Inspired by this discussion over at PPP, I went to the trouble of hitting up NHL.com's stat pages and Behind the Net for a little bit of argument fodder. And if that inspiration was the desire to defend Mike Green's defensive skillz from a bunch of ignoramuses, well, who can blame me?

Boy did I walk into a world of interesting numbers.

Knowing that I was looking for guys who were good in all situations, I compiled a spreadsheet (found here) of all the Canadian D-men in the discussion for Canada's Olympic team, their current +/-, and their TOI, GF/60, GA/60, and +/- at 4v5, 5v5, and 5v4. Just for fun and because someone brought up the name, I tacked in Jeff Schultz for good measure.

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There have been a lot of pixels on the Rink lately devoted to cheers and chants ... or more specifically, the ones that either the Rats don't like or the ones that are used inappropriately (there have been a good smattering of both lately). While there has been some discussion of what we do like from college / minors and other stadiums, that's been drowned in comments of a critical and disapproving nature.

Without getting into a discussion of who is or isn't overly uptight about such things, my momma taught me that when you're faced with something you don't like or don't approve of, you've got two choices: b**** about it or do something about it. For all the complaints about the "All Your Fault" chant, at least they're doing something besides making random noise. So, if we don't like what they're doing, then maybe we should do something ourselves. Both of the Rink's previous initiatives to make our opinions known (red poncho love, Free Alex) have been well-received by the media, so why not try it?

I personally like the "who cares" chant after an opposing goal and will join it myself at the next game. But I'd like to see us start one of our own instead of just complaining about other people's. Here's a few ideas, and I'd love to see yours contributed in the comments. 

• When an opposing player goes into the penalty box, they need to be showered with a little (verbal) love. Maybe a "you can't do that *clap, clap, clap clap clap* or a "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye".
  
• Last minute of a game, if we're up by more than one goal, or after an empty-net goal that ices the game, pull out your keys and shout "Start the bus! Start the bus!" while shaking them.
• We need a goal song or a goal chant of some kind. I don't have a lot of ideas here - anyone? Bueller? 
• I don't have a problem with sing-songing the goalie's name when we're up or tied - as long as it's the right goalie.
  
• Anything else you guys can think of?

I know we've got some Rinkers up in the New York City / New Jersey area. I need to get out of Dodge for the weekend, so I'm going to shoot up to Newark, rock Caps red at Prudential Center on Saturday night, and pray I'm not horrible luck for the Caps this season. Are any other Rinkers going to be there, and if so, do you want to meet up somewhere for beverages / chow / chatter. etc., either before or after the game?

(EDIT: Changed the name of this post because I liked it better.)

Last night, Rob Scuderi sent Jason Chimera skates-over-teakettle during the Kings-Jackets game. Video of the hit is available on Puck Daddy, and I won't steal his hit counter from him, so go here and watch. That's okay, I'll wait till you get back.

Scuderi was not called for a penalty, but the Jackets were outraged and Derek Dorsett jumped off the bench and went after Scuderi; Chimera ended up pulling two officials to the ice trying to get to him. Chimera ended up with a 10 minute misconduct, Dorsett with a too-many-men-on-the-ice bench minor and a game misconduct for leaving the bench.

Per the NHL rulebook, rule #45:

45.1 Clipping - Clipping is the act of throwing the body, from any direction, across or below the knees of an opponent.

A player or goalkeeper may not deliver a check in a “clipping” manner, nor lower his own body position to deliver a check on or below an opponent’s knees.

An illegal “low hit” is a check that is delivered by a player or goalkeeper who may or may not have both skates on the ice, with his sole intent to check the opponent in the area of his knees. A player or goalkeeper may not lower his body position to deliver a check to an opponent’s knees.

Moreover, because Chimera was injured - he was lucky it wasn't worse AFAIC - if this rule is invoked, Scuderi hits the showers.

45.3 Major Penalty - If an injury occurs as a result of this “clipping” check, the player or goalkeeper must be assessed a major penalty (see 45.5).

45.5 Game Misconduct Penalty - A game misconduct penalty must be assessed anytime a major penalty is applied for injuring an opponent by clipping.

I doubt intent to injure - I'm not sure Scuderi fully had his balance on this one. But, all the same....

UPDATE 10/27/09 - NHL.com reports that Scuderi has been fined for the hit, but doesn't say the exact fine.