Puck the Vote!

Go away for a week, and all hell breaks loose when you're not there to watch it. Let's overlook the strangest delay to a game ever, courtesy of Swedish hockey fans. Let's even get past the possible return of Claude Lemieux to professional hockey, albeit at a somewhat lower level than he may be used to. No, instead let us focus on two examples of the uncomfortable and hopefully soon-to-end mix of politics and hockey.

Example one, from St. Louis. By now, you probably know that Sarah Palin was asked (again) by another Republican team owner to drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff, this time at Friday night's Blues/Kings game. What you may not know, however, is that Blues goalie Manny Legace reaggravated a hip injury while entering the ice on the ceremonial carpet laid down for the event. He left after one period, and the Blues lost the game. Video below:



Example two comes from Fayetteville, North Carolina, where early voting took place last Sunday. The Washington Times' Christina Bellantoni was there to capture that and the folks who came to protest. Protest voting. Among the animated know-nothings was one Roger Farina, the NHL fan of the year from 2003. Farina, an (apparently former) Islanders fan, was in NC protesting the "cheaters" who wanted to vote on a Sunday. Never mind that he himself voted the day before. Listen to his largely incoherent comments in the video below (skip ahead to the 2:36 mark if you don't care to hear the whole thing).