fists fly in san jose

By now, we all know about the insanity that took place at the Shark Tank on Saturday. Just in case you didn't, PJ Swenson at Sharkspage has a really good account of the game that could only make the Hanson brothers happy.

The game featured two simultaneous fights at 16:31 of the first period, players trying to climb the glass to fight each other, four ejections, 116 penalty minutes (Preds 54 -- Sharks 62), and some hockey.

Obviously it's strange that two players would attempt to climb the glass to have a go at one another. Even stranger that Scott Parker, of the Sharks (who was being ejected from the game) attempted to climb into the Preds bench, where he would have met a horrible fate.

Who knows what kind of suspensions we'll see for Parker and Witt. I would guess they'll be long, but I'm usually wrong when it comes to guessing about suspensions.

Here's an odd quote from Nashville coach Barry Trotz:

"Parker came over the glass, and your first reaction is one of disbelief. Witt turns around, and his first reaction is to swing back. I don't like that trade-off. ... Parker is a marginal player for San Jose, and Witt is really starting to do some good things for us."

I know he's excited about having Brendan Witt on the team and all that, but what the hell is he even talking about? This game was Witt's debut. He had 6:36 of ice time, with no stats at all. No goals, no assists, no shots taken, no takeaways, giveaways, hits, blocked shots. Nothing. In the first period, he picked up seven minutes in penalties. Two for tripping and five for the aforementioned fight. All this long before the ejection.

So my question is... What exactly are the "good things" that Witt is "starting to do"? Get ejected for being a dumbass? Spend more time in the box than on the ice?

That's the kind of thing you say about a young player who's been recalled and reassigned a half dozen times. The guy who's been a healthy scratch, but found a way to get in the every-night line up after working his ass off in practice. Not the guy who was a malcontent with his previous team and gets kicked out of his first game with his new team.

Seriously. Why not ignore the guy. Let him climb as far up the glass as he can get and swing his arms like a monkey. Unless he climbs over the glass, there's really no sense in engaging him. He's already kicked out of the game. Witt lost his cool. I'm not sure how the coach can count this as a "good thing".