Weekend Slap Shots

Time to put the puck on the 'Net

• Good job by Matt Bradley to step in for Alexander Ovechkin and fight Steve Downie this week. That's when a hockey fight should be allowed - defending a teammate.
• The Canucks got in to more trouble this week when their coach sent out his guys to start fights. They should all be kicked out of the game in those cases, because we don't need those kind of hockey fights. Ban all the staged stuff, but keep the truly spontaneous fight.
  
• As a Canucks fan I'm worried about the smarts of these tough guys. Alex Bolduc, god bless him, took on Jon Scott who is 7 inches taller and 70lbs heavier. Not surprisingly that fight was decidedly one sided. And anyone who takes on Derek Boogaard must not be too bright, and coach Alain Vignault even jokingly said that of Darcy Hordichuk. I'm just glad Rick Rypien did not try his luck with Boogaard
  
• Derek Boogaard is a downright scary guy, but good on him for going easy on Hordichuk. He quickly got the sweater over Hordichuk's head, but chose not to take advantage of his aggressor. The Boogie Man had a good game against Vancouver with a couple of scoring chances and couple of great hits.
• Speaking of Canucks controversies, the NHL is letting Alex Burrows die by his own sword. Burrows was stupid to speak out, knowing a he said/she said spat with the league is a no win situation for him or his team. The League has tried to sweep this under the rug as quietly as possible using their typical ostrich strategy - burying their head in the sand and hoping it all just goes away. We really should have heard the ref's side of the story. It will be interesting to see how many playoff assignments Stefan Auger gets.
  
• Quote of the Week - James Duthie on Twitter - St. Louis/Team USA's David Backes had fought three Canadian Olympians so far...Nash/Toews/Perry. Who's next? Cindy Klassen?
• Duthie, TSN's likeable host, has his own book coming out in 2010 called The Day I (Almost) Killed Two Gretzkys...: And Other Stories About Hockey...And Life
• A couple of new books now out - A Referee's Life by Ron Wicks, and Wendel: My Life In Hockey by Wendel Clark.
• Unbelievable story of the week - Vancouver's Olympic Committee is so concerned about sponsors and branding guidelines that they are telling Vancouver Public Library to hide books about non-sponsors. Want to escape the Olympics with a good book, perhaps reading up on the history of Pepsi or Burger King? Forget about it, they are not Olympic sponsors!
• Washington has The Capstronaut. Vancouver has those crazy green guys. Calgary has the pretty girl in a wedding dress waiting for Sidney Crosby to say yes. But fan of the week goes to the Edmonton guy who had the balls to imitate her.
• I'm going to start my own trade rumor - by the trade deadline Washington will trade Jose Theodore and a high draft pick and/or top prospect for a rental goalie for the playoffs. Pekka Renne? Marty Turco? Martin Biron? Chris Mason? Vesa Toskala?