The Universal Cynic

From TSN.ca:

The AHL has suspended the Norfolk Admirals' forward 20 games for deliberately striking an official with his stick.

Late in the third period of the Admirals' game against the Hershey Bears on February 28, Downie slashed linesman Mike Hamilton before a face-off. Downie was given a game misconduct at the time, and the AHL announced Thursday he was being suspended.

Now let's all sit back and wait for the Don Cherry-esque explanation: "Sean Avery is a borderline psychotic who needed anger management and behavioural therapy! Steve Downie is just a troubled youth! Stevie won TWO gold medals with Team Canada at the WJC's, and that makes him infallible in this country! Just give the proper haircut and make sure he's in bed by 10 p.m. every night -- that'll set him right!"

Hmmm...that's probably a tad verbose for the old boy, but you get the idea.

TUC's friend (and charter member of Butterknife Row's Scott Norwood section) Patrick Williams has been busy making his mark in the big leagues -- check out this feature piece he did on Kings prospect Teddy Purcell for The Hockey News.

Patrick also has a blog over at THN -- you can find it here (and his SLAM! blog is still available at the links on the right).

Seeing a respected publication like The Hockey News pick up quality young writers pumps me up -- the industry covering this sport is in desperate need of some new blood.

It's nice to see a piece written about an All-Star game without reading the name, "Rory Fitzpatrick". Check out this blog entry from Patrick Williams about the 2007 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic (that's a mouthful).

From the AHL website:

"The Milwaukee Admirals unveiled their new logo, home and road jerseys, and a new color scheme featuring black, silver, and ice blue today at a party at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino Stage on the Summerfest Grounds.

“We are extremely excited to reveal our new look,” said Admirals owner and CEO Harris Turer. “This is a new era for the Milwaukee Admirals and we want to start it off in a tremendous way on the 1st. We are thrilled to share this big night with all of our fans and sponsors.”

The logo, which was designed by Joe Locker of YES MEN, a Milwaukee ad agency, features an Admiral of a ghost ship with the tag line, “Never Say Die.” The logo and slogan come with quite an interesting story that traces the origin of the new logo, which, as it turns out isn’t new at all.

The Admirals (sic) new logo is actually an aged version of the team’s logo from the late 1970’s, a short young lad who was lost in the waters of Lake Michigan back after the 1981 season and was recently found. The only thing that managed to keep him alive all these years was his fighting spirit. In fact, after one of his legs fell off, he used it as a hockey stick to hone his skills.

After over 25 years of being underwater, the red white and blue uniform had faded to the black, silver, and ice blue, and had turned his fresh young face into a skull. Despite all of his changes, his fighting spirit never wavered and that relentless spirit and tireless work ethic have given us our new battle cry: Never Say Die!"