Odds and ends.

I know it's old news and I am quite tired of hearing about it myself, but the Tim Thomas skipping the White House visit is a topic I have had varying views on.
First, I did not care that Thomas decided to skip the event and when I read Thomas' statement on why he skipped the White House visit, I still didn't have that much of an opinion on it. He's allowed to think whatever he wants about the government and express it in different forms as well. I accepted that he chose to express it by skipping the event. Would I have done the same thing? No. Now, Thomas explained his reasoning saying, "I believe the federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people," Thomas wrote on his Facebook page. He continued, saying, "This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country," he said in the statement, adding he did not plan to speak further about his decision.
Now, I may agree with Thomas' views or not, but I would have attended the event, but that is just a difference of responsibility and judgement.
I wasn't all that affected until I heard Steve Mears discussing his view on the matter, in which he felt it was wrong for Thomas to not attend and that the event was a celebration of the Bruins' Stanley Cup win. Mears also stated that he does not think every other player there, or any player who has ever visited the White House in the past, agrees or has agreed with the government, but that is not the point of the visit anyways.
I agree with Mears and think that in this case, it would have been a way to celebrate a Stanley Cup win with your team. I understand Thomas' views, but I don't think the reasons were enough to pull out of this particular event.

Next subject: I recently read a feature from Ryan Lambert on Yahoo Sports saying that people should feel sorry for any team trying to win the Eastern Conference. Well, that is the boat we are in. Lambert stated that the Western Conference has it's great teams a few good ones and maybe some mediocre ones and some really bad ones. They have some teams that are clearly going to make it into the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Eastern Conference, he says, is less clear. Yes, we have our share of bad teams and some mediocre ones, but he says we have a number of great teams and good teams that are all capable of winning the Eastern Conference. The Eastern Conference always does have an exciting battle at the end of the season to see who will make it into the playoffs and who could win the Conference as well. The West has some battling for spots up until the end as well, but the East does seem to keep fans guessing on who will make it out with the most points and tie breakers to lead the East.
This season is no different and the streaks and ups and downs of teams will surely leave many things to guessing up until the very end, probably in both conferences. That's part of what makes hockey exciting, you just never know what will happen, so stay tuned.


Now, on to the next subject: Tonight, be sure not to miss the "draft" for the All Star game this upcoming weekend. The Pens now have three players attending, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and James Neal.