Intent, malice, really??

Under NHL rules if your stick makes contact with a player's facial area it's a high-sticking penalty. Regardless of if the player "meant" to do it. You must be in control of your stick at all times. (Imagine that.)

Will someone please tell me why this appears to be the only rule that takes this sort of "you must be aware of your actions regardless of intent"?

Certainly swinging your stick around is dangerous. There's always the danger of contact with eyes, but many times a player gets clipped and it's a few stitches or no injury at all. But it's an automatic penalty.

Somehow a player can be irresponsible with everything except the stick and give a player a concussion that can stick with you forever -- and -- it's all good?

Everyone knows it's not "all good" but that's the message the NHL sent today when it decided not to hand out any further disciplinary action against Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. 

I've seen a lot of comment about the hit on Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty. If you're one of the few people who haven't watched TV or been on the internet in the last 24 hours here it is.



Chara had his head up. The puck was long gone. He was called for interference and booted from the game.

In Mike Murphy's statement about the hit, the excuse is that Chara didn't leave his feet and he didn't "target" Pacioretty's head. In my opinion he absolutely targetted the head. Maybe he didn't put his elbow directly into his head but he certainly pushed Pacioretty into the glass in a way that his head would inevitably make contact with a solid object. 

"Oh but he didn't MEAN to do it".

Give me a break. I don't care what you say, Chara saw that glass coming. Besides, I could care less if he meant to do it. There are murderers who stand before a judge and say they didn't "mean" to do it. Too bad buddy, you're still going to jail.Why can't the NHL treat it's players like that.

Max Pacioretty is undoubtedly out for the season with a "severe concussion" and several broken vertebrae. He's lucky he's not paralyzed. The Habs are now without a player who's been putting up excellent numbers for an AHL call-up. That's not justice.

Then there's the fact the NHL is without it's star. Sidney Crosby was on a tear. Perhaps a record-breaking tear. They were without him at the All-Boring-Game. And they may be without him for the playoffs. Because some guy on the Capitals didn't "mean" to get his elbow up and hit him in the head.

Enough with this 'intent' bullshit.

I can't understand how the NHL can continually let this slide. The dysfunction is mindboggling. Absolutely mindf$^$ingboggling.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx or find her on her blog National Passtime

The Hamilton Bulldogs are doing just fine, thankyou.

So. The Montreal Canadiens are missing, Georges Laraque, Mathieu Dandenault, Christopher Higgins, Saku Koivu, Carey Price, and Alex Tanguay. I know, I know. Hardly ANY of their good players.

The Canadiens have had their fair share of the injury bug this season. Only five players have played all 41 of the Habs games this season.

No problem.

Since Christmas, the Canadiens have won seven games. They only played eight.

Screw it, who needs those guys. I'm actually a bit concerned about having those players return to the team and throwing off the time-space continuum, or whatever governs the chemistry of a hockey team.

The Hamilton Bulldogs are winning in style. (Must be the effects of having Kovalev as a captain). Last night they broke a 4-4 deadlock with 25 seconds left to take the win over the Washington Capitals.

Max Pacioretty (or as I prefer... MAXPAK!) is averaging just under a point per game. And Matt D'Agostini has six goals and two assists since being called up in late November.

I think there might be something to this. I mean, really, nobody really wants to get sent back to the AHL. But NOBODY wants to get sent back to the AHL, when your AHL team is in Hamilton. Keep it hangin' over their heads Carbo.

The youngens have gelled and have started to pull the deplorable performance of the Canadiens' powerplay out of the cellar (they're now 25th!). They even scored a shorthanded goal!

And those youngens have also ruined Carbo's vacation plans... the nerve.

MONTREAL – Guy Carbonneau can officially put away his sunscreen. Behind the bench is where he will be spending NHL All-Star Weekend.

Thanks to the Habs’ 5-4 win over the Capitals on Saturday night at the Bell Centre, the Canadiens leapfrogged past Washington in point percentage, .683 to .662. That slim margin was enough to earn Carbonneau an invite to NHL All-Star Weekend, to be held at the Bell Centre on January 24 and 25.

“I hadn’t reserved anything yet, but I had been looking at my options,” admitted Carbonneau, who only narrowly missed out on heading to Atlanta for last year’s midseason classic. “I was considering heading to Florida to spend some time on the beach and work on my tan.”

A much paler Carbonneau will instead be front and center as top stars in the NHL invade Montreal.

“Without question, getting to experience it in Montreal will be nothing short of amazing,” said the Habs' bench boss. “I never got to play in an All-Star as a player so it will be a special experience to be around the best players and coaches in the league.”

Carbonneau will ironically assist head coach Claude Julien of the top-ranked Bruins in a strange twist of fate that did not go unnoticed in the Canadiens’ dressing room.

“Let’s just say it will be interesting to see Claude Julien and Carbo side-by-side behind the bench together,” said Tomas Plekanec with a smile, after potting a pair to help send his coach to the All-Star Game. “We all couldn’t be happier for him, though. Carbo really deserves it and we’re excited that he’s going to be there along with Kovy and the guys.”

And now I leave you with this.

Let the Sunday night drinking games begin.