Who says that Mondays can not be exciting? Especially in hockey! Dirty gestures during an afternoon game between rivals up in NYC, news that one Dallas Star got arrested early Sunday morning, and another may be out for Thursdays home opener. Let us start with what happened just a couple of hours ago in New York.
Former one time Dallas Star (and not a liked one while here) Sean Avery once again was in the middle of another interesting situation. During the Rangers/Islanders game this afternoon, defenseman and tough guy James Wisniewski took offense to Avery coming in close on the Islanders Rick DiPietro as he covers up a puck. Avery sends a shower of snow up and gets within a couple feet of the netminder. Well Wisniewski of course gets in Avery’s face and shoves him a bit. Well the zebras immediately get in the way and separate them before anything starts. At that point Wiz decides to “gesture” towards Avery, as I will not straight up say what he did. But the linesmen see it and I guess decided to ignore it. While Avery is up there on players that I hate (probably in my top 15-20), it was “taunt” or “gesture” that was dirty and explicit almost. I expect the NHL or the team to bring down a suspension and fine on him, as it was not something you want seen by fans and audiences. Should you get in Avery’s face? Well sure, I probably would. Should you taunt at him or try to get him to fight or do something stupid? Yep, that is part of the game. But what Wisniewski did was too much. And I hate him too right now since he injured Jamie Benn Saturday night. Here is the video clip of the incident, caution it is not for kids and is a dirty gesture (I am just reporting what happened and discussing it): Wisniewski taunts Avery
In Stars news, Mike Ribeiro is not only on fire so far on the ice, he apparently was having a great time Saturday night/ Sunday morning. News came out today that Ribs was arrested in Plano early Sunday morning. He and three other people he was with, including his spouse, were arrested after there was an altercation with another group of patrons. It is coming out that other then having bloodshot eyes and it being his wife that was in the altercation, Ribs may have been fine. They were at a nice sushi place in Plano (north part of the Dallas metroplex) and I am presuming were eating and having a good time after Ribeiro had just got back from NY as the Stars won there earlier in the evening. The Stars have said they are looking into it, and both coach Crawford and GM Joe made quick statements today but want to keep it in house and keep the focus on the ice and keep building up the team. For Ribeiro’s comments and the story, here is the link to the ESPN Dallas report: Story, and for the video: Video of Ribeiro
And in more news, it came out this morning that Jamie Benn may have “concussion like symptoms” stemming from the hit he took from James Wisniewski during Saturday night’s win. Benn left the ice after the hit, and did not return. But after the game is was stated that he was joking and appeared fine in the locker room. But he missed out on this mornings practice and is being monitored closely by the Stars training and medical staff. It is unclear how long he could be out or even if he will miss time, but the Stars are being careful with Jamie and will not put him on the ice before they think he is good to go. He is young and promising, so no need to rush him. If he does not practice tomorrow or Wednesday, then I would expect him to miss the home opener on Thursday night.