Little BIG Man Hockey

With the games this season being played under new rules fourteen of the thirty NHL teams have players UNDER 6' tall leading their clubs in scoring.

The list of little guys making a big impact crosses the National Hockey League's generational divide. From Camille Henry and Henri Richard to Denis Savard and Theo Fleury, there was always a smallish dervish that defied expectation and put up big scoring numbers, against all odds.

Even the last year before the NHL lockout, the MVP and scoring leader was a 5-foot-9, 185-pound winger named Martin St. Louis.

However, in the new NHL -- with its crackdown on obstruction and its emphasis on skill and speed over brawn and bulk -- it looks as though the trend toward smaller players is taking hold.

Of all the major sports ONLY Hockey has the rules and the conditions that allow a lot of athletes of normal or even smaller stature to compete and even dominate. It's another one of the many reasons I love this sport so much.

From the Wide World of Pucks:

The Trap makes a comeback

Beer Tanker Truck Hits Hockey Bus

Home-ice advantage in NHL is melting

Sid and Dion go head to head tonight

and finally...

.......

Click the Pic for another ^ NHL2K6XBOX360 Review

Today's Hockey Joke:

St. Peter and Satan were having an argument one day about hockey. Satan proposed a game to be played on neutral grounds between a select team from the heavenly host and his own hand-picked boys.
"Very well," said the gatekeeper of Heaven. "But you realize, I hope, that we've got all the good players and the best coaches."
"I know, and that's all right," Satan answered. "We've got all the Referees!!!"

Man, ain't that the truth.