I'm back

I have returned from my sojourn to New Zealand and Australia. It's so strange to have summer in February. Does that mean they play hockey on my birthday in August? That might be worth checking out.. hehehe It was a cool trip, and you can soon see pics and whatnot on my facebook page (add me if you haven't yet!)

Looks like the addition of Boyes was a good one for the Sabres thusfar. I'm a bit sad that Connolly is still on the roster (coughcoughwasteofspacecough) and that we didn't try to ditch Staffy but it was a slow market and looks like Darcy actually made a decent investment. Good job!

The fellas did pretty well in my absence- good on them! Niedermayer scored 2 goals.. in 2 games---say whaaaatttttt? Maybe I should head south more often? (though I could totally do without the 13 hour plane rides.. and the 15 hour time difference jet lag catching up to me the last 2 days- those are brutal)

So let's talk about Zdeno Chara. I don't like the dude, never have. I think he's not a dirty player, but he doesn't always watch himself. As for his hit on Pacioretty- that was pretty nasty. First off- yes, they were going for the puck. But the puck was LONG gone when Chara smashed Max's head WITH HIS ELBOW into the turnbuckle. WOW. the tape doesn't lie
Chara says he didn't mean it- fine- BUT he knew where he was, and it was a little extra shove that just wasn't necessary. And if he was truly remorseful, he would have shown that a little more after he realized Max was down. He didn't. He continued to jaw with Gomez and didn't even look over to see what was up with Max. I've seen instances where someone gets hurt on similar plays- had his head down or such, and the offending player is over there is a second- checking on the guy. Not here. Now, I know they're not all angels, but they are human beings.

I'm in no way comparing this to the Bertuzzi incident (which still sickens me). It was a heat of the moment thing, rather than a pre-mediated attack. But it was still nasty and unnecessary and I feel terribly bad for Pacioretty and the Canadiens. (And I don't even like the Habs.) But he's a young player just making his mark and it's a pretty rough injury.

Do I think it should be a suspension? Absolutely. I'd give it one, two games. But the League needs to send a message. They claim they're all about protecting players and then they let this go- why? Because it's Chara. He's a "premier player". I would bet any amount of money that had this been Patrick Kaleta, or a player like him, he'd be suspended, no questions asked. But it wasn't and he isn't. Terrible terrible double standard there, NHL. Bad on you.