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Vote for Bertuzzday V

James has been kind enough to hand over his baby boy project to me. No, not his affinity for Sidney Crosby, some powerful folks might get angry about that turf being encroached upon. Instead it’s time to Vote for Bertuzzday. First things first, the previous four winners:

1. Matt Cooke

2. Alex Ovechkin

3. Rocky Wirtz

4. Jim Playfair

This week, the folks gunning for the big prize involve a couple of team captains, an apparently bitter former Flyer, and a player/coach tandem entry. Add “tandem entry” to your list of phrases you never thought you’d read here. The nominees are...

1. Jarome Iginla. Now poor Jarome didn’t deliver a violent head shot to anyone, nor did he deliver any questionable hits otherwise but instead he’s been the source of gut-punching his own team. When you’re a captain these sorts of things are kind of a bummer, especially when it means being mired in a soul-sucking scoring drought that’s essentially costing the team a playoff spot. Ouch, babe.

2. Rob Blake. Another captain and another nomination, this time he did do something questionable as he knocked Avalanche forward Peter Mueller out of the game, and the remainder of the regular season, with a dubious hit from behind that went unpunished. For exhibit B and immediate reaction purposes, here’s a selective photo of the hit.

Image (1) Blake4-thumb-250x168-8562.jpg for post 726

3. R.J. Umberger. Yes, he plays for the Blue Jackets and they’ve been out of the playoff hunt for a bit longer than most teams this season, but that didn’t stop him from commenting on what he thought about the Washington Capitals this year.

“They play the wrong way. They want to be moving all the time. They float around in their zone, looking for breakaways and odd-man rushes. “A good defensive team is going to beat them (in the playoffs).”

Perhaps R.J. is just jockeying for a TV analyst job once the Blue Jackets’ season mercifully ends on Friday against the Red Wings. Either that or the mind-control device Ken Hitchcock implanted in Umberger’s brain has gone live. Skynet is self-aware!

4. Nathan Horton/Mike Kitchen. So you’re not totally sure who these two are and that’s fair, they’re part of the Panthers organization. Nathan Horton is one of the team’s better forwards and Mike Kitchen is the Panthers assistant coach who got in an altercation with Horton at practice. Listen guys, we know it’s been frustrating in Miami this year but let’s not fight at practice.

5. Other. Did we miss something? Feel free to let us know about it.