Sidney Crosby Accused of ‘Dirty’ Tripping

It’s hard to really imagine getting used to calling the Pens super center Sidney Crosby a ‘dirty’ player. With his humongous 15 PIMs this season, and the fact every camera watches him during the game, I think I would have seen more evidence to back this up.

However, in the game against the Rangers you can see in this video that Sid definitely gets a skate under Rangers forward Ryan Callahan as the two are rushing down the ice. This type of trip is referred to as a ‘slew foot’ in which a player trips another player by kicking their foot out from behind.

So, yeah, it’s a dirty play and Sid definitely got caught trying to pull a fast one.

No penalty was called on Crosby; Callahan got two minutes for interference.

With a little over five minutes remaining in the first period of the Penguins’ 3-1 win, Crosby and Callahan jostled while skating toward the Penguins zone. As they skated entangled over the blue line, Crosby appeared to place his skate behind Callahan’s as he knocked his opponent to the ice.

“That’s a dirty play,” Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky said of Crosby in a broadcast interview during the first intermission. “He’s a guy who tries to get away with a lot of that stuff. He complains a lot.” After the game, Dubinsky was still seething, but tried to bite his tongue. “I don’t want to sit here and talk about (Crosby) any more. It’s awful.” [via]

Bloody John Scott vs Kevin Westgarth Fight [video]

Los Angeles Kings enforcer Kevin Westgarth clearly did not win his fight Saturday against Chicago’s John Scott. If the picture of Westgarth above with the bloody, broken nose doesn’t illustrate that fact than be sure to check out the video of the brawl below complete with slow-mo of Scott just going to town on poor Kevin.

Oddly enough, Scott said this was his first broken nose. Hard to believe he’s made it this far without one but judging by his fighting skills I think this also might be his first fight.

“I think for realsies that was the first one,” he said. “It’s nice and flat anyway. So I’m sure it’s been broken and I never really noticed.”

Yes, the Kings bully who got his butt kicked used the term ‘realsies.’ Things are starting to make sense now….

Video: Modano’s wrist lacerated

First off don’t freak out about the headline. Although there is a video, it is not on the level of the Clint Malarchuk cut years ago. The 40-year old Modano was in the corner behind his net when Columbus Blue Jackets R.J. Umberger’s skate came up, by accident, and sliced Modano’s wrist under the glove.

The Detroit Red Wings will be without Mike Modano indefinitely after the 40-year-old center underwent surgery Saturday to repair a severed tendon in his right wrist.

Modano also sustained some nerve damage when he was accidentally cut by the skate blade of Columbus’ R.J. Umberger during Detroit’s 2-1 victory against the Blue Jackets on Friday. He left the game and did not return.

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said the surgery was successful, but that doctors had not yet determined how long Modano will be sidelined.

“A guy lost his balance and a skate came up and Mike was sort of stretched out and the skate got under the glove and did significant damage,” Holland told mlive.com. “The doctor wants to give it a little time to see how he heals. It’s going to take a period of time to figure out. It’s a significant injury and it’s going to take a significant period of time.”

Modano’s can be seen in the video below about 5 seconds in. Look for Modano (#90 in white) in the upper right corner. After the quick hit you will see Modano skating off at the bottom of the screen bent over and holding his wrist.

Sidney Crosby Hat Trick Powers Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to battle for first place in the Atlantic division as Sidney Crosby netted 3 goals and almost as fourth to give the Pens their 6th straight win. Crosby also scored his 200th of his career but failed to grab his fourth goal of the game on a missed penalty shot [see video below].

That fourth goal would have helped Crosby scored four goals with every possible variation: even-strength, power play, short-handed, penalty shot and empty net. Fellow Pen, and legend, Mario Lemieux is the only NHL player to score five goals all five ways, on Dec. 31, 1988, against New Jersey.

Oh, geez, don’t tell me that,” Crosby said. “That’s one thing I never thought would ever be beat. To know I came that close, that hurts, but it was fun and, obviously, I would have liked to have put that one in.”

Crosby understands his accomplishment wouldn’t have been as impressive as Lemieux’s. Still, as teammate Alex Goligoski(notes) said, “He’s to the point where’s he’s still doing things (we haven’t seen).”

“I’ve seen him for three years and I’m still like, `Oh, my gosh,”’ Goligoski said. “It’s pretty unbelievable.”

Hey, Hey Whadya Say. Staal’s Amazing Setup

The Carolina Hurricanes are currently in 4th place in the Southeast Division but they could be moving up if they get more great plays like this. From the seat of his pants Eric Staal makes a sweet pass to set up Jussi Jokinen for the ‘Canes 3 PP goal against Boston.

Staal’s great concentration allows him to kick the pass behind him to Jokinen while falling on his butt for Jussi’s 5th goal of the year.

Alex Trebek Has A Dirty Mind

Hockey is a sexy sport and no one knows that better than Canadian Alex Trebek. On the classic game show “Jeopardy” host Will Ferrell Alex Trebek was getting to know Champion Bob Kennedy a bit better and Bob mentioned that he met his wife playing hockey. The description of the skills Bob talked about triggered a rather frisky response from Alex.

Answer: What is the gutter.

Questions: Where is Alex’s mind right now.

Get your mind out of the gutter, Trebek! from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

Massive Brawl at MSG

Rangers forward Sean Avery is no stranger to controversy, and during last night’s game against the Oilers, he sparked a 10 player brawl after he dropped Ladislav Smid with a quick punch to the jaw.

“The Oilers were already trailing by three goals in the final period of a disappointing five-game road trip when Avery really got them mad. The Rangers agitator checked Colin Fraser hard into the boards and, according to the Oilers, declined to fight Ladislav Smid when challenged.

Avery eventually took the initiative of throwing a punch after Smid let down his guard when it seemed a fight wouldn’t happen. A brawl then broke out with 8:42 remaining.

When the final buzzer sounded Sunday, the Rangers skated off with an 8-2 win, and the Oilers took their best shots of the day — sending pointed words at Avery.

“I thought it was pretty gutless,” said forward Steve MacIntyre, who fought Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard twice in the third period before the big melee. “It just shows you what kind of guy he is. He’ll get his.”

Avery declined to comment.

In all, 124 penalty minutes were handed out following the brawl — 67 to Edmonton — including five standard misconducts and four ejections.” {Tampabay.com}

Was it a sucker punch, as Colin Fraser told the press after the game, or was Smid too slow on the draw? He does manage to drop the gloves, but Avery just pounces on him from the first shot. Was it a cheap shot, or was this KO legit?

Reebok’s Crosby Ad: Faked?

Between the everpresent (and slightly annoying) Reezig ads to the RBK Edge uniforms all NHL teams are wearing, the athletic apparel giant has left an indelible mark on the modern game of hockey. They’ve become experts at manufacturing hype for their athletes, and they frequently kick out viral videos like this one – where NHL star Sidney Crosby showcases his shooting prowess by moving the net onto its mooring with only his slapshot. But is the video faked? You be the judge:

I’m thinking this was doctored just a little bit. Hey, don’t get me wrong, Sid has an absolute cannon, but the net seems a little too jumpy, even without being totally secured to the moorings. If it’s actually legit, though, how incredible would that be? And if Crosby could do that to a regulation goal, I wonder if Shea Weber could do the same thing (he of net-snapping-Olympic fame).

Either case, Reebok is totally free to fly me out to Pittsburgh and see Sid duplicate this stunt in person.

Kovalchuk’s Shootout Fail

The $100 million dollar man, Ilya Kovalchuk, painfully botched a shootout attempt during the Devils tilt against Buffalo, literally handing the Sabres the win during the sudden-death portion of their shootout.

The New Jersey Devils have been off to a terrible start, as they currently sit in the 15th spot in the East, having only won four games out of 16, and this flub from Kovy is a microcosm of the problems the Devils have been facing from the get-go.

Will Kovalchuk become the scapegoat for this slumping Devils club? They’ve been riddled with injuries, losing key pieces like Brodeur and Zach Parise early, while Ilya has clearly struggled with finding any offensive production. With that massive contract comes a great deal of accountability, and if Kovy can’t get it into gear sooner than later, it could quickly turn into a throw-away season for the Devils.

The New NHL All-Star Game

Most diehard NHL fans detest the All-Star Game. Their criticism of the showy, little-to-no-contact exhibition game is definitely legitimate. The Skills Competition is pretty entertaining at times, but I usually end up napping through the game itself. The players are clearly playing not to get hurt (as they should) and the goalies inevitability get lit up (because who wants to play defense in an All-Star Game?)

Thankfully, the NHL has been listening, and they’ve flipped the script a bit for the 2010-2011 All-Star Game in Carolina. Here’s a complete list of the changes:

“The 2011 NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft format, which will continue to include fan balloting procedures, contains the following new features:

• Fans will continue to play the lead role in the selection of All-Stars when 2011 NHL All-Star Fan Balloting presented by XM launches on Monday, Nov. 15. The All-Star Balloting process, which is entirely digital for the fourth consecutive game, runs through Jan. 3.

• From a group of 100 players on the ballot, fans will vote for their top six All-Stars by position without regard to the Conference in which the player plays. Fans will also have the ability to write-in a player of their choice.

• The three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie receiving the most votes will be named the first NHL All-Stars.

• The remaining 36 All-Stars will be named by the NHL Hockey Operations Department for a total of 42 All-Star players (3 goalies, 6 defensemen and 12 forwards per team).

• Following the selection of the All-Stars, NHL Hockey Operations will designate 12 NHL rookies to participate in the Honda NHL SuperSkills on Saturday, January 29 for a total of 54 NHL players taking part in All-Star weekend.

• After the 42 NHL All-Stars have been selected, two captains will be chosen per team by the players.

• On Friday, January 28, 2011, a draft event will be held in Raleigh with all 54 NHL players (42 All-Stars and 12 rookies) during which the captains will draft the remaining members of their respective teams.

• First selection in the draft will be determined by coin flip and selections will continue on an alternating basis.

• Each team will be required to select three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards in any order they choose.

• After the selection of the All-Star game rosters, the captains will select among the 12 rookies to fill out the rosters for the Honda NHL SuperSkill

• Each team will feature six rookies participating in various skills competitions.

• Teams will participate in six different skills, including NHL Fastest Skater, NHL Breakaway Challenge, Accuracy Shooting, Skills Challenge Relay, NHL Hardest Shot and the NHL Elimination Shoot Out.” {Puck Daddy}

I’m happy the NHL didn’t follow the MLB’s lead and make the game decide home-ice advantage for the Stanley Cup Finals, but instead, they let the players take control of the rosters, and that alone will give the fans a little something extra to talk about. During the offseason, I said that the ASG had become ‘stagnant’ and that the league needed to do something, anything, to make it more attractive to the news cycle, and they’ve done just that. More importantly, I think it shows that the NHL is doing a much better job of actually listening to its diehard fanbase. Now, how about killing this lockout nonsense and going back to the classic Division names?

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