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ICE..Florida Panther Keith Ballard’s inadvertent swipe at goalie Tomas Vokoun must be seen to be believed. After Vokoun surrenders a breakaway goal to Atlanta Thrasher Ilya Kovalchuk, a frustrated Ballard moves to smash his stick over the crossbar. Problem is, the world class tool had his goalie between his stick and the pipe, resulting in a hellacious crack on the side of the netminder’s head. Vokoun is eventually wheeled off the ice on a stretcher, blood oozing from a gash on the side of his head. Now, we are told the belt was accidental, but how can we say for sure? Would goaltending in the NHL improve if a puck stopper knew he could expect a club to the side of his noggin every time he gave up a goal? Worth a try, no?…Wayne Gretzky was famously benched by coach Robbie Ftorek during the 1988-89 season for breaking his stick over a cross bar after the Los Angeles Kings gave up a goal. Gretzky had been brought to California to revitalize the game and spark American interest in the sport. Owner Bruce McNall was seething as he watched his star sit on the bench for the third period after Ftorek felt the need to discipline the Great One. A vindictive, petty man, Ftorek reportedly “lost” the team and management support with his heavy handed move. The clock was ticking on his tenure and he was fired at the conclusion of the season despite the Kings 91 points and second place finish in the Clarence Campbell Conference. A King player later commented, “We were delighted to see that kind of passion from Wayne”…the red hot Ottawa Senators pull into San Jose tonight to tackle the Sharks and their old pal Dany Heatley. Don’t expect a love-in…Heatley has 18 goals and 12 assists after 28 games as a Shark…star (?) Martin Havlat is an appalling minus 14 in eighteen games with the Minnesota Wild. He’s been either in the press box nursing an injury or on the ice floating… lost in the small print; the Washington Capitals turned to Jose Theodore last night and he was apparently sensational, stopping 37 shots en route to a 3-2 win over Carolina…the Sporting News currently ranks the top five teams in hockey as Chicago, San Jose, New Jersey, Washington and Calgary. The Philadelphia Flyers, losers of five of their past six, have plunged to nineteenth overall. Is the inability to contract a top goalie going to sabotage the Black and Orange again? The five worst teams on the poll are, at the bottom, Carolina, Edmonton (wasn’t it just a few years back that those two teams staged an epic seven game Stanley Cup final?), Toronto, Minnesota and Anaheim. Brian Burke’s fingerprints are currently on two pretty horrendous teams…hey, are you starting to notice how every goalie that plays against the Toronto Maple Leafs suddenly becomes a reincarnation of Terry Sawchuk? The Leafs could make their ex Andrew Raycroft look like Jacques Plante, for a night anyway…love this story; Gary Leeman reportedly told Doug Riseborough, who coached him in Calgary during a spectacularly ineffective stint, “You never gave me a chance”. Riseborough replied, “Gary, we played you on a line with Joe Nieuwendyk and Theo Fleury”. Nothing more needed to be said…

GRID IRON..okay, here we go, five games left for the New Orleans Saints and this is the murderers row lined up to torment them; at Washington, at Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa Bay and at Carolina. They go on the road off a short week and the Redskin defence has been a very competitive and engaged unit in the past couple of weeks - the Skin’s offense, not so much. Clearly the Cowboys represent the greatest threat to their unbeaten status, but Tony Romo’s horrendous December record combined with Roy Williams’s wretched play virtually precludes the possibility of an upset. Nope, the biggest threat to the Saints perfection will be the temptation to rest key players before the season ends. The Saints face a huge playoff threat from a stacked Minnesota Viking squad and will be sure to play pedal - to - the - metal until home field advantage is clinched. After that, the ominous inability of the New England Patriots in 2008 to maintain their intensity through to the Superbowl may result in quick pulls for the starters…yeah, I know, as if that’s going to matter against the Bucs and a retooling Panthers squad…after Dallas whupped Oakland on Thanksgiving, Tony Romo went from the stadium to Las Vegas. No big deal? Romo has been rehabbing an injured back, one which appeared to trouble him throughout the Cowboys last two contests. I’m worried the guy just doesn’t get it…the New England Patriots are now 0-4 on the road…Troy Polamalu, the immaculate one on the Pittsburgh Steeler defence, has been ruled out of Sunday’s match with the Oakland Raiders…quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will, however, start …

PUG LIFE..heavyweight Kevin Johnson, preparing to be decapitated by Vitali Klitschko on Dec 12^th, is keeping an online diary of his activities on the Fightnews site. And it’s not exactly resonating with Joe Frazier level intensity. Let’s see, today Kevin was going to spar, but “my sparring partners looked like they needed a little break so I let them off the hook”. Okay. His run today was a mere three miles, on a treadmill, because it was raining, and that was followed with a 45 minute session with his personal trainer (anyone hearing the Rocky theme in the background?). He did spend the morning signing autographs and did some radio and TV work. The fact this idiot can publicize work habits that pale in comparison to the average regimen of a soccer mom is outrageous. The fact HBO will televise his attempt (is attempt too strong a word?) at Vitali’s title must be viewed as a colossal waste of everyone’s time…Joe Frazier’s autobiography describes his outlook as he prepared for a fight. He believed he had to “break” his body in order to ensure it complied with his wishes in a fight. It was a 24/7 torture session as he built his fitness to the level that allowed him to storm his way through the heavyweight division and, eventually, conquer Muhammad Ali. I would love, love, to have You Tube footage of a trainer saying to Smokin’ Joe, circa 1970, “Go back to bed champ, it’s raining outside” (BOOM, left hook, trainer hitting the floor)…Roy Jones Jr and Danny Green square off at 2am Eastern Standard time, Wednesday Dec 2^nd. Jones made a peculiar comment about his last fight, a brutal shellacking of Jeff Lacy, describing the fight against the relatively experienced Lacy as “child abuse”. Jones turned in his most impressive performance in years against Lacy. Green is a bigger, stronger man and made an impression on me years back when disposing of Canada’s Eric Lucas (Dec 2003). Green subsequently lost to top fighter Markus Beyer twice and then, in a huge fight in Australia, dropped a decision to Anthony Mundine (May 2006). Green was inactive in 2008 but did return to the ring for two scores earlier this year. Jones, coming off a streak where he lost four of seven fights, also has a pair of 2009 wins. Anything other than a Jones decision would be surprising, though the fight should have moments of drama… on Box Rec they are reporting a March 13^th date has already been secured for Jones rematch with Bernard Hopkins. I’ll believe it when I see it, just don’t think this fight sells…