Re warm ups – Makes sense for Brunette to dish the pucks from behind the goal line – gives him a little more time working in his office.

It was great to see the Wild beat Calgary last night! A win is a win no matter how sloppy and haphazard it looked. And just an added bonus that we didn’t have to see a single red flame shooting out of their torch/gun/flamethrower.

As for Ott…You’re damn right he annoys me, but I imagine that I would love him on the Wild, just as I’m sure fans of the other 29 teams in the NHL would love Clutterbuck if he were on their team.

The first fight: I really thought this carried over from the last time these teams played. Ott was wanting to fight Clutterbuck in that game but Clutterbuck said no. The two ran each other a few times in the game and I really thought it was going to carry over to this game.

The second fight: Clutterbuck’s hit was clean but it was also unnecessary and Richards was in a vulnerable position. That’s why Ott fought him. If Richards was not in a vulnerable position and had the smackdown laid on him I think Ott skates off (I’ve seen him play probably 95% of Ott’s NHL games). I’m in agreeance that fights after clean hits can be annoying but I also think you can hit to hurt without being illegal. Ott felt Clutterbuck was hitting to hurt and to exception to it.

Ott might annoy you but he fires up his team and his hometown crowd. He also spends alot of time doing charity work in Dallas and would absolutely do anything to win (not that you doubt that!). You’d love him if he was on your team- trust me.

But, essentially, what this is going to turn into is that it’s okay to hit anyone on the ice, except for the really, really good players. Don’t touch them, because they’re special. To me, that sentiment is absolute crap no matter what team.

I don’t think that it should be an absolute mandate that the stars fight for themselves — I understand why they wouldn’t want to. But there are other ways to enforce this as opposed to fighting a guy for a clean hit.

Kevin: Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a diatribe against Ott. I may not like the guy, but I understand why he did what he did. To me, though, this hit was nothing that the majority of players in the NHL don’t do on a regular basis. The way that refs are enforcing the charging penalty these days, it was a legal hit and a clean one. I understand protecting your star players, but the idea that you have to fight just because you lay a hit (running a player or not) just doesn’t sit well with me.

Paul: I’ve watched the hit over and over again, and I stand by my assertion that it was a clean hit. 1) Clutterbuck didn’t do anything that was out of the ordinary or that any other player finishing their check (Steve Ott included) doesn’t do and 2) Richards has JUST gotten rid of the puck and, when he had, Clutterbuck was already heading towards him for the check. I won’t deny that there are times that Clutterbuck toes the line between legal and illegal hits…But this simply wasn’t one of them. It was a clean, open ice check.

So as long as we’re not judging Ott negatively for what he did, I suppose I agree: Ott should have gotten the instigator. It would appear to be the very definition of instigation.

As for players “standing up for themselves,” I think it’s an unrealistic and silly sentiment. Star players have rarely stood up for themselves since Gretzky/McSorely. On those rare occasions you get a star player like Iginla who will happily take care of the fight himself, well then more power to them. But let’s not act like there’s no precedent for teammates fighting in place of the guy they desperately want *not* to break his hands on someone’s helmet.

Regarding the hit, I would argue that this is nothing more than Clutterbuck finishing his check. You get the same from any number of other players in the NHL, none of which are labelled as reckless or careless. All Cal does is finish checks. Does he go for the big hit a little too often? Absolutely, and I can’t stand it because it will oftentimes pull him out of position. But I don’t think that he should be expected to have to defend himself for finishing his checks, star player or not.

If you looked at Richards after the play, did he honestly look like he took exception to the hit? He looked like he realized that he got caught with his head down. If the team itself wants to protect its players, take down Clutter’s number and wait until he puts himself in a position to be lined up and have the same done to him. If the player that got hit doesn’t like it? Stand up for yourself for crying out loud. Or even start playing more physical with Minnesota’s big players. I don’t like this, regardless of who is on the receiving end of the hit.

The problem that I have with this is that the NHL expressly said that they would be giving 2-5-and-10 to any player that instigated a fight off of a clean hit, which is exactly what Ott did. If Koivu got knocked ass over teakettle by Ott and it was a clean hit, why does there need to be any sort of retribution? Hitting’s part of the game. As McKenzie said, all this is doing is making players think twice about laying a clean, hard hit on someone.

The problem with Cal Clutterbuck is that he hits for the sake of hitting. Not always, but sometimes. And when he does hit, it doesn’t matter to him who’s in his crosshairs, he’s going to try to obliterate the guy. I suppose that’s all well and good if he’s willing to accept the fact that other teams will take exception to that, especially when he takes a run at one of their star players. But Clutterbuck wears a visor and avoids fights, usually hiding behind Boogaard. So often times he gets away with hits, clean or otherwise, without being held responsible. That’s only going to piss teams off, and then when the Boogy man takes a night off, it will make Clutterbuck a target for any teams who feel he escaped justice in the past. That’s exactly what happened last night against the Stars.

Let me be clear: Ott definitely should have got the instigator on that 2nd fight. No question about it, you’re right that it fits in the letter of the law. The reason he didn’t was two-fold. Firstly, like it or not, Clutterbuck has a reputation as a careless hitter. Not dirty, but careless…perhaps even reckless. Secondly, the league protects star players. So when Ott gave Clutterbuck what was coming to him for running Richards, it’s no surprise that the refs looked the other way. Is it right? Not according to the rules. But I trust the refs to know the attitude of the game and assess penalties accordingly more than I trust a fan of either team involved in the game.

Just look at the situation from the other way. What if Ott had just flattened Koivu? Even if it’s a clean hit, you can’t allow guys to take liberties with your key players, so you have to respond. You don’t want Richards fighting Clutterbuck because then you’re trading a star player for a 2nd/3rd liner for 5 minutes, which is stupid. Ott did exactly what any semi-enforcer would do in that situation. That doesn’t make Ott any less guilty, but hopefully it explains why poor Clutterbuck got beat up. Perhaps if Clutterbuck either fought his own battles more often (without a visor) or just had more respect for fellow players, there wouldn’t be such a league-wide aggression towards him after every hit.