feel-good hit of the year, of course

I missed some afternoon stuff I'd have attended to watch a certain fantastic NHL game (hint: playoffs!) but had to go out last night for a fantastic AHL game, and thus missed the rest of the action except the end of the West Coast games. so I didn't see this live. but I can safely say, since I've gotten really active in the hockey Twitter world, nothing has been talked about and passed around as quickly as this. you presumably know the Matt Cooke-Marc Savard incident (or will Google it if you don't) and know why people were saying "Evander Kane will get a standing ovation next time he plays in Boston" and so forth. Cooke got up after this (the stretcher wasn't needed) so it's not as serious as the image makes it look like...



some people though this might be Evander Kane's (yes, named after Evander Holyfield) first NHL fight, but according to his hockeyfights.com fight card it's his second. the first was against Deryk Engelland, also playing for Pittsburgh, in early November. according to Engelland's card he had his first NHL fights this year in the preseason. the hockeyfights.com page for Cooke-Kane should be lively...

at any rate, even if the Atlanta Thrashers couldn't make the playoffs, their last game of the year (which they won at home, 1-0) will be remembered. Thrashers are one of the teams I regret not getting to see this season...I'll definitely try next year (I've also promised to follow them more closely since Chicago Wolves is their affiliate).