Here’s Jack Hillen of the New York Islanders taking a slap shot to the face. And not just any slap shot, but one from the great Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. It’s a slapper from the NHL’s aristocracy, if you will. And what’s deliciously ironic is the discussion by the announcers at the front of the clip about how Ovechkin didn’t want to wear a full face shield be it was “too cumbersome.” You know what else is cumbersome? Getting your face blasted off by a 3-inch disc of Vulcanized Czech rubber. That’ll be 6-8 weeks on the shelf with a broken jaw for Hillen. –NESW Sports.

Here’s a video of Andrew Bowser’s “The Caps Rap,” which is just what it sounds like: a rap about the NHL’s Washington Capitals. But really, I’m just posting this to laugh at Bowser’s tight red jeans. He looks like a giant tampon bouncing around on the ice like that. I’m amazed that he didn’t fall and bust his head open out there. That’s just what this world would have needed — another bleeder. Edge, via Puck Daddy.

If college football isn’t your bag on New Year’s Day, there’s always the NHL’s Winter Classic, where they play hockey outside on a baseball field. I love how the NHL does something that everyone else does and then acts like it’s a big deal. Honestly, it’ll look cool for like ten or fifteen minutes, and then you’ll flip it back to football. Whatever. It’s Boston and NHL hockey: two ignorant groups of white people that deserve each other. –NESN.

Tomorrow, we’ll bring you the Best of WL from 2009: my favorite posts (and yours, if you make mention of them in the comments) from the last year. It’ll be an excellent precursor to your rampage of irresponsibility on New Year’s Eve.

There are few jobs in sports tougher than playing goalie in the NHL, and Calgary Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff attests to that here, albeit unintentionally. There’s a flip pass from the other end of the ice, and I can’t tell if Kiprusoff was checking NBA scores on his Blackberry or what, but he doesn’t even see this puck that drops from the rafters and trickles by the unsuspecting Finn. Which really isn’t surprising when you consider that Finland doesn’t really have issues with rodentia or border patrolling. They just kinda hang out and play in the snow all day. via Puck Daddy, I think.
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Here’s the third of three fights between players of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins in their game last night. This one, between Daniel Carcillo (Flyers, in white) and Craig Adams is easily the best. You can tell that Carcillo won’t be satisfied until her tears Adams’ head from his neck and throws it into the stands as a souvenir for a happy youngster. Try finding one of those on eBay! But honestly, I don’t think I’m a fan of this move that Carcillo does at the end. Adams is already on his way down, and then it’s Carcillo trying to put dude’s head through the ice. That’s just not sporting. Seriously, why not just hide a beer bottle in the net and hit him with that? Maybe your parents can hold his arms back while you just wail away. That’s a -1 for you, Daniel. You’re cleaning the With Leather blackboard erasers after class, Mister. –HockeyFights.com. Check out fights 1 and 2.

I don’t get these guys that get off on damaging equipment whenever they botch a play. Take Panthers defenseman Keith Ballard. Dude gets beat by a cherry-picking Ilya Kovalchuk and then inexplicably cracks his goalie right in the head. Then–while looking right at the fallen Tomas Vokoun–he just skates off. It’s just an amazing act of carelessness, and honestly, I wonder how Ballard was treated in that Panthers dressing room at the end of this game, which the Panthers lost. Turns out that Vokoun just suffered an ear laceration. He still did better than Ballard, who still apparently has a gash laceration. That’s not much of a takedown, but I’m still on my first cup of coffee… –Ramblings of the Unmotivated.