Good Ol' Shoe

"Ouch, That Really Hurt! I Mean Honestly, Who Throws A Shoe?"

Some Foreign Leaders get flowers thrown onto their path during official state visits. Bush causes journalists to take off their shoes and launch them at his head. If you ask me, security wasn't worth a damn because it looked like everyone in the room was wearing shoes.

Only one more month to go George, hang in there.

The Biggest Losers

Looking at the loser points, which is the point the NHL gives each losing team when a game goes to overtime or a shootout, the Chicago Blackhawks are currently this years biggest losers. Hoo-hah!

With 7 loser points awarded, the Hawks currently lead the league in the moral category of "at least we got a point out of it". The Flyers and the Habs are the frontrunners in the East with 6 and 5 points respectively. The NHL might as well have a trophy of some sort at the end of the season that honors the team who wasn't the best, but was good enough by their standards.

In the NHL's version of musical chairs, everyone gets a seat. This bugs me because these are the types of games we used to play at the insane asylum institute I used to work in (or live in, I can't remember anymore). I'm a big boy now, I can admit when my team lost. You don't have to sugar coat it for me.

I'm too lazy to check out my previous posts from my previous blog, but I distinctly remember a team or two who made the playoffs in the past two years because of these loser points. That said, every team is awarded these points and take them without question. It's equal. It seems to be a different team every year who is hot in OT or the shootout.

My question is, wouldn't overtime or the shootout mean that much more if both teams were going after a single 2 points instead of already having a point each in the bag?

If I remember correctly, the whole reasoning behind this hideous extra point to the losing team was to make teams go for the win. To stop playing the trap and waiting for a tie to ensure the team gets a point out of it because, now, they had nothing to lose. When the tie died (hee hee, filthy hippies) with the birth of the shootout, this should have ended that concern. At least you think it would have.

What defensive team with no scoring talent that has gotten away waiting for ties, or the loser points awarded, is going to excel in the shootout? I know each army has it's gladiator for these purposes, but it still takes an average of 2 goals to win in a shootout these days (don't quote me on that please).

If we wanted more offense, why not award a team that has won by more than 2 goals an extra point? We could also get into an "illegal defense" type of penalty for a team that only sends one forechecker into the offensive zone. Hell, we could even award a penalty for even touching a guy who doesn't have the puck (oh wait, the instigator penalty. HA!).

As ridiculous as all that sounds, it isn't half as ridiculous as this loser point system. If anything, a team could play the entire game holding onto hope that the score is 0-0. They still get a point despite the absence of offense. What else is the coach supposed to do with the untalented bench thrust upon him by upper management?

I personally play a lot of strategy games online and I know for a fact that's easier to defend than it is to attack. If you don't have the skills, manpower, or the arsenal to take the other side than it's better to sit and wait it out. The lessons of WWI still hold true today.

I also know most coaches careers live and die on their win-loss record. If I was a coach with a lack of talent in the dressing room (compared to the rest of the league of course, I still feel winded after putting on my skates), I would coach the exact same strategy. Limit goals against.

I'm babbling now, but these are my feelings.

I could save myself a lot of time by stamping that last sentence.

Anyhoo, I am babbling.

Sean Avery Gets 6 Games

Sadly, I've tossed and turned over this one. On one hand, Avery is getting 6 games without a hearing before his suspension was handed to him in official form. On the other, he's supposed to represent the Dallas Stars and, to a lesser extent, the NHL.

Basically, the dudes an asshole. It's not a crime. There are a lot of Sean Avery's out there. I'm possibly one of them (anyone who knows me can chime in here). However, the Stars signed this guy for 4 years at the tune of $15.5 million already knowing who Sean Avery was. Co-GM Brett Hull roomed with the guy for crying out loud. I live on Manitoulin Island and even I know what the score is. I pretty sure they knew what they were getting into.

To cry and isolate a player in their organization like they've done seems hollow. If Brett Hull really thinks that his said player needs mental help, then why say it on national television? How would a patient in need of mental care deal with that? I watch enough Gilmore Girls (because of the woman, honestly) to know that if anything, this is all a PR move of the behalf of Tom Hicks. Crazy people are smiled at, not called names. You don't want a crazy person on your ass, trust me.

You don't sign the Sean Avery's of the world with $15 million dollar contracts unless you really need them, you don't leave them hanging when they do exactly what they used to do, and which you sort of paid for, and you don't tug on Superman's cape.

By the way, if Avery had made these remarks about Jane Doe instead of Elisha Cuthbert, does Avery still get 6 games?

I think not.

We can't have controversy in Hollywood, can we?

It Begins

Gunner's back. Back again. Yes, I'm back. Tell a friend. Yes I'm back, yes I'm back, yes I'm back, yes I'm back, daadaaduuh....

Okay, enough Shady. The point is (if you haven't gotten it already you dumbass) that I'm writing again. Not that anyone cares, but it's a milestone for me.

You see, I started blogging during those wonder years of the NHL lockout purely out of rage. Boy, those were the days weren't they? Anyhoo, I came to think in my head that it was the only reason I was writing (because in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm not a writer by trade) was because this fact. Well, I was wrong.

I love Hockey. I love writing about it. I love the passion hockey fans have for even the most inane topics. I'm also pretty sure that writing about this passion in blog form and not ranting about Sidney Crosby or Wayne Gretzky to my wife-equivalent (Sweet Jehosephat, I spelled that right on the first try) has saved the relationship with my better half on more than one occasion.

Regardless, Shit, er Hockey Happens.