Many might not remember, but it was actually Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jaroslav Spacek that ended the Florida Panthers' David Booth's season last year. Hell, all due respect to Booth, but after suffering his second concussion of the season as a result of the above hit, HE may not even be able to remember. Still, that didn't stop Booth from making Spacek look like a fool seven months after the fact on Saturday night, by forcing him to take him down, giving him a penalty shot.
Apparently, partly due to Spacek's remarkable inability to make like Superman and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser by catching Booth and covering up teammate Roman Hamrlik's mistake, he will likely be sitting for the Habs' game Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It's funny how hockey works. Had Spacek been able to poke the puck loose with his stick in the middle of his best Georges St-Pierre impression in taking Booth down, he would have been thought of as a hero for the next 30 seconds. Instead he was the scapegoat of an entire game the Canadiens couldn't really afford to lose. That's even taking into account the fact that the Habs lost 3-1 and Booth's game-winning goal on the penalty shot didn't even make that much of a difference when all was said and done.
Granted, Spacek hasn't exactly played his best recently, so his overall punishment will apparently be press-box duty on Tuesday with renowned own-goal scorer Ryan O'Byrne, which is kind of like being forced to hang with your one idiot cousin when his parents come over to visit yours. It's not that he's mentally challenged, but just the things he says and does kind of make you wonder just enough to make you really uncomfortable and have to walk on eggshells around him so as not to set him off. In O'Byrne's case, that would mean I guess just really sucking... and stealing purses. The good news is he's already got a helmet to wear just in case.
Alex Picard, who has somehow overtaken O'Byrne on the team's depth chart (will the wonders never cease?), will reportedly take Spacek's spot in the line-up, playing alongside Andrei Markov. And the Habs as a whole will play another team they should beat, at least if they want to think of themselves as a legitimate playoff team and not a one-month wonder from last April. The season is still in those early stages, during which the bad teams still haven't separated from the good ones, but it's fair to say that few realists expect the Blue Jackets, despite their 6-4 record to be in the thick of it even two months from now. But on any given night anything can happen... except O'Byrne actually playing a half-decent game. Mr. Spacek, meet your peer group of one:
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