Hockey Musings, Knit Teaser

I've been thinking today about something that happened in a hockey game last night. Not the Bruins game, I'm glad to say; that was a win for the Bruins, who rested their three biggest* players for a night and beat the team they might face next week when the playoffs begin.
*Well, and in the case of Chara, literally! But Tim Thomas and my boy Bergeron also got a night off.

No, this was in the San Jose-LA game, and try as I might, I'm not sure I've ever heard of something this ridiculous happening in an NHL game. Which is saying something! But there are two parts to my disbelief.

First, that a professional hockey player thought it was acceptable to put his stick down and play the puck from the bench, which boggles my mind all on its own. (And also, that none of the four officials on the ice saw the play and penalized it, though you would think one or two of them might be watching where the puck was.)

Does the thought cross your mind to bend a rule, sure, that I can understand. I'm pretty law-abiding myself, but I'll sometimes notice a loophole in a situation and think about how it could be exploited. But to do it? To go from, "Hey, I could break up that play from here," to actually reaching your stick over the boards and interfering with the play? NO! We don't do that. I barely knew Ryane Clowe's name before, and I now have no respect for him, zero, none. He doesn't even have the excuse of being a kid, since he's 29, otherwise known as Old Enough To Know Better, FTLOG. Impulse control, sir. Impulse control.

Second, that according to reports the player in question will not be suspended or penalized, because the rules don't specifically allow for a suspension or fine in this case.

They call for a minor penalty, period. (And even that didn't get called during the game, since all the officials were looking somewhere else at the time.) Well, what else don't the rules specifically prohibit?

• To avoid a penalty for "too many men on the ice", how about we send out five men and then a few more players who are women?
  
• They couldn't get called for "unsportsmanlike conduct" either, right?
  
• Can we put a sumo wrestler in goal? Because the closer he is to four feet by six feet, the harder it would be to get the puck past him.
• Do the rules prohibit making a line change by having a player rappel down from the rafters, or swing in on a vine, Tarzan-style? No one would expect that!

All right, I think I've made my point. But sheesh! I'm morally indignant for the game, and it isn't even personal. I can't even imagine how ticked I would be if this farce had gone against the Bruins.

I hope to have knitting pictures tomorrow. After finishing the baby hats with the leftover sweater yarn, I still had leftover yarn, so I've been playing with it today. Still cute, if I do say so!