Chris Pronger is a fool!

There is a lot to be said about Chris Pronger. People can say he's a world class defensemen. People can also say hes a legitimate leader. Others can say hes a gap-toothed f***ing d*****bag who steals pucks. But is he clever? Cunning? Smart? After last night... I would have to say no.

Chris Pronger, in a hard fought overtime period against Calgary last night, decided he was going to try and rip a page out of the Sean Avery Book of Trickery and tried to bend the rules of screening the goaltender as Sean did a few years ago against Martin Brodeur. (I might add, I still LOVE watching tape of that)

Around 1:40 remaining in the overtime period, Pronger took his hand off of his stick and held it out in front of Miikka Kiprusoff's face. Three seconds later, a shot from Mike Richards finds the back of the net, which is then immediately waved off due to goaltender interference, and rightfully so.

Of course, Chris Pronger being the lively scholar that he is, has brushed up on his NHL rulebook, and believes that he did not interfere at all. The rule states that...

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play," Colin Campbell, the NHL director of hockey operations, said in a statement."


No, Pronger did not turn and face Kiprusoff. And no, the whistle was not immediately blown after it happened like it should have. The way I feel about this is that the rule was made the following day after Avery pulled that stunt against Brodeur. (again, love him for that) So, not all the fine details were ironed out right away. The point of this rule is to stop players from not trying to make a play and instead trying to interfere with the goalies vision. The main job of a player on the ice is to try and make a play. And while trying to make that play, if you so happen to wander into the goalies vision of the puck, that is perfectly legal. Pronger changed his goal from trying to make a play, to trying to block Kiprusoff from seeing the puck with his hand.


And since this is the first time I can recall this rule being enforced since it was implemented, and since it is different than what Avery did, there will be debate over how it was handled.


But in my opinion, I believe that it was handled the right way by the officials, and the right call was made. Also, I'm pretty happy it was Pronger who decided to do this and ended up costing Philly the game, that gap-toothed, puck stealing, f***ing d*****bag.