Puckin' Eh!

It's been a wild couple of days so let's dive right in...

A "Swiss Miss" at the World Hockey Championships as for the second consecutive year, Team Canada loses in the Gold Medal game to Russia. Canada played well in the tournament but just couldn't find their finishing touch. Late in the game both Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza missed on some pretty big chances - Heatley firing the puck up and over the net, and Spezza tripping on a breakaway - now all of Canada knows why Ottawa didn't make the playoffs this year. I'm just sayin.

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If Canada wins a medal at the World Hockey Championships but no one is around to watch it, does it still count?

Honestly, does anyone care about the World Hockey Championships?

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Tough break for the Humboldt Broncos, as their bid to become just the third team to ever win back-to-back National Championships fell short. The Broncos offence dried up as they were shutout 2-0 by the Vernon Vipers in the RBC Cup Final.

Two things caught my eye in that game...

- There were three "checking from behind" ejections. Let's put aside the fact that it's Junior A hockey's equivilant of the Stanley Cup Final, but honestly, have players not learned that checking from behind is not cool? Do we need to go back to those "STOP" sign stickers on the back of players helmets?

- Organizers of the RBC Cup need to fix the post game ceremony. You can award the Championship Trophy and then tell the Captain to leave the trophy alone while they announce the "Players of the Game" awards. That's awful... announce the POG's first and then take a quick picture and let the team celebrate. They've worked so hard all season - let them enjoy it!

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Colin Campbell may be a great guy and obviously knows a lot about the sport but it's time the NHL put him in a different position. Under his watch the NHL has become a running joke with their lack of consistancy with on-ice discipline. There's favoritism towards star players (see the knee on knee with Ovechkin and Gonchar) and double standards all around the league.

Scott Walker SUCKER PUNCHED Aaron Ward on Sunday Night. Ward was looking at a different player, Walker skated in to get involved... Ward looked at him, had his arms at his side, when Walker punched him square in the face. Gutless, classless and quite frankly, no place for that kind of garbage in the NHL. Under the rules, he was supposed to have a 1-game suspension since he was given an instigator penalty with under five minutes to go in the game. Colin Campbell struck that down and instead made Walker pay a $2500 fine. What a joke.

By the way, you be the judge...



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Still with Scott Walker... the quote of the night has to be Paul Maurice, Head Coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. When asked about the ramifications of the Scott Walker incident, Maurice looked ahead and without batting an eye said "I think he may have sore knuckles". Awesome Quote!

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At the risk of letting this drag on, I'll end with a video that will surely haunt Canuck fans for days and weeks to come.