Think about this for a moment. You've got this line in hockey that's been fairly successful this season (when healthy).

A line that has delivered 100 points in 23 games. So, this line has a couple of downer defensive performances _ two in succession.

You split them up at the end of both games, like the ensuing results, and decide maybe it's time to split them up for the foreseeable future. Not permanent, but for a while.

That's what Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock did yesterday in suburban Atlanta at a practice rink.

The club's famed "Deuces Wild" (all have number "2" somewhere on their sweater) line is being dismantled _ for now. Peter Forsberg centering Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble.

The guys ain't happy about it, either.

For more on this story, click onto this link in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/sports/13496868.htm

The Tucker Incident

Darcy Tucker is an idiot.

Only such a person would take the helmet off an opposing player during a fight and then bat him over the head _ not once, but twice _ then claim he was out of mind and didn't know what he was doing.

"It was in the heat of the moment," Tucker told reporters. "I didn't really know what the penalty was for until I got to the dressing room."

"It was one of those things that happens in a game � you don't know what's going on, you're trying to protect yourself," he told the Toronto Star. "I don't think it was anything that should be suspendable."

Heat of the moment, my Maple Leaf bum.

He didn't know what the penalty was for? If a grown man of Tucker's considerable age doesn't know that he's being penalized for using a piece of equipment as a weapon, then maybe he needs a Royal Mountie to advise him what constitutes physical harm to another human being.

What was Colin Campbell, the NHL's Lord of Discipline, thinking by only giving Tucker a $2,500 fine for this incident?

Yo Colin! That's like $2.50 for Tucker, who earns $1.596 million this season. Two-point-five grand! That's a joke!

Tucker should have been suspended for a considerable number of games.

"We did not feel it was Tucker's intent to hurt [Cam] Janssen with the helmet," Campbell said in defense of a lesser penalty. "He was trying to get the helmet off and I don't think he was trying to use it as a weapon."

You're wrong Colin. Until the NHL recognizes that blows to the head are serious _ hockey remains the only sport on the planet that allow checks to the head if they are "clean" _ guys like Tucker are going to maim someone down the line.

There's no place in hockey for Tucker's actions. Why the league office doesn't seem to understand that is beyond me.

Blues Sale Nearing Completion?

Looks like the agonizing months of speculation concerning the sale of the St. Louis Blues is about to end.

Bill and Nancy Laurie signed a letter of intent to sell the club and the Savvis Center's lease to General Sports and Entertainment, LLC on Tuesday.

For more on this story, click onto these links:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/blues/story/018C47E81784DE1B862570E500218A6A?OpenDocument

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=148389&hubname=nhl