LTS

If you need to resort to a physical response then how about this. The punishment fits the crime. Eller waved at the bench. He didn't cheap shot anyone. He didn't hit anyone really hard. He waved. A more appropriate response, would be to go and give his waving hand a "subtle" slash and let him know the next time he won't be able to move that hand for 6 weeks. Think about it. Where does Marchand go from here? Imagine what his response has to be if Tom Wilson runs McAvoy the way he did Sundqvist. Marchand will have to stab him with his skate.

I know I am projecting my values onto things. Where you are mistaken is that hockey players are trained to navel gaze so they aren't distracted by puck movement and stick handling. What Marchand demonstrated is nothing the world didn't already know... he's a douche who has the ability to help his team when he's on the ice, not sitting in the penalty box, locker room, or press box. Ahh the dismissive... "unless you've played at a high level". The "code" as you put it exists at many levels, in many ways. They are all variants of the same thing. Don't be foolish enough to think that it's something that can only be defined by those who've played at a certain level. Don't mistake my opposite position on the situation as ignorance of it. You speak to me as if I don't understand what Marchand was doing. I know what Marchand was doing, I know why he was doing it. I understand why he feels compelled to respond the way he did. I also understand why his "message" is meaningless. What did he prove? Who learned a lesson? Who, in the entire world, is now saying, "Oh hell, if we are up 7-0 on the Bruins we better not wave at them because that fool Marchand might jump us on the ice." The bottom line is that no one learned anything. No message was received. Brad Marchand was childish and resorted to the tried and true tactics of a neanderthal. If you can't figure out how to succeed, punch it. I am sure he felt better afterwards. Good for him. He still lost 7-0. The next time I saw him I would still be laughing.

For the most part, since I am watching on TV, I don't mind that RJ is doing the calls. I can see what is going on and I know when he's made a mistake. I just don't care. However, when I am trying to listen on the radio it's a very different story. Dunleavy and RJ are both bad for that. The radio requires a picture to be painted and at this point RJ's brush has lost a lot of bristles and Dunleavy is still using his fingers.

This is awesome. No matter what happens this season, the energy in the building leading up to puck drop will be an indicator of what this fan base CAN do. Hold onto that because not all of us will get to experience it.

I am sure they did. It was straight up disrespectful, I agree. I would never feel "disrespected" by it however. I'm just not that shallow. I would be straight up embarrassed that I was getting my butt handed to me 7-0. It would motivate me to go play harder and not resort to that infantile crap. The only point that Marchand proved was that he and his team are thin skinned and if you rattle them, they'll break. Yeah, the code. You sure you didn't play professionally in the 30's? Again, thin skinned; easy to take advantage of and will take stupid penalties. You are Marty McFly hating to be called chicken. I would have a field day with that.

Lars Eller's taunt, at any time, is classless. Marchand's response is classless. Once we've established that both actions are classless there's no need in discussing them. It's like arguing which pile of dog crap smells better. We might as well be arguing over Republican and Democrat morality. What is the response? Don't be bitter, be better. It really boils down to that. Your team is losing 7-0 and you should be angry with your teammates and yourself for letting that happen. If you had gone out and kicked Washington's butts you wouldn't have that situation. Don't be bitter, be better. The pugilist way would be more appropriate as a response to a heinous physical act by the other team. The last line is the one I really have a problem with. There's a world of difference in being disrespectful and being disrespected. In order to be disrespected you have to allow yourself to be hurt by the actions of someone else. Certainly there are a certain level of action that warrants feeling disrespected, but if your ego is so fragile that having an idiot wave at you warrants punching him in the face, then you need to check yourself. I would have laughed it off and been more motivated to go out and put some pucks in the net. It's good that it's brought up. Good conversation happening (aside from some of the name calling).

I'm going to need to step away from the computer for a few hours... or I may pour a drink too early and not see the game tonight. ?

Never give up, never doubt. You are crazy talented. She's just talented. And this is why I think so... her stuff is very re-creative.. yours is creative. It takes talent to do both, but it takes just a bit more to create it in your own way. Kind of like the difference between a cover artist and an original musician.

Now that pumps me up more than that other video. Absolutely amazing work.

Not sure where else to put this... but our @josie has some competition out there. Show them what you've got Josie! https://twitter.com/shannonrosssx This latest one was retweeted by PK and the NHL. https://twitter.com/shannonrosssx/status/1047182627369885696 Well, I am trying to link to the tweet like I did earlier, but this time it's not working. Whatever.. you get the idea.

I encompass a lot of what you are saying in the "he's Jack" part of what I said. It definitely all goes together.

C'mon, it worked for the Bruins last night.

You guys are not going to be happy.....

USA Hockey rules dictate that in a play like that the player would be assessed a match penalty. A player receiving a match penalty is suspended indefinitely pending a hearing with the appropriate local governing body (within 30 calendar days) to review the incident and decide on an appropriate punishment. Officials not making that call would be the one's to blame. Coaches who coach it and parents who accept it are also part of the problem, but their defense will be that other teams are going to do that, so we have to do it. If the officials make the call, that stops immediately. The 2 and 10 situation adds to the aggressive play policy and accumulating 5 of those in a season leads to a 1 game suspension. However, receiving another 1 after the suspension will result in another suspension.

I think it boils down to this.... Eichel is the "C" because he's Jack, he's $10M, and he's signed the longest on the team. Okposo is an "A" because he's respected by his teammates for what he's gone through, he's a vet, and he's signed the second longest on the team. Bogosian is an "A" because he's a vet, and because they can rotate the "A" to someone else while Bogosian continues to be out injured. By choosing Bogosian they actually get to give other people a shot with the "A". Pominville is gone after this season, no need to name him an "A". Reinhart hasn't signed long-term yet. Not getting an "A".

Ray would have gone on to be one of the most prolific goal scorers in NHL history. Unfortunately in his second game his overconfidence got the better of him and he ended up in a fight. During the fight he received a blow that changed that course of history. After a particularly strong punch to the right frontal lobe, Ray believed the goal was situated to the side of the scorer's area. He would continue to "score" often. Yes, I'm in a strange mood. Yes, it's because hockey started last night and the Sabres begin tonight. It's time. Here come the Buffalo Sabres.

That's a cut your crap suspension. I can live with that.

I'm actually projected that high? How did that happen? Just come knocking when you need a goaltender... I have the best.

MSG is not available using one of those. It's purely a cable/satellite/streaming option.

I'm pretty jacked today. I should be completely out of control tomorrow.

One might say that top teams know how to handle stress in players and as such it might be wise for a team to try those means. After all, the past few years they didn't and ended up last anyway. But yes, I can see how THIS time it would make a difference. The 10 new faces in the lineup last year certainly benefited from the extra day of practice. You're grinding the axe handle at this point.

And so do big hits... legal ones. Fighting is trending out... just like the hits. It's not an abrupt change, but it's changing.

As I said you would... that's fine. Unless it's a fighting sport you will see less "violent and brutal" in sports that feature contact. The increased understanding around head trauma and its long term impacts are going to force that change. Football players retiring (and many more not even starting to play the game). Hockey is less repetitive collision but the dangers are there and the hits like the one Wilson delivered will be removed from the game. What's making this worse is that there was no penalty for checking from behind, charging, or an illegal check to the head. This was straight up a match penalty for deliberately attempting to injure an opponent. This pretty much signals that the hit was deemed 100% unnecessary and was delivered in such a way that it's only intent was to injure the opponent.

The veterans were going to play. It's what will happen because it's the most strategic long-term option. ?

I understand why looking at this screen grab would indicate the oncoming collision. Wilson is a minimum of 1/3 of the ice width away from the puck carrier. This is like skating in from the inside edge of the face-off circle towards a guy on the boards where if he turns you have to hold up from the hit. The standard is no different just because it's the middle of the ice. Here's a few frames later. This is the point where Wilson is no longer lateral to his opponent. I could frame grab a few more shots leading up to this, but Wilson could have taken an approach a few more feet inside the zone and turned and made the same hit cleanly. Instead he took a straight line angle which increases the odds that the player he is trying to hit will be turned away from him (most players are going to turn up the ice towards goal). This is why Tom Wilson is Tom Wilson. At this point he's more worried about hitting the guy than playing defense. This is the point where we will likely continue to disagree as I feel that these kinds of hits are completely unnecessary as they serve only to try and injure and add no defensive value.