"I said GODDAMN!!!"

Above you'll see Boston Defenseman Aaron Ward amidst his getting sucker punched by Carolina Hurricane Scott Walker late in the third period of last night's Bruins win 4-0 of Game 5 of the Best of Seven series. Ward doesn't even have his gloves off.

Now, a lot is starting to be made of this event in the Hockey Community. The fact that Ward shouldn't have stood there defenseless like this or that Ward was obviously asking for a cheap shot for all of the stuff that he does night in and night out to opposing players behind the scenes. Nevertheless, at the end of the day what remains is that Walker took a run at Ward and followed that up with a shot to his mush that busted up Ward's orbital bone. For this, the anticipated response from the league was an obvious suspension for Walker. Instead, he received a fine that I could pay off should I choose to not pay rent for a little bit. Ward's status for Game 6 remains to be seen but I wouldn't be surprised to see him out there with a cage on.

I'm not pissed off at the league, or officials, or at 'Canes fan's that clearly have some kind of misunderstanding at what playoff hockey is all about. I am actually a fan of the nonsuspension as it gives some of the more physical B's to line up Walker and take a clean shot at him (although that probably won't happen so I should expect something chippy). I'm more kinda peeved at what Carolina Coach Paul Maurice had to say in response to last night's events.

Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice laughed off the possible repercussions.
“Scott probably has sore knuckles,” he said. When asked whether there will be a fine, he added: “I may have to sell my truck.”

Kinda makes him sound like a bit of a dick doesn't it??

In any event, I'm looking forward to a hard fought Game 6 and good news is that should this series go to Game 7, which would probably be played on Thursday night (I am assuming that Thursday would be the night, will probably look into it following this post) I am slated to go see the Shins here in the district with Kool-Aid. How the hell am I going to get out of that one?? I'm hoping that this series doesn't turn into who can out trump who in regards to playing like a bunch of assholes and the two teams turn to playing ol' time hockey Eddie Shore, Bobby Orr style. This isn't a slam, but I wonder how many 'Canes fan's get that reference??? Easy Toast...let's pump the breaks here.