Holy Suspensions Batman!

I have nearly had it with the NHL lately....all they are doing is talking and over analyzing certain ideas to death. It seems that the exciting playoff races taking part in each of the conferences now pales in comparison to what is or is not being done to change the game. I have said all along that one of the biggest problems the league has is Gary Bettman. He is more concerned with making money and dealing with the business side of things as he is with ensuring that the players, or employees essentially are safe at work. How is that right?

Although don't you also find it ironic that since the Chara hit and all the discussion suspensions have been handed out. The one that shocks me is the Dany Heatley two game suspension for his elbow on Steve Ott the other night. Was there an infraction on the play? Yes. Was there an injury? Yes, to a degree. Was Heatley suspended? Yes. Does Dany Heatley have a history of taking cheap shots like that? No. What doesn't jive..Zdeno Chara is in the exact same boat but whatever.

While it is far from the NHL, the MJHL, or Manitoba Junior Hockey League laid down the law following a show of fecal porportions the other night. At the end of a play - off game which saw the Portage Terriers eliminate the Swan Valley Stampeders from the play - offs, Stamps forward Jesse Enns took a disgusting run at full speed from no less than the blue line in order to run a Terrier into the boards from behind in the corner. This would boil over to assistance coaches fighting on the Terrier bench. Fortunately enough the Terrier player skated off on his own strenght and appeared to be nothing more than a little dazed. (You can see the video on youtube). Anyways, for his actions, Enns recieved a 40 game suspension! That is two - thirds of a Junior A season. Good on the MJHL for saying that type of garbage will not be tolerated. The head coach of the Stamps also got a two game suspension, which in a way is right but in a way is not enough. Clearly Jesse Enns is on the ice with three seconds left in a three goal game for a reason, and thank god that reason didn't end up with a serious injury which could have easily occurred. To me the whole reason that incident played out is because the Stamps coach wanted something to happen....and he chooses who is and is not on the ice. Oh, and the coaches who duked it out on the benches, 22 games each. When was the last time 86 games in total suspension were handed out at one time in any league?

The madness has begun, and already an upset. Morehead State has defeated perennial powerhouse Louisville. Honestly, I hadn't even heard of Morehead State before last week.


Have a good one.