Before I start about the main subject of this blog, I do agree that what Kostopoulos did was dirty and was Andrei Kostitsyn do to Luke Schenn was dangerous, however I am shocked that no one talked about the Grabovski butt-end on Carey Price.

I am fuming at this, Mikhail Grabovski ran his mouth all night, started diving at one point and got a little chat with Saku Koivu about it. At one point in the game, the little #84 Belarusian forward of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes his stick and stabs Carey Price with it. No call was made, no review from the league what so ever. That kind of play is a 5 minutes penalty and a game misconduct according to the NHL Rulebook and the NHL botched it, they were too occupied looking at the Kostopoulos play, which I understand. The Canadiens should, however, show the clip to the league so they can judge on the incident, that play shouldn’t be part of the league and if the NHL truly condones those acts instead of the result, Grabovski should at the very least get a fine. It absolutely disgusts me that a player like that would do such a thing and not held accountable for.

If the league doesn’t do anything about it, you could bet the Montreal Canadiens players will take care of it on January 8th in Montreal.

Tip to Mikhail Grabovski for January 8th: Keep your head up

Well, the unsurprising verdict is in.  Montreal Canadiens forward Tom Kostopolous has been suspended three games for his hit from behind on Mike Van Ryn during the first period of the Montreal-Toronto game on Saturday night.  The moderate suspension was to be expected.  The best comparison, although Colin Campbell claims to be loathe to compare incidents, is Randy Jones’ hit on Patrice Bergeron last season which led to a 2 game suspension for Jones.   Saturday night’s hit was no more dirty than any other of the same ilk, and I don’t want to single out Kostopolous as being particularly dirty or more guilty than others.  In fact Tom has been remorseful, and deserves respect for his willingness to accept responsibility for his actions.  Sadly these hits, and the weak discipline put forward subsequently is simply part of a larger problem the NHL has failed to address for years.

Certain things are seen as “part of the game”.  Take a high elbow? Cheap, but an occupational hazard. Fighting? Well that’s a big part of the game, get hurt then and it’s by your own volition.  Broken wrists or ankles from slashing and hacking? Dirty, and unfortunate, but once again “part of the game”.  Then there are the others.  Incidents that are viewed as abhorrent.  The Bertuzzi’s, Mcsorley’s and Simon’s of the world are rightly vilified for their actions, both within and outside the hockey community.  Their actions are seen as being completely unacceptable and outside any action that is seen as being “part of the game”

Unfortunately, the hits from behind we’ve seen and continue to see are part of the former, or “part of the game”. This is the case both in theory and in practice.  Whatever light goes on in someone’s head that stops them from swinging their stick, or sucker punching someone from behind or kicking at someone with their skate (Martin Havlat notwithstanding) doesn’t go on in someone’s head when they see someone’s numbers.  Kostopolous claimed, and fairly so, that Van Ryn turned late.  Indeed he did, but was Van Ryn ever facing the incoming Habs? No, he was on an angle.  Kostopolous may never have seen the middle of his back, but there’s he would have seen part of his back.  But, as like any player, he kept going full tilt.  Why? Because it’s part of the game, and it shouldn’t be.

It’s time to send a message.  Hit someone like that? First, time have a seat for 20 games.  Next time? 40.  3rd time? Thats your third strike. Take a seat for a season.  It is, in my opinion, the only way you’ll stop it.  Treat it as if it’s abhorrent. Treat it the way you’d treat someone swinging at an opponent’s head with their stick.  Until it’s treated as something that belongs nowhere near the game, it will continue to pervade the game.  Unfortunately, with the NHL, it seems as if it may take a broken neck, or perhaps worse, for this message to be sent.

My thoughts on tonights game as a whole are the same as I’ve pretty much thought all season.

“WHY AREN’T THEY THE FIRST LINE?”

Niklas Hagman, Mikhail Grabovski, and Nikolai Kulemin are by far the top line on this leafs team and they continued to prove it tonight with a stunning 6-3 win that would’ve been much better if Toskala hadn’t continued to be mediocre.

To start off, I can’t say enough about Grabovski. He’s just simply been on fire the last 4 games, getting six goals and two assists in that time. For a guy who had three goals in his 27 game career with the Montreal Canadiens, he’s looking pretty good now, with 7 in 15. That second rounder is looking less and less meaningful by the night, with him scoring a goal and adding an assist tonight.

Hagman was also fantabulous, potting two goals, with Nik Antropov, Pavel Kubina (my personal favourite leaf), and Alexei Ponikarovsky scoring the other goals. For the 11th straight time, the Leafs have outshot the opponents, and are now 6-5-4 on the year.

Robert Lang, Tomas Plekanec and Captain Saku Koivu scored for the Habs, who fall to an only somewhat amazing 8-2-2. They defintely didn’t go out quietly, with both Tom Kostopoulous and Sergei Kostitsyn being sent off by the end of the game.

Kostopolous made a boneheaded play, hitting Mike Van Ryn from behind. Van Ryn would be hurt on the play, and the most recent word coming from Toronto is that Van Ryn is in the hospital with a “head injury”, though CBC seems to think its just precautionary.

As for Kostitsyn, he felt as if he was entitled to being the 382nd guy of the night to run Mikhail Grabovski, and proceeded to request a fight from Grabo. Grabo seemed just as interested, but thanks to the referees already trying to get Sergei into the box, and Hagman telling Grabo to shut the **** up, that never happened and SKos got an extra ten minutes.

A goal was disallowed with 6:49 left to go, because Chris Higgins apparently doesn’t know where to place his stick.

All in all, a good game. Also, the pre-game ceremony was great. They had the normal HOF game honoring, plus their rememberance day extravaganza rolled into one. It was quite nice, really.