it's weird. in some ways he's very good - positional defense especially. he's still a good PK'er because playing the PK generally involves not much skating and being in the right place to block shots or lift a guy's stick or clear out the front of the net. but he has the mobility of file cabinet, and he's also apt to make a horrendous turnover every now and then - as he did earlier in this series with a cross-ice pass right onto the stick of a canadien who ended up with a clear breakaway. but back to the officiating. was it a dumb boarding? yes. but how about this? did i miss something? is blood on a boarding call the difference between a two-minute minor and a five-minute all-you-can-eat power play? if so, that's absolutely idiotic. if not, kudos to the refs for making up rules on the fly. also - and this probably pisses me off just as much as the boarding call - bouillon got up and cross checked Hatcher a solid three seconds after the whistle blew. All series they've called the Flyers for late hits every time there's a hit well after the whistle (including one time giving Montreal a 5-on-3). Now when Montreal does it, there's nothing? it's brutal. and don't get me started on steve downie. he's getting the crap beat out of him by two habs in the first period and they end up with the power play. at this point i don't even think the flyers should dress him; he's had so many horrendous calls go against him over the last quarter of the season that it's obvious to me that the refs are going to call him for anything they can. i hope this doesn't damage his effectiveness as a player in the future, but it pretty much makes him worthless for at least the playoffs this year. hilarious also, i would love to see the reaction if the tables had been turned, and someone on the dirty, satan-worshiping flyers had sucker punched a squeaky-clean hab after a goal like
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