Loyal readers, I do believe you're about to get an SD first.  A day after a Kentucky basketball game, a huge college football coaching change, Big Mac admitting to steroid use, and an NBA game that evacuated the stands mid-game, we're breaking out the Wide Open Wednesday tag to talk about hockey for a minute.  Now stay with me, because this is actually a good story.

Last night in the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning game, NHL poster boy Alex Ovechkin threw off the gloves to go to battle with Steve Downie.  As the two are about to get down with it Ovechkin's teammate Matt Bradley skates in and starts laying the thunder to Downie.  It was actually pretty exciting for hockey.

Is this acceptable?  Do you step in and fight for one of your guys?  Normally I'd say there's no call for that.  Your boy gets himself into a one-on-one scuffle and he should get himself out of it.  But this wasn't a normal situation.  Ovechkin is the face of the NHL and by far the Capitals best player.  You can't have him getting into a scrape and breaking his hand on the other guy's face.  When your best player is getting ready to throw down you can't let him take a black eye and a broken nose because you can't go a game without him.

There's also the point that Downie is known as a bit of a snake.  He's even been known to check one of his own players because, get this, the guy wouldn't participate in a hazing ritual.  For shame!

If you grew up watching the NBA in the 90's you might remember a team named the Chicago Bulls and you might remember a couple of guys named Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley.  Any time Jordan got into a minor scrape, and with Jordan's star power and famous mouth that was frequent, you saw Oakley step in front of Michael and get in the guy's face.  Why?  Well, I've always felt Oakley had either a clause in his contract or Jordan was paying him off to step in there.  In reality, Charles realized the Bulls couldn't afford to have Jordan get hurt or suspended.  I'm sure he wanted to protect a friend, but mostly they needed Jordan to win ball games.

That's exactly what Bradley did last night in Tampa.  He knows the Caps can't win games with Ovechkin hurt or suspended (do they even suspend people for fighting in hockey?).  That's why he stepped up and starting raining blows on Downey, and I, for one, couldn't appreciate that sense of team any more.

Hat tip to the Washington Post for the picture and summary.