Haha sloppy seconds

This is probably why we have the tag "Sean Avery is the biggest asshole in the NHL"...

Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Tuesday, pending a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The League said the suspension was issued in accordance with the provisions of By-Law 17 and Article 6 of the NHL Constitution for conduct "detrimental to the League or game of hockey." The suspension was imposed following inappropriate public comments about the personal lives of opposing players, and not pertaining to the game, made by Avery earlier in the day.

Boy, what could Avery have ever said this morning, on camera...

"I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight."

But c'mon, it's not like Sean Avery pulled a Plaxico "Cheddar Bob" Burress or anything...Sure it's not professional conduct, but what did he do? Speak his mind? In America we call that 1st amendment rights. Dion Phaneuf is a big boy and arguably the NHL's best checking defensemen, and especially when pissed off you would think he could take care of this himself. Of course that could have gotten out of control, but hey, that's the element of excitement.

Also, we may not be following our Elisha Cuthbert hockey player timeline close enough, but wasn't Avery technically picking Mike Komisarek's sloppy seconds?

A pure character..

We're convinced Zenon Konopka is a minor-league version of a non-fashionista Sean Avery..

Also, during a goalmouth scrum, Zenon Konopka took a drink out of Adam Berkhoel's water bottle. I don't think I've ever seen that before. What do you do if you're a Penguins defenseman in that situation? Do you take great offense? I mean, it's not, on its face, a terribly offensive act. The guy just took a drink of water. It's not like he put his lips on the bottle or spat it at someone. I think you just call him a name and move on to the faceoff. What would you do?

Haha.

When teammates fight

A report from the Lets Go Pens message board:

"Godard-Letang fight in practice

saw it on Savran on Sportsbeat

No punches thrown, but Godard's gloves came off and had Letang in a head lock"

Now it is never really a good thing when teammates scuffle, but it's not to be unexpected. These guys are forwards and defensemen lining up against each other every single day in many grueling, physical drills that Coach T even admitted he wanted to see more intensity.

There were reports last year that Rangers defensemen Marek Malik got into an actual fistfight on the ice with Sean Avery (gee, how could anyone get angry at him?) and that didn't seem to hurt the Rags. All that has to happen is Godard and Letang don't hold any grudges, move on and sweep the whole thing under the table. If that happens, no probs.

If not, a fight among teammates can be a distraction and bring down a team. That's one of the factors of Ottawa's collapse last year after tough-guy Chris Neil duked it out with problem child goaltender Ray Emery. Let's hope the Pens can be rational enough to take care of any problems before they start....We're sure they will.

It's the Rangers

The dust has settled and it'll be old friend Jammer Jagr and the New York Rangers in the second round; a team nearly as well rested as the Penguins. There will be a lot to talk about, like Sean Avery (the clown who's name was in a madam's book) wants to be an intern this summer for a fashion magazine.

Also on Yahoo's NHL blog today, keep an eye out for some brilliant writer and a piece on the Caps post-mortem.