Lot's of talk in the hockey world about tonight's Habs-Bruins game in Boston where the Broons are favored at -175 and the total is posted at 5.
Most remember the fireworks from the last time they met when Zdeno Chara 'blowed up' Max Pacioretty with a hit into the glass partition at the Bell Center, sparking tears and prayer circle protests from throngs of Hab Nation.
The league is reportedly going to keep a tight lid on tonight's rematch, as is often the case in situations where a game has the potential to get ugly.
Reports are that two veteran officials will do the game as a result, one of them being Dan O'Halloran. This is news because, unlike the NBA, the NHL doesn't release its officials assignments on game day.
O'Halloran is an 'over' official who sees an average of 6.18 goals per game in games he's officiated this season - the second highest number in the league among officials who have reffed more than one game this year. The over/under has a record of 36-29 in his games.
There’s a profitable first-half trend from yesterday’s action of March Madness that carries over from last year. First half over/unders went 10-4-2 yesterday, earning a nice payday for those who made this wager on every matchup.
It’s a trend worth noting, not only for the cash, but also because the over/under went just 8-7-1 overall yesterday, with the lone push coming in the Richmond-Vandy game (135).
This trend carries over from 2010 and a few of us in the office continued to follow it this year to see where it would lead. To the best of our memories, only five games played under in the first half last year through the first two days, though don’t shoot me if I’m wrong by a couple of games.
Still, that was a massive profit last year and shaping up to be a nice one this year.
All trends must come to an end but worth throwing out there for your consideration as you make your wagers today.
I haven’t written a blog in a while, but the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty has pulled me out of blogger retirement.
In case you missed it, Chara drove Pacioretty into the boards where the glass partition begins near the benches at the Bell Centre near the end of the second period Wednesday night. Pacioretty was bloodied, knocked out cold and taken off on a stretcher to hospital.
It’s not so much the hit itself that’s bothering me – though it wasn’t pretty - rather the way it’s being covered.
Chara should be suspended for life, is pretty much the gist outside of Boston. One Montreal Gazette writer, Dave Stubbs, ridiculously compared the incident to the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili at last year’s Olympics and said any “reasonable fan” should have been “repulsed… no matter their allegiance.”
Count me among the unreasonable, I guess.
I don’t like seeing gore out there, but when you check the stories on the major mainstream outlets like TSN, ESPN and others and you’ll see no mention of what Chara’s hit was really about: January 8.
What happened that night in front of a national TV audience on Hockey Night in Canada was Pacioretty scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over Boston, and then followed Chara after the goal so he could give him an extra “up yours” shove in the back as the 6-foot-9 defenseman skated away.
Chara lost it and a major scrum ensued. Jump to the 2:35 mark of the Youtube clip below and you'll see what I'm talking about.
As I sat there watching, I repeated to myself over and over: “Pacioretty, that was soooo dumb.”
There are certain things everybody knows you just don’t do. You don’t poke a bear with sticks. You don’t throw rocks at bee hives. And you don’t piss off the biggest - and one of the meanest - players in the NHL.
As sure as they sing the national anthem in French at the Bell Centre, he will get you.
And Chara did.
Chara knew very well where the glass began and he knew very well which player was trying to whiz by him in pursuit of the puck. The 22-year-old Pacioretty learned the hard way that the Slovakian giant has a better memory than he thought when he made the decision to try squeeze by Chara on the boards in a 4-0 game.
I’m not saying Chara shouldn’t be suspended. He should be. Say, two games. But spare me the victim routine, Habs fans and media.
Pacioretty set himself up for that back in January and made a poor decision on the ice last night.
There is a lot of talk these days about the lack of respect players show for one another in the NHL. But there’s another major issue here, which I’ve heard Mark Messier discuss, among other former players. And that’s that players aren’t protecting themselves like they used to for some reason.
Pacioretty should have never put himself in that situation with Chara – either on Jan. 8 or March 8. Anybody who knows anything about hockey knows guys like Chara don’t forget when you grease them. And if you want to put that theory to the test like Pacioretty did, hey, it’s your face.
NHL general managers are meeting in Florida this week for three days to discuss, among other things, head shots in hockey and the serious injuries that follow.
This hot button issue has sparked a ton of discussion in the NHL this year because of an apparent increase in head injuries following hits, most recently to Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins when he got demolished by Matt Cooke on Sunday.
It’s a tough topic because some of these checks are ones we previously would have deemed as clean.
Elbows in. No charging. Player doesn’t leave his feet.
But still, players are getting it too hard in the bucket and we all know by now that concussions can mess a guy up.
Everyone seemed to agree that a clearer definition of the rules was in order heading into the GM meetings. So what did they vote to pass unanimously today?
A rule that says the referee can assess either a minor penalty or a major penalty for hits they deem were targeted to the head.
What does that mean?
And don’t we already have this rule in place?
Officials have the power to call a major or match penalty any time they feel a player intentionally tries to injure another. Wouldn’t that qualify?
Instead of clearing things up, the NHL is heading (pun intended) into a whole new grey area that’s going to cause them a mountain of, err, headaches.
It’s tough to distinguish what is an intentional hit to the head and what isn’t, especially at the speed of NHL play.
In slow motion, I’d say that, yes, Cooke went after Savard’s head even though his elbow was down. In real time, I’m not so sure and I think real time is the only way you can look at these kinds of plays because that’s all the player gets to see.
Another question. Savard is generously listed at 5-foot-10 by the Bruins. A ton of players in the NHL are over six feet. What happens when they catch the Marty St. Louises or the Brian Giontas of the league (both 5-foot-7) in the head due largely because of size difference?
It’s a subjective call a lot of the time and I don’t think this alleged new rule does much to clarify.
I saw an interview with Mark Messier the other day and he made a great point that I don’t hear come up too often. He said he’s baffled at why players today seem to put themselves in more vulnerable positions than they used to.
It’s a great point. This wasn’t a problem we seemed to have before and it wasn’t like players all of a sudden started going after heads. They would have laid a guy out in 1989 just the same as they would in 2009 given the chance.
I think too often, players are coming through the trolly tracks – like Savard or like David Booth earlier in the year – with their heads down. Back in Messier’s day, guys just didn’t seem to put themselves in those types of spots as often and if they did, anyone who tried to hit them would have to worry about eating a Sherwood.
I’m not so sure why players put themselves in more vulnerable spots these days. I think in part it has to do with the equipment that can make them feel a little invincible and partly it has to do with the competition.
The battle to make, and stay, in the NHL these days is so tough, players would rather put themselves in precarious positions on the ice in order to make a play rather than risk getting blasted by their coach when they get back to the bench.
I dunno. Those are just two of my theories, but I really don’t have a definitive answer. Feel free to throw out some of your thoughts on how the NHL could improve this problem.
What I do know is the NHL didn’t solve any issues with this new rule and we’re going to see the refs take a pile of heat next season as they attempt to put this grey rule into practice.
Betting the NBA during the week leading up to the All-Star break is gambling at its riskiest. You really don’t have any clue which teams are going to check out a few days early and leave your money to blow away in the wind.
I usually avoid it like a public urinal. But like a public urinal, sometimes you just have to.
Take tonight. The Wiz opened as 8.5-point dogs on the road at Betjamaica against the Bobbies and I just can’t see any reason why they would give a flying bullet who wins this game.
They are coming off a relaxing 3-day vacation in sunny Orlando because they were storm-stayed over the weekend due to the blizzard in Washington. Their Sunday game in D.C. against the Hawks was rescheduled for March 11.
(Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins managed to make it to D.C. for a 1 p.m. Sunday game despite playing in Montreal the night before. The Pens got in at 2 a.m. and took a 5-hour bus ride after flying to Newark. )
But I don’t really blame the Wiz for not wanting to play. They suck. And their dressing room is more of an evidence locker these days.
Antawn Jamison proved he’s the Wizard who least wants to be playing basketball when he couldn’t be bothered to show up for Monday’s practice. He used the time off in Florida to skip down to Miami, where he has a home, and he bought a suite for the Super Bowl.
“I’m just going to have a good time,” he told the Washington Post when asked if he had a rooting interest.
He missed his early morning flight back to Orlando on Monday and told his team he’ll see it in Charlotte. I’d say his teammates would be pissed, but I mostly just wonder if they care enough to get angry.
The Bobcats meanwhile, have two injured players – Tyson Chandler and Ray Felton – whom Larry Brown will have a hard time keeping off the floor tonight. Felton rolled his ankle in practice yesterday and declared that he’s playing tonight, even though the coaching staff says they'll make a decision at game time.
Chandler is a question mark too, but he wouldn’t be blamed if he sat tonight. He’s been out six weeks with a foot injury and it would be easy for him to rest until after the All-Star break if he chose to.
Then again his team is just one game below .500, not 15.