It's Like a Disease

My mother with one of her obsessions.

We all have our obsessions. It's part of the human condition, is it not?

Mine are mostly restricted to books and hockey. If I'm alone on a desert island and not allowed to bring a boat to get off of there, I'd probably bring the Habs, the Jets (who are suddenly the only team the Habs can beat), and a hockey rink along with the contents of the entire Halifax Public Library network.

Not Mom. Mom would bring a laptop with an endless power supply so she could play Slotomania on Facebook.

I have a Facebook account which I use largely to keep in touch with people I have met online via various Facebook games, which I have subsequently lost interest in for the most part. I also keep in contact with family there and some of my Habs tweeps network.

The game playing is all Mom's though. Bro plays their games also, and sent me a link to a slot game he thought I'd play. I didn't, but Mom saw it and developed an instantaneous full blown addiction.

The game doles out points (fake coins to play with) every 4 hours. As you gain levels you get more points, and the game only gives you new points every 4 hours from the moment you collect, so it's important to collect regularly.

Plus it pays out worse than my brother, who is a notorious skin flint. Mom liked to horde points for a day, then blow them all at once, then bitch she was out.

Back when we were still on different shifts she'd warn me before leaving for work.

"Don't forget to collect my points!" Then she would call during her breaks. "Did you collect my points?"

"Yes, I got your stupid points. Why don't you just get your own account?" I asked her.

"I'm up to 3 million points," she told me, aghast. "I'd have to start all over! Plus I'm trying to catch Justin Justified and I'm gaining on him!"

She'd leave the computer on, get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and click to collect her points before going back to bed. She still does it. It's that bad.

It got worse when Dad game to town for a visit before his usual winter jaunt south to Panama City. With Mom and I on the same shift, she took to calling him from work.

"Did you collect my points?"

"Yes, I collected your stupid points," he would reply, and return to playing solitaire or whatever it was he was hooked on.

One night she came home from work, got herself a nightcap and hopped onto Facebook to discover she had no points left.

"I played them," Dad confessed.

He had started playing since he was doing all the work,  become an instant addict too, and had lost all the points he had been collecting for Mom all day.

My mother came out to where I was reading in the living room. "He lost all my points!" she complained to me, thrusting an accusatory finger at where my father was sleeping down the hall.

"That's too bad."

I was engrossed in the newest Stephanie Plum novel and hardly sympathetic, barely paying attention.

"He's YOUR father. Do something!"

What I did was form a compromise. When she's at work he'd play, and when she's home he wouldn't. Simple right?

We came home from work after midnight and he was still up, playing her game. My father has, for years now, gone to bed around 9 pm and he gets up at 5 am or thereabouts.

"He's still playing and what's he doing up at this hour?" She waited and waited and waited and finally threw him off the computer.

"Aren't you going to bed? It's past your bedtime!"

"Yes, yes, yes. I'm going. I'm going," he said, and reluctantly left her to it.

The next day I was reading again and this time she waited until I stopped, heaved a sighed, and looked up at her hovering over me.

"Now what?"

"He's standing over my shoulder and watching me play. When I got up to use the bathroom he took my seat!"

This was apparently a major criminal act so we tried another solution. Dad tried playing on Bro's account, but Bro plays his own game and there was inevitable conflict there also.

"Why don't you reactivate your old Facebook account?" I asked Dad. "That way you can both play at the same time."

So he did, and now while she's in one room playing on my account, he's in another playing on his.

"I can't get any points!" complained Dad.

I went online, got him 'game friends' who send him free gifts, and Mom is constantly sharing so he can collect too. He runs out a lot though but restricts himself to going on MY account and playing HER points while we are both at work.

"I can't get any gifts," he said bitterly yesterday. "All the damned vultures all the time..."

"Vultures?" I asked.

"Yes! When someone shares by the time I go to collect the points are all gone! I even play your mother's and share when she gets a hit but by the time I get back out to the dining room (where his computer is) they're gone too!"

Mom pointed out that his computer was a laptop unlike her desktop model, and maybe he should just take it into the room with him so he can collect the second he shares off her computer instead of running through to the dining room to beat the 'vultures'.

Apparently this is working.

Meanwhile Bro's hockey card obsession continues to grow rapidly, which means my lax database keeping has us woefully behind in what we have to wheel and deal. We have some beauty cards, but no one knows it because I've dropped the ball.

"Are you going to do the hockey cards this weekend," Mom shot at me the second I crawled out of bed this morning. "You know he's going to buy more this week and you'll fall even further behind."

"Where's my coffee?" I demanded, ignoring her totally.

This is usually my first question of the day, and with Dad visiting I'm usually treated to a nice, fresh, hot and free cup of coffee waiting for me on the counter when I get up. This morning there wasn't one there, and I was reduced to making a pot.

Oh the humanity...

In order to augment Da Nephew's hockey card collection, I wrote to the Habs and sent them cards and asked for autographs. Yesterday I got some back.

Tomas Plekanec signed and returned all 3 cards. One is for my nephew's collection, and will be displayed in a place of high honour as it rightfully deserves within The Shrine, as will the Gomez card.

As I promised Pleky, the other two are spoken for also. One is for Laura, and the other is a gift for a 14 year old son of a coworker. He's a good kid who loves the Habs and is hoping to finally see a game this year. I can totally relate.

What I found hilarious is that of the 3 cards I sent Scott Gomez, I only got one back and it wasn't a Habs card. I only had 3 of Gomez to begin with, and one is a New Jersey Devils card. That is the one he signed and sent back.

"He kept the two Habs cards?" Mom asked.

"Maybe he just likes them," I said, laughing. "I didn't really care for that one with the ugly striped jersey anyway."

Really how great was that of them to take the time to do that for my nephew? I've also got a signed Knuckles Nilan card for the collection too.

So now I have a third obsession, because the first two just weren't enough I guess.

And Mom's coming home soon, so I have to get off her computer which is where I'm writing this because it's linked to the scanner where I just scanned these cards to make you all jealous.

Anyway I have a new book to read. The waiting list for a hard copy of George R.R. Martin's Game of Throne series is typically several months, but an e-reader copy usually only takes a few days before it comes in. Gotta love it!

So what have you been obsessed with lately?

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. or the Bite Me Rant

Pic has nothing to do with this rant. I just like it.

Bro was at work and a Leafs fan decided to sass him.

"First in the league!" the Leafs fan crowed.

"Yeah? And how'd that work out for you last year?" shot back Bro, who is never hard up for a snappy comeback.

End of conversation.

I can't pretend to like the Leafs or even respect them a lot of the time, even if the exact opposite is true of their fans, some of whom I consider good friends despite their penchant to constantly hassle me at work or take trips down to Florida without inviting me along.

You know what I don't respect? Fanbase bashers. You know of whom I rant.

On twitter today there were a couple of helpful twitter guideline / hints from some Habs fans.

One was from a guy I used to respect who has taken to popping up on twitter just long enough to bash Habs fans for having an opinion that does not seem to conform to his or to the official party line of the Montreal Canadiens. He lurks long enough to shoot up just long enough tweet an insult to the fanbase before vanishing. And yet somehow the fanbase is lacking for *GASP* daring to HAVE AN OPINION ON TWITTER!

Yes I know it's totally shocking. What the hell are we thinking, having thoughts of our own and all, especially if we are looking at recent history and stats as a basis for forming said opinions? I mean the actual gall of moi and others to form differing opinions and dare to state it (a benefit of living in a free and modern society) is clearly outrageous.

Helpful hint number two came from someone who stated that being a Habs fan is supposed to be fun and that those who turn it into a debate need to rethink their priorities.

Personally I think that someone who won't use twitter to listen to viewpoints other than their own have much bigger problems than screwed up priorities. I've never considered using twitter as a vehicle to have my ego-stroked. I have my mother for that and she charges big money to do it too (a 1.5L of rum pegs for over $50 in Nova Scotia).

IN MY OPINION - If you want to call yourself a Habs fan and bitch about the team that's your right. If you want to just love away that's your right too. But if all you want to do is slag other Habs fans who do either, both or none of the above, you might want to get yourself some courtesy lessons. I don't tolerate it in real life either, where there's inconveniently no block feature.

IN MY OPINION - cause hey this is MY fucking blog - twitter is all about broadening your thoughts, your horizons and designed precisely to encourage debate, to engage in points of view that you would never consider on your own, regardless of whether or not you choose to agree or disagree.

I was on the debating team in high school. I wrote in college newspapers. I launched, wrote for and edited a newspaper for a national corporation. Point is debate is fun for me, as is the diversity of varying opinions.

And yes, this no nonsense attitude totally carries into real life too.I don't have online / offline split personalities. I am me, warts and all.

Last week at work a co-worker wanted to bitch about other co-workers who wanted the fans on while she felt cold, despite the fact that her sweater was hanging on a rack about 2 feet away from where she was working.

It would have been easier for her to just put on the sweater, and I told her so, but this was not what she wanted to hear. She wanted justification for working herself into a snit and the others not choosing to sweat near the hot machines so she wouldn't have to wear her sweater I guess.

Her cries fell on deaf ears and her arm waving and ranting left me unimpressed. After a couple of minutes I put an end to it.

"It's like elementary school around here," I told her. "And what with having graduated a long time ago and all, I don't have the patience for it anymore."

That was the end of that particular conversation too.

She sulked for 5 minutes before deciding to talk to me again, this time having shifted her rage to a different co-worker for a different infraction, at which point I promptly left her company and went to work in another section.

Patience is not one of my virtues. Can you tell?

The More Things Change

Love the facepalm Skillsy. Know how you feel.

... the more they stay the same. Isn't that how the old adage goes?

So it's another season and the Maple Leafs are off to a roaring good start while the Canadiens drop yet another season opener. *yawn*

Before my Leafs readers plan the parade, perhaps y'all might want to glance backwards at last year's opener first. Before my fellow Canadiens fans jump off the Pont Champlain y'all might want to look back at last season too.

The team that went into the post-season had rouge in their sweaters to go along with the bleu et blanc.

It's one game. Do not take any sudden drastic action just yet!

What disturbs me about this one game is the lack of goal scoring. Again.

Wasn't Erik-I'm-suddenly-a-four-million-dollar-third-liner-Cole supposed to fix this? Weren't the Habs newly retooled offensive lines - which also got blanked in preseason (but it didn't count because it was only preseason and supposedly in no way an indicator that Montreal will come in 25th in the league in even strength scoring again this season) - supposed to be so much deeper now that we can afford to put one of our better goal scorers on the 3rd line with a journeyman and a sophomore center?

Look I love David Desharnais as much as the next girl - perhaps more because I have a penchant for little people like me (squeeeeeee Gio!) - but he's no Tomas Plekanec or Scott Gomez (yet). I loved the Gomez / Cole chemistry which for me was one of the few highlights of the Halifax game versus the Bruins. Naturally Cole got ripped of Gomez's wing roughly around five seconds after that game was over.

I also get the whole bit about how Mathieu Darche is a great guy and hey I like him just fine too. What I dislike is that he's on the power play more than Cole, and it's not like Darche is jockeying for Cole's job either since they're both on the third line together... Ya I still don't get why they are together either.

Darche may be a good guy who fits and is important in the room, but he simply does not belong on a power play, especially when you are down by a couple of goals.

Naturally all this circles back to my favorite target: Jacques Martin.

I get that he prefers defensive play and he's calling the shots. I myself prefer a little bit more of offensive mentality but alas, I am not calling the shots and really it's probably for the best anyway or there would be some serious screaming after a night like this and I'm not as cute and cuddly like Bruce Boudreau when I do it either. Think Banshee Girl instead.

The fact remains that when you are rewarding your popular journeyman over your $4 million dollar proven goal scorer then it comes across as blatant favoritism, and I find that truly hard to support in a hockey manager. It shouldn't be about who he likes best, but who is best able to get the job done and Darche - God love him for trying - is far less likely than Cole to score with the man advantage.

Speaking of the power play, is this experiment with Plekanec on the point over yet? No? Well then I'll just be going for snacks when the Habs get a power play then, cause there's no way to score with him circling circling circling the puck and Subban wearing two or three defenders in the meantime.

I'm a huge Pleky fan but for the life of me I don't get the logic behind having him there at all when he is pretty much guaranteed to never rifle a shot from the point on net. What's wrong with someone who actually has a proven cannon - like Yannick Weber? Hell even Jaroslav Spacek would be better (OK maybe not) and certainly Alexei Emelin cannot do any worse, can he?

And it seems Jacques has also decided that Michael Cammalleri ought to concentrate less on scoring and more on penalty killing. I'm pretty sure I saw him on the PK, though I'm hoping it was just the vino causing some hallucinations.

Cammy is a sniper. He is not a penalty killer, and I damned well hope this particular experiment dies a sudden and brutal death.

Speaking of brutal - did PK Subban ever have one of THOSE nights.

It's gonna happen. It's not rookie season and then you graduate and never make a mistake ever again. There's nights his exuberance and yes - inexperience still - will work against the Habs and unfortunately this was one of those nights. I expect Hal Gill and the coaches will help him lock it down a lot quicker than he did last season, which Martin believed necessitated a brief stint in the pressbox to accomplish.

While I'm on the subject of defense, it seems Chris Campoli is now one of the walking wounded. The Habs started last season off with too many men on the IR and now they're at it again.

During last season's constant plague of injuries I joked that I'd offer up Sean Avery as a sacrifice to the Hockey Gods if they'd let the Habs stay healthy, but I'm thinking the Hockey Gods took care of that one already for me.

Wonder what Matt Cooke's up to these days. Hey Matt, if you're reading this, call me!


Scattered thoughts courtesy of too much delicious Valpolicella:

There was a decided lack of teamwork or flow at times, and while I get that Jacques prefers that his players can play with anyone on any combo to allow for greater depth, it would be nice if he didn't tinker so much with the lines this season but allowed some chemistry to form before blowing it all to smithereens again.

Y'know. Like he did in preseason when he found some with Gomez and Cole and decided it was better to discard it rather than encourage and nurture it.

Yes I'm still irritated by that. I know I bitched about it pretty much all throughout last season too. Whatdya want? I did point out that I'd been drinking after all (thank God for spell check).

I'm glad I don't have PK Subban in any of my hockey pools, at least not yet. I'm pretty sure I should be glad that I have James Reimer, but I guess I'm not that drunk after all.

One of these days the Habs will play a good, strong, second period of hockey and I'm worried that the shock may kill me.

I still hate Mike Komisarek. I hated him when he was with Montreal, and now that he's not with Montreal anymore the only thing I like about him is that he is not with Montreal anymore. I got nothing else when it comes to Komisarek and thinking about him for any length of time renders me slightly nauseous and totally irritated.

Speaking of Toronto I'd like to wish they'd make the playoffs, but my huge fear is that if the Habs ever had to face them in the playoffs whatever mental block Montreal has got going on (FOR YEARS NOW) that will not allow them to win a game against the Leafs will also manifest itself there as well, in which case I would probably have to give up hockey-watching forever.

I'm not sure why the Canadiens have so long continued to exhibit signs of a psychological block when it comes to Toronto (FOR YEARS NOW) and I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure a solid and routine ass-kicking of the Leafs and other lesser teams would go a long way towards curing it.

Why DO the Habs seemingly always come out half-hearted in games they should dominate against inferior teams? Why do they win games against superior opponents? Why does their second period almost always suck? Are they going to have breakable fragile game psyches for the beginning of this season too?

There are times I wish I was a sports psychologist so that even if I still didn't understand I could at least prescribe drugs.

I wonder sometimes (OK a lot) what an offensive minded coach would do with a team of small, speedy goal scorers who can move and transition the puck well.

Would he have his six million dollar snipers on the penalty kill?

Would he have his best centerman (sorry Gomez) running the point on the power play, anchoring the top line AND logging heavy minutes on the penalty kill all season long?

Would he give more power play time to a totally replaceable and unlikely to score journeyman instead of one of his proven goal scorers who thus far has done nothing to deserve his inexplicable demotion to the third line?

Would he allow his line combos to generate some chemistry or just rip them apart after every single loss?

Would he make a healthy scratch out of a big, solid, hard hitting, crease clearing defender that his team spent seven years courting before finally winning his hand, so to speak?

Well I don't know what an offensive minded coach would do. But I do know I sure as hell wouldn't. And I know Jacques Martin's style well enough to know that he did, and will more than likely continue to do so.

The problem with Martin is this: he's perfectly bilingual and largely competent. And that's about the best I can say about him.

Do I trust a coach who is merely competent to deliver a 25th Stanley Cup to Montreal? I must confess that I do not. But as there's a terribly small pool of perfectly bilingual, Cup-hungry, ass-kicking, well rounded and creative coaches with the requisite experience available for hire, I don't think Jacques Martin is in any danger of losing his job either.

Wasn't there a rumor last season the Canadiens were actually trying to extend his contract already? I truly dislike the very thought.

Martin doesn't focus on scoring goals. He focuses on not letting anyone else score them, and that's a huge problem because in order to win a hockey game you actually have to score some damned goals. Fairly often in fact, or at the very least consistently.

And based on last season, the season before last, this year's preseason and again tonight it seems the Habs can't.

And I don't trust this coach to use his players in such a way as to fix it either. Yeah I'm already back to laying everything at the feet of Jacques Martin again this season.

It seems that so far at least (only one game DO NOT PANIC) nothing has really changed for the injury riddled and scoreless Habs, or for me.

Hump Day Happenings

The Andrei Markov wall is in pieces too...

I'm too lazy to type things in what should be a proper format, so y'all are getting the sticky notes version of mutterings and ramblings this morning. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts in return please and thank you.

- The Habs returned Aaron Palushaj, Michael Blunden and Jeff Woywitka to their AHL affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs this morning. I'd feign surprise but watching the rookies all preseason and live and in person during their Halifax tilt with the Bruins, I remained skeptical that any would make the cut. None of them had a really great camp. I expect once Lars Eller returns from IR that Andreas Enqvist (I do so hate typing that name) will get sent down as well. Edited: Wow that was fast. Enqvist is now sent down, probably due to the Betts acquisition. With 22 on the roster (not counting those waiting on IR) what will PG do?

- Montreal claimed Blair Betts off waivers from Philly. Gotta admit this one surprised me. Not because Betts isn't a good fit - he will bring some PK and much-needed faceoff ability - but because whenever Habs fans point out that Pierre Gauthier should do this or Pierre Gauthier should do that, Pierre Gauthier tends to (rightfully) ignore the hell out of us. That said, I agree with my fellow fans and pundits who think he's a decent pickup for the team.

- I'm really enjoying this new free morning coffee / delivery service courtesy of my Dad. It's going to be pretty damned difficult to go cold turkey once he leaves for his winter hiatus in Panama City in a month's time.

- I don't like Yannick Weber as a 4th line forward. Didn't we run this experiment with Marc-Andre Bergeron? As I recall that didn't work out so well. Yes Weber will be aware defensively but he's small and he's used to patrolling the blueline and we need bigger, tougher guys on that 4th line, not another undersized winger no matter how good his cannon may seem.

- I dislike the ruling allowing Ryan Malone to escape unscathed for the head shot on Chris Campoli. I totally get why he escaped a suspension, but I do think the whole leaning forward argument is still a recipe for disaster. It's a loophole that needs closing or else someone is still going to get badly hurt. It's the result that needs punishing, not the intent IMO.

- If the Leafs make the playoffs this year I will give in and finally say something nice about them, as opposed to just saying something nice about their fans, most of whom are pretty good folk both online and in person. But that's as far as I'm willing to go!

- I'm a huge Andrei Markov fan but I've pretty much lost all faith that he will return before Christmas. I also don't expect him to be anywhere near the same player, and I fear that someone may blow on him and re-tear his twice repaired ACL or MCL or whatever the hell it is (Eric Staal I'm giving you the Evil Eye). I expect Sidney Crosby will return long before Markov laces them up again.

- If the league had a few less teams Sean Avery would likely have never made the NHL in the first place. He's cleared waivers and frankly I'm glad. The sport could use less players like him and Matt Cooke, and I won't pretend to be sorry to see him go. I would pretend to pity the fashion world, but I don't bother with it much so meh.

- Speaking of smart-mouthed instigators I kind of developed that rep myself at work the other night. Mom wanted to take half the night off when there was little mail in the plant. She said she would go home and drink with my father. I told her no on account of that the last time she did that I suddenly got a brother. The resulting fallout from that comment amused coworkers but I'm currently cooling my jets in Mom's doghouse.

- Despite the fact that I promised myself I'd cap my fantasy hockey league participation this season at 3, I'm now in 7 pools. The one I want to win mots of all is the work pool, because the same damned guy wins it every year and frankly it's terribly old. Even non-hockey watchers and fantasy league players roll their eyes about it now.

- Ryan Kesler is much much prettier than Zdeno Chara.

- It totally blows that I'm going to miss the season opener versus the Leafs and especially the Winnipeg Jets home opener versus the Habs. I guess I will just have to content myself with the Habs winning both games and delivering some solid ass kicking right out of the gate.

- Since I'm working evenings, my hockey commentary will come after the fact as I watch my PVR well after midnight Atlantic time on game nights. This will lead to sudden late night tweets of ET LE BUUUUUUTTTTT! and "FFS my grandma could have stopped that puck" etc. Y'all have been warned.

Summer's End

Photo courtesy of Laura Kenney

Watching the Habs deliver a solid butt-kicking to the normally respectable Tampa Bay Lightning last night, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness knowing that their last pre-season game meant my summer was over.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a hockey nut and like most of us nutters I'm excited and eager for the regular season to get underway. It's just I had a fabulous vacation this past week and I'm not so keen to return to work and the real world, which starts tonight.

Before we get into last night's Habs and Lightning match, here's how I spent the last week of my summer vacation. I'm not going to go into major details here. The photos and video clips pretty much speak for themselves.

Here are the clips of us raucous Habs fans (sitting behind the Bruins fans) on the local Global news. If you pause at the 32 second mark of the second clip, you can see from left to right @hfxhabby giving the thumbs down, Boss Lady looking like she wants to be elsewhere, Mom, @habbykins, moi and @cokeaddict.

After @cokeaddict left town, @habbykins and I took a tour of the Halifax Citadel. If you want a history lesson, their website will walk you through quite nicely if you can't make the tour in person. As a local I tend to take the fort's charms for granted, and one of the nice things about playing tour guide is reacquainting myself with some of this city's history.

Here a couple of snaps so you get the idea:

A soldier knotting rope. Isn't he a cutie?

Citadel guards use real weapons and thankfully, blank cartridges!

 The entire collection of my vacation photos are available for viewing on Facebook.

We also took in the Public Gardens, which grows all varieties of beautiful dahlias.

Dahlias in the Gardens coffee shop. Pretty!

 Laura also wanted a tour of the Titanic grave markers. Thanks to James Cameron's flick these have gone from totally ignored to a major tourist attraction. Go figure.

The Jack Dawson is the movie is a fictional character, but this is a real Titanic victim.

On Friday we took a ferry across the harbour and went to a wine show. I talk a good game but the truth is I'm a lightweight, and it didn't take long before I was tipsy. Laura took a little longer, but by the time Mom picked us up we were feeling pretty loopy. The show had a buy one bottle, get one free going on, so naturally we took advantage.

That night we played Rockband and then did the Wii Just Dance game, which frankly is much harder and a better workout than the Wii Fit everyone is so keen on. It's also much more fun. However since there were copious amounts of booze involved, our co-ordination may have been just a wee bit off. I'll spare you the singing (you're welcome), but here's a clip of the dancing.

After Laura departed for home I took a nap before the game came on, and this time us Habs fans were treated to a much better showing than the previous game.

Regardless of the score I saw some great passing, good teamwork, unity on the ice, and awareness of where their linemates were. The chemistry was a delight to watch, and it was something that I had felt was a bit off the previous game.

As I stated in my review of the Halifax game, Scott Gomez is looking like a different player this season. It may be only some some meaningless pre-season games but clearly he is already fully engaged and focused, and I think he's in for a much better year. Frankly I'm glad, not just because the team needs him but because I really do just like the guy.

Also usually taking a beating from the fanbase, Andrei Kostitsyn looked to me like he was trying hard and having fun as well. It's a pity the refs didn't let him dance with Downie. I usually don't like fighting but AK46 is not a usual combatant, it wasn't a dirty incident like the Malone nonsense later, and since he's pretty much built like a tank I'm pretty sure I'd have finally won a hockey bet with Mom.

I usually have a lot of respect for Tampa Bay. They carry some ex-Habs on their roster, and their current coach is a personal fave. But last night's crapfest courtesy of Ryan Malone has soured me somewhat on their organization as a whole.

I'm not sure why Vinny LeCavalier suddenly needs an enforcer but Malone's nonsensical flare-up with PK Subban was clearly unwarranted. I know PK gets blasted sometimes for his mouth or antics, but he did nothing to warrant Malone's attack, and it was frankly nice to see Hal Gill simply flop on top of Malone to put a quick stop to it.

Not content to leave it at that, Malone later decided to spear Carey Price into the net in an attempt to score a goal. Pretty sure I also saw him lift his arms in celebration, to which I had to wonder if he'd suddenly dropped some IQ points. Basic hockey 101 will tell you it's not a legitimate way to score a goal.

Hockey's latest lesson has come courtesy of new NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan, and I'm hoping for continued consistency on his part when it comes time to review the shoulder-to-head shot Ryan Malone took on Chris Campoli. It has been a long time since I've had much faith in the NHL when it comes to handing out punishments for clear infractions, but Shanahan has me cautiously optimistic.

Malone's later statements ran to the effect of that he tried to avoid Campoli but that Campoli just came at him. Having watched and re-watched the video either Malone is dumb, delusional or high if he honestly believes what he's saying, or expects anyone else to believe it either.

Considering it's only pre-season the number of suspensions for cheap shots is as alarming as it is encouraging. Yes, the NHL is cracking down, but clearly the message is not getting through as quickly as it should.

I'm not sure why this is, and I'm not sure why the perpetrator always feels the need to blame the player he's just concussed either. I'd have at least some respect if someone would just admit to some stupid wrongdoing in the heat of a hockey play, but it seems accountability is also sorely lacking along with some good old fashioned common sense.

Finally I must give props to the big hearted Josh Gorges, who dropped the gloves in defense of his fellow blueliner all the while knowing that he was going to take a beating from Malone regardless. He's a shining example of the heart and camraderie and teamwork that characterizes this team, which is largely part of why I love them.

So how was your summer? And what are you most looking forward to this hockey season?