Daily Pucking Grind. It’s Friday. Bite Me! June 3rd.

Today’s music choice on Friday Flashback is one of my favourites.  I’ve used it once before, and it deserves another go round.  Here’s It’s Friday I’m In Love by The Cure!

As we all waited with baited breathe yesterday for the ruling on the Alex Burrows biting incident (nolw referred to as Bite Gate), the NHL’s final decision again left us all scratching our heads.  While they may have been scratching their……nevermind.  In case you missed the incident, here it is again for your viewing pleasure. There is no way that you can say there was no intent to bite.  Burrows had his hearing on Thursday and the NHL decided that it was not a suspendable offense.  While it is clear that Burrows bit the finger of Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron, the NHL is saying that no one saw it.  Since no one saw it they didn’t feel any punishment was warranted.  Huh?  The more I watch it the more absurd it becomes.  Yes, I can tell that the official who is trying to break up the scrum has his head turned, but what about the other three stooges?  Where were they?  Read the following statement from the NHL’s Mike Murphy:

"After reviewing the incident, including speaking with the on-ice officials, I can find no conclusive evidence that Alex Burrows intentionally bit the finger of Patrice Bergeron.”"

In a similar incident in the past pesky Jarko Ruutu received a two game suspension for biting.  Now maybe we should take a step back and consider this.  Maybe Patrice Bergeron was the antagonist here.  You could say that Bergeron was trying to choke Burrows by putting his finger in the Canuck winger’s mouth.  Didn’t we all learn as little tikes that you should never ever put your fingers in anyone’s mouth?  Maybe Patrice missed that class.  Speaking of class, and I digress here, I have to say that not only was the ruling by the NHL wrong, but the actual move by Burrows to bite the finger of an opposing player is a classless, bush league,  and childish manuever.  This is not the first time that this type of immaturity and sliminess has been revealed by Vancouver.  The diving, the crawling into a shell, the over exaggerated back flips when a player grazes past them, two sisters brothers who can’t seen to breathe without the other, and a goaltender with more oil in his hair than a car engine.  I’ll admit that this whole incident and the attention it’s getting might be overkill.  This is really just a typical scrum after the whistle blows, and or the period ends.  A good old fashioned face washing right?  I can’t decide if I want to make jokes about this, or if the whole thing is plain embarrasing.  The Bruins are certainly no angels, but for god sakes, biting?  Diving? C’mon Vancouver.  You guys bite!

Here’s some links for Friday:

Here’s the CBC’s opening video montage to game one of the Final.  Another great job, even though this match up makes me ill.

I like what new coach Kevin Dineen of the Florida Panthers is preaching.  Stevie, get ready to get your nose dirty. Sun- Sentinel.

The Sedins give a perfect example of sibling rivalry.  Please watch! This one too. as they describe the Sedin Sedan.

The Canucks seem to be getting lots of “breaks” this post season. TSN.ca.

Boston will need maximum effort from the bottom six.  Justin Bourne.

Where’s  Brad Richards going to end up this summer?  Pro Hockey Talk.

Better late than never Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts.  As always, must reading.

Winnipeg White Out and the three names that won’t be.

T.V. ratings for game one were huge! I’m switching to another channel to screw this up.  Globe and Mail.

The Edmonton Oilers prepare to make the number one pick in this month’s draft.  NHL.com.

Second City Hockey evaluates Jonathan Toews.

Thanks for reading.   We welcome your comments and opinions.

Please visit our NHL main page: Too Many Men On The Site.

Follow the Rat Pack onTwitter: me @TheRatTrick David Lasseter @davidlasseter , Josh Luecht @joshluecht, Adam Reid @AdamReid,  and Patrick McLaughlin @patrckmclaughln. Also, please join our Facebook Fan Page and hit the like button, send us photos, and make some comments.

Want The Rat Trick on your smartphone? Download the app and get the best in Florida Panthers coverage