The Game Needs a Little Punching Up

Kevin Paul Dupont writing for boston.com/sports thinks so...

So do I.

Honestly, isn't the politeness of the product killing you? If you are of a certain age, maybe 30 or older, you must remember when every lineup had at least a couple of guys who showed up each night just aching for a fight. Bob Probert come to mind? Terry O'Reilly? Tiger Williams? Games had a pulse, oozed passion.

No doubt, the whole thing got carried away, to the point that we had to witness the sad spectacle of staged bouts that really had no context within the, uh, battle. The whole fight theme got beaten to death, if you will, and wasn't so much disgusting as it was downright silly and boring. A true fight was a spectacle. A staged bout was a farce. If you watched enough, you knew the difference, as sure as you knew art from pornography [...]

Skill is a great thing. The NHL today, as in decades past, is full of dazzling skaters and brilliant stickhandlers. They provide some great entertainment. But the greatest entertainment of all, which is what the NHL can be, and in fact once was, is when dazzling skill and raw passion skate side by side, on a sheet of ice ringed by boards that act as the frame of a heaving, emotional pit.

At its best, the NHL is a bouquet of both roses and thorns. Today, with the barbs plucked from the product, the scent is not nearly the same.

They've sanitized the passion right out of the game. The right balance between the incredible skills and raw emotions of the sport need to be restored to really bring the game roaring back.

In my humble opinion anyway... and that I guess of many others.

Here's a little tribute to those formerly Big Bad Old Boston Bruins Kevin Paul Dupont just mentioned in his above article... with I might add the best rockin song ever written about that town blasting in the background.

I'm gonna tell you a story
I'm gonna tell you about my town
I'm gonna tell you a big bad story, baby
Aww, it's all about my town...

BOSTON!!!



...again best song ever about Boston.... in my humble opinion.

Jughead

...the band.

The Hockey Song

So there I was, over in Paris
Eating wine and drinking cheese
And this guy comes up to me and he says
“ Where are you from?”
Well, I says “Yeah, I’m from Canada”
And he says “Zoot Allure, mon Dieu, you are from Canada? Do you play hockey?”
And I says “Do I play hockey?

Chorus

Well, I play Air hockey, Ball hockey, Barn Hockey, Bubble Hockey, Field hockey,
Floor hockey, Ice hockey, Kitchen hockey, Road hockey,Roller hockey, Table hockey, Twist hockey
And I play hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey,
hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey,hockey all the time!
Take shots!

So there I was way out in California
And this guy comes up to me and he says
“ Where are you from dude?”
Well, I says “Yeah, I’m from Canada”
And he says "Wow! Where are you from dude?”
And I says "Look I'm from Canada"
And he says “Wow. If you’re from Canada? Do you like, play hockey?”
And I says “Do I play hockey?

Chorus

So there I was way down under in Australia
And this guy comes up to me and he says
“ Where are you from?”
Well, I says “Yeah, I’m from Canada”
And he says “Do right, honey child. If you’re from Canada? Do you play hockey?”
And I says “Do I play hockey?

Chorus

He shoots. He scores!

Rock on!

Zamboni Joyriding

Midnight Zamboni run prompts firings.

BOISE, Idaho - Two employees of the city's ice skating rink have been fired for making a midnight fast-food run in a pair of Zambonis. An anonymous tipster reported seeing the two big ice-resurfacing machines chug through a Burger King drive-through and return to the rink around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10. The squat, rubber-tired vehicles, which have a top speed of about 5 mph, drove 1 1/2 miles in all.

The Zamboni operators, both temporary city employees whose names and ages were not released by the Parks and Recreation Department, had to negotiate at least one intersection with a traffic light on their late-night creep from Idaho Ice World.

"They were fired immediately," said Parks Department Director Jim Hall. "We're pretty sure it was just the one time. When we interviewed them, they didn't seem to be too concerned about it. I don't think they understood the seriousness of it."

Busted by an anonymous tipster. Obviously not a hockey fan.

Give Me that Old Time Hockey

Hmmm, no sooner I put up The Fight Song (unplugged) in the preceding post... then we actually get a old fashion, late in the game, send a message, type brouhaha occur. Imagine that. Certainly it's rarity to see one these daze, that's for sure. I thought they had become extinct? Who knew?



However, soon this time honored aspect of the game will be gone forever. And I'm not just talking about late game stuff like this. I'm talking fighting in general will be gone... period. Even the current and finest practicioners of the manly art know their days are numbered.

Georges Laraque was lamenting the inevitable this week.

The decline of the fight game. No, he wasn't referring to the thin ranks of boxing's heavyweight class.

Laraque, the Phoenix Coyotes' winger and enforcer, was talking to Pierre LeBrun of The Canadian Press about the sun setting on the NHL tough guy.

"I know that within two years there won't be any fighters in the league anymore," Laraque said. "Within two years -- I'm serious -- because this is how it's going. More and more teams don't have fighters."

A nine-year veteran, Laraque has had a good run, but he frets over the future of his young "brothers," such as the Ottawa Senators' Brian McGrattan.

Soon these "brothers" in arms will be riding off into the sunset for good.... or to the LNAH.

I sure do miss the occasional brouhaha. Here's some classics from my yesteryears.



That first one shown between the Bruins and the old Colorado Rockies (Rocky Hockey) my future wife and I attended. It was her first game and she's been absolutely hooked ever since. Needless to say... I married her. You can't let the good ones that love hockey get away.

The Hockey Fight Song

Unplugged...



Going down to the Garden
With a couple of my buds
Wanna sit in the cheap seats
Wanna see a little blood
Wanna get my money's worth
Eat some dogs, drink some beer
Yell all night at the referees
Come on you bums, get out of here
Wanna see a hockey fight
A little donnybrook, a little brouhaha
And if my team should score tonight
We all will say hurrah, hurrah

Aaaah, the simple universal pleasures of the hockey life so neatly summed up in a song.

Glow Nets

Hmmm, maybe the powers that be feel the need to reach out to the rave generation....

Pond of Dreams

Dream on...

South Puck

Another bloody Colorado hockey rivalry is born...



Damn those Detroit Red Wings.

More Puck Rock

...from hockey's best puck rock band.

The Hanson Bros.

The Hockey Song


It IS the best game you can name. But of course we all already knew that.

Rock on.

The Office Enforcer

Every work place needs one.



Hockey, making life better... on and off-ice.