Thursday, February 22, 2007

Good Times in the NHL!


Had to try and recap a great NHL (yes, that league is still around) highlight I just saw. Sorry to the die-hard NHL fan(s) who read our blog (Hager, I’m looking in your general direction), but I don’t know the names in this particular melee. Here goes…Buffalo (who went back to the sweet 1980s uniforms) vs. Ottawa:

It all started after an Ottawa guy crushed Buffalo’s best player a little after a shot…a “late hit,” if you will. The Buffalo guy’s grill was smashed against the ice producing substantial blood, among other things. It was on. Before the ensuing face off, Buffalo emptied their bench and replaced the regular lineup with a bunch of goons. Pure coaching brilliance. Ottawa, on the other hand, still had their high scoring Sallys on the ice. Drop the puck, start the carnage. Some guy wearing, not surprisingly, #76 for Buffalo was all over the place…this guy must be part Hanson brother as he was willing to fight anyone, and everyone (more on him later). He was pretty much “likes to fight guy” at your local bar, Bob Probert, and Kyle Farnsworth all rolled into one. Senators (McManus, that’s the team from Ottawa) were getting tossed like rag dolls. Meanwhile, the goalies wanted a part of the action. The Ottawa goalie was some black guy who’s obviously done this before. He was eathing the poor Buffalo stopper's (Clint Malarchuck?) lunch in about 2.6 seconds. It was so one sided, he actually helped him get back onto his skates. Well, one Buffalo player in particular didn’t like this very much…here comes good ol’ #76. Yes, #76 the big, tough, roided-up goon went after the other team’s goalie! That’s pretty weaksauce, I’m guessing that only happens about once a decade. I missed what happened there as they flashed to the Buffalo coach trying to get a piece of the seemingly 78 year old Ottawa skipper.

That last battle didn’t get far, but it was part of the only NHL action that kept me excited since Gretzky was dropping 200 points per season in an Edmonton Oilers sweater. I might actually try to check out the next Ottawa/Buffalo game…if I can find the “Versus” channel. All in all, good times at the rink!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chopper.. (sorry this is a little late, I have actually been working at work lately...there's is a novel idea!) Where to begin?!! Well that Buffalo guy who got "crushed" was Chris Drury (former Hobey Baker winner)the captain of the Sabres. Anytime someone F*&Cks with your captain, it awwwnn. So basically, Lindy Ruff (coach of the sabres) send out his Goon line for some revenge. Adam Mair (a fourth liner) went out and bi#chslapped Jason Spezza from the Sens. Then all hell broke loose. Fights galore. Finally Goalie Ray Emery from Ottawa, who idolizes Mike Tyson by the way, decided he had seen enough and called out Martin Biron (goalie from the Sabres). The whole time Emery was laughing and smilin'.. He proceeded to whip Biron's @ss then went on to take on Cheif Goon (#76) Andrew Peters. Again Smilin' the whole time. As you could tell this was not his first rodeo. In fact he was just back from a 3 game suspension for slashing Maxim Lapierre. If you get a chance check out the youtube vid of Emery fighting, it is hilarious!

Here are the final stats:

All 12 players on the ice, including both goalies were tossed for majors. At one point it looked like both coaches were gonna go at it too!

Game was delayed over 20 minutes.

100 PIM handed out, 63 to Buffalo.

Over 200 stitches to close the gash on Drury's melon.

Gotta love the "playoff atmosphere" of this game!!

Oh and the Sabres won in overtime 6-5.


P.S. Keep your eye on the Pens this Spring, they are young guns and gonna be fun to watch come playoff time!

Brad said...

There you go, it's Chuckie Hacks NHL correspondent Rich Hager reporting. Nice breakdown! I did see these two teams met a couple days later...nothing major, only about 65 penalty minutes handed out. Hager, let me know when the playoffs start and I'll post your full breakdowns and predictions.