Cheers and Jeers – Feb 3rd

The Good and the Bad of this past week.

It’s Friday. So we close out the "Week That Was" with our latest volume of… "Cheers and Jeers!"

This week, I tip my hat to Captain Clutch and a couple of Blackhawks fans (WHAT?!?!), but I stop the clock on the Staples Center staff and smash my own hands in penance.

CHEERS to Cody Hodgson, who yesterday was named NHL Rookie of the Month for January. Hodgson scored 6 goals and added 4 assists in only 11 games for the first month of 2012

JEERS to the imbecile who was manning the clock at Staples Center on Tuesday when it magically added one second of playing time, just enough to allow Drew Doughty to score the winning goal against the Blue Jackets. What a cock-up. The NHL had better be looking into EXACTLY why that scoreboard padded a second, for the exact reason that it has now cost a team a potential victory, and at least a point in the standings. Luckily for the league, the loss was to the woeful Blue Jackets who wouldn’t have benefited from a single point anyway. Can you imagine if the Kings were playing the Canucks when that happened?! The outcry from Mike Gillis! The hatred and venom spewing from the rest of the league, as they tell Canucks fans that their team is putrid and had this coming!? Luckily, nobody cares about the Blue Jackets, including the Columbus Blue Jackets.

CHEERS to big time Chicago Blackhawks fans on Twitter Hawknut and Andrew Cieslak who understood my point on Tuesday when I suggested that a key for the Canucks would be to "target Toews’ hands". They are ardent Hawks fans and they defended me pretty strongly. Good on ya, lads. They knew I wasn’t suggesting that the Canucks saw off Toews’ hands, and they also suggested that if the tide was turned, Hawks players would be doing the same thing to the Canucks.

but I will therefore eat a tiny bit of crow and …

JEERS to myself for advocating violence. Although I probably wasn’t clear enough about what I was suggesting. Repetitively focusing on an injured player’s problem area with forceful tap after forceful tap after forceful tap is GOING to hurt, but isn’t going to send the guy to hospital. That’s what I was getting at. Next time, I’ll spell it out in chapter and verse for you more sensitive types next time. My bad.

CHEERS to Sam Gagner for his RIDICULOUS night last night, nabbing a point on ALL EIGHT Oilers goals, as the Oilers beat the Blackhawks 8-4. That’s a career day right there. As the great parody Twitter account @SHorcov said last night, "I tell you Komrades if I ever score 8 points, I do three star spin, go to room and hang them up right then and there". Gagner also managed to tie an Oilers franchise record.. with WAYNE GRETZKY and PAUL COFFEY. Any night when you tie a record held by The Great One, that’s just the best day ever as a hockey player.

JEERS to the Chicago Blackhawks for getting blown up… AGAIN in Edmonton. AGAIN!!!! In their two games in Edmonton this year, they’ve allowed 17 goals!! GOOD LORD!! After a 9-2 loss earlier this year, the Blackhawks were once again trounced – this time 8-4 (mostly thanks to Sam Gagner) And last night, they were leading 2-0 when Gagner decided to absolutely murder them. So an additional jeers to the Blackhawks for getting lit up by one player – one player who was widely regarded as being trade bait for the Oilers to acquire a defenseman. Man, Gagner and the Oilers should be sending the Blackhawks some flowers and candy, because they just upped Sam’s trade value by a WHOLE LOT.