Conquering One Form of Temptation While Succumbing to Another

OK everyone, be proud of me now!

So I was at the post office shipping out some packages when something caught my eye. Yes, being Christmas time, Canada Post is starting to offer up their annual hockey paraphernalia. Sitting there, on the counter was a display of shiney new collector coins. And the Leafs coin was front and center. Now I'm thinking, "man, I gotta get me one of these". I even picked it up and examined it. It was a nice coin, Canada quarter with the Hockey Fights Cancer thing where the jersey is shaped like a heart. Then I see the price. 25 bucks for a quarter. You see, a year ago, I would've been like "OK, I'll take it". But the new me is realizing I got bills to pay, so I put it back.

Now, you can be a little less proud of me.

November also means another thing in Canada. McDONALD'S HOCKEY CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, every fall I promise myself that after a summer of eating crappy fast food, I'm gonna give it up. Well, that usualy lasts about a month before those damn cards come out, and I'm back in line for some artery-clogging meat-like burgers and some 99 cent hockey cards.

On a pack-break note, I bought 5 packs of Ultra today, just because. The set looks pretty good, but since set building leaves me with a pile of unwanted base, this does little good. But I did get a Darryl Boyce RC, for my Leafs RC set.

Cheap shots, rivalries, and a few new goodies.

OK, now I'm pissed.

During Saturday's great game vs. Montreal, Mike Van Ryn was brutally cheap shotted (is that even a word?) from behind by Tom Kostopoulus. The hit resulted in a 3-game suspension. Why am I mad? Well, while Konstopouls sits out for three games, Van Ryn misses at least a month with a broken nose, concussion AND broken hand. So Konstopoulus gets the proverbial slap on the wrist. Here's what I think. If a player turns and motion keeps the other player from stopping to make the hit, call it a penalty, it's accidental, but it shouldn't happen. If the player INTENTIONALLY hits a player from behind into the boards, the standard 1-game suspension with the length going up by an additional game per repeat infraction should stay in place. But, if a player is coming in, with his eyes on the player's BACK instead of the puck, raises his hands and RAMS his opponent into the boards, resulting in an injury, that's intent to injure and should be dealt with more severely. This is gonna keep hapening if the league doesn't crack down on it, and these three-game slaps on the wrist aren't doing the job.

My opinion? If you INTENTIONALLY ram a player into the boards and hurt him, your suspension shouldlast as long as the injury. Plain and simple.

Now, I can already hear the russtle of the Habs fans. "What about Grabovsky's cheap shot? You only care because it's your team!" Not true, I think what Grabovski did was cheap, it is spearing, and he should've gotten a penalty for it. BUT saying it's the same thing is a long shot considering Carey Price was able make a perfectly fine save pretty much as it was happening, and Van Ryn couldn't even get up.

I was also right there ready to burn Ryan Hollweg at the steak after his little third straight boarding call at the beginning of the season. There's no place for that stuff in hockey from any player, on any team.

Now, on to a happier subject shall we? Watching this game did bring back memories of the old Leafs rivalries. Sure, I wasn't around to see the Toronto / Montreal Cup finals of the 50s and 60s, but I did see some heated games, and some great rivalries over the years. So, in the wake of LOVECROSBY87's rivalry blog on nhl.com (http://fans.nhl.com/members/lovecrosby87/blogs/23633), I'm gonna do a little 10 best of my own favorite Leafs rivalries. Look for that in my next blog.

On the collecting front, my mailbox has been looking pretty weak lately. Last week only saw me add two rookies to my Leafs PC, but with a little old-school flavour with Mike Palmateer and Ken Wregget RCs. This week started off a little better, with 1 package featuring 3 new Leafs RCs (Wozniewski Black Diamond, Bell Mini Jersey, Newbury Hot Prospects) and a couple traders.

Setting the Game of Hockey Back 40 Years... All in the Name of Charity

You know, for a town that's produced players like Ed Shack, Ron Duguay, Randy Carlyle, Mike Foligno, Ed Giacomin, Todd Bertuzzi and future star Nik Foligno, we tend to not get alot of big-time games in Sudbury.

So when I heard the Hanson Brothers were coming to town for a charity hockey game, I was all in. The Hansons along with Yvon Barrette, aka Denis Lemieux, lead a Cheifs tam made up of local celebreties to take on some Sudbury Wolves alumni led by Troy Malette and Troy Crowder.

The game started off with a bang, and the Hansons gave us their personal twist on the ceremonial face-off, which earned them each 2 minutes before the game even started.

The game itself got off to a shaky start, as Barette went down into the splits to make a save, but didn't get up. At first everyone thought it was all part of the show, and the ref was actually about to start the game up. He had to be carried off the ice, holding his hamstring.

After a few minutes, the show continued, and it was just that, a show.

The game itself was kinda like being in the stands at a men's league shimmy game, but it was obvious from the get-go that this was more about the Hansons than hockey.

Goalies were slashed, players were triple-teamed, linesmen were abused, and the Hansons kept up the antics that made them famous. They even used penalty box time to sneak out and chat with fans.

Among the penalties handed out were refing-roughing and Troy Crowder got 2 for defending himself.

One alumni player got 2 for tripping, 5 for making Steve Hanson fall, and the Hansons were giving a penalty shot, which they all took together.

The second period ended with an own-goal that tied the game, resulting in the Chie's goalie scrapping it out with the Hansons. Penalties assessed to the Hansons were 2 minutes for roughing, 5 for fighting, 5 for an elbow-drop and a game misconduct for setting the game of hockey back 40 years.

Of course having the Hansons out during the third really let the game pick up, and allowed the

guests of honor to sign autographs. I managed to scratch another item off my hockey dream list with this great 8x10

All in all, the night was entertaining and fun, meeting the Hansons was really cool and it was all for a good cause.