I’ve been watching my share of hockey lately, though I’ve managed to mostly keep it to the Habs games, so as not to anger Erin too much but last night I actually caught only about five minutes of the game. I’m not going to mention which team <*cough*><*cough*> but one team has consistently performed what I consider to be a heinous act.

I have no problem with the occasional hack, or slightly dirty hit, or hooking or holding, or tripping or whathaveyou. A lot of that stuff is part of the game. I’ve enjoyed the Montreal games mainly because they’ve not had a lot of that kind of crap. But as I’ve just said, I can understand that stuff, because it’s a kind of “heat of the battle” thing. The one infraction that bothers me to no end is intentionally pushing the net off it’s moorings when your team is in trouble. I’ve seen goalies do it <*cough*> <*cough*> and I’ve seen players do it, and it really bothers me. There is a rule against it (51c), but for whatever reason, the refs never call it. If they make that call in the last two minutes of a game, it’s an automatic penalty shot, so the refs don’t call it, because they don’t want to be seen to be “deciding the game.”

That’s bull-puckey boy. The player who pushed the net off intentionally is the one who took the chance to “decide the game” by breaking the rule. It’s like a game of chicken, and the refs always lose. Don’t get me wrong - the play last night should have been stopped well before the puck even crossed centre ice, but given that it didn’t, I find the whole “pushing the net off before we get scored on” thing to be a big joke. I think it should be a suspendable offense. There’s no “heat of the battle” involved in that play. There’s no time during the game that pushing the net off is a valid play. Nothing even remotely close to pushing the net off intentionally is a valid play. It’s indefensible, and I will never cheer for a player who I’ve seen do it. In fact, I’ll actively cheer against them. (You heard me, if Jose Theodore was seen intentionally pushing the net off, I’d want him to be traded. I’m not worried about that though, because he’s a classy individual, and he doesn’t neet to cheat like that.)

Simpsons quote of the day: “Why must you turn my office into a house of lies?” - Crazy Dentist