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2 months ago: The Philadelphia Flyers practice on the outdoor rink at snowy Fenway Park in Boston Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009. The Flyers are preparing to meet the Boston Bruins for New Years Day's Winter Classic NHL hockey game. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Happy New Year!

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Normally we don't front page other league games that are ongoing...  But this is different.  This isn't a run-of-the-mill game.  It's the Winter Classic.  

We want to make sure to point you to all the proper locations for coverage of the annual outdoor rite...  So let me get started by presenting you with the SB Nation live-news thread of the Winter Classic.  The story stream will update throughout today with the event. 

And of course let me make sure to point you two the sites of the two combatants:  Broad Street Hockey represents the visiting Flyers...  And while I can't point to a specific game thread yet, I can point you to Travis Hughes (reporting from the game) reminds fans that there IS indeed a hockey game going on here. 

Today is obviously an abnormal game, and it'll be the first time every single member of the Flyers has played a meaningful game outside. Obviously, the differences are vast between playing inside. You've got the temperatures to play with, and most players are wearing protective underwear to keep them warm. The other teams in town are helping out in that regard.

And host Boston is represented by Stanley Cup of Chowder, who has more looks at the spectacle of the Classic (from the Dropkick Murphys to sights around Fenway Park for this afternoon's game).

It's been well documented that the National Football League has had serious problems with concussions. The latest findings, however, suggest that the NFL has an even bigger problem than they had previously thought. Many football players aren't reporting their concussions for fear of ridicule and losing their spots on the roster. Part of this is due to the military-esque culture within football, but it's also due to the fact that the NFL does not guarantee player contracts.

Concussions are the most prevalent injury in the NFL by far. Luckily, the NHL has recognized the problems (both short term and long term) that concussions and multiple concussions can cause. Instead of trying to down-play them like the NFL has for a long, long time, the NHL has been proactive in making sure players get the medical attention needed for a healthy recovery.

The NFL has gotten better, but change doesn't come as easily to them as it does to the NHL. The current NFL concussion controversy is a doctor that sits on the league's committee on concussions. This doctor is trying to play politics in that he's discrediting other studies in order to promote his own - the conclusion of which won't come to pass for another three or four years. The NFLPA, understandably, wants this doctor to be removed from that committee.

Does any of that sound familiar? Because that situation is very similar to the one about high hits in the NHL. Instead of doctors trying to promote their own studies, it's the NHL itself trying to promote its product. Instead of looking out for the players, the NHL is looking out for itself. 

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In 1967, with the expansion of the National Hockey League from the fabled Original Six to 12 teams, the league had to split divisions...  And the resulting alignment was in an east-west format. 

That split was done in the most thoughtless manner as the powers-that-be refused to break up the original six teams in their division while sticking all six new franchises into the new western division.  It was simple, it achieved their means, and it was a geographer's nightmare:

*denotes defunct/relocated franchise

The fact is that this messy, segregated alignment was an unfortunate precedent that has been carried into the present day with the NHL.  Though some of the age-old rivalries have been preserved for the sake of marketing and certain alignments are specifically to help cut down on travel...  Well, they fail at mixing in the new markets that are part of the league and fail at creating new rivalries between traditional and non-traditional markets.  They also continue to be a geographer's nightmare and don't do as bang-up a job as they think with cutting down on travel.  They reward the northeast and punish the south and west at the same time.

The east-west division split ended up turning into an east-west conference split as more teams were added.  The alignment of teams didn't always make sense...  But the status-quo ruled and traditionalists were happy.  In fact, the only thing that would make some people even more happy about the current segregated alignment of the NHL would be to bring back the "Wales" and "Campbell" conference names.

Yet, for the sake of growing the game, growing the league, and growing the sport - it'd be wiser to integrate a different alignment all together with all 30 teams effected.  The true optimal alignment wouldn't be the ultra-regionalism that you see at current (where the Eastern Conference is the eastern seaboard teams and the west is everything else) but two divisions that take up all three regions of the continent - east, central and west - much like in Major League Baseball and the National Football League.

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The fun and games of the NHL CBA (cartoon via www.sharkspage.com)

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Vaclav Prospal was a fan favorite with the Lightning, there's no more evidence of that then now with the reaction to his dismissal from the Bolts.  If you look around the web you'll find some Lightning fans up in arms.  Other fans out there seem to be making sense out of the move -- they may not like it, but they understand it.  Still others are flat-out in denial at Vinny-20 is gone.

This post is sort of aimed at those in denial....  Because the repeated question being asked is if Prospal can now be re-signed by the Lightning for a lower salary, or if restructuring his contract was an option that could have kept him with Tampa Bay.

To be straight to the point:  No.  And no.

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I realize most of the readers of hockey blogs don't need this, but let's recap the timeline of the end of the National Hockey League 2008-09 season and it's transition to the off-season:

• Friday, June 12th -- The Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Detroit Red Wings to take the Stanley Cup.
• Thursday, June 18th -- NHL seasonal awards ceremony held in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Friday, June 26th -- NHL Entry Draft commences in Montreal, Quebec.
• Monday, June 29th -- Teams announce which RFA's have been tendered qualifying offers.
• Wednesday, July 1st -- NHL Free Agency signing period begins for Unrestricted Free Agents

All of this was at the very conclusion of play in the 2008-09 NHL season.  Of course, for 14 of the 30 NHL franchises, the season had concluded on April 11th, but hockey was still being played for another two+ months.   The last event that affected those 14 idle franchises was the Draft Lottery on April 14^th...    Three days after the conclusion of the regular season?

Honestly, what's with the ultra-fast turn-around time for league off-season events? 

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It was like a bad memory coming back to haunt and effect, years and years after the original incident took place.  Just when you thought you had moved away from having to dwell on such malignancies, another incident occurs that juts that past experience right back into your train of thought.

Yet the bad memory, the horrific moment in question, had only happened a few months previously.  The déjà vu moment was something entirely different, but the outcome from a higher source was completely the same.

Lets jump first to Calgary, Alberta and a game between the Flames and the Minnesota Wild from March 2009.  The Flames had a goal waved off not once, but twice in a matter of seconds:

Hopefully, you haven't let bias against the Flames (and yes, some Lightning fans are childishly holding a grudge against the team we defeated in the 2004 Cup Final) to wipe away the befuddlement of the calls during the above video clip.  Two goals scored, two goals waved off – all on a technicality that was being applied for a moment.  Not just a technicality, but a misinterpreted technicality (for more on this one, check out Five Hole Fanatics complete story).

At the same time, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with the Tampa Bay Lightning?  Before I can answer that, I need to cite vice president and director of officiating Stephen Walkom and his reaction to the above calls:

"It was a tough call and a ballsy call, but it was the right call -- a great call," an emphatic Walkom told the Sun. "Our guys are the first to step up if they do make a mistake. I think Mick McGeough showed that years ago. But if they haven't made an error, they shouldn't be chastised for it."

This was the painful moment, this was where the bad memory stormed in and unleashed hell like the Roman army, laying waste to the Germanic tribes at the beginning of the film Gladiator.

I'd seen this before, I'd seen this exact arrogant defense of a referee instead of an admission of a screw-up:  Where an indefensible mistake was simply brushed off and praised.

Who can recall the December 2008 game between the Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche?  Who can recall how that game ended?

Heartbreaking loss… No, wait, that wasn't a standard loss (and to Avs fans, that was a great game even if I have issues about how it ended). That was a loss by a decision. A subjective interpretation of not just rules but physical actions as they happened.  An interpretation, as it was, that was so botched that only the legally blind and developmentally challenged should be allowed any leeway for making such a mistake.

The charge was that goaltender Mike Smith deliberately threw his stick.  Milan Hejduk didn't get a do-over, he was just given a goal he failed to score.

And yet the true pain in that memory was rendered by Walkom's day-later defense:

Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s director of officiating, said the ruling that Lightning goaltender Mike Smith deliberately threw his stick to disrupt Milan Hejduk’s shootout attempt on Thursday was the correct call.

"It was a very tough call. It was a gutsy call. It was a call that was made in an instant, and I support the call," Walkom said.

Welcome to Club Two-Minutes: Where solidarity between referees trumps all notions of responsibility.  Where an admission of a mistake is akin to high treason.

Can you remember the last time the NHL admitted to a mistake?  I'm not saying players who were there remembering and suggesting the wrong call was made, I'm not saying teams themselves, I am also not talking about league-decisions regarding administration.  I'm talking about on-ice, game-calling mistakes?

Can you remember the last time a referee was disciplined for a botch-up?  Can you remember the last time a ref was held accountable for his botch-up that effected the outcome of a game?  Or from having questionable personal circumstances drive play-call decisions?

Let me go back to the Flames incident for a second and cite my friend (and a former blogging partner) Resolute's diary at From the Rink on the altercation:

Interestingly,  according to Fan960 following the game, Flames' associate coach Jim Playfair said that Fraser told him at the start of the third that Furlatt had been having a conversation with Glencross throughout the game about his standing in the crease, which raises questions about whether the referee made the call based on his issue with a player rather than the play.  Fraser was also said to have disagreed with the call, and made sure that the officials came out onto the ice first, rather than hiding in the tunnels as they often do when they draw the ire of the fans, so that Furlatt could do a "lap of honour" prior to the third.  i.e.: so that the crowd could let him know what they thought of the job he was doing.  When Furlatt's own officiating partner won't stand up for him, that says something.

If what the radio report says is true, it's nice to see some internal backlash for a botched-call, but it further compounds the idea of the solidarity-first front.  If Kerry Fraser -- an equally respected and reviled referee -- has a problem with things, why hasn't the league taken action?  Is self-policing the only way any ref is held responsible?  Even if it's just cat-calling from the fans that serve as that policing?

I mean, you can give refs the ultra-wide berth like Rory Boylon has in this piece from The Hockey News last month, saying that refs have a tough job and that they have to deal with so much crap as is...  But with such banalities, it overlooks so much complacency that we see year after year with rule-enforcement that it's mock-worthy before noteworthy.

Back to my original question: when was the last time the league held an on-ice official accountable?  I did a Google web search on this (keywords were "NHL, "referee fined") and the first and only instance I could find for the league was from 1995 and involved a game between the New York Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques (which should give you some perspective on how long ago that was). Follow it up with other variations of the search terms and you will see a peppering of listings for news stories regarding the NBA, the English Premiere League, the NFL...  But not the NHL.  Oh, sure, NHL related stories come up but it's usually a player or a coach being fined for questioning or berating an on-ice official.

The fact is that the NHL would sooner change itself instead of expecting proper and consistent rule-enforcement from it's refs and linesmen. It would sooner cite tradition and heritage as reason for the closed-door elitism between on-ice officials than admit mistakes and failings.

Not all mistakes are as glaring as those that I have cited, and not every mistake is defended by Stephan Walkom as "ballsy" or "gutsy" in ridiculous fashion...  But there must be some level of accountability when it comes to incidents like these where indefensible bad calls happen.  Selective interpretation and misinterpretation of the rules tend to be a problem every season with the National Hockey League.  Like a bad memory, they linger for the duration of the recollection and beyond.  It's only permitted to do so because there has been no acceptable closure of the malicious incident in the first place.

Stephan Walkom might paint calls as "gutsy" or "ballsy", but in effect he is painting Club Two-Minutes as above the rules they are supposed to be stewards of, and beyond the scope of reality.

The Montréal Canadiens, the storied NHL franchise celebrating it's 100th year of existence this season, got swept out of the playoffs by the Boston Bruins during the first round of the playoffs.  This, you should know by now.

The Habs hit several road bumps down the stretch including a scandal involving the Russian Mob and firing head coach Guy Carbonneau on March 9th.  Hoping to right the ship, Gainey himself took over the team. 

"The last eight weeks of performance have been below average, and I believe a change in the direction at ice level is necessary.....It's never an easy message to deliver to anyone, but it was at a point where I felt it was needed."

It would not be incorrect to say that Bob Gainey panicked. 

This was the Habs 100th anniversary, the expectations were ridiculously vaulted:  the city would host the All Star Game, and will host this summer's NHL draft on top of the anniversary celebration...  The Stanley Cup returning to Quebec for the first time since 1993 was a certainty, or so the expectations were as such.  Nothing short of perfection was worthy enough.

It would also not be a stretch to say that Gainey, during his final press conference of the season yesterday, grasped for a scapegoat and blamed the Tampa Bay Lightning -- Oren Koules, Brian Lawton, etc -- for the Canadiens collapse:

"The second half of our season was when things started to go off course and I felt the first place was when we had discussions with Tampa Bay. We had an agreement with them that I got a call early in January with a list of names from their team that they wanted to talk about, and those players ended up public because they used those names to take them to other teams to see if they could create a different trade for Vincent Lecavalier,"

Now, I am the last person that will run and defend OK Hockey, but as a friend of mine likes to say, "It takes two".

You see, Bob wasn't content enough with his roster (as I stated above, nothing short of perfection was worthy enough).  Instead of being concerned about the volatility of a big-ticket acquisition to the chemistry of his locker room, he decided to indulge overtures from a former-agent-turned-GM and a Hollywood producer...  Who went public with those names in a negotiating tactic straight out of Entourage.

As much as I despise the Lecavalier trade rumors, the folly in this case was with Gainey to start with. He was, most likely, simply a starting point for trade talks with other teams (up until Tampa Bay fans and sponsors got wind of these discussions and revolted).

What really gets me is Gainey's quote, trying to defend his own players who were part of speculation:

"I think it was disgraceful that Josh Gorges and Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins have to read that stuff."

So, Vincent Lecavalier himself can keep playing in spite of rampant speculation regarding his future that has followed him -- with thanks to the Canadian press -- for much of his career, but Higgins, Plekanec and Gorges were all effected under the pressure? 

Not likely. 

Even if that were the case, Gainey put his players in that position by negotiating to begin with.  Talks would not have remained private, no matter how serious or casual trade discussions were between the two teams.  Not with leaks rampant in the league and the scrutiny of the Montreal press.

In the end, Bob Gainey simply wants a scapegoat for his own failings.  And the easiest one to find was 1,400 miles away at 401 Channelside Drive.  OK Hockey  may be described as cowboys and unprofessional, but they aren't responsible for Gainey's panic down the stretch that ruined the Habs season.

Ya gotta' love the Instigator...