Sens at Land’s End

Big day for the Sens. Big day.

Jarkko Ruutu has, unsurprisingly, been suspended for two games for that attempted elbow to the head of Maxim Lapierre. “I had no intention to do it,” says Ruutu, “but accidents will happen.” They sure will, Jarkko. They just didn’t this time.

Ryan Shannon has been called up from Binghamton to take Ruutu’s spot in the lineup for the home-and-home against the Islanders on Thursday and Saturday. Where precisely Shannon will fit on the Sens’ forward lines is not clear, but it appears that Antoine Vermette’s time playing with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley is over. Craig Hartsburg had Nick Foligno on their line in practice today.

Oh, but if you thought that was the most interesting thing that happened at practice, then you were sorely mistaken. There was not only line juggling going on, but also rage. Anger. Frustration. Fury. Plus violence done unto inanimate objects the likes of which hasn’t been seen in Ottawa since Ray Emery left town as Daniel Alfredsson swung his hockey stick of furious angry rage and accidentally (there you go, Ruutu) broke a pane of Scotiabank Place’s glass. According to the Sun, the Captain was frustrated by the team’s “inability to complete a drill.”

Additionally, Bruce Garrioch reports that Heatley and Chris Kelly got into a “heated debate,” and Heatley and Hartsburg had a “long discussion” at the end of practice as well. When asked what he and the coach were talking about, Heatley said “my skates.” The video report on the Sun’s website (which appears on the page linked to above) includes footage of Heatley talking to reporters and well, I don’t know the guy, but I’d say he seemed a bit irritated.

All of this leaves me wondering: um, what the heck happened? Okay, I get that the team lost last night and believe me, I was pretty irritated too — actually, I had to ban myself from watching more hockey last night after I saw that the FREAKING BLOODY PENGUINS had come back on Detroit; the combination of that and the Sens getting shut out was just too much — but I can’t quite see how that leads to half the team (possible exaggeration) suddenly being overcome with berserker rage. Is there no joy in Sensville these days? What’s up? Can’t blame it on Emery this time. (Though, he was in town recently … but no.)

Sens … you’ve got to calm down. Remember what Yoda says: anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Anger, hate, and suffering are all stops along the path to the dark side. I know the Emperor said that anger could give you focus and make you stronger, but he was creepy. Who are you going to believe: the deathly pale guy in the black cloak or the little green puppet who sounds like Kermit the Frog? Also, I’m pretty sure Darth Sidious was talking about anger directed outwards. If you’re angry at yourself all the time, that’s just toxic.

So. Meditation. Group yoga session. Ice cream party. Whatever. Let’s nip the infighting in the bud before this turns into a horrible repeat of last season and I have to fly home and beat you all with my frying pan.

Brace Yourselves …

I want to give you fair warning, my loyal reader(s?), that I will not be making my usual game posts on Thursday and Saturday. My good friend Golly will be visiting from England starting tomorrow. She’s going to watch Thursday’s game with me, and I’m thinking it might be slightly rude to blog with her in the room. On Saturday, Golly and I will be attending the Canucks-Leafs game, which is unfortunately at the same time as the Sens game, so we’ll have to miss the Sens entirely. It’s for a good cause: Golly has never seen live hockey before. Don’t worry, though — I’ll make sure she knows to boo the Leafs.