Gästebereich » another strong game

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, In the Bruins vs. Canadiens game in Boston on Saturday, Dale Weise and Gregory Campbell fought towards the end of the first period. As you can see in the video, Campbell changes lines and immediately engages in a fight. Why is this not considered to be an incident similar to John Scotts earlier this season? Thanks for all of the great stories and explanations! Parker A. Boston (but not a Bruins fan!) Parker, This situation was not at all similar to the two-game suspension that John Scott incurred under Rule 70.2. Scott made a legal line change but then skated in the opposite direction of the puck and play in a lengthy pursuit of Anaheim forward Tim Jackman for the purpose of instigating a fight. Jackman was not a willing participant and was quickly knocked to the ice by Scott who had crossed the ice in retaliation against Jackman who had just been released from the penalty box. Conversely, in the Bruins-Canadiens game on Saturday night, Gregory Campbell came onto the ice on a legal line change and extended a verbal invitation to Dale Weise as the Montreal player was passing by in close proximity to the Bruins bench. Weise immediately stopped pursing the puck and instead turned to face Campbell and threw down his stick and gloves in advance of the Boston player. Campbell then dropped his stick and gloves to respond in what can only be deemed at this point to be a mutually agreed upon fight between the two players. There is more to this than meets the eye as I will explain. The intense rivalry that exists between the Bruins and Canadiens dates all the way back to the Original Six team league. Following last seasons 7-game playoff series won by the Habs, the current crop of players doesnt need a history lesson to develop a dislike that borders on hatred for one another. They arent ready to shake hands and let bygones-be-bygones but instead prefer to come out hitting hard and fighting. Campbell is a great team guy and so is Dale Weise. Some might think that Campbell has taken it upon himself to step in this season on behalf of his teammate Milan Lucic to settle a score with Weise that almost boiled over in the handshake line following Game 7. Weise was listed as a healthy scratch in the first meeting this season between the two teams on October 16. Lucic is not the type of player that needs or would want anyone to fight his battles but I wouldnt discount the fact that other Bruins players might like a piece of Weise as well. This particular altercation between Campbell and Weise on Saturday night however was a carryover from their previous meeting on November 13 which Montreal won by a score of 5-1. From that game, Campbell had a score of his own to settle with Weise following a skirmish they had just 2:52 after the opening puck drop. In that game, Campbell had dumped the puck into the Habs zone from just outside the blue line and near the side boards. Weise finished a legal check just off the back portion of Campbells shoulder cap that caused the Bruins player to fall awkwardly into the boards. After getting back on his feet, Campbell skated toward Weise near the inside hash marks of the end zone face-off circle. Weise viewed this as an immediate threat and fired off his gloves and dropped Campbell with a solid right before the Bruins player had a chance to engage. Weise then landed a couple of more punches on the helmet of Campbell as the linesmen quickly separated the two players and before Campbell could even throw a punch. Campbell was certainly caught by surprise through the quick action demonstrated by Weise and appeared to express his dismay to Weise in the penalty box at the lack of usual fighter protocol or code normally extended prior to what should have been a mutually agreed upon fight. There didnt appear to be an opportunity to settle the score during the balance of that game on November 13. On Saturday night, fighter protocol was followed to the letter. A verbal invitation was extended by Campbell to Weise. Weise had the option to continue pursuing the puck and decline the invitation. Instead, the Montreal forward did the honorable thing when he accepted Campbells offering by stopping, turning and throwing down his stick and gloves first. As a result, Campbell was exonerated of being deemed the instigator of the fight and relieved of any supplementary discipline under Rule 70.2. There was considerable separation between the two combatants as they measured one another prior to engaging. One player didnt jump the other and neither player was caught off guard. In many respects, this mutually agreed upon fight between Campbell and Weise was very different than the attack John Scott launched following his legal line change against Tim Jackman. I hope that is how you now regard it as well, Parker. Melvin Frazier Jersey . Footballs governing body said Tuesday that of the 2,577,662 tickets allocated for this years tournament, 1,041,418 have gone to people in Brazil. The U. Evan Fournier Jersey . 15 in Hamburg. The fight was originally slated for Sept. 6 but had to be postponed after Klitschko tore a bicep in sparring and was forced to miss four weeks of training. http://www.magicauthentic.com/kids-timofey-mozgov-magic-jersey/ . -- Jake Peavy arrived at Bostons spring training complex on Monday with a large white bandage covering his left index finger, the result of a weekend accident. Aaron Gordon Jersey . Anderson is scheduled to have neck surgery April 8 to repair the injury, which occurred when he collided with the Celtics Gerald Wallace during a game in Boston on Jan. 3. The 6-foot-10 Pelicans forward, who had been averaging 19. Jerian Grant Jersey . -- Phil Mickelson came to the St.TORONTO - Andrea Bargnani was asked how it felt to occupy a locker in the visitors room for the first time, returning to the Air Canada Centre three months after being traded. "I was here before," he responded, correcting the reporter. He was right. "I was here when I came to play with Benetton Treviso, my Italian team, a long time ago," he pointed out. That was Oct. 20, 2004, an exhibition game against the Raptors, his future team. This is Bargnani in a nutshell. He wont sugarcoat. He wont beat around the bush. He marches to the beat of his own drum, on and off the court. Hes not interested in playing your game. He plays his own. Even after watching the former first-overall pick for seven years, hes still a mystery to the fans who booed him Friday, the fans he spoke so highly of. "The only thing I have to say about the fans in Toronto is that I was lucky to play here for seven years," he told reporters after scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds in 21 minutes of action. As if it had been rehearsed, over and over prior to the big night, thats all he had to say. "I was lucky to play in this city." No matter how hard the local media prodded for something more, thats all they got. And thats how this all started. It didnt matter what the team, the city, its fans expected to get out of Bargnani during his turbulent seven years in Toronto, he gave as much as he wanted. And for that, he was booed. Bargnani was booed early and often in the Raptors 100-91 preseason victory over the forwards new team, the New York Knicks. He was greeted with boos during pre-game introductions and he heard it from the crowd every time he touched the ball. A well-timed, "you suck Bargnani" rained down from the stands during complete silence in between anthems. Bargnani was booed and no one was surprised. "It will probably be an up and down moment for him," former teammate Amir Johnson predicted before the game. "Theyll probably boo, I just hope it isnt worse than they boo (Vince Carter)." It wasnt worse than Carter but the two are apples and oranges (or Primo and Italpasta, if that helps) in terms of their place in Raptors history. In seven seasons with the Raptors, Bargnani averaged 15.2 points and 4.8 rebounds, shooting 44 per cent from the field and 36 per cent from three-point range. He ranks third in franchise history in scoring, second in three-pointers made and fourth in games played. More than anything else, most fans will remember the injuries that derailed him each time he seemed to be turning a corner and the perceived lack of effort that held him back from reaching his ultimate potential. "It happens," Dwane Casey said of Bargnanis failure to live up to the lofty expectations that come from being a first-overall pick. "Expectations are tough and I think thats what Andrea got caught (with) here with but Andrea is a very skilled player." "It just didnt work out here," he continued. "It happens to a lot of players in the league. It doesnt mean its not going to work out for him in New York, it could be a perfect fit for him. This league is about personnel fits. Its easy to plug in a Michael Jordan and say, hey he fits anywhere but guys that have a certain skill set, sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesnt." Bargnani and the Knicks return to Toronto once more in the preseason before making their first regular season visit on December 28. Disjointed offence Once again turnovers were an issue for the Raptors, who threw the ball away 23 times leading to 31 points for the Knicks. For the second time in three games they exceeded 20 giveaways - managing to win both games - after averaging just 13.7 (third best in the league) last season. "Thats alarming," Casey said after the game. "Weve got to take care of the basketball.dddddddddddd.. We cant use preseason as an excuse. Thats a concern." Fact is, it is still early in the preseason and Caseys coaching staff has been working primarily on defence. The offence is still very much a work in progress and it has been noticeable. "Were definitely going to cut them down," DeMar DeRozan said of the turnovers. "Were going to watch film (and) watch the mistakes were (making)." Kyle Lowry had six turnovers but the miscues, for the most part, have been spread out. Just as worrisome, the team tallied just nine assists on 32 made field goals with just three of those assists coming in the first half. Third-string standouts The offence has been especially stagnant when Casey has gone to his second unit. The game seemed to be lost for Toronto during an 18-0 Knicks run that turned an eight-point Raptors lead late in the third quarter to a 10-point deficit early in the fourth. Several of the regulars off the bench struggled, as they have through most of the teams first three exhibition games. Landry Fields was 0-for-6 in 20 minutes, D.J. Augustin went 0-of-3 in eight minutes and Steve Novak didnt attempt a shot in six minutes against his former team. Toronto went scoreless for almost six and a half minutes before Casey made a change, inserting some of his third-string players midway through the fourth. They delivered. Dwight Buycks had 10 points, all in the final quarter, and Quincy Acy - in his first action of the preseason - helped spearhead a 23-9 run to recapture the lead. "Quincy Acy got our attention," Casey said after the second-year forward changed the game with his energy, scoring nine points - even knocking down a three - in just six minutes. "We knew what he could do, hes been working his behind off and he took advantage of the opportunity." Opportunities may continue to present themselves for Buycks and Acy if their hard play overshadows their more experienced teammates. Those two have been grouped together as part of a five-man unit for scrimmages in camp. "Weve won some games in practice with our energy, over skill," Acy told TSN.ca. In terms of the back-up point guard position, the rookie Buycks will continue to challenge D.J. Augustin for minutes. Neither has run away with the job. "Its close," Casey said of that battle. "Theyre different types of guards, both of them bring something different to the table, that we need. Its probably going to be nip and tuck with those two guys all year, depending on the match-up." DeRozan: the teams "most efficient player" In a team-high 32 minutes, DeRozan had another strong game scoring 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Again the fifth-year guard had his way in the paint, utilizing a much-improved up and under move, attacking the rim, initiating the fast break and finding his teammates around the basket. "Hes playing big minutes but hes playing at a high level," Casey said of DeRozan. "Hes playing efficient basketball, with his passes, with his attacks, with his reads. "(Hes) probably the most efficient player we have right now." Through three games hes certainly been the most consistent and probably the most impressive Raptor. After the game he shared a goal of his this season. "I was eighth in free throws last year in the league," he stated. "My goal is (to) try to get in the top five, and it comes with being aggressive. Thats one big goal of mine." As a team, the Raptors attempted 39 free throws, making 31 and besting the Knicks who were 14-for-19 from the stripe. Up next The Raptors travel to Minnesota to complete their first back-to-back of the year on Saturday, facing a Timberwolves team they beat at home on Monday. ' ' '