The road trip that wasn't, or how I learned to hate Parksville even more

It was going to be glorious. A prized ticked to see my beloved Canucks, against their hated rivals from Calgary. And the team has gotten hot, despite their losses of key defensemen. Leave it to a virus to dismantle the entire thing. I had to cancel my trip, and sell the ticket, thanks to some nagging bug that has left me completely drained for more than a week. And what a game to miss. The Sedins and Naslund in fine form. Willie Mitchell picking up the slack for the now suspended Mattias Ohlund , and Brad Isbister continuing his recent strong play with a laugher against Kiprusoff. The only things missing were round 3 of the Kesler/Iginla dance card and Luongo scoring a goal...

Gotta say the whole Ohlund incident is pretty disappointing. Although at first I was against the idea of a suspension, given the injury to Koivu (and whenever I hear the word cracked, and then see it referred to as a fracture I get a little bit miffed) I suppose it's going to have to be the way it is. The problem I have is, and I know this is a shock, that the NHL has once again proven to be inconsistent with it's punishments. Given that Randy Jones got 2 games for his hit from behind on Patrice Bergeron, and the head shots by Marion Gaborik and the Koivu shot that led to the retaliation went unpunished, the 4 games is hard to swallow from that viewpoint. Gaborik's was especially frustrating, so let's take a look at the 5 criteria used by the NHL to determine if the hit should warrant a suspension, shall we?

Did the hit deliberately target the head? Yes

Did he launch himself by leaving his feet to hit Kesler? Yes.

Is Gaborik a repeat offender? No.

Did he deliver the hit to the head of an unsuspecting opponent? Kesler saw the hit coming, but did he expect the head shot? Probably not, but for the sake of argument, we will say no.

Was it a late hit? You can argue this one, and we have to go on memory, but it seems to me the puck was far from Kesler at the time of the hit.

So there we go, 2 or 3 of the 5, depending how you look at it. Add in that Kesler was frustrating Gaborik all game by tight checking and delivering a few clean and legal hits, and you have the potential for premeditation. The game was out of reach in the first period. So if you have 3 of the 5, and the fact it came from a player who had tangled with the opposing player all game, why is it there wasn't even a fine? There's a lot of rhetoric coming out of Minnesota right now, fans blasting off on Ohlund, bringing up Bertuzzi and of course the thinly veiled threats from Wild neanderthal Derek Boogard. To the Wild fans I say, stop and think. Did Ohlund overreact? Yes. Is he a dirty player? No. Are you being a tad hypocritical? You know you are, and Gaborik's hit on Ohlund is the proof. Enjoy the game on Wednesday, and don't let the emotions of an incident that was handled by the league (rightly or wrongly) skew your perception of the incident.