Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

....while the Zamboni machine resurfaces the ice.

One of the cartoon characters I grew up watching was Peter Puck, a talking and animated hockey puck. NBC -- and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada -- would air 3-minute episodes during intermissions of hockey games. The episodes, produced by Hanna-Barbera and voiced by Ronnie Schell -- covered the rules and mechanics of the game.

Poking around YouTube, while watching the NHL WInter Classic, I found some vintage episodes. I'd love to get a DVD of the original episodes. But for now, these will suffice.

Episode 1: How To Play The Game
Epidsode 2: Equipment, Officials, and Players
Episode 3: Pucks, Skates, and Sticks
Episode 4: Penalties, Signs, and Fines

The Phoenix Coyotes -- the team coached by the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky -- has filed for bankruptcy. The scuttlebutt I've heard is that the guy who owns Research In Motion -- RIM, better known as the Blackberry maker -- wants to buy the team and move it to Canada. Some say that's already happened. Other sources say "not so fast".

One of the rumored sites for the team is Hamilton, Ontario -- halfway between Buffalo, NY and Toronto, ON. Each of those cities has an NHL team (the Sabres and Leafs, respectively). My concern is that placing an NHL team in Hamilton would take away fans from Sabres and Leafs games. Or are there enough hockey fans in all three cities to support three teams within such close proximity to each other?

Good news! The CTV television network has purchased the rights to Dolores Claman's "Hockey Theme", thus preserving it in the pantheon of Canadian culture and the hearts of hockey fans.

Here's the press release.

Just as I (almost) predicted. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers in 5 games. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Dallas Stars in 6 games.

(There's a good topic for Outburst: Other words to use instead of "beat" when referring to winning sports competitions.)

The Stanley Cup finals -- another 7-game series -- begins on Saturday. My head says the Red Wings will win it; my heart says the Penguins will win it. This will go for either 6 or 7 games.

Unreladed and tangential anecdote: What if Microsoft and Sun were to take their battles to the hockey rink?

Last night, at the Florida Panthers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game, Panthers forward Richard Zednik fell on his teammate's skate blade, which slashed his neck. (Story from FoxSports.com here.) He was rushed off the ice and taken to a local hospital in an ambulance. He's in stable condition now. I wish him all the best.

Several years ago, Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk suffered the same injury. (I believe there's a video of it available on YouTube, but it's NOT for the squeamish.) Since then, goalies have had to wear neck protection. But skaters haven't had to wear the same type of neck protection. I wonder if that will change as a result of this incident.

It's sad that this is about the only time the local TV news even mentions hockey.

I like a good skating hockey game, one that holds my attention. But occasionally, there would be a missed penalty, a bad call by a ref, or just a "let's get this guy" attitude. It may start off with a body check, then a harder one, and eventually, the gloves come off, and the guys go at it. Sometimes they'll fall to the ice and wrestle before the linesmen break them up and send the players to their penalty boxes to cool off. I don't want to see anyone get hurt, and I don't watch hockey for the fights. But hockey is a physical sport, and fights happen.

In other sports, players who fight are usually ejected from the game, and often fined. Baseball, football, basketball, soccer -- the outcome's the same, though the calls and procedures may differ. Red cards, yellow flags, an ejection signal from the ump.

How many golfers have taken their frustration and agression on their equipment? How many bent golf clubs are out there? How many balls were thrown into the woods or the lake?

When people explode on the playing field, it can leave a lasting impression. I can still see George Brett storming out of the dugout after being accused of using pine tar -- an illegal substance -- on his bat. And I can still see the late Billy Martin verbally haranguing an umpire and kicking sand on the umpire's feet.

As for soccer, it's not the fights on the playing field I worry about. It's the fights in the stands. Hopefully that won't happen at this year's world Cup.

It's from watching sports that I've seen players mentally kick themselves -- get angry with themselves for missing a play. A goalie will bang his glove on the net after letting the puck slip past him. A baseball player may drop his bat in disgust or use it to strike the field.

I think this is where I learned how to berate myself when I don't meet my own expectations, or when I make a mistake.