"I think it is a good thing for the game"
- Rob Ray, commenting on tonight's record breaking, brawl filled game between Ottawa and Philadelphia.

While some, including the Flyers, might want to blame the events of tonight's game on the actions of Martin Havlat during their previous match, they'd be wrong.

Donald Brashear was the cause of tonight's fightfest. Just ask him. He'll tell you he started it. He repeatedly turned down Chris Neil's invitations to drop the gloves during the game. He didn't actually drop the gloves until Rob Ray started to take liberties with Sami Kapanen so that Brashear was forced to take on Ray. Then when Brashear was headed for the penalty box, he decided to take some shots at skilled but undersized Sens defenceman Brian Pothier. This led the remaining players on the ice, including the goalies, to take part in a brawl.

After the brawl was cleared up, Jacques Martin put Neil and Zdeno Chara on the ice. Ken Hitchcock, unable to find anyone who regularly drops the gloves on his bench, put an overwelmed Radovan Somik and Mattias Timander on the ice to fend off Chara and Neil.

An incensed Hitchcock then instructed Michal Handzus, John Leclair, and Patrick Sharp to go out and fight whoever they were matched up against.

Anyways, it doesn't appear that anyone was injured as a result of the fights so the only thing that these events did was intensify a growing rivalry. It might not be as intense as the Sens-Leafs rivalry in Ottawa but it's probably the Sens second biggest rivalry.

Their next matchup probably won't compare to this but that won't stop plenty of fans, who are neither Senator nor Flyer fans, from tuning in to see if fireworks will happen again. (0) comments

With the Gonchar, Leetch, Nedved, Kovalev, and Nylander trades that have taken place in the past few days, I'm getting a little upset at a lot of NHL GM's. They're ruining trade deadline day for me. I want to have trades coming across the wire fast and furious with lots of big names being involved while TSN and Sportnet battle it out to report the deals first. But how good will the trade deadline be if there are only a couple of deals and they mostly involve ninth round draft picks being traded for AHL journeymen?

It's like the GM's are opening all my presents the week before Christmas and leaving me with nothing but presents of socks and underwear to open.

Bah humbug! (0) comments

Yesterday a plane flew over the Queensway, Ottawa's busiest highway, carrying a banner that read: "Go Leafs Go - Chez 106.1". Chez 106.1 is an oldies rock station that has been in Ottawa for decades. However, they didn't hire the plane. Rather The Fox 101.5, an oldies rock station based in Massena, NY but recently began broadcasting in the Ottawa area, hired the plane to capitalize on the Sens-Leafs rivalry in Ottawa in an effort to take away listeners from the established station. (0) comments

With the Canucks squaring off against the Avalanche in Denver tonight in their first matchup since Steve Moore's questionable hit against Markus Naslund, I suspect that everyone with the NHL Centre Ice package will be flipping over to watch at least part of the game. I know I will be.

Is there anything better during the regular season then a matchup between two rivals with revenge on their mind? While Moore's hit may have angered Canuck fans, it is amazing how a fringe player with one action can turn the league spotlight on a matchup.

You might not respect or enjoy cheapshot artists but their actions can really make a regular season much more intense. (0) comments

I've expanded the menu on the right hand side to include team discussion boards. All the boards listed I've spent time on and I've posted on most of them. While I might not agree with the majority of posters on some of these boards, I believe they are all well run. Unfortunately, I have yet to find an Ottawa Senators board that I could endorse (the board at Fanhome is as good as it gets for Senator fans although the software sucks). (0) comments

The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks, who wear the nicest sweater in the NHL, were outdrawn on Sunday by the AHL's Chicago Wolves at a margin of 12,938 to 12,177. Could there be any other explanation for this other then Bill Wirtz is killing the NHL in Chicago? If the NHL wanted to increase revenues, they should boot Wirtz from the league's ownership ranks.

Chicago should be a premiere NHL market, selling out every night like the Rangers, Red Wings and Maple Leafs. But instead it has become a market that prefers the AHL to the NHL. At least it did on Sunday. (0) comments