Man oh man, am I a fan of Happy Hour.

This would never fly in Ontario.  Liquor laws are so strict since it is all monitored by the LCBO.  They even specify the lowest amount someone can charge for a drink.  Regardless, I think everyone can understand that I had a good trip to Duluth, MN last weekend.

After all the flak that the Flames organization has received in regards to how they treat their players, they finally did something right.  As Craig Conroy announced his retirement, he accepted a position within the Flames organization as a special assistant to acting GM Jay Feaster.  All this came around as Conroy was placed on waivers after being a healthy scratch for 28 of 29 games, and 16 straight games.  Conroy had the option of either reporting to the Flames AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, BC or retire.  Conroy chose to retire and took a position with the team.  Conroy was one of the few players in the league that would take the time to meet with the fans and talk to the media without using all of the old hat clichés (including the irritating “and ahs”) that are rampant in the league right now.  Craig Conroy has always been a class act and I wish him the best.

Now, for those of you that are looking at that picture, you are probably noticing that Conroy has himself a little bit of arm candy.  I am not sure what it is, but something about hockey players really draws out the puck bunnies.  In my opinion, if these guys held regular jobs, they would never be able to pull women like this.  For example…

Melanie Collins, girlfriend of Scotty Upshall

Emma Zetterberg

Willa Ford, married to Mike Modano

Abby Malone, wife of Ryan Malone

Angelica Bridges, married to Sheldon Souray

Jessica Welch, married to Richard Zednik

However, this anomaly is not across the board.  Some hockey players must’ve brought their girlfriends from home before they made it to the big show. 

Pat Falloon and his wife, not as attractive as the others.  Besides, where was this picture taken?  Some run down Legion?

But anyways, I digress.

Earlier this week, some of us happened to catch the Boston/Dallas game.  3 fights in the first 4 seconds of a game hasn’t happened in about 15 years.  This just proves that hockey players have memories like elephants.  I guarantee you that Gregory Campbell hasn’t forgotten about the hit he took 23 months ago from Steve Ott, while Campbell was a member of the Florida Panthers.

The Bruins definitely showed some team toughness in that game, with another fight coming later on.  4 fights that game without Chara, Stuart or Lucic getting involved.  Personally, I was impressed.  However, one thing that I was disappointed with was Paille’s hit on Sawada.  This is a textbook rule 48 hit that the league is trying to get rid of.  We all knew that a suspension was coming and we were right.  The only question was how long would it be?  Paille will be sitting for 4 games as a result, and Sawada suffered a separated shoulder on the hit.  For those of you that missed it…

After the game in an interview, Paille’s teammate Andrew Ference told a reporter that it was a “bad hit.”  In my humble opinion, that was a problem.  It is one thing to talk to a teammate afterwards and tell him that, it is another to publicly state such a thing.  I’m a fan of Ference and the way he plays, but this comment was completely unnecessary.  There are things that should be said to the media, but teammates should always support each other in the publics eye.  Ference wasn’t wrong in thinking that it was a bad hit, we all knew that.  However, Ference was wrong to make such a statement to the press, and as a result, it was on the news and in the papers.  Pull the player aside and talk to him about it, but when you have a microphone and a camera in front of you, you support your teammates.  Will this cause a little bit of a divide in the dressing room?  As a Bruins fan, I hope not.

After signing a ridiculous 15 year at $4.5 million a season, Rick DiPietro has been anything but consistent for the Isles.  DiPietro has had many problems with injuries the past few years, only appearing in 33 games since the start of the 08-09 season.  As a result, DiPietro has earned approximately $410,000 per start.  After taking a solid left from Pens goalie Brent Johnson, DiPietro is on the shelf for another 4-6 weeks due to broken bones in his face.  This guy really is made of glass.  Now I wonder if Wang and Snow will try to convince Nabakov to play.

HOCKEY FIGHT OF THE WEEK

Cam Janssen vs Jim Vandermeer

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