haroldsnepsts

to get our shot count up? or to wear the opponents down with bruised shins?

Yeah! Wasn't that race for the icing exciting!!!!

I guess that sort of shows where he's at in his development if he's scratched for Downey.

okay, now that looked like a pretty soft call.

sorry if this has been mentioned already, but is McCarty a healthy scratch today?

ah. nope. Rafalski grabbed him on the shoulder with his right hand. definitely a penalty.

that looked kinda weak to me. like he was leaning back to keep Raffy away from the puck, then fell backwards.

because when he gets a call girl, he's not looking for someone to like him.

I sometimes wonder if Kopecky's falling down a lot is mostly a fitness issue. It seems like he's falling down on a lot after he's been on the ice a while.

Tootoo didn't drop the gloves because Downey actually saw him coming.

A 22 page thread for a meaningless game against St. Louis? I'm assuming it's due to goalie bashing and players sucking.

It was. They showed about 3 replays that showed it deflect off a Wings players (Franzen?) skate. Then it turned into a knuckler that he tried to fight off, it hit his shoulder and it ended up top corner. The last one was a little weak, but otherwise I thought the others were good goals. it's not really worth getting into anyway.

If you're watching them through hasek colored glasses, I can understand how you'd see it that way. and away we go...

Just curious. Tonight in the Avs-Vancouver game, a Vancouver player reached out with his stick one handed and touched Forsberg above the knee. Floppa literally jumped and slid on the ice. Naturally, the ref called a penalty. Which made me wonder, can the league review something like that and send Floppa one of those warning letter or potential fine if he's been warned before, even though a penalty was called? It was about as clear as a dive could possibly be. Both Forsberg and the ref who called the penalty should be ashamed of themselves. Seriously. I take back anything good I ever said about Floppa. I don't care how good he is in the playoffs, the douchebag is an embarrassment to real hockey players when he does crap like that. The Avs scored on the ensuing power play too.

Buccigross's latest column Highlights: He doesn't pick for all the awards, but does pick for Vezina, Calder, and Hart.

Here it is from last night. Enjoy. EDIT: The best view of it is at the very end of the clip.

you mean the nice layout position as he dives? I must admit, he's very graceful when he jumps off his feet, stretches fully out, and flops to the ice like he's been shot. Great player, strong skater, 6' 200+ lbs. Which makes his diving all the more disgraceful. He will always be Floppa to me. I would love for someone to post his dive tonight on Youtube. It seriously was one of his best.

Actually unless you're an Avs fan, his nickname is Floppa.

I know he has too. But could the league do it for a play where a penalty was called?

That's the game Yzerman got punched by a fan as he was walking off the ice. that's what the commotion is at the end of the clip. Stevie was a classy guy, but it's easy to forget what a competitor he was. He was tenacious.

good point! I didn't think it through, actually they'd be even more in the spotlight!

That's really the heart of the issue. And as brtd pointed out, all the talk of excitement touch up icing brings overlooks all the times we get to watch a defenseman mosey back to his end of the rink to get the puck without another player within 60 ft. I think the biggest proponents of keeping current icing are linesman. They always seem so excited when they grab the puck and race down the ice to the faceoff circle. It's their one moment in the spotlight. Edited for clarity, hopefully.

How many times is someone going to use this slippery slope argument??? As Gordie and others have said (including me, I think). It's about evaluating the risk versus the potential reward or "excitement" of the current icing rules. Honestly, I never realized how many people actually found that an exciting play. It rarely turns into anything interesting. And those times it has the most potential for excitement are also the most dangerous. Two guys racing neck and neck at top speed towards the end boards, jockeying for positions with their sticks out to touch the puck. Honestly I'm not sure it's time for no-touch icing. There may be other solutions. But I'm tired of the "hockey is dangerous" reasoning. Because it can work the other way too. why not eliminate helmets? cups? then we'll see who really wants to block that shot. allow all high sticks. Why should you not be able to play the puck just because it's over your head? hockey is a rough sport. If someone gets skewered in the face with a stick, they should've had their head up.

Wow. I never saw that fight or even heard about it. He caught probert right on the button. It looks like that was early in his career? 86-87 maybe? It says round 3, but this might be the rematch.

I was checking the NHL Network listing to see if they were showing a hockey game tonight. They aren't. But they are showing the Top Ten Steve Yzerman goals at 4pm EST, for those interested and more importantly, those who actually have the channel. http://www.nhlnetwork.com/en_US/tvListings