Seven Days Of Scary - Five

Counting backwards, we're on Day Five of the Seven Days of Scary. Of course, that means another shuddering hit, an additional scary costume, and some blood courtesy of fisticuffs. Days Seven and Six saw a couple of huge hits courtesy of Willie Mitchell and Dion Phaneuf. There were a couple of "scary" uniforms worn by ECH Munich and the Soviet Union teams. And we saw fights that ended with Jay Harrison and Mel Angelstad wearing more blood than they should be. We're going to continue this today, but remember that this isn't a ranking system. It's just seven days of Halloween fun. With that, here is five.

THUNDEROUS HIT

1995 NHL Finals. Detroit vs. New Jersey. Lurking on the ice is one of the NHL's premiere predators in terms of bone-crushing hits. And Slava Kozlov falls victim to Scott Stevens' hunt.

SCARY UNIFORM

I've always been a fan of Canada's hockey jerseys since Hockey Canada took over the program. The red-and-white jerseys with the Hockey Canada logo have always been reinforced by the Canadian style of play: hard forecheck, finishing checks, and scoring lots of goals.

The only jersey I haven't been that fond of was the black alternate jersey that Team Canada wore. Black has no place on the Canadian flag, nor should it be used as a primary colour on the jersey. Yes, I know that Hockey Canada's logo has black in it, and that's fine. That represents the business known as Hockey Canada. The rest of the jersey, however, represents the country.

In saying this, Hockey Canada announced yesterday that the team will be going green for one tournament game in the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships "in honour of Saskatchewan’s love affair with the CFL’s Roughriders and as a salute to the province".

Really? Are you serious? The alternate jersey they are to wear will now be green? Hockey Canada can't be that hard up for cash that it has to sell itself out to the province of Saskatchewan. These look like practice jerseys! For an institution to sell its soul - literally and figuratively - that easily is downright scary.

BLOODY FIGHTS

Middle-weight bout from 2007: Doug Janik of the Tampa Bay Lightning squares off with Craig Adams of the Carolina Hurricanes. This one ends with lots of plasma on the ice.

We'll have another set of these tomorrow, and every day up to October 31. Nothing like a little mayhem leading up to Halloween!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!