Thanks Cobra.........we DID continue the streak by beating the second best team in our division ...3 to 1. ( WE....are the best team so far.) Probably the best game we have played this year.

<<If the violence is to be addressed , it needs to have Canadian leadership .>>
And I think that's what Dave Branch is trying to do. There have been comments that the hit wasn't out of the ordinary in the NHL and was, basically, clean - read that to mean Liambus didn't hit Fanelli in the head with his elbow(s). Branch's comment was very terse and very clear. "This is not the NHL. This is junior hockey!"
Amen!
Side bar - Good news - Fanelli was out of ICU and in a private room and beginning rehab.

And to be fair........I've been hearing that Liambus is totally devastated by what happened. Said all he wanted to do was make a solid body check and had no idea the consequences of hitting Fanelli that hard.

Sorry! I understand your after-the-fact remorse but - DUH! What'd ya think would happen YOU DUMB ASS!

Cheers
Chuck

JJ -
Gawd - reading the rest of your post brings back many fond memories. My brother and I used to play in a grade school league arranged by a bunch of dedicated fathers. We played on an outdoor, hand-flooded rink - with boards - in a local park. Our games would be in the morning on Saturday but, when they were over, the rink was open for shinny hockey. We'd stay - all day. Played until the street lights came on and then head home for dinner on numb feet, in cold rubber boots, about 3/4 of a mile. Our feet would finally stop stinging from warmth and the circulation coming back about time to settle down with Dad, all died in the wool Leaf fans, to watch Hockey Night In Canada and hear Foster Hewitt - (later, his son, Bill) call the game.
Ward Cornell, Ed Fitkin and Jack Dennet doing the intermission commentary. Frank Mahovlich, Dave Keon, Tim Horton, Bob Pulford - on and on!
Thanks for the trip down "memory lane"
Cheers
Chuck

Chuck..........................It seems that hits from behind along the boards are all the rage in the NHL this year. Hits to the head are fast becoming a problem as well. I think you may be right about the instigator penalty. The players policed themselves pretty well before that rule. Why not have a "brawl rule" when it gets out of hand and let the "instigators" come in a beat the snot out of the guys who are hitting guys into the boards from behind and putting elbows in their faces. Good luck to Fanelli. It's too easy for guys to be "totally devastated" by the result of these things. It requires a change in the way the game is played near the boards . It will take a high profile player ending up in a wheelchair to get any kind of change.........sad.

I am always jealous when Canadians talk about all the hockey they played when they were young. The game is a part of Canadian culture like baseball was a part of American culture when i was a kid (sixties). There is no substitute for that kind of icetime. I have always been the kind of person that doesn't know when to quit. Although i learned to skate when i was just 4 or 5 years old ; we didn't have that kind of emphasis on the game of hockey. Thankfully ; my dad watched the Philadelphia Flyers on our old black and white when games were shown. I would sit and watch guys making thiose graceful turns with the puck and the defencemen stopping and skating BACKWARDS with such ease. I would grab my skates and old straightblade Northland stick and go down to the ice to attempt to emulate some of that kind of skating. The lake i lived on was 13 miles long with many coves and a few islands. The wind would blow across the ice and leave thin patches of snow with black ice in between for the lucky puckhandler . Flying by the icefishermen sitting over their tip-ups dressed like eskimos and nursing a steaming thermos of hot chocolate , while i had on only a wool sweator and a pair of overalls over my longies .......... it was true freedom.

We would play night "games" of free for all hockey in front of our lone spotlight rigged to shine across the frozen dock in the ice on shore. Looking for pucks in the snow became an art form. Lots of bruises from sticks and pucks and falls to the ice with no pads to ease the pain. Gawd....it was fun !

I go on and on......boring some of you guys no doubt. The two best games on the planet......hockey and golf.
Beck

Great post JJ,,, as stated I am not a hockey player but this is very interesting to read.

STOP IT JJ!!!!!!!!!!!
You're makin' me tear up.
That's what hockey is all about, whether you're a Canuck born and raised in Southern Ontario or a Yank from Colorado..............
Skates, a stick, a puck, and a big piece of smooth ice. Freedom!! You were Rocket Richard, Gordie Howe, Dave Keon...............These are very special memories, my friend..........keep them close. It's all we devotees have left in the face of the present state of the game.
Cheers
Chuck

Thanks Cobra........there's still time to learn. Maybe we could put you in net. " Not much of a skater .....but he's quick as a cobra ! "

Sorry Chuck..........memories are sweet though...........to be a kid again.

Pond season is almost upon us here in the high Rockies. I'm another year older , but i'm skating fairly strong as long as the competition is not TOO young and fast. ( I prefer an old and slow crowd or young and gumby at least.) While the crowds clog the inter-state for the ski areas , i'll be driving the mostly empty highway up to the pond.

If you ever want to visit Colorado and play some pond hockey in winter , let me know.

JJ

LMAO,,, let me thinks on this one,,, !!!!

Often went skating as a teen but never tried the game. There wasn't much junior or beer league going on here then. And the closest rink also closed.