ok the first 15 minutes of the rangers - flyers game last night have been quite entertaining i have to say. fedoruk got his face destroyed once again. dude, it's time to retire, seriously! he already should've thought about it after boogaard did it the first time. i've watched a couple of his fights on youtube and i didn't find a single one that he didn't lose. well anyway, good thing he's doing fine and nothing really bad happened!

as you know (or don't know) the NHL got pretty strict after the 04-05 lockout. a lot of people don't like the fact that fighting has become very rare compared to what we've seen years ago. they say the "old" NHL was much more interesting than the "new" NHL. i don't think so. no more "first goal wins" because the refs wouldn't call hooking anyway. the game itself has become a much better game! yes, intimidation is a big part of the game and we all love a good hockey-brawl (avs/wings, rangers/islanders, flames/oilers etc), but what is a fight in a ducks/hawks game good for?! they're not fighting for a playoff spot, they don't have a long running rivalry or something like that.

but it seems like i am the only one who thinks this way. NHL ratings are down, crowds are much smaller than what we've seen years ago, and everybody keeps bashing the NHL anyway. the minor leagues that still allow fighting are growing and growing, so will bringing back the fights really improve the image of the NHL that they lost because of the lockout and bring it back to where it was 10 years ago? i'm not so sure about that.

anyway, there's a good fight going on in the eastern conference for that 8th playoff spot and i hope the panthers will beat the sens tonight to get one step closer to the playoffs. go cats go!