So Much For That...

... on multiple counts. The first being publishing posts, the second being that game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Um, yeah. Haven't thought about the game much because I've  spent more time imagining in my head what might have happened if Ron Wilson had actually allowed Colton Orr to take another shift. It varies from imagination to imagination, but all involve Ryane Clowe pounding him.
(See the picture? Imagine that Oiler is Colton Orr, and then just visualize the force with which Ryane Clowe's fist is going to strike his head. Retribution feels oh so sweet.)

So I literally just remembered this blog now, and I came to it with the intention of changing the layout and color scheme, but then I remembered a conversation/debate I'd had today at school, and it's relevant enough to relay here.

Intent to Injure or Hit for the Puck?
One of my classmates knows very little about hockey, and that is being generous. I had been describing Colton Orr's hit on Logan Couture (acting it out, actually, before Biology) and I mentioned how Orr clearly had "intent to injure." My classmate pondered aloud, "Don't hockey players always try to hurt the other guy they are hitting?" This sparked a mini-debate within our Biology class. It was pretty much me and my friend C against the rest of the class, although C and I are the only ones who actually know hockey. Like, at all. My theory is that while guys often hit each other in attempts to strip them of the puck, or disorient them enough to get a jump on the play. Big hits are also something to get the crowd into the game (ever heard of Douglas Murray?). However, it is my belief that you rarely see players go into a hit with the intention of seriously hurting the other guy, to the point where that player may not return in that game. Yes, you see these hits and these plays every so often, but my point is that they are not common, and are not the norm.

To all my hockey-oblivious classmates: Hockey players aren't actually Neanderthals!* Imagine that.

*Except Corey Perry, and a select few others, but mostly Corey Perry