Jamie Benn... Huh?

 

"Great captain, first class leader," the commenters said. "He's our captain, and we stand by him," the Dallas Stars said.

Hockey - them hockey - is an emotional game. What does "Them hockey" mean? I mean not the goalie. We're different.

The five players who don't stand in the blue paint all night. Them. The ones running around, banging into each other, jostling for position. They get angry, they get spun up... When things aren't going right, they look for a way to change the story line, change the tempo. They get frustrated (or, fustrated, or flustrated, depending on the hockey commentator) and when insanely-competitive people are involved, shit happens.

Last night, the late comers had barely gotten their beers and settled into their seats before Las Vegas went ahead. Not the kind of start the home Dallas Stars had wanted. At all.

 In the NHL, there are three ways to win play-off hockey. Be better, be luckier or be tougher. For game three (they are...were...down 2 games to their none) Dallas chose the third, coming out throwing bodies. Except - it seemed like they had no real notion how that is supposed to happen.

Early in the first shift, in the first minute of the first period of play, one of the Stars cross-checked a Las Vegas player face first into the boards. Ordinarily, that would have been penalized and the Dallas player would have visited the "Sin Bin." This being the Stanley Cup playoffs, the refs (if they even saw it) let the play go. That sets what is commonly called a "benchmark."

In the clear understanding of what counts when playing for the Cup, LV promptly shot the puck into the Dallas net. Take that. There will be plenty of time next year to settle old scores.

Something in Jamie Benn, the Dallas captain, apparently snapped.

Watch the above video. I'll be here when you get back.

Okay. Pretty grim, huh? Major penalty and a game misconduct. Before the dust settled in the first period the score was LV - 3, Dallas - 0. It might as well have been a hundred-nothing, because in the playoffs goals are extremely hard to come by.

There were additional shenanigans, including a trash-throwing exhibition by the Dallas fans toward the end of the second period straight out of 60s era hockey. There was "chirping." More cross checking. Somebody must have passed on a message from the NHL office because the third period looked like something from an old-timer's game.

So, today Mr. Benn met the press. He said the following:

"Obviously I would've liked not to fall on him, and I guess use my stick as a landing point."

You chickenshit asshole.

UPDATE: Suspended two games. The NHL didn't buy it either, Jamie.