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christian gift patrioticOctober 19, 2005
Sunday 10-17 Press
TSN started the ball rolling with this suggestion that the Long Arm of the Law would be coming for Havlat. And just to be complete, ESPN decided it was worthy of mention as well.
Don Brennan was the only one to bring it to anyone's attention on Sunday: Martin Havlat usually gets his kicks in front of the net.
The skilled Senators winger -- who has, on more than one occasion in his career, been called a dirty player -- didn't even bother to deny he booted towering Boston Bruins defenceman Hal Gill during a skirmish between the two players below the goal line in the second period of Ottawa's 5-1 victory.
The incident led to a fight between Gill and Chris Neil, who received seven and 17 penalty minutes, respectively. Havlat got away scot free.
"Everybody saw that," Havlat told Cheapseats in reference to the dastardly deed, for which he was ripped by Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry. "I was pushed on the net, I was falling down ... I didn't want to hurt the guy, but it was just an automatic reaction.
"He pushed me on the net, he had his hands in my face ... I was trying to get up. It was a reaction. I was falling down and he kept going at me. I didn't want to hurt anybody. Hopefully, I didn't."
Gill was not injured, and the Bruins didn't put up a protest, either during or after the game.
The only person who seemed really bothered that Gill was kicked in the grapes was Grapes.
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But there was a hockey game going on otherwise, and Havlat performed quite well.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe describes the plays: Left wing Martin Havlat gained the blue line and backhanded a pass through traffic to center Antoine Vermette in the slot. [...]
Havlat was battling defenseman Ian Moran in the left circle. Havlat dropped to his knees but managed to keep control of the puck. He got back up and backhanded a pass to defenseman Anton Volchenkov, who beat Raycroft at 12:59.
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Bruce Garrioch selected Havlat as his #1 star of the game. His descriptions: Havlat's backhand pass through traffic lands on Vermette's stick and he beats Raycroft with a wrister high to the glove side. [...]
Havlat throws a pass across the slot to Volchenkov, who one-times it by Raycroft on the glove side.
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Generic Canadian Press write up: Martin Havlat made a nice play on a delayed penalty call to set up the goal. After being hooked, Havlat recovered his balance, spun away from the Bruins defender and delivered a cross ice backhand pass to Volchenkov whose one-timer beat Raycroft in the Boston goal. [...]
Senators coach Brian Murray was happy to see three players get their first goals of the season, and he was just as happy to see offence coming from different directions in the game.
“I know Vermette is going get some points and I know Havlat’s going to get points and I know Smolinski is going to be a playmaker, but to see them score, I think it’s important for them and it was very important in a game like this where Boston did a pretty good job against our top line,” he said.
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Allen Panzeri selected Havlat as the third star: ...Vermette made it 2-0 after taking a magical backhand pass from Havlat that skipped through two Bruins. [...]
After taking a pass from Havlat, who was on his knees in the left circle, Volchenkov then made it 4-0 with a shot from the top of the right circle.
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And one tiny snip from Wayne Scanlan: Although he played with his usual partner, Hal Gill, Boynton did share some first period ice with Leetch, long enough to get victimized by a clever backhand pass from Martin Havlat on Ottawa's second goal, a wrister by an Antoine Vermette.
Posted by jz at October 19, 2005 11:35 AM