Remember when Antti Niemi was saying “no” during the Chicago Blackhawks run to the 2010 Stanley Cup? Well, it looks like the tables have been turned. He’s still saying “no,” but now the Blackhawks are on the business end of those saves.

Just ask Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane…

It only took a couple decades, but earlier this week, Mark Howe was finally inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Most people under the age of 30 know him as Gordie Howe’s son and probably remember one of those famous pictures where he’s with Gordie and brother Marty in the WHA. But as people are learning this week, the man was a pretty good hockey player in his own right—no matter what the name on the back of his jersey read.

If you haven’t seen the speech in its entirety, you might want to take a few minutes and check this out. Usually Hall of Fame speeches are as exciting as a Flyers/Lightning game, but Howe’s was certainly worth watching. We’ll get to that part in a minute:

What made the speech so moving for people is the talk of family in his development. Sure, just about every single person that has earned an honor has thanked their parents and siblings—and Howe was no different. The difference here was there was a sense that we know the players in his individual story.

Not a bad hockey line...

We remember the visual of “his best friend” (and brother) playing with him in Houston and Hartford. Anyone who has ever played any sport and has a sister can close their eyes and remember when their sister was dragged to their games. Anyone who has a brother can relate to a sibling that goes in another direction and blazes his own trail. Anyone who has kids understands the moment when he says, “I know how you’re feeling because I was there.”

We can relate—because these aren’t just Mark’s stories—they are OUR stories.

Then there’s Gordie. The moment that captured most of the sound bytes and highlight reels (err, YouTube), was when the new member of the Hockey Hall of Fame thanked the old member of the Hall of Fame. But he didn’t thank him for the hockey lessons, he thanked him for the father and husband he has been. He thanked him not for his role in the hockey community, but thanked him for his role in their family.

We may think we know Gordie—but we certainly know family and fathers. It was just that the familiar faces made it a little more palatable this time.

Honoring a player is one thing. Honoring a life is something completely different.

It’s easy to make fun of the Canucks for some things over the past few months. We’re talking about a team that watched their fans light their city on fire after a loss and an organization that employs someone named LOLuongo in goal. But for a night, the team got it right. They got it so incredibly right.

Much respect to the Canucks organization for putting together a great tribute for their lost player, teammate, enforcer, and friend. These things are never easy and Vancouver showed just how moving these can be when put together tastefully. And Kevin Bieksa? Anyone who saw this should have a different feeling the rugged defenseman.

Even Blackhawks fans.

It’s interesting to see how two different crews of announcers can see the exact same hit in different ways. What do you think? Is it as bad as the Versus crew makes it sound? Was Horton partially at fault like the CBC crew seems to think?

Versus Feed

CBC Feed

We’ve had a ton of questionable and dangerous hits this year, but here’s something completely different. Here’s the hit that earned Chara a 5-minute major and a game-misconduct:

Watching the play at live at full speed, the play looked like a normal hit where the defenseman rides an attacking player into the boards a little late. But watching the questionable play a few times, it certainly appears that Zdeno Chara extends his arms at the worst possible time. It wouldn’t be all that bad, but these players have some history:

The best news of the night is that Pacioretty was conscious and moving all of his extremities at a local Montreal hospital. Still doesn’t change the fact that it was a scary situation for anyone who saw him lying motionless on the ice.

Now that we know Pacioretty is going to be OK (relatively speaking), the hockey question that will come of this is if Chara deserves any further punishment for his actions. Obviously, the league will look at any play that earns a 5-minute major, a game misconduct, and sees an injury of this magnitude.

What do you think? Was it just a hard hit that had an unfortunate result? Or was this a hit with the worst of intentions that the NHL needs to punish severely?