Hockey post

I'm all in favour of the NHL's crackdown on interference and other infractions. If some of the games I've watched in these playoffs are any indication, it's helped open up the game a lot. However, it's starting to get a little ridiculous. There were a number of calls in last night's games that shouldn't have been made. Don Cherry (who is at his best when he sticks to analyzing the game) had a clip from the Flyers/Sabres game in which a Sabres skater lost his edge behind the Philly net, which led to a penalty call on the checking Flyers d-man. Not only had the Flyer not laid a glove or stick on the Sabre, the call was made about two seconds after the guy went down. Then there was the call on the Canadiens' Tomas Plekanec in overtime after a Hurricanes' attacker tripped over the Canadiens net, which led to the winning goal. The call itself was, at best, 50-50, but given the blatant high stick which put Habs captain Saku Koivu out of the game in the second period (and may put him out longer with an eye injury) on which no call was made, I have to question what the hell is going on with the officiating. This about sums it up.

In this, the first NHL post-season under the new rules, when a dirty look will get you two minutes and a dirty thought will get you four, a nasty stick to the face drew nothing at all.

Also: can the league consider banning the one-piece sticks? If Major League Baseball can ban aluminum bats, why can’t the NHL go back to wooden sticks? Hey, it was good enough for Gordie and the Rocket…