Kronwall v. Havlat

Last night in the Blackhawks v. Red Wings game, one of the most unreal hits I've ever witnessed took place in the first period.  Niklas Kronwall of the Red Wings (ughh) took out Martin Havnat of the Blackhawks.  Kronwall's check seemed to be totally clean - amazing I can admit that because I loathe the Red Wings - but epic enough to totally clean Havlat's clock.  I don't think Kronwall left his feet until after he had already initiated contact, and from the films I've seen I can't tell whether or not he actually took three steps before hitting Havlat.  Anyway...what a gross hit...here's the photo taken from the camera inside the net.

From Blogger Pictures

I think one could debate that the call should have been "charging," but the refs called it "interference," which it most definitely wasn't.  Whatever.  I might have ruled it "intent to injure," but the officials had to call it something to justify kicking him out of the game and interference is probably the most generic way to go.  From another perspective, I guess it's good that Kronwall got tossed for his own safety as well...if he had played the rest of the game, no doubt the Blackhawks would have been headhunting him the whole time and certainly wouldn't have refrained from getting down and dirty.  Look at how they swarmed on him after he obliterated Havlat...imagine 50 more minutes of that.  

Even if you're not into hockey...my (openly biased) opinion is that you should watch this anyway:

Post-check was nervewracking because Havlat was blacked out in the middle/under the mayhem and wouldn't have been able to protect himself from all the skates thrashing around his body/head.  He could have easily taken a blade to the neck or face or wrist.  Secondly...after he woke up, I've never seen anyone awake and that effed up following a hit.

I realize that very few of my friends who are not my teammates and/or play for me are that into hockey at all (but very kindly humor me when I get all excited about it) so if you made it all the way through this, let me know and I've give you a huge hug next time I see you.

I'm really freaking hot.  It's actually only like 85, but with the humidity at 32482% I feel like I'm melting.  I know that my discomfort is mostly because my lupus is aggravated by the humidity, but it's annoying because by nature, I'm not used to feeling at all fragile.  I miss the dry, yet complex climate in Colorado.  What's worse is that it's only May; it's just going to keep getting hotter and there won't be relief until Septemberish. 

Back to hockey briefly: I just found out that Colorado now has two professional CHL teams.  When I get home and make enough money, I'd like to get season tickets to one because I absolutely love hockey games...the Rocky Mountain Rage play out of Broomfield, and the Colorado Eagles who play out of Loveland.  The Rage was established in 2006 so I guess they're still not very good, but the Eagles have a great record. 

I went to the library today to look for a particular book ("Ham on Rye" by Bukowski) and was shocked to find that it's not in the catalogue.  wtf, honestly?  This is only the second time I've ever not been able to find a book there...it's so weird because the system is so huge, but I will get my hands on it somehow.  Vicki loaned me "The Historian" so I'll read that for now, to further indulge my vampire reading habits.