More on Chara

“I sincerely appreciate all of the support that I have received since my injury. I was disappointed that the NHL did not suspend Zdeno Chara. However, I have no desire for him to be prosecuted legally. I feel that the incident, as ugly as it was, was part of a hockey game."

-Max Pacioretty

Now here are a few replies to the Puck Daddy article on the subject.

KICKER says, "New England sports teams = CHEATERS first Patriots and now the Bruins what next the Red Sox CMON MAN quit cheating in New England."

Probably a bitter sports fan from NYC. I'm thinkin' the Giants lost to the Pats and the Rangers/Islanders lost to Boston. Let's not be territorial now.


Topher3134 says, "Yet another reason that the rest of the world hates french canadians!!! Put them all on a boat and ship them to france and get them out of our hemisphere! I hate you french canadians!!!"

Douchebag. Let's focus on the hit which involved a Slovak and an American. This quote seriously pisses me off.


David says, "I suppose the Montreal Police and Louis Dionne are will want a uniformed officer on skates during the games. The police need to take care of street crime and let the players play hockey. Don't get confused."

Other than the grammer, I totally agree with David.


A Yahoo! User says, "Air Canada=on a good day maybe 2 planes that work!"

Gary Bettman, in reply to Air Canada's threat, said that if they revoked their sponsorship, he would stop all teams from boarding Air Canada planes to travel. Oh Gary.


Brian W (76ers fan) says, "This has gone too far, it's not Chara's fault that Pacioretty hit his head in an unfortunate area of the ice. It just happened to be where the glass was sticking out. Quebec has nothing better to do."

Despite how right or wrong these people get, it apparently has nothing to do with hockey anymore. It's just Americans, Canadians, and Québécois fighting through hockey like children. Stop posting your racist comments on Youtube and Puck Daddy and whatever other websites you visit just so you can feel cool by saying 'frog' or 'f***in' cheating New England'. It's time to grow up.

Let Talk Rookies, How'd They Do? Edition

Anaheim's Luca Sbisa - 8 points in 58 games thus far. Recently signed a 4-year extension on his contract.

Atlanta's Arturs Kulda - 2 PIMs and -2 in 2 games. I'm 1 for 2.

Boston's Tyler Seguin - A good young player whose production (21 points in 61 games) is less than expected.

Buffalo's Tyler Ennis - 38 points in 66 games, has made a big impact in Buffalo.

Calgary's Tim Erixon - Swing and a miss here, 0 points in 0 games. Maybe next year?

Carolina's Bobby Sanguinetti - 9 in 19 with Charlotte. Yikes!

Chicago's Kyle Beach - Another miss.

Colorado's Colby Cohen - The Avs did end up calling up Shattenkirk so this [-1 in 3 games] messed me up.

Columbus' Nikita Filatov - 7 in 23. Why can't they let this kid play?

Dallas' Philip "Danish D-Man" Larsen - 2 assists in 6 games with 11 shots (a lot for a rookie defenseman).

Detroit's Tomas Tatar - one goal in nine games.

Edmonton's 'Trio' - J.E.=36 in 55, M.P.=26 in 66, T.H. 42 in 65. Paajarvi disappointed but the other were good. Too bad about Hall's season.

Florida's Michal Repik - 5 in 16 games. I might have to stop doing this whole 'talk rookie' thing.

Los Angeles' Brayden Schenn - 2 assists in 8 games. I was piised when he was sent to the minors.

Minnesota's Casey Wellman - 2 in 14. Not good enough. I have four of his "Hot Rookies" card from this years Score set.

Montreal's P.K. Subban - 29 in 62 with 5 PPG, probably the biggest impact of 'my' rookies.

Nashville's Jonathon Blum - 2 points in 8 games.

New Jersey's Mattias Tedenby - 14 in 42 games.

New York Islander's Nino Niederreiter - 2 points in 9 games.

New York Rangers' Mats Zuccarello Aasen - 19 points in 34 games. Scored about three game-winning shootout goals in his first few games.

Ottawa Senators' Zack Smith - 6 in 39 with 54 shots and 63 PIMs.

Philadelphia Flyers - Backlund, Bourdon, Lehtivuori, Pither, and Testwuide have not played. Laliberte was traded. Holmstrom, Kalinski, and Wellwood have 3 points in 14 games, combined. Bobrovsky has 25 wins in 43 games with a .917 save % and a 2.52 GAA.

Phoenix's Oliver Ekman-Larsson - 11 points and 50 shots in 46 games.

(Arm)pitt's Eric Tangradi - 2 in 14.

San Jose's Nick Petrecki - Schenectady native hasn't played this season.

St. Louis' Alex Pietrangelo - 36 points in 64 games.

Tampa Bay's Dana Tyrell - 12 points in 63 games.

Toronto's Nazem Kadri - 6 points in 17 games. Too bad he didn't play the whole season.

Vancouver's Cody Hodgson - 2 points in 8 games.

Washington's Marcus Johansson - 20 points in 55 games. This guy impressed me.

So by my calculations, I was 13-for-41 (31.7%)
Not bad for... Okay it's bad.

Hey Quebec, You Can Calm Down

Seriously. The police. This has gotten out of hand.

Did Chara avoid suspension because he plays with Colin Campbell's son?
Here's your answer. Shut the hell up. Maybe Greg Campbell could avoid suspension, but a teammate? That's freakin' farfetched.

I think the Prime Minister should stop watching hockey games and start running a country.

Pacioretty said he was "disappointed" the league didn't suspend Chara, but he doesn't think legal action is neccesary.

Air Canada? "Oh no, we have to rename our rink. It's so bad because nobody would sponsor the Maple Leafs, in Canada." Yeah right.

Yes, I do think it is a shame that Pacioretty was injured that badly. Nobody wants to see that. But c'mon, let's think about this. Chara isn't that bad a guy. Even Ryan Smyth, who was hit into the stanchion himself, says that isn't suspension worthy.

And I'm absolutely disgusted by some of the anti-Canadian, anti-American, and anti-Bruin comments on Youtube. Go quick, because comments are flowing in every 4 seconds.

Wives Carnival

Ian Laperriere was there, so was the rest of the Flyers (for the most part). I got to meet Carle, Coburn (who is so freakin' cool), Richards (I almost died), and Pronger (I did die). Not to mention Gary Dornhoefer, Don Saleski (it was cool to see 'Big Bird' in person), Bob 'Hound' Kelly, Dave 'The Hammer' Schultz, and Bernie 'Freakin' Parent. I wish I had better pictures, but I was too enticed with all the Flyers stuff that I couldn't stop to take good quality pictures. For those who were there, who else stood in the Alumni line for 2 hours? I did. I had an auto with Pronger at 5:00 and a picture with Richards at 5:30. When did I get out of the Alumni line? 5:24. But I made both appointments. A great day ended with a cheesesteak from Tony Luke's and I watched some of Paul McCartny is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison.

Flyers Wives Fight for Lives

is a great charity that has raised nearly $23 million in it's 30+ years of operating. I'm going on Sunday. I don't know whether I should get my jersey signed (front or back?) or get some of my cards signed. There will be alumni such as Joe "Thundermouth" Watson, Bobby Clarke, and Bernie Parent. Does anyone know if there will be players from the 80's? I can't wait to see Jim Jackson. My mom says she's gonna give him a Utica Club shirt. I don't believe it, but if you hear him say anything about it during a broadcast then you know who did it.

New Collection

I've started collecting cards from the 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA set.

This is what I've bought so far:

Bryan Campbell
That's actually the Vancouver Blazers, that is where Philadelphia transferred to after the 1972-73 season.

Danny Lawson

Real Cloutier
Gotta love those original Nordiques jerseys.

Marc Tardif
The 18 year-old, photographed in his letterman jacket.

Serge Bernier
Why can't hockey players pose for cards like this anymore?

Andre Lacroix
And finally, the greatest WHA palyer in it's 7 seasons. He's in a nice light blue Blazers jersey (airbrushed), yet I don't know why. Maybe there was speculation that the Mariners jersey wouldn't look like this.courtesy of whauniforms.com

There will be more to come on this subject.

Why the Flyers Should Trade for Dustin Penner

Dustin Penner is a good hard-nosed player who plays in front of the net. He also can score 25 goals and 25 assists in a season. He scored 32-31-63 with Edmonton (worst team in the league) last year. He would be a perfect fit in Philly. Plus he played a crucial role in the Ducks (Pronger and O'Donnell) Stanley Cup win of 2007.

If Edmonton is looking for scoring and skill, goodbye Zherdev. If Edmonton is looking for grit and toughness, goodbye Hartnell. If Laviolette would rather play Carcillo or Shelley instead of a skilled player such as Zherdev (who is in the last year of his contract), then we might as well pick up some one who will play. As for Hartnell, he has about as many points as Penner (1 more) with double the stupid, unneeded penalties.

So to recap, trade for Penner - win the Stanley Cup.



Also, as for the Versteeg deal. It was stupid he is clearly not worth a first round pick, let alone a first and third. Just because he won a Cup last year doesn't make him an All-Star.

Flyers Vs. Kings

I will be attending the Flyers-Kings game on Sunday and it is looking to be a good one. The Flyers royally pounded L.A. the last time they faced each other (and if I'm not mistaken, Pronger was injured). With the current goalie fights, wouldn't it be nice to see Bernier challenge Richards. Oh man, that would be the pounding of a lifetime, even better than when Richards fought Cooke this year. Let's go Flyers.

Flyers Have Skills

The Draft last night was pretty fun. The players all had a great time. Who else saw Ovie snapping a picture of Kessel being the only one left to be drafted.

Here's where the Flyers will be participating:
Briere (passing) - McDonald's NHL Accuracy Shooting™
Giroux (group 2) - G Series NHL Skills Challenge Relay™
Briere (group 2) - G Series NHL Skills Challenge Relay™

I can't stop laughing at the fact Briere will be passing. He'll probably try to wrap it around the net.

Either way the Skills is always entertaining.

2011 All-Star Game in Raleigh

The All-Star Game is coming up this weekend. I will watch it, as I have every year (post-lockout). What I'm looking forward to most is the Skills Competition tomorrow and the Guardian Project during the second intermission on Sunday.

Here's a few facts about this ASG:
-Chicago and Vancouver each have 3 forwards in the game, CHI also has 1 D-man (the most among individuals represented).
-Buffalo, Edmonton, Florida, and NYI have only 1 rookie participating this weekend.
-Calgary, with Iginla's withdrawl, have no players represented in Raleigh.
-Peter Laviolette will not coach former coachee Eric Staal, Ward still a possibilty.
-Chara has won the Hardest Shot three years in a row (MacInnis holds 4 in-a-row record).
-The last ASG two brothers played in at the same time; 2000 (Pavel, Valeri Bure).
-Two former ASG MVPs are playing in this years game, Briere and Eric Staal.
-Just five goalies and two defenseman have been named MVP since it's 1962 inception.
-Philadelphia has had one MVP; 1980, Reggie Leach.
-Panini will release Score redemption cards at the game; the cards have special ASG2011 logos on them.