Weekend Hockey News

What happened around the world in hockey this weekend?

• In Steve Downie’s fourth NHL game, it appears he’s ready for another suspension: With his team up 2-0 early in the third period, Downie hit Toronto winger Jason Blake – who was being held by an official – in the face with what many are describing as a sucker-punch. The hit left a large golf ball-sized welt under Blake’s left eye.

• Forward Matt Halischuk scored at 3:36 of overtime to lift Canada to a 3-2 win over Sweden in the gold-medal game at the world junior hockey championship on Saturday.

• Paul Kukla breaks down some numbers that are very telling:

Has anyone noticed the Western Conference is 46-25-4 (W-L-OTL) against the Eastern Conference? 7 of the top 10 point leaders are from the East and 7 of the top goaltenders in GAA are from the West. 9 out of the 12 +/- leaders are from Ottawa and Detroit.

• Philadelphia Flyers forward Joffrey Lupul was expected to miss at least two weeks because of a spinal cord contusion and mild concussion.

• Mike Green has been terrific for the Capitals, scoring 11 goals and 13 assists in the first 42 games of the season.

• Top prospect Kyle Okposo will begin his career in the New York Islanders organization with Bridgeport of the AHL.

• An interactive database allows you to search the compensation for 585 NHL players this season. The salaries are for the 2007-08 season and do not reflect multi-year contracts. The figures provided come from the NHL Players Association.

• The Rangers Versus Canucks game featured more Pamela Anderson sightings on the jumbotron (4) than goals, and truth be told, the Canucks didn’t have that many more scoring chances. Luongo got his sixth of the season – one shy of Dan Cloutier’s franchise record – and Sean Avery was pretty much non-existent.