Happy Holidays!

Like everybody else, I've been a bit busy over the holidays, but not so busy so as to not drop a quick blog post to let you know what Bruins tough guy Sean Thornton said in the New York Times on Christmas Day. The article was your basic "here's what hockey fighting is for those of you who don't know that it's part of the game and are probably outraged by it" type piece.

Pretty typical, but I appreciate the Times (who have an excellent hockey blog) giving me something worthwhile to read on Christmas morning.

Here's Shawn's quote, answering an assertion by NHL Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell that fighting is on the rise because the solidarity the players felt directly after the lockout had begun to fray, now that several years have passed:

“It’s a theory. But I’d fight my sister if it came down to it. I’m friends with some of the guys I throw the gloves down with. If I start thinking who’s on the other side, then I’m not playing the way I can.”

This is an easy statement to laugh at, but if Shawn is any indication, my guess is, his sister is probably a pretty tough girl. Speaking of tough girls, on the other side of Thornton tonight are Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes. If Staal is anything like his brother Jordan, it might not be his face that Thornton needs to protect. Or maybe that's not as much a Staal problem as a Penguins problem.