is a defenceman and not what you would call a "highlight" goal scorer. Really a nobody to the average hockey fan. To score a goal like that is pretty amazing for him and that Ovechkin's goal really is flukie. But thats not what I say. Malik had time to think about what he was going to do, 14 shooters per team, gives him a bit of time. Ovechkin, he did that in the middle of a game, no time to prepare at all. I say give the goal of the year to Ovie!
Thank you to VSocial for providing the video for me.

Visor or No Visor?

So, with the recent injrury to Koivu, it will probably bring up visors again in the the topic of discussion. Koivu already wears one. So it comes to this question. Do you throw away a portion of your skill to a visor that will only protect you only half of the time? The stick went up under the visor.

A friend of mine pointed out that in college hockey they are forced to wear full caged helmets. That also brings up this debate. Yes, it provides protection of the face againnst the sticks. With that in mind, if you can't get injured with a high stick to the face if you are wearing a face cage, then you really don't need to keep your stick down, right? Well then with the size of the players in the NHL and the way the game is played, even with face cages the sticks near the head will still be dangerous.

I look at it this way. If a player doesn't want to wear one, great, he shouldn't have to, but, an owner should be able to put it into a players contract that he will wear a visor in all games he plays for his team and any other hockey team he plays for such as his country's team. The owner is trying to protect his investment.