[BuckeyeMike80]

The thuggery on display yesterday in Detroit was absolutely brutal. It was so bad that the CALGARY media is having a cow over it.


Playfair's posse looks silly losing its cool

DETROIT -- They lost it.

And they lost it.

"We have a fiery group of guys,'' said Rhett Warrener.

"We weren't happy with the way things were going,'' chimed in Jarome Iginla.

As if that excuses the anarchy.

"You try to play all 60 minutes with passion and intensity,'' said Calgary Flames coach Jim Playfair. "To see the emotions spill over in the last five minutes of the game like that . . . it is what it is.''

What it is, is stupid.

"You can debate it forever,'' continued Playfair. "Was it right or wrong, good or bad? All we're focusing on is going home and winning a hockey game. And that's the truth.''

Focus? They couldn't see the tip of a face shield a couple inches in front of the ends of their noses by the finish, their pupils reduced to tiny dots of red swimming in glassy eyeballs. They were blind with Rink Rage by then. And that's the truth, too.

At JLA on Saturday, with the upper hand in this suddenly-interesting series at stake, the Flames landed harder than rag-doll Dion Phaneuf after the Ol' Canoli Truck, Todd Bertuzzi, body slammed him to the ice with such casual ferocity you could hear Eddie Whalen up there in the big wrasslin' ring in the sky, squealing: "Now THAT was a ring-a-ding-dong-dandy!"

There hasn't been this much damage control on the go since Bill Clinton went on television to assure the Bible-belt puritans: "I did NOT have sex with that woman!''

Backup goaltender Jamie McLennan will be suspended. That much is certain. His machete-style naval-high slash on a Johan Franzen, completely out of character and utterly indefenceable, was shocking. Oh, well, he made his 18 seconds of actual 'playing time' memorable.

http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/...8220f9&rfp=dta