The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Martin Havlat on his 5 game suspension: "I'm not going to say it won't happen again because it was a defensive reaction to a situation, but I shouldn't have done it because it put my team in a bad position. I don't want to be watching. I want to be playing and this isn't good." Alright Marty, I like you, you're a terrific talent, but it better not happen again, because the next time you decide to kick someone it'll cost you 10-15 games and a one way ticket out of Ottawa. It's ok to try to defend yourself; it's not ok to use your skate to do it...Does Peter Schaeffer have a great set of hands or what? His goal on Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning was perhaps the most impressive one of the Senators this season...Two guys that need to step it up are Mike Fisher and Bryan Smolinksi. Coach Bryan Murray threatened to have Fisher sit if callup Patrick Eaves plays well, so hopefully that'll put the fire under Mike to perform. Meanwhile, Smolinski only has 2 points (no goals) while Todd White, the centre I felt Ottawa should have kept, has racked up 9 points in Minnesota and his salary is about $1.5 M less...That hit on Patrick Eaves near the end of the Tampa Bay game was just awful, right to the back of his head causing it to smash right against the edge of the boards. No suspensions are forthcoming; they didn't even call a penalty on the play...Eaves did respond with his first ever NHL goal the next game in Carolina. He drove hard to the net and was a well-earned goal...Why did it take so long for the NHL to cancel Saturday's Panthers-Senators game? There's a hurricane, everything else in the city has been cancelled, why can't you follow suit just as quickly?...Nice to see Vaclav Varada back in the lineup. He's never had luck with injuries, although last year while playing in Europe he didn't miss one game. Let's see if the Chris Neil experiment works with Varada, having him on the 2nd unit power play right in front of the net causing traffic...It was disappointing to see Ottawa lose their first game, but really, no team will ever go 82-0. I liked their never say die attitude in the last period against the Hurricanes on Monday, peppering the goaltender with about 24 third period shots after a weak 2nd period. Sometimes though, it's just not your night to win...If it wasn't Martin Gerber in nets for Carolina, I could have sworn it was Greg Louganis...I like the redesigned Senators website. The panoramic stills on the main page are a nice touch...The Sens have a tough three game schedule coming up, playing Montreal, Toronto and Philadelphia. Toronto is their biggest rival, Philadelphia is probably their 2nd biggest, while Montreal is an untapped rivalry waiting to happen. I hope Montreal and Ottawa face each other in the playoffs this season, not necessarily because the Canadiens are an easy team, but considering they're only a 2 hour drive away from each other, how else can a rivalry be ignited between them that doesn't involve a bench-clearing brawl?...If you have extra $$$ and want to see the Flyers game this Sunday, use the code PHILLY on the capitaltickets.ca website for a sweet discount. Don't look to me to go with you though, I still can't afford it! :)