With the trade deadline looming, Jarome Iginla and the Calgary Flames are here tomorrow night. Last night, in an 8-6 loss to Tampa, Iggy hit the 400 goal mark and popped two goals and three assists to pass Theo Fleury as the Flames' all-time leading scorer.Looking back, Iginla’s career is a great reminder to all hockey fans this time of the year not to judge a trade too hastily. Calgary took a lot of heat for giving up the beloved Joe Nieuwendyk for this Iginla kid. All he did was become the team’s all time leading scorer.
I recall my late, beloved Expos giving up Delino Deshields to LA. All the ‘Spos got back was this skinny unknown pitching prospect. Outrage! That player would grow up to be…Pedro Martinez! And now you know the rest of the story. RIP Paul Harvey.
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Steve Ott just gets classier by the day, doesn’t he? Ott has been suspended for an apparent eye gouging attempt on Anaheim’s Travis Moen on Saturday. Moen had just destroyed Ott in a fight, a retaliation for Ott’s cross checking the snot out of Scott Nidermayer in front of the Ducks’ net. Literally. Snot everywhere. Moen lost his balance at the end of the fight and Ott clung to him like a spider monkey – I don’t know the fight tactics of the spider monkey but I’d have to imagine it’s part of its repertoire.
That’s when Ott apparently eye gouged Moen. Not having had the opportunity to turtle, Ott had to do something classless. D’uh.
The cuddly Steve Downie, most well known to Sens fans as the guy who damn near took Deaqn McAmmond’s head off, is also in the news for all the wrong, albeit expected, reasons. Not content to wreak his mayhem on opponents, he’s working the officials now. Downie has been suspended by the AHL for slashing a lineman in the shin before a face off.
Downie claims he was just trying to tie up the player. Uh-huh. Stevie, I’d give you the benefit of the doubt on that one if not for one fact. Your entire career has been marred by violence and mayhem.
In hockey, you’re thrown out of games for intent to injure. Here are two repeat offenders, whose entire careers are devoted their intent to injure. I will ask it again. Why does the NHLPA accept so much carnage and bad press created by these repeat offending twits? They protect their membership from everything else.
