Two unrelated thoughts on "sloppy seconds"

Two thoughts on this whole "sloppy seconds" debacle.

1. The NHL was absolutely right to suspend Avery. He has a history of inappropriate behaviour, and his actions have damaged his team and his league. This is not the sort of publicity the NHL needs right now.
   
   "Sloppy seconds" is an obscene and offensive term. It has no place in a league like the NHL, or frankly in the discource of grown, mature adults.
   
   
2. So... we can all agree we're going to start dropping "sloppy seconds" bombs on whichever team signs Sundin, right?
   
   Good, just checking.

The story behind the Wendel Clark/Kevin Maguire fight in practice

We recently named Kevin Maguire our worst Leaf goon of all-time, based largely on his inexplicable decision to fight Wendel Clark during a practice.

What was he thinking? Why would you ever want to fight Clark if he was your teammate? Did Clark hit him so hard that he suffered retroactive brain damage to 30 seconds before?

Well, thanks to a wonderful thread over at Rough House Hockey of old Wendel Clark newspaper articles, now we know the background.

Push comes to punch for the Leafs tough-guy; Clark has first 'battle' of training camp

Rick Matsumoto Toronto Star. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Sep 16, 1986.

The hockey season officially got under way yesterday for Wendel Clark.

He got into his first punch-up of the season and, as has come to be expected in National Hockey League circles, he scored a decisive victory.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' prize rookie of last season accepted a challenge from another tough, young competitor, Kevin Maguire, and left the right winger, who spent the past two seasons with St. Catharines Saints, with a dandy black eye, a cut on the bridge of his nose and a severely-bruised ego.

He also left several ounces of blood on his sweater, as well as that of defenceman Bob McGill, who stepped in to break up the combatants.

The two clashed during the afternoon scrimmage at the Gardens. Clark took Maguire, who earned 273 penalty minutes in two seasons with the Saints, into the boards at Maguire's end of the ice. They exchanged shoves and glares as they shadowed each other back to Clark's end of the ice.

Suddenly, push turned to shove and the gloves came off. But, as many others found out the hard way last year, Maguire failed to get in the first punch.

Clark landed a haymaker flush on Maguire's right eye and, for all intents and purposes, the fight was over. Clark rained several more blows on Maguire's face and helmeted head and the latter swung back gamely, but the judges scored it a TKO for the Kelvington Crusher.

"That first one was the hardest punch I've ever been hit with," Maguire admitted later. "That was it. It was no contest after that. By the time I got my balance it was done."

Maguire, however, wasn't done. After being patched up, Maguire pulled on a clean jersey, returned to the scrimmage and immediately went after Clark.

"You don't let anyone get three or four clean shots at you and not want to even the score," said Maguire. "I was a bit off balance the first time. I'd have liked to have squared off with him, again, toe-to-toe."

However, Clark, who was nursing sore knuckles on his right hand, refused to drop his gloves the second time.

"I don't need to fight you, again," he could be heard shouting at Maguire as teammates interceded.

For the next few shifts the two combatants were prevented from being on the ice at the same time. Eventually, however, they found themselves face-to-face, again.

This time, the incident turned slightly ugly as Clark slapped at Maguire's menacingly raised stick with his own and Maguire reacted by jabbing Clark in the chest with his stick.

That's when Russ Courtnall jumped into the fray, put a head-lock on Maguire and wrestled him to the ice.

"First of all, Wendel had beaten him cleanly the first time, so there was no need to fight again," said Courtnall. "When you see guys with their sticks in the air you get a little scared. We can't afford to lose Clarkie to a stick."

Clark, who has shown he can play hockey as well as fight, shrugged off the incident as a natural occurrence in the annual battle to gain a big-league job.

The 19-year-old left winger, who scored 34 goals as a rookie, said he's not interested in prolonging the incident. That is, of course, unless Maguire renews hostilities the next time they meet on the ice.

"It's up to him," said Clark. "If he feels he has to do that to make the club, that's fine. I don't hold that against him. But if he takes a poke at me he's going to get poked back."

Maguire also emphasized that there were no personal feelings involved in the pugilistic exhibition.

"There was no intent behind the fight," he said. "It was just the way it happened. I'm not going to try to carve his eyes out or anything. His job is secure. Mine isn't. I've got to make my way onto the team. I've got to do what I can to do that."

While the combatants might not harbor deep animosity towards each another - and could possibly even become good friends if Maguire managed to make the Leafs - one thing is certain: They didn't go out to dinner together last night.

So on the one hand, now we know that the fight happened in Maguire's first stint with the Leafs, when he was a rookie trying to make a name for himself. That makes it a lot easier to understand.

On the other hand, we also know that:

• Maguire got all his blood punched out
  
• He actually returned to the ice and tried to fight Clark again, which has to be about the dumbest thing I've ever heard
  
• He got taken down to the ice by Russ Courtnall.

So I'm going to go ahead and say that Maguire retains his crown as Worst Leaf Goon.

Now head over to the Rough House Hockey thread and start reading. Trust me, it's a goldmine for Clark fans.

I'm still reeling from finding out that Clark and Joey Kocur weren't really cousins.

Quick note - site maintenance

Just a quick note that we're making some changes to switch some URLs over to the downgoesbrown.com address instead of blogspot.com. This could cause some down time over the next 24 hours, depending on where you're located and whether the DNS changes have drifted your way yet.

If you try to hit the site and get a "page not found", don't despair. We should be back up and running shortly.

Leafs at Kings: Never forget

In honor of tonight's game, here's an oldie-but-goodie for most of you, and maybe something new for those of you who came aboard last month.

Click for full-sized

So help me, if MLSE tries to give him a retirement ceremony like they gave Dan Marouelli for his 1,500th game, there's a good chance you'll see my picture on the front page of the newspaper the next day.

First the 1994 Conference Finals, and now this

I set two goals for myself going into this season. Two milestones that, if reached, would let me know that my work here wasn't going to waste.

The first was to top 10,000 visitors in a month. Due largely to rampant Wendel-mania, that happened in November. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.

The second, far more important goal: to have one of my ideas blatantly stolen by an NHL franchise.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Vancouver Canucks!

Canucks.com to celebrate 16 days of Trevor Linden
Nov 27, 2008, 12:39 PM EST Vancouver, B.C. – The Vancouver Canucks are proud to announce that Canucks.com will celebrate 16 Days of Trevor Linden, beginning on Monday, December 1st, 2008. The special 16-day initiative will take an in-depth look at Trevor Linden's career, concluding on December 16th, 2008 just one day prior to Trevor Linden's sweater retirement ceremony.

The 16 Days of Trevor Linden will feature video and print content as well as a series of photo galleries highlighting Linden's hockey career spanning more than two decades. The 16 days of coverage encompasses draft day in 1988 through to his last game on April 5, 2008 and will include stories and accounts from on and off the ice courtesy of former teammates, coaches, fans and countless others impacted by Trevor.

Exclusive commentary from former teammates and coaches will highlight a collection of excerpts to be included in the 16 Days of Trevor Linden. Video content will depict the terrific '94 run to the Stanley Cup, a collection of Linden's most memorable goals from his 19-year NHL career and a number of other significant moments in Linden's career. A compilation of photos will comprise a series of photo galleries including one gallery highlighting some of his many involvements with those in the community.

To access the 16 Days of Trevor Linden, please go to Canucks.com starting December 1st through December 16th, 2008.

The biggest thrill of Trevor Linden's
young life: the time he met Captain Kangaroo

(Glove tap: Canucks Hockey Blog)

What a fantastic idea. Why didn't I think of it?

You can preview the full list here. It kicks off today with Linden's draft day (cough). Future installments will include Linden's emotional return after being traded away (cough), and the heart-felt ovation he received from the home fans late in his final game (dammit, why can't I stop coughing?).

So apparently, this week's trade works out like this: The Leafs get Vancouver's last two GMs, the Canucks get a stolen blog gimmick and a conditional back-stabbing captain to be named later.

I'm going to go ahead and call that even.