NHL Notes: Brashear wins, Thornton Should Play, Bieksa Whines, And Winnipeg Celebrates

Around the NHL on a Sunday afternoon:

Donald Brashear opened up his mixed martial arts career with a 21-second technical knockout over Mathieu Bergeron at Ringside 11 in Quebec Saturday night. Granted, Bergeron was the third scheduled opponent for Brashear, and Bergeron looked like he was a bit on the chunky side, but a 21-second TKO is impressive no matter who the opponent is.

Brashear spoke to The Canadian Press after the fight:

“I threw a little of what I practiced for the first guy and a little of what I practiced for the second guy and put it into the fight with the third guy. It also felt like I was home,” he said.. “As soon as I got in there [the cage], I was comfortable.
“I’m having fun learning it,” he added. “I haven’t done much fighting yet. I love learning it and the fight was fun.”

Brashear will look for another fight in the coming months. Expect things to get a bit tougher than what he saw on Saturday.

If I were the Boston Bruins, I would dress Shawn Thornton Monday night, and have him stalk either Alex

Burrows or Maxim Lapierre and send an immediate message that the biting, as well as the mockery of the biting made by Lapierre on Saturday night, may be tolerated by the league, but not by the Bruins. Boston needs to be more physical anyway, so Thronton delivering a beating to Burrows and/or Lapierre would be well worth the two-minute instigator penalty.

Vancouver fans are quick to get on Bruins’ fans for whining about Burrows’ lack of a suspension, but one of Vancouver’s own is certainly doing enough whining for the entire city. Kevin Bieksa, who went down like he was shot when he took a bit of a slash from Rich Peverley during Saturday’s Game 2.

“I’m sure everybody knows what happened and they’ll keep a better eye on him next time,” said Bieksa of Peverley. “There’s such a thing as karma. Whether it’s next year or the year after, he’ll get something from somebody else. He got me on the back of the knee. Luckily, it’s okay.”

As far as I am concerned, the slash is at least a hockey play using a piece of equipment used in the game. If the bite is OK, a slash is OK too.

By the way, Bieksa was so badly hurt that he was out on his next shift. Wonder if he is related to P.K. Subban?

An amazing story out of Winnipeg, as the new franchise sold out the entire building in a matter of two minutes. It is a great story, and shows why the NHL should have never left Winnipeg to begin with. At least they corrected their mistake.