Thursday, January 7, 2010

All the Usual Suspects, Welcome to the Lounge



The Lounge is open and the first shot goes out to Sean Avery, who brought his entire game to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, leading the New York Rangers to a 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.

His goal, three assists, 12 penalty minutes and a snarl gave Dallas problems all night. Well, good for him, although he did admit to the the maven, Stan Fischler, that he needed to have this kind of presence every game rather than once in a while.









Next at the bar is Michael Liambas, and his tab is closed until he can tell us what makes him think he has an unlimited number of second chances to burn before he is out of the game or playing le ministre anglais de la douleur in the LNAH. Do you think he could earn some penalty minutes (punitions) like these?

Liambis, 20, who was tossed out of the Ontario Hockey League this season for a punishing hit from behind that left Ben Fanelli with a fractured skull and orbital bone, has drawn a five-game suspension in the International Hockey League for a hit from behind.

Liambis, who fell into the welcoming arms of the Bloomington PrairieThunder, hit Muskegon's Jason Lawmaster from behind on Dec. 29. Lawmaster sustained a ruptured spleen on the play.

Now any number of people can say the result was not the intention, but when you hit from behind, you cannot control the result. And if you have been in this situation before, you should know better. At least, you should know what you need to do without putting someone in the hospital. The minor leagues and the juniors are there for a player to learn.

Like I said before, if you cannot learn, you can always graduate to the LNAH. But that's a rough crowd over there and I don't think they will take too kindly to frapper par derrière, either.



And finally, Dany Heatley, you've made some progress on settling your tab. Here's a short one for you.

Heatley, who seemed to be invisible in the San Jose Sharks' 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, had the game winner in overtime on Wednesday as San Jose topped a woeful St. Louis squad, 2-1.

The folks doing the postmortems on "On the Fly" gave Heatley some praise, saying that when things are tight, you need your star players to come through, which Heatley did. So, I'll slide the glass his way. But there's no refill until he shows up at the beginning and takes over a game.

The Sharks' game against the Kings was a divisional challenge, one that you need to respond to. The Comcast Bay Area rinkside interviewer noted after the game that the Sharks will face everyone's A game this season. True, but that means the Sharks have to present a similar game. And that means you, Mr. Heatley.

So enjoy your shot. But I, like the good folks in Ottawa and Atlanta, remain somewhat skeptical.

THE SCOREBOARD
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Buffalo 5, Tampa Bay 3
At N.Y. Rangers 5, Dallas 2
At Philadelphia 6, Toronto 2
At Minnesota 4, Calgary 1
N.Y. Islanders 3, at Colorado 2
At San Jose 2, St. Louis 1 OT
The standings are here.
Recap by Sportsnet.
Three stars by Puck Daddy.

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Adirondack 4, at Albany 3 OT
San Antonio 3, at Grand Rapids 2
At Lowell 3, Hartford 2
At Manchester 2, Springfield 1
Norfolk 5, at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4
At Hamilton 3, Chicago 1
At Rockford 4, Toronto 3 OT
At Texas 3, Houston 2 OT
The standings are here.
The roundup is here.

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Charlotte 5, South Carolina 4 SO
Kalamazoo 4, at Johnstown 3 OT
At Cincinnati 5, Trenton 2
Las Vegas 2, at Ontario 1
At Alaska 5, Utah 3
The standings are here.

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Victoriaville 7, Acadie-Bathurst 3
At Shawinigan 4, Baie-Comeau 2
Moncton 5, at Saint John 3
Montreal 4, at Cape Breton 1
At Rimouski 5, Chicoutimi 1
The standings are here.
The roundup is here.

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Erie 7, Plymouth 3
London 4, at Owen Sound 3
At Sault Ste. Marie 5, Sarnia 4 OT
Oshawa 5, at Belleville 4 SO
The standings are here.
The roundup is here.

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Brandon 6, Lethbridge 1
At Moose Jaw 5, Medicine Hat 1
At Kootenay 8, Saskatoon 1
Vancouver 6, at Red Deer 2
At Chilliwack 5, Prince George 2
Everett 6, at Kelowna 2
The standings are here.
The roundup is here.

1 comment:

  1. I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Thanks for writing about this!

    ReplyDelete