Adam Burish Cross-Check's Rene Bourque, Mike Keenan Disappointed

On Monday night, the Calgary Flames defeated the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time this season, cutting the deficit in their Western Conference Quarterfinal in half. Late in the third period -- with 13 seconds remaining, to be exact -- Chicago's Adam Burish decided to break his stick in half across Rene Bourque's face.



Let's rewind back to Saturday and take a look at game 2 of the Boston-Montreal series, when Bruins forward Milan Lucic was issued a match penalty for cracking Maxim Lapierre across the face, after Lapierre decided to insert himself into a late-game skirmish. Lucic was suspended for game 3 of the series on Monday -- a 4-2 Bruins win -- while Flames head coach Mike Keenan is looking for similar justice regarding Burish.

From Vicki H. at the Flames Insider:

"I'm disappointed that they weren't given a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure," Keenan said. "A cross-check to the face where (Adam) Burish broke his stick over his face. He suffered an injury because of that cross-check to the face. We had a meeting, the managers and coaches about those types of tactics late in games. I have no idea how the referees could miss it. It was blatant and it was a cross-check to the face to the point where a man broke his stick over his face."

When you consider the NHL's interest in eliminating "message sending" (and I applaud that), and Lucic's one-game suspension, the man makes a solid point.

Puck Daddy breaks it all down even further, and brings in the Daniel Carcillo and Mike Cammalleri situations from earlier in the opening round. If you'll recall, Carcillo was suspended one-game for hitting Max Talbot over the head on a faceoff, while Cammalleri received a two-minute penalty for doing the exact same thing to Martin Havlat.

Frankly, I would have no problem with all of these guys being issued suspensions for their actions. While the Mike Milbury's of the world will call it the "wimpification" of the game, these are all blatant cheap shots to the head that do nothing for the sport or anyone involved with it.