Sunday was interesting

by Anne

First the good:

The Kings won and Anze Kopitar scored yet another two goals as he takes firm control of first place in league scoring. I'm not sure he can keep up the pace all season, but if he can be at least half as hot all season, the Kings will be in good shape down the middle, especially with Jarret Stoll having a great season, points wise and in the faceoff circle.

Look at that cocky SOB, hahaha
Click to enlarge

Kopi does his best Pat Kane impression

If these two can stay consistent, the Kings will do quite well

The Canucks won 2-0, Bobby Lu set a new Canucks record for career shutouts, and Ryan Kesler cracked his stick over his knee in a fit because Tom Gilbert tripped him and nothing was called:

Oh Kes.
Big Bear just skates calmly by, opting to not respond... that is if he even noticed.

He didn't score, but he's always in this position, and it works out well for the Canucks when he is

:)

Now the bad:

Is anyone in the NHL still alive after this weekend?

First Darcy Tucker, then David Booth, Carlo Colaiacovo (the Tim Connolly of the Leafs and now the Blues) and then Jason Chimera are all the recipients of highly controversial hits. I won't post all the YouTube clips of them, Puck Daddy has them compiled nicely, as per usual.

These hits all upset me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost that I find it incredibly upsetting to see a sport, a game, come so close to seriously injuring someone. I understand that hockey is a high-speed and high-contact sport, but at some point, there has to be a limit to what is and isn't acceptable, and there must be some consistency in how these things are dealt with.

I'm not saying that Ruutu (Tucker), Richards (Booth), Ott (Colaiacovo) and Scuderi (Chimera) should all be just grouped together and suspended but the league can't treat these kinds of hits on a case-by-case basis if they want to send any kind of statement about how unacceptable these kinds of dangerous hits are.

Also, in the "good": The Bills won this weekend. Miraculous.