Lappy, Career Student

Ian Laperriere lands one on Mathieu Roy. AP Photo/John Ulan

We’ve always been fans of Ian Laperriere here.  Besides his willingness to drop the gloves, he just keeps going.  At 34, he’s currently tied for 8th on the fighting majors leaders list.  He also doesn’t have a case of NHL Oak, an affliction turning many a player into wood during interviews.

Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal profiles Lappy’s pugilistic studies.

His favourite website is hockeyfights.com. The site lists all the fights over an NHL year, describes them, and lets fans vote on who won or lost.

“We all look at it, even if guys say they don’t,” said Laperriere, who’s had 15 fights this year.

“I’m 34, that’s pretty good. More than I expected.”

He also rips on your fight reviews.  Yeah, you know who you are.

I suspend you, I suspend you not

The NHL handed suspensions out like candy this week as Andrew Peters, James Wisniewski, Steve Ott, and now Georges Laraque have all been given mandatory breaks. Peters (punching Colton Orr from the bench) and Wisniewski (cross-checking Mikael Samuelsson) received a game each while Ott and Laraque have both been tossed for three.

Ott was tossed for a high hit on Jordan Leopold Sunday night. Ott maintains that it was a legal hit and both of his feet didn’t leave the ice. Leopold remains out of action with concussion-like symptoms.

Meanwhile Laraque will sit because of an elbow to the head of Sabres’ winger Nathan Paetsch in what turned out to be a scary moment Wednesday night. After laying motionless on the ice for a few minutes, Paetsch left the ice on his own power. He too will be out indefinitely due to a concussion.

Buuuuut, if your name is Chris Pronger, don’t worry about it.

Suspension-related, but not Pronger-related as Anaheim’s pretty far from the border: Luke DeCock of The News & Observer took a look at how often suspensions are handed out and found Canadian teams get leniency from the league.

Last night

Chris Simon fought for the first time last night in a Wild jersey (or sweater, if you prefer).  He took on David Clarkson.

Eric Godard and Eric Boulton had a lengthy bout in Atlanta.  Darren Eliot declared it the best scrap in Atlanta this season.  Fan voting supports that statement.

Lastly, Alex Burrows and Daniel Carcillo got into it in the Canucks-Coyotes game.  It was a bit of a mess for a couple of minutes, but there were no further altercations in the end.  Although if Carcillo had his way, he might have had another.

Videos added

David Clarkson vs Chris Simon Mar 13, 2008
Alexandre Burrows vs Daniel Carcillo Mar 13, 2008
Eric Godard vs Eric Boulton Mar 13, 2008
Eric Godard vs John Erskine Mar 12, 2008
Rob Davison vs Nick Tarnasky Mar 11, 2008

Some reads

NHL’s Western Conference Brings Back Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Hockey
Breaking down the NHL’s oddest couples
Call it the injustice of justice
Draper out with slight groin tear; Helm recalled, McCarty skates
Time for Kyle Okposo era to begin
Giving Peca an ‘A’ could be letter of club’s intent
Hanson brothers hit home with Dallas Stars’ Matt Niskanen
Weller ‘a tremendous story’
“We Stand Ready to Help the Town of Hempstead”
O’Ree brings message to Nova Scotia
Rangers’ success attributed to the right balance

With April 15th quickly approaching (that’s tax deadline day here in the States), I can’t forget this Fortune Small Business article: Write-offs for your home business
Ok, ok, they link to hockeyfights.com and it is fun to see when unexpected.

* John Chandler contributed to this post.