NGKEIB

Could we get his father instead?

On a slightly different tack - I wouldn't be unhappy if there was less fighting in the NHL. I subscribe to NHLfights.com on youtube, and frankly find most of the fights that come up to be dull and boring. All of this bobbing and weaving and jabbing with the hand used to tie up the opponents jersey is plain boring, especially when it is staged (i.e. not the result of a controversial hit etc.). For every ten recent fights I watch on youtube, I consider about one or two to have entertainment value. You rarely see people stick their chin out and engage in a punch-in-the-face contest anymore. Where am I going with this? Nowhere else than a joking suggestion to Brendan Shanahan to suspend people for not engaging in entertaining fights. P.S. If you're looking for 'entertainment', check out some of the videos uploaded onto youtube by one 'Humpzilla'. He has some classics.

I'll stick to my Château Petrus and Romanée-Conti. Just kidding - though I'm always wary of 'celebrity' type wines - they tend to not be very good as well as being overpriced.

The Swedes have a similar award named the Viking Trophy. Good for Pasha.

One point by a pedantic polyglot... Instead of Viva la Octolution, to properly follow the Spanish I would propose "Viva la octolución". They look great!

Octopi? The correct plural forms are octopuses or octopodes. Octopi is a fake plural form by someone who thought that octopus was a second declension Latin noun. It's originally a Greek word, and as far as declensions go it is treated as a third declension noun and the Latin plural is therefore octopodes (following the Greek plural form)... Go Wings!

You both beat me to it... I think if there was a replay showing it from another angle (e.g. side-on) it wouldn't look quite as weird.

Maybe one of these guys (like the guy at the bottom) could become commissioner: http://www.kaygriffin.com/Our_Attorneys/

It looks like Detroit won't be the only team with a two-colour jersey next year...

Shame that Sammy is no longer here to claim the sniping award.

Yes, but Franzén actually does score in the playoffs... Didn't see Emmerton's game, but Mursak looked good.

You can download some old games from nhltorrents.co.uk. For instance, I know that they have game 4 of the 1998 finals. Better than nothing. It would be great to have more though (digitalize your tapes!).

But we will forgive him as soon as he starts scoring this post-season...

Re Brett Lebda - playing for Notre Dame doesn't make one Irish. We'll just have to wait for Callahan and Sheahan. Life is tough...

Don't worry - I'm not vain, I'm just sarcastic (and incredibly good-looking). I agree with what you say. But let's not get side-tracked (and I'm not saying you were leading anyone down this path) - I would rather have a heavy-hitting fourth line to wear out opposition than a one-dimensional guy (the irony being that everyone in this thread agrees with that sentiment). Let's get a group of loose forwards who can hit those rucks and make some punishing tackles and go from there. I would rather have Willem 'The Pain' Alberts than Drew 'Peel Off/If My Brother Wasn't Ryan I Wouldn't Be Here' Miller.

?

Voted yes, and haven't played comptetitive hockey in North America. As for the other poll, I have a BA (Cantab.) in history. I'm not posting a picture as that would make everyone jealous.

He's the guy who took an Ovechkin shot to the face and returned later in the game to score a game-tying shorthanded goal. He's also the guy that Ovechkin kneed, with the end result that Ovechkin was injured.

You have clearly never watched soccer if you think it is gentlemanly... Players dive, argue with the referee, take cheap shots etc. Rugby (union, of course, not league) could arguably be called a gentleman's game (players leave their differences on the field and go out for beers afterwards, anyone who addresses referees the way athletes do in hockey and football would get sin-binned, etc.). That said, rugby is still full of violent, awful incidents (perhaps some of it can be attributed to the end of the amateur era in the 90s) just like any other sport. At the end of the day, one can only talk about players, not about sports or leagues. So, at times it would be nice to have a player with a violent, physical aspect to their game in the roster, I would hate to have the kinds of players who start fights after clean hits (get it out of your system Ericsson...) and so forth.

It would be nice to have the lovechild of Derek Boogaard and Andy Bezeau in the line-up the next time we face Calgary...

Draper-Helm I can understand, but Eaves is nothing like Maltby in terms of agitation.

Even though Järnkrok (Yairn-krook) didn't score, I agree that he was always in the thick of things. He played on the PK, on the point on the PP, was used lots towards the end of the game, and even though he didn't score in the shootout, the fact that he was picked says something. He's the leading rookie scorer in Elitserien and is one of the nominees for rookie of the year.

On the Vityaz roster: Chris Simon Josh Gratton Darcy Verot Brandon Sugden What a surprise... This stuff isn't even entertaining. I'm off to watch some Kerry Toporowski and Andy Bezeau clips...

I suppose that Barton has got to be up there. Apart from the cigar in the eye, he's seriously assaulted a teenager in a McDonald's at around three in the morning, injured a few players on the pitch, and I believe that his half-brother is a racist axe-murderer. Fortunately, there are no rugby players on that list, as it is a sport of hooligan's played by gentlement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rugby_union_incidents I don't hate Bert. I don't hate Sean Avery - only because that is exactly what he wants.