Matt Cooke Won’t Fight Shawn Thornton

Well, folks – tonight’s the night. It’s been 11 days since Matt Cooke’s cheap shot on Marc Savard and the Pittsburgh Penguins will take on the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden.  All eyes are on Boston. It’s only fitting that today was Shawn Thornton’s weekly appearance on Toucher & Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub this morning.

Thornton said he was well aware that the world was watching tonight and was asked what he thought about the whole situation. “If he was suspended a couple games – it would probably be over.”

The radio hosts mentioned that NHL Disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, will be present for tonight’s game and plans on  speaking to both teams prior to the game.

“I hope it’s a 2-way conversation.”

The  players on both teams should be allowed to speak their mind with Campbell and if they don’t feel comfortable speaking to him in a group setting, there should be an opportunity to speak their minds privately. We’ve all seen the effects concussions have on people. Thornton mentioned that one his best friends had to retire from the game because of concussions.

Pretty much every Bruins fan out there wants Cooke’s head and is expecting his blood on the ice at some point in the game. Fred Toucher asked if Cooke would fight, Thornton responded, “Depends on who it is.” Thornton went on to talk about Cooke’s history of turtling when he knew he couldn’t win.

Toucher followed that question up by asking Shawn if Matt Cooke would fight him. “No.”  Classy. Matt Cooke is a puss.

Mike Wendt(DJ/Bruins Blogger) posted this video earlier this morning and for those of you who need to be reminded on how much of a scumbag Matt Cooke is, I recommend you watch it.

Video c/o Hockey Web Cast – amazing work, guys!

If you want to hear the entire Thornton interview, head on over to the Toucher & Rich section of 98.5 The Sports Hub – it should be up later on today. *EDIT* Here’s today’s podcast featuring the interview with Shawn Thornton.

One Night Only! Colin Campbell Comes Boston

I'm a complete ass.

 So according to Eric Wilbur of the Boston Globe, NHL Head Disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, will be in town on Thursday to watch the Bruins take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m sure Campbell intends on giving the lads a stern talking to about being good little hockey players and will later hunker down and will watch a 60 minute train wreck, like everyone is hoping for .  

Campbell has no one to blame but himself if someone gets hurt Thursday night. If he used that thing, that’s three feet from his ass and suspended Cooke when given the opportunity – I’m sure the calls for blood wouldn’t be as bad. Instead, there’s been talks about sitting Malkin, Crosby & Cooke for the game and it’s not fair for Cooke’s teammates to clean up the mess he made. 

I’m sure Campbell is going to pull Penguins coach, Dan Bylsma, aside and recommend he consider sitting the wonder twins for the night.  I mean, since it’s so close to the playoffs and after that rough game in Tampa Bay on Sunday(Hey Pittsburg, it sucks when it’s your guy, huh?) and let’s not forget they play the night before against the Devils – maybe it’s time for them to have a break. But if Bylsma is an honorable guy, he’ll put Cooke out there and Crosby & Malkin(providing neither are hurt) and keeps it business as usual.  

It’s been a week since Matt Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard and Bruins fans have been looking at this date like an expecting mother. When justice wasn’t served, that’s when it was crystal clear that the players were going to have to take the situation into their own hands and hopefully they do. But I’m not about to put money on it.  Would I be shocked if nothing happened and it was business as usual at the Garden? Nope, not at all. But it’s about time  the Bruins live up to their “big & bad” moniker. If I had my say,  Steve Begin would whispers “Prepare to die” in Matt Cooke’s ear in French, smile, kiss him on the cheek and then proceeds to gnaw off his face. But we don’t always get what we want.

 

Thanks to Puck Daddy for the heads up!

King Crosby

It had to be “him”. If Canada was going to win the gold, you know “he” had to be the reason why. We all know who “he” is and for some reason, the fact that “he” scored that goal last night – made the US’s over time loss to Canada burn a little more for some people.

I know a lot of you out there uttered the phrase, “Anyone but him!” after Crosby scored the goal. But let’s drop the hate for five minutes? I know you think he’s a cry baby, boring and there’s a laundry list of other reasons why you don’t like him. But, let’s face the kid can play. He’s talented – he didn’t get as far as he has based on looks alone. Don’t get me wrong, the kid is a looker and has a great ass – but he’s worked that ass to get where he is today.

Just moments into over time, the kid from Cole Harbor, Sidney Crosby, got the puck past Ryan Miller and his legend grew a little bit more.

But it wasn’t just Sidney who won the game, Roberto Luongo proved why he is the best goalie in the NHL. Corey Perry scored his fourth goal in the series, with the help of his Ducks teammate, Ryan Getzlaf. Jonathan Toews was one of the unsung heroes – getting his first goal yesterday and he was named the top forward in the tournament.

Plus, you’d be an idiot if you didn’t give props to Team USA. According to most people out there, they were going to be a non-issue. They were the youngest team in the tournament and in-goal was a guy who had hit the skids prior to the Olympic break. They proved everyone wrong. They made people like Brian Rafalski and Ryan Kesler household names and hopefully inspired a few kids out there to pick up a stick and put on some skates.

Team USA wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did, if it wasn’t for the performance of Ryan Miller. He was undoubtedly the star in many people’s eyes of the Olympic games and watching him so visibly upset was hard to handle.

This isn’t the first time Miller had an unfortunate run in with Sidney Crosby. Picture it, Buffalo, 2008. It’s a snowy New Year’s Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium and a young, Sidney Crosby gets the puck past Ryan Miller during the shoot out and wins the game. Hopefully Miller doesn’t go all Ray Finkle on the people of Buffalo, he was amazing during the Olympics and I know he wanted a gold medal – but a silver is nothing to look down on. You were the star, sir and I tip my cap to you.

If that doesn’t help, Team USA – well, just remember…  at least you’re not Russia.

The Devil Went Down to Boston

Hell has frozen over. Miroslav Satan has arrived in Boston and practiced with the Bruins this morning in Wilmington. Unfortunately, my car is about as good on the ice as Dennis Wideman, and I did not make it, but I had sources on the inside and can still tell you what went down.

Satan isn’t exactly fresh off his 2009 Stanley Cup-winning season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, so he was rocking a red “no contact” jersey when he took to the ice at Ristuccia. Joining him in red was Milan Lucic, who is still nursing his high ankle sprain. Both Satan and Lucic are expected to be game ready in 7-10 days. Mark Stuart was also skating, but did not participate in the practice drills. His return timetable is still unknown, but obviously due to the severity of his injury, it will be awhile before he suits up with the rest of the boys.

Most notable was Satan’s choice of numbers. In Pittsburgh, Satan wore #81. And who was 81 for the Bruins last year? None other than Spencer Pratt, err, I mean, Phil Kessel, our own version of The Devil. Once again, the Bruins will have an 81, so if you’ve covered Kess’ name with a demonic slur of some sort, your protest jersey now isn’t too far from fact.

Seriously folks, the jokes write themselves.

xoxox, SweetCaroline04

You can't make this shit up.

Does Max Talbot Say ‘No’ To Anything?

Evidently not. I can’t fault him too much, we all have to get paid! I still think Shawn Thornton is the far superior actor.  Thanks to The Confluence from Kukla’s Korner for the heads up & GhostWalker40 for uploading this gem.

Max is more than welcome to check my filter anytime.  

GET IT!

EA Sports – Making hockey a little gayer….

Milan hearts The Candy Man

c/o ThePensBlog

The Third Most Famous Jack Jackson Is Staying In LA……For Now.

So if you remember about a week ago, The Score’s Steve Ludzik decided to spill to the world that Chris Pronger would be heading on his way down to LA for Jack Johnson(No, not that one. Not him either. Yes, THAT Jack Johnson). Johnson’s name was also being tossed around in a big Tampa-LA-Pittsburgh deal. But according to L.A. Kings VP, Jeff Solomon, that’s nothing but bullshit at the L.A. Kings ‘State of the Franchise’ meeting for season ticket holders and they seem to be happy with his announcement. Now imagine if they had a winning team and how the fans would re-act?

King’s President & GM, Dean Lombardi, shared Solomon’s sentiment and shockingly enough, said the media was getting it all wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time they were thrown under the bus. But for all you Kings fans out there, Jack isn’t going to be playing in Russia(sorry, Dad) and supposedly he’s not looking for an outlandish salary(you hear that, Phil Kessel?).

So now what? The Kings ended the season in last place with a record of 34-37 with 79 points and from the sounds of it, neither part(The Kings or Johnson) probably want to deal with the other one right now – which could be why no contracts have been signed. But what do I know? The Kings are fifth in the draft and could land, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson(I’m sure they’ll have no problems fitting that on a jersey.) from Sweden tomorrow night. Imagine your their GM, what would you do if you were in their position? Me personally, if I was in charge(and thank God for them I’m not) – I’d use the pick as a bargaining chip. Anything is possible on draft day.

But if Johnson is shipped out of town,I hope his relationship with LA fans ends better than it did with ‘Caniacs. They’re still a tad bitter.

This is the end….

So that's it. The end is here. The Pittsburgh Penguins are now the Stanley Cup champs, the Detroit Red Wings are this year's bitter bridesmaids and Ovechkin is on probably on his way collecting some new hardware in Vegas for the NHL Awards. Woo! *fartnoise*

Was I happy with the turn out of the season? Yes & No. I mean, it's been a tough one for me. I had a chance to cover the Bruins, but because I wanted to be the first hockey blogger to talk about Roman War Helmets in a public forum, that opportunity was short lived. Am I still bitter? I won't lie, I am and it's a tad annoying that I still get emails about it on a daily basis. I guess there are worse things to be known for, right? I still wonder if I should have submitted the piece to Deadspin. But there's not much I can do now. Hey, at least I got you bitches. So that's something to be proud of. But I'm hoping one day, I'll be known for being more than just, according to WEEI's Joe Haggerty, as a habitual line stepper. 

But personal issues aside, back to the topic at hand – this year's hockey season. I wasn't happy with how everything ended for the Bruins and I know I'm going to come off as a homer and I should be "over it" - but Scott Walker got off light. He shouldn't have been playing and look what happened? Boom! OT goal, Bruins lose -  out of the playoffs. It wasn't supposed to be like that – they were supposed to go on and win The Cup. Well, that's what I had my money on. Not that I'm condoning illegal betting or anything like that. I already had the parade route mapped out in my head and a laundry list of excuses of why I was going to miss work that day. But instead of a summer learning what the members of the B's did with The Cup, we'll be focusing on whom staying, who's coming, who's going and how David Krejci's graham cracker hip is healing. Better luck next year, boys. But thanks for the ride. It was amazing while it lasted.

As for the Stanley Cup champs, I've has a weird relationship with them this season. The first game I was suppose to cover was a Pens game, but because I was 'accidently forgotten' & omitted from the press list, I didn't get to. At the time, I didn't lose too much sleep over it – I assumed I was going to get a chance to interview Geno, Superstar Talbot, Sid the Kid and the rest of the Pens later on in the season. But instead, I got fired and well, that never happened. Although, I would like to thank Puck Daddy for trying to make me feel better, by telling me I wasn't missing much by not talking to Sidney Crosby. I know I don't have the skills, like Cabbie Richards and I'm sure Crosby would have probably been as entertaining as a wet mop, but I still wanted to get the chance to speak to him. Haha Oh well.

But at the end of the day, I was glad they won. They desereved it and I'd rather see them win,than the Red Wings. By the way, it's nice to see their fans are taking this loss in stride and being classy about it. *rolls eyes*

So now what? The draft is coming up, but we already know where John Tarvares is more than likely going. The NHL releases next season's schedule at the end of July, so there's something to look forward to. I'm sure Phoenix Coyotes drama is far from over and it'll be interesting to see who does what in the off season. So now, all we can do is sit and wait for the next hockey season(or the next season of Project Runway whichever comes first.). As for me, I'll be here and look forward to a review of Alyssa Milano's baseball epic. Because I know you all are dying to know more about it and whether or not I kill myself before the 6th chapter. I figure, it can't be any worse than the bullshit you all read here. 🙂

I Will Destroy You.

Since everyone under the sun is giving their opinion on the Malkin issue – I've decided to hop on the bandwagon. For the first time, I actually agree with Colin Campbell's decision. If Evgeni Malkin did get suspended, it would have been a bullshit move considering Terminal Douche, Scott Walker, didn't get suspended for his sucker punch on Aaron Ward and look what happened? Walker turned into the hero of the Hurricanes for that series. Boo.

If anyone should be getting in trouble it should be Max(ine) Talbot for going after Osgood. If Talbot didn't, Henrik Zetterberg wouldn't have gone after Max and Geno wouldn't have gone after Zetterberg. When you break it all down, Geno is really the victim. Ok, so that's a stretch – but still, he was just defending a teammate, who he thought was being attacked. Which is exactly what Zetterberg was doing.

Geno will play on Tuesday, hopefully the Penguins will win and Cameron will be happy gal. It's not rocket science and I know it makes no sense. But why would the NHL start making sense now?

It was ugly, but it was a win. Bruins beat The Islanders 2-1

Well, lookey here – I was right! The B's won a tough one last night against the New York Islanders. Tim Thomas was mere secondsaway from getting another shut out when a puck deflected off of David Krejci's skate and giving the Islanders one goal for the night. Boo.

Ehh, it's a win. Mini Martin St. Pierre(5'9? Maybe on skates…) scored the game winning goal in the third period, giving the B's the 2-0 lead. Marc Savard got the scoring started in the second period. So why did the B's play so bad last night? Were they still hung over from the win over Montreal? Whatever it is, they need to shake it and fast – Saturday nightthey'll be in our nations capital in unofficial Russian embassy and taking on the Washington Capitals. The Caps just embarrassed the Penguins in Pittsburgh and also knocked Sidney Crosby out for awhile. Like they didn't have enough problems already…

Better them than us.