Sports Guy North

And the Rucchin is

Straka got off to a quick start in the balloting, but in the end it was a unanimous decision in favour of:

plus equals

Jonathan Cheechoo.

This vote didn't even end up close. Cheechoo got 52% of the popular vote, while Straka ended up with only 27%, and Kozlov at 19%. Scott Walker, as expected, did not register a single vote. He was merely along for the ride as the result of a single goal he scored off of his lid. What was apparent, though, were a few oversights from the selection. Of note Simon Gagne and Marc Savard were mentioned by many people, but the overwhelming write-in vote was Mike Knuble. Before being moved to the top lines in Boston, Mike averaged about 20 points per season. His final two years in Boston he had some help on his line and recorded 59 and 46 points. Through 50 games on Forsbergs line, however, Mike already has 42 points, and is on pace for career highs in goals and assists. Definitely worthy of consideration, but I'm pretty confident in saying that Cheechoo, with the decisive majority he put up against Straka and Kozlov, would still have been the victor. Nonetheless, to avoid dispute in end of year voting, the nominees will be left up to my readers prior to the posting of the Rucchin of the Year balloting. That way, for the first time in history, the true people's Rucchin can be decided without dispute.

Mighty No More

I have one very, very, very good question: If you're going to bother changing the team name, then WHY would you still have it called the Ducks? This is not a good team name. It strikes as much fear in the other team as if they were playing the Seattle Fuzzy Bunnies, or the Toronto Maple Leafs. Maybe even less. So if you are going to change your team name away from the Mighty Ducks, just because Disney isn't involved anymore, then why not find a new team name all together? In staying with a theme from my January 25th article, why not the Los Angelas Broadcoms? Or, if somehow the D'Angelos Juice company found a little extra money laying around, the Anaheim Juices D'Angelos would be a suiting take on the name. In any case, the Ducks name was never a good idea, and having a team named after a kid's movie was just an embarrassment. If they want to change anything, then change it all. Please. There is just no way to make the "Ducks" seem cool, especially not with the heritage of where the name came from.

Elias Watch

If you bet on the Panthers in this game, your nuts must be made of thick steel, much like your head. But it would have paid off big time. Just hours after signing a 6-year deal worth an average of $5.2 million a year, Brodeur decided that was too much excitement for one day and just phoned it in. He must have phoned in for the rest of the team as well as nobody showed up ready for this one. The devils were blanked for the first time since Elias' return, and in this game he showed that he is very much human, going pointless now in two straight games. Patrick had only one shot, and no points in 15 minutes of play, registering a -3 rating. With that, the Elias watch drops to 12 games, 16 points and 9 wins.