I stole this image from a friend, but i don’t care, its fucking awesome!

work is boring and I want to go home, also I’m looking forward to the hockey game tonight (I’m hoping May beats the shit out of Amburger) so here is some more good ol hockey fun!

Duco Attacks Giroux (AP Photo)

Since when did getting hit cleanly, in a contact sport mind you, require a fight or retaliation?

Twice in their last two games, a Capitals player has been the victim of a beat down after a clean hit. First, Mike Duco pounced on Alexandre Giroux after his nice hit on Dmitry Kulikov (watch). Last night, Daniel Carcillo sucker-punched Matt Bradley after another legal hit (watch). Both hits were legal — watch the tape! Both led with the shoulder, didn’t leave their feet, and didn’t hit the numbers. Both hits were met with an overblown reaction.

Mike Duco, a young kid clearly trying to stake his brand in the game, played the hero in the post-game interviews. “He took a couple of runs out there,” Duco said in post-game interviews. “If he wants to take liberties on our younger guys, people have to stick up for them,” he said.

“Liberties” and “Runs” aren’t terms associated with clean hits. From the look of things, players are losing an appreciation and respect for the physicality of the game. Bruce Boudreau hits the nail on the head. ” It’s almost what the game has come to,” he told reporters after the Duco incident. “Now you hit a guy hard, and you think you have to retaliate on that. It was a dumb thing and he totally took his team out of the game,” Boudreau said.

Last night’s thuggery in Philadelphia continues this trend. Matt Bradley is as tough a customer as they come. The guy regularly gets busted up, sewed up in the locker room, and then returns to games. Perhaps that is what makes Carcillo’s action so sickening. Bradley respects the place of physicality and fighting in a game, but he knows the way it should be done. Obviously, hockey fans will debate whether or not Carcillo was justified in punching Brads when he did. But in the end, Carcillo shouldn’t have picked the fight anyway (ask any Flyer who had to kill a 9 minute penalty).

Coming after a guy for a clean hit is not about defending yourself or your teammates. It’s a momentarily lapse into an almost cavemen type of mentality. A player goes a bit crazy and throws some punches just for the heck of it.

Since I play in a girl’s league, I can’t say I’ve ever been hit too hard. Honestly, I wish there was checking in women’s hockey (though that’s an entirely different debate). It’s a part of the game of hockey — you have to work hard, hustle, keep your head up or you just might pay the price. If that’s not the kind of game you enjoy as a professional hockey player, I hear McDonald’s is looking for new employees.

That girl #7 has a mean right hook, lucky for the guys they were wearing helmets.

Source:
http://www.totalprosports.com/more/high-school-girl-fights-in-boys-hockey-game-video/

This one comes to you from last night’s Kings v Coyotes game.  Paul Bissonette gets a very nice hit in, and then takes on Raitis Ivanans.

The Kings would get the last laugh and win 5-3 with 4 unanswered goals to close out the game.

So I was cruising youtube today and found 2 more reasons to love the show, and any excuse to put up a good scrap on the Loge is reason enough for me.

First, Troy Brouwer taking on Jarome Iginla last week in the Hawks/Flames rematch. What’s so great about this fight? Chicago was down 5-0 and came roaring back to win in OT. Iginla had enough, and as great captains do he stood up for his team and fought Brouwer at center ice. Well played by both guys…dropped the buckets and went at it.

The second fight, Radek Smolenak from Chicago taking on Brad May of Detroit. A great scrap early in the first to get this rivalry heated up early in the season. A nod to both players in this one, May for fighting Smolenak who is trying to make a name for himself, and Smolenak realizing it’s time fire up the troops and hopefully find a permanent home away from Rockford, IL. I love the dialog they show at the end of this clip…

A few items before I hit the sheets tonight.

First, the AHL’s Portland Pirates Joe DiPenta earned a 1-game suspension for this slash which ignited a fight between Jeff Cowan and Kip Brennan. Funny enough he was only assessed a 2-minute slashing minor for this swing in the last week’s Portland Pirates/Springfield Falcons game. I know of few of the Maine guys and let me tell you, DiPenta must be from New England, because he swings like a guy from Lewiston, I’m surprised he didn’t have mace on him to protect himself after this incident.

Also, last week George Parros was nice enough to give rookie John Scott an attempt to drop the buckets in the show. Parros got rocked, yes, but it was pretty cool of him to give Scott a chance at a fight. If watch these guys pair up at the face off it was clear this fight was staged and Parros gave Scott the go. Good time to fight for Scott as Minnesota was down 3-0 at this point. This fight sparked the Wild bench and Minnesota came back to win 4-3 in OT.

Scott Hartnell’s hair is way out of control, I love it:

Finally, the helpless Canadiens can’t win a game even with 7 guys on the ice!

With Carey Price on the bench and Montreal head coach sending out an extra attacker to try and notch the equalizer, defenseman Hal Gill’s penalty ended during the final minute and he remained on the ice, not realizing he was the seventh skater for the Canadiens

Thanks to Puck Daddy for the links

Despite what many believe, erasmus in Spain isn’t all fun and games. In fact, the biggets downside to studying on an exchange program here is just the lack of a certain kind of game: North American sports. On the other side of the Atlantic, football is not king; depending on the region, people’s passion varies from baseball, to American football, basketball, hockey, or, in certain cases, all four. The love and passion we Canadians have for our national sport, hockey, surpasses that of Spaniards for football. We breathe hockey, we live hockey; our great sport is the focal point of many a conversation, and people are often introduced by name and favorite hockey team. While studying here in Spain, what I have missed most from home has not been my mother’s cooking, speaking English, or pasteurized milk; it’s been hockey.

It’s not that hockey is disliked in Spain; everyone loves the occasional fight they see either on youtube or TV. But game broadcasts are more difficult to find than fresh milk. Add the six-hour time difference to that, and watching a game is practically and expedition. Regular season games start at 7pm, Eastern Time. That means 1am Spanish time. That also means the game ends at 4am. Luckily my favorite team plays in the east; were it from the west, I would have to stay up until 6am to watch a game. 

But staying up to watch the games is the easy part. The actual watching part is the difficult task. For that, you need to find what they call a stream, which another internet user broadcasts. HockeyWebcasts is a great source for finding these often illegal stream. It compiles a list of regular broadcasts. The list is not always complete, however; that’s when the going gets difficult and the sports aficionado must do some deep digging. Atdhe is a similar site that provides a list of streams for hockey as well as other hard-to-find sports, as is MyP2P. Streaming sites like Justin.tv and Ustream have come to my rescue in the middle of a intense hockey craving night. In general, the above mentioned sites link to the two latter sites, which are sometimes difficult to search, hence the utility of lists said sites provide. 

So, with a good internet connection, few friends, fewer plans, and an intense desire to watch an event taking place thousands of miles away, it is possible to stay in touch with the North American sports scene. But that would be too easy; streaming is a popular option for many expats and thrifty penny-pinchers who opt for the blurriness of an online stream and therefore slow down the connection. Often while watching game, the stream will lag or stop altogether to buffer. The second problem is streaming’s questionable legality, which periodically leads streams being shut down by a company claiming some violation of some other copyright agreement or some legal blabber of the sort. 

Of course there’s other options out there, if one is willing to pay. The official website of the NHL offers NHL Center Ice, which allows users to watch live games in high quality. For about $150, the user could secure the service for an entire year. But, for those of us studying in Europe, that service is not available. Instead, if we insist on having the highest quality (and legality), we have to sign up Espn 360, an overpriced and unreliable service known for its rude customer service. In view of this, it’s understandable that many opt for a free stream, despite its blurriness. 

Not many people know of these websites; I didn’t when I first got here, and I suffered. Last week, I met someone in my situation from last year. I understood exactly why he spends sleepless nights thinking about hockey; I’d much rather spend those sleepless nights watching it. This great passion we share brought us together, and we now have someone to watch illegal, blurry, laggy streams of games with. Or we could just talk hockey for a few hours over a couple beers. Or over a glass of good, fresh, pasteurized milk, just to combine the two things we miss the most from home.

Well it may not be the end of summer for you reader but for us here at the Chronicles Monday means no more summer for us. So to celebrate the only good thing about school which is that it means we are just that much closer to fall and hockey season I present you with End of Summer Video Palooza. And when I say palooza I’m very serious this is a LOT of videos! And in case your thinking ‘Hey stupid if its Monday then Sundays your last day of summer not today.’ I would agree but it would be the last day if I had done my assignments before hand instead of waiting for Sunday to cram. So here we go:

I know you all have probably seen this video but its one of my absolute favorites. Bruce’s kid is the cutest thing ever. He is also the luckiest kid ever.

Does anyone find the arguement between Green and Stecks about getting dumped slightly disturbing? But, completely adorable. Cougar Bait gets all bashful when Brady asks him about being well cougar bait is too funny.

Two kids reenacting famous fights including the most amazing slap fight ever AKA one of the top ten moments in Meghan’s life AKA Marc Staal v Alex Semin

Cabbie learn Russian from Semyon. Word of Warning: If you do NOT want to see Ovechkin scantly clad for any reason I don’t recommend this video.

Kris Versteeg doesn’t know a lot of words;

Thank you, thank you, thank you sweet jesus you said ‘under age’ when Miley Cyrus’s picture came up.

I found this video one time looking for a Cabbie as in the reporter video but I got a Nike commerical about a Goalie cab driver.

My favorite line is “Its hot in here!” “Maybe you should take off the mask.” “What mask?”

Gerry Dee ‘discredits’ the myth that hockey players aren’t very smart:

Okay I didn’t know one or two of those but good lord.

IF YOU WATCH ANY of these videos watch this one.

If you watch this video then do not barf and become OUTRAGED you should have.

Sharp and Burrish are hilarous. Word of Warning: If you do NOT want to see Sharp and Burish shirtless I don’t reccomend this video.

Maybe this is why Kane is so angry! Sharp and Burish are always picking on him and Toews!

An old commerical from when Mr. Fedorov was still on the Wings.

These kids are seriously hardcore!… too bad their on the same team!

Thanks to boston.com for the image

Let me see if I can get this straight, Canadiens’ fans. You are getting mauled by the Bruins in this series, so in order to show support for your team you boo the American National Anthem? (You can hear it at the end of this clip) Furthermore, you chant, “Go Habs Go” as the American National Anthem is being sung? Really? (Thanks to hubhockey.com for the link) You’re that classless and lost you resort to that? In my opinion that is absolutely pathetic. Not to mention this is not the first time this incident has taken place, you even had a public service announcement to curb it! Talk trash about the Bruins or any opposing team all you want, but to disrespect the Anthem is plain ridiculous. As I said before, I was never into the Bruins/Habs rivalry because I’m from Chicago, but actions like that are why you’re hated. I was looking forward to a long series with good hockey, but forget that. I cannot wait until it’s over so your 100th anniversary season ends and I can actually see some good hockey with fans that are passionate about their team. The sad part is that it’s not all of Canada that is like this, it seems as though this activity is isolated in Montreal. Why don’t you take a page from Calgary’s book in how to show support for your team? For those of you who don’t know, the “C of Red” is the Flame’s fans attempt to get behind their team, and it’s intense. Every fan is encouraged to wear a Flames jersey to the games, and after watching the Hawks/Flames game on Versus tonight, it looks awesome (especially picture 2). As a Blackhawk fan, I know the UC can get insane, but it was cool to see how the Calgary fans do it.

 Tonight was just what I needed after a rough day. The B’s played the Habs at 7 and then the Hawks/Flames game was on at 10. If you’re looking for a series to follow in this quarterfinal round, I can tell you right now the best round may be the Calgary Flames/Chicago Blackhawks series. When you have Todd Bertuzzi telling Mike Keenan to calm down, you know you’re in the middle of an intense series. Game 3 offered a lot for fans at every level of the game. As you may or may not know, the B’s put the Canadiens down 3-0 in the series after a 4-2 win tonight. Although the Bruins were outplayed at points during the game, they stay disciplined and weathered the storms. Any Boston fan would be happy with the composure the Bruins played with tonight. Short 3 key players, Hunwick, Lucic, and Ference, the Bruins were able to put the Canadiens in a hole (<— Stanley Cup of Chowder has a good breakdown) that seems impossible to get out of.

Alright, so this is what I wanted to get to since the begining of the Bruin’s game. Here is my challenge to all American fans when a Canadian team is in your building. While this can hopefully pour into next season, right now I am challenging Chicago fans (unfortunately there will be a game 5), St.Louis fans, and Boston fans (if there is a game 5 on Saturday), and every other American city that will host a Canadian team. When the Canadian National Anthem is sung, cheer as loud as you can, sing along, and make as much noise as possible in the most respectful way possible. Does this sound soft and I don’t like competition? Nope, I love hockey and the NHL because of how much passion the fans have, and how classy the players are. Therefore, lets continue to keep the NHL the benchmark of conduct for all professional sports.

In closing, I hope to see Montreal back in Boston on Saturday so we can give the Canadien’s fans a clinic on sportsmanship.

Lets start the week of with a great hit by Keith Ballard, followed by Crosby trying to even the score. Obviously Crosby went after Ballard because of the hit on Malkin, but it was a clean hit…what’s up with that Crosby?

Great fight from the CHL….

You could probably assume this is a scene re-enacted a few times in South Boston tonight…

See you Monday.

A quick note before I meet up with commissionerdangle for some lunch. This was a fight from last night, and the prime example why fighting is necessary in hockey. It holds people accountable for their actions. After Maxim Afinogenov scored an empty-netter to seal the 5-3 victory for Buffalo, Florida’s Horton cheap shots Afinogenov. It’s to bad Ballard had to stick up for Horton and fight tough guy Rivet, but it happens. It goes to show that attempts to injure star players will not be tolerated in the NHL. There are immediate consequences, and issues are dealt with on the ice. I’m sure some suspensions and/or fines will stem from this battle. Horton better be buying steak dinners for Ballard for the rest of the season considering Ballard had to deal with the judge, jury, and executioner otherwise known as Craig Rivet. Rivet, one of the most stand-up captains in the league, loves the rought stuff and I would not like to meet him in a dark alley…Buffalo is one team that has some bruisers that are not afraid to stick up for their teammates….proven in 2007’s line brawl with Ottawa.

Heads up for a great piece on Hartnell from The Freshness around 2pm today.

I know this video does not have sound, but it’s the HQ version and the videos with audio were grainy. Either way Jordin Tootoo of Nashville really took a beating last Thursday night, compliments of Brad Staubitz. Probably one of the best fights last week, a prequel to the series starting next week: Fight of the Week, Hit of the Week, Goal of the Week, and Save of the Week. I do want to point out 2 things in this fight that a casual fan may not notice. This goes back to my 4 part series on fighting in the NHL and the code players follow.

1. Tootoo knew he had tape on his right hand and took it off at about the 1:05 mark before he threw a punch. Even though he would have been assessed an additional penalty, he showed respect for his opponent and removed the tape.

2. Staubitz clearly had the upper hand in this fight. Although, when Staubitz realized Tootoo was clearly defeated and injured, Staubitz ceased from throwing anymore punches and had the linesman come in. You will see players do this from time to time in honest concern for their opponent.

I would like to add that this was Tootoo’s second fight in just over a week and a half. Previously, Tootoo refrained from throwing punches when Matt Bradley, of Washington, was visibly injured.

Since I decided it was a suitable subtitle for my blog, I figured it was only fitting that today’s blog be called:

This Just in…

The Maryland women’s basketball team came up with it’s slogan for next year:   “We eat kids”.  

I frickin’ love it.  I don’t need a slogan, but if I did, I’m pretty sure it’d be along the same lines.  I’d probably tone it down a bit though.  Maybe ”I punch babies.” 

It wouldn’t be entirely true, but I think I’d do it if it people didn’t tend to frown on it.  Maybe I’ll change my blog subtitle to that.  Bourne’s Blog:  I punch babies.  Goo goo ga - BAM!

This Just in…

A place called 123 Burger Shot Beer.com exists.

In today’s post-meeting NYC wandering, I stumbled upon it as a lunch spot.  Guess what it serves?  Burgers.  Shots.  Beer.  Apparently, you give the kind gentleman behind the bar eight dollars, and he gives you one of each.  Where was that in college?

Also – I saw Hell’s Kitchen on a restaurant sign.  Thinking of the reality show, I wandered over to take a peek, but noticed the place beside it was a part of Hells Kitchen too.  And the one across the street.  And the one beside that.  How many of my Canadian brethren knew that Hells Kitchen was actually a part of New York City?  Well, now you do.

This Just in…

I think pigeons kind of walk how horses run, all neck-first ‘n stuff.  Aren’t you glad you read my blog today?

This Just in…

I know most of my readers are avid hockey followers, so lets discuss:

If you were looking at the NHL as a business, and were considering taking fighting out of the game, do you think you would be able to replace the blood-loving fans who might stop watching the game?  Are there hockey fans out there who are so turned off by the brutality of fighting that they’ve stayed out of the rinks, but would return if we exiled the scraps?  Aside from how it would effect the game, and the product to the fan who would watch either way, how do you make up for the likely loss in attendance?

The NHL is seeing a seismic shift in the demographic of it’s fan base.  From a business standpoint, I would contend that there is no way the NHL can afford to cut fights out of the game, dangerous to the players or not.  The players know the risks involved in their profession, and choose to fight, fully aware of the slab of slippery concrete beneath them.  I have a feeling I’ll be getting further into this later.

And last…

This Just in…

Puppy Cash and I, with Bruce peekin’ in:

B’s earned their way to 2-points tonight against the Senators. Much like the Dow Jones, the B’s seemed to be showing signs of life after 2 straight losses and and going 2-4-0 so far in March. However, much like their last home win, the Bruins gave up a commanding lead to make it interesting in the third. It was great to see the Bruins get it going early, and show November like spunk, but that all washed away as the Senators overcame a 3 goal deficit.

To be honest, I spent most of the game BSing with golfernick working on my swing for this week’s golfing extravaganza in Arizona and did not pay attention until Edwards was able to talk over our conversation. With that said, this could be one of the lamest recaps of the year. Feel free to watch the Lucic fight and move on to hubhockey.com for full coverage, the also have a B’s Ice Girl bracket going on.

Anyway the Bruins started the scoring after Aaron Ward found himself in no man’s land, creeping in the neutral zone, and caught a feed from Patty Cakes Bergeron. Ward, unfamiliar with the breakaway he was given, unloaded a bombski from the hash marks to beat ex-Bruin Alex Auld and put the Bru-Crew up by 1. 3 1/2 minutes later PJ upped his scoring (50% of his goals are still empty netters) by creating a nice give and go from David Krejci. Nice to see Krejci getting some points after a huge slump. Four seconds later Lucic and and Chris Neil decided to chuck some knuckles, with the hopes Neil could spark Ottawa’s bench. Going back to the 4 part series on fighting, these are the types of fights the NHL is trying to ban, ridiculous. Regardless, it was a great scrap and the crowd seemed into it. As Mike Milbury has said, if you don’t like the fighting, change the channel; no doubt about that, hockey has never had so much coverage until this debates has come up.

Kobasew rounded out the Bruin’s scoring in the third after a nice pass from Ryder, although Ottawa neutralized that goal with a ticky-tack goal by Spezza. The second period was probably as boring as it comes with no scoring and a Bruins PP they could not convert on (going 1-3 on the night, not bad). Between periods Lucic stated that the most important part of the third was to come out and score within the first 5 minutes. Kessel made sure of that scoring on a 6 on 5 goal after the refs missed a to many men penalty. Kessel’s goal was an absolute sting that beat Auld glove side for his 28th jingle of the season. At 4-1 it seemed as though the game was all but over, however Ottawa showed quite a bit of resolve and came back to make the score an interesting 4-3. This is about the time I started watching, as Ottawa was on the doorstep of scoring. With under a minute to go the Bruins were able to clear the zone, and out of no where Kessel blew by the Sen’s defensman to dump in his 29th of the season, 1 goal away from LPsnipa owing commissionerdangle a steak dinner. I was watching intently to see if Carrie Underwood or Hillary Duff were potentially in Boston for the evening. But, if they were I’m sure I would have gotten a call from either of them.

Alright, that’s it from thekiiid and tonight’s game. It’s tough to get excited based up on the B’s record this March . According to the pattern, the Bruins should drop the next two games and win the third. Last I checked the Devils were smokeshowing the Coyotes tonight, and therefore keeping pace with Boston for the lead in the East. Lets hope the Bruins can hang on and get back into a groove prior to the playoffs start, at least get into a winning rhythm.

thekiiiiiiiiiiid’s 3-stars

*** Jason Spezza-2 goals

**Aaron Ward-Short-handed goal/bomb-cakes on the break away

* Phil Kessel- Off an injury and putting away 2 this game, one being the game-winner