Pronger says he was just ''finishing hit''...

As many people probably expected, the Anaheim Ducks were not enthusiastic about talking to the media that bowled over mountains just to interview them, get a quote worthy of a front page story, anything.

Besides the Detroit Red Wings shelling the Anaheim Ducks 5-0 at the Honda Centre last night, reporters had other things they wanted to talk about, more precisely, Ducks' defenceman Chris Pronger hit-from-behind on Wings pest Tomas Holmstrom along the right wing boards in the 2nd period.

Pronger and Rob Nierdemayer both went into Holmstrom, probably because they wanted to give him a piece of his own medecine, what it feels like when some guy sticks his rear end in front of your goalie.

Pronger's hit was by far more violent, he lifted both his arms with his stick parallel to ice and just smashed, just made mashed potatoes out of Tomas Holmstrom, who really, had nowhere to go.

Actually, it was probably more out of frustration that they both hit Holmstrom, after all, he had already gotten his name onto the scoresheet.

Holmstrom finished the night with 2 goals and 1 assist, and must've felt good about himself, especially after he left the game, got 13 stitches to the head, and came back to score some more.

"I had two guys on me and fell into the boards," the veteran Swede said about the hit. "I never saw the guys come from behind."

Pronger on hitting Holmstrom:
"I was just trying to finish my hit, it was good to see him back."

The referee completely missed out on the call, and sent Rob Nierdemayer to the dressing room, while the real culprit, Chris Pronger, remained on the ice.

The NHL now had a choice to make: do you suspend Pronger or not?

At first, I would say yes, you suspend Pronger for hitting from behind to the head, but, Holmstrom came back to play in the 3rd, so that may soften the severity of Pronger's actions, in certain people's eyes, Holmstrom was not injured as bad as first thought.

But, it was still there, the intention was there to injure, come on, it's bull that Pronger wanted to only finish hitting Holmstrom, he wanted to hurt him, to dump a valuable asset off of Detroit's roster.

Tell me, if referees penalize hooking for the intention and not the result, shouldn't the NHL do the same when it comes to these kind of situations?

TSN: Andrei Markov will be examined by Habs doctors after being the subject of a knee-on-knee hit at the Worlds, Saku Koivu also had succesful eye surgery.

--BBR