March 31, 2004 Sports e the other press © CF Miley Op Columnist There has been a lot of talk about so-called “frontier justice” in the NHL as of late. The term refers to hockey players policing themselves on the ice. When an opposing play- er takes liberties with a team’s small- er players, they've either got to pay, or they'll continue to hammer away. As I’ve stated before, the NHL is a game of intimidation. With the inception of the instiga- tor penalty fof instigating a fight—the NHL has made a feeble attempt to take the policing out of the player's hands. Basically, the rule has allowed cheap-shot artists to hack, spear, and elbow a team’s better players without fear of retribution. A dirty player can do whatever they want, and then simply refuse to fight if a team’s tough-guy comes calling later in the game. Should the tough-guy decide to have at him anyway, his team will end up killing an extra penalty for his actions. With goal scoring at a premium in today’s clutch-and-grab league, the two minutes for instigat- ing is often too costly a price to pay. Take away this stupid rule, and the player’s would sort out much of dan- gerous stick-work pretty quickly. Do you think a 5710, 170 lb. player would be spearing an opponent if he knew Tie Domi was going to beat rule—an extra two-minute * | Canucks Corner him senseless for his actions? Not for long he wouldn't. On rare occasions, frontier justice still happens like it used to in the NHL—instantaneously. A case in point occurred March 24 when the Canucks played the LA Kings. With Vancouver leading 1-0 late in the first period, LA’s Jeff Cowan decided to take a run at Canucks’ rookie Vancouver Canucks: 93 points, two men grabbed each other's sweaters, Cowan got his left hand free and clocked May in the jaw. Not to be outdone, May steadied himself and threw a bevy of hay- makers, landing several. The fight ended with May standing above a prone Cowan, fist cocked. May could have easily landed at least one more huge shot, but instead, he let up and skated to the penalty box. Maybe, he held up to acknowledge the fact that Cowan answered the Phoenix, © Anaheim, @ SJ, 4 games remaining | Edmonton — Colorado Avalanche: 94 points, | LA, @ Minnesota, @ Dallas Stars: 94 points, @ San Jose, Edmonton, @ 4 games remaining Minnesota, Chicago Calgary Flames: 91 points, 3 games remaining Ryan Kessler. Kessler was carrying the puck through the neutral zone when Cowan came at him with a full head of steam, elbows up. Kessler saw him coming at the last second, and narrowly avoided being decapitated. A few seconds later, fireworks erupted. Brad May, one of Kessler’s line- mates, skated over and had words with Cowan. The pair continued to jaw at each other as they skated up ice. After a couple of shoves, the pair dropped the gloves and settled the score, right there and then. As the Phoenix, @ LA, @ Anaheim bell for his actions, stood his ground, and took his medicine. That, as they say, was old-time hockey. I’m not saying every player should have to fight, but if you're going to skate around cheap-shotting other players, at least have the cohones to stand and deliver when it’s time to pay the piper. And yes, ’Nucks fans, that should include Cooke and Ruutu, our very own notorious shit- disturbers. The playoff races are more than heating up this year; they're basical- ly on fire. With only four games remaining in the season, the Canucks are battling to overtake the struggling Colorado Avalanche for the Northwest Division crown. Unfortunately, as most of you *Nucks fans already know, the Avs aren't the only team limping towards the regular season finish line. The Canucks’ record in their last 11 games stands at 4~4—2-1, for 11 points. Colorado has posted a 4-6-1-0 record over the same stretch, gleaning nine of a possible 22 points over the same span. Meanwhile, Dallas and Calgary have closed in on the Canucks and Avalanche, and seeds two through six are still up for grabs with a week remaining in the regular season. After a dismal week which saw Vancouver melt down in the third period to Nashville, Columbus, and Chicago, as well as lose a stinker in Dallas, the Canucks did some soul- searching before taking on the LA Kings. Things had gone from bad (no Bertuzzi for the year) to worse (allowing lowly Columbus to score three third-period goals in a 5-4 loss). Thankfully, the Canucks answered the call against the Kings. Matt Cooke joined Naslund and Morrison on the top line, and the move paid dividends. Cooke scored the lone goal in the 1—0 victory. Dan Cloutier posted his fifth shut out of the season, stopping all 15 shots by an anemic LA offense. The Canucks dominated in all facets of the game, and only a stellar per- formance by Kings’ goalie Cristobal Huet kept the score close. Next up was a possible first-round playoff preview against the surging Dallas Stars. Dallas has owned the Canucks this season, winning all three match-ups going into the March 27 showdown. The Canucks looked to be in trou- ble again, trailing 2-1 going into the third period after being out shot 14 to 6 in the second. Amazingly, Dallas has lost only once in their last 112 games when leading after two periods. Undaunted, Vancouver showed some heart and grit, and managed to tie the game midway through the final stanza. Newcomer Geoff Sanderson took a cross-ice pass from Brent Sopel, turned on the jets, and ripped a wrist shot past Ron: Tugnut (insert your own Tugnut joke here) to even the score at two. Brendan Morrison potted his 215¢ goal of the campaign 40 seconds into overtime to complete the come- back and pull the Canucks within one point of both Dallas and Colorado. If the playoffs were to start today, Vancouver would open on the road in Dallas. Next week in the Canucks Corner, Pll have some tips on winning in your playoff hockey pool. Rule number one: Don’t drink whiskey before the last round. Rule number two: bring lots of whiskey for every- one else to happily consume during the pool. Rule three: Go ’Nucks. Fast Cash Ads 3 lines 3 times for $20 (30 words max). Open rate of $5 per line. Enquiries: call our advertising manager at 604.525.3542. Pictures Classifieds pictures are $10 each printing for all of the above cate- gories. The picture size is 3.5cm x 2.5cm, black and white. When placing an ad please remember... All ads must be received by Thursday to be published in the fol- lowing Wednesday's paper. Check your ad for errors and please call or email our offices to report any cor- rections. To ensure the integrity of our student newspaper, we reserve the right to revise, reclassify, edit, or refuse your ad. 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