Faceoff Factor

12 Days of Christmas: Day 7

Mike Wilson | National Hockey League

Dec 19, 11:56 AM | Hype this story!

On the seventh day of Christmas, Scott Hartnell takes stupid penalties…and loses his sanity.

The sixth biggest hate of 2008: Scott Hartnell can’t keep himself from being stupid.

Scott Hartnell hates his sanity

Scott Hartnell is the one man, well…maybe the second man, in the National Hockey League who could honestly qualify as certifiably insane. His antics last year in the playoffs, most notably the Eastern Conference Finals, earned him many penalty minutes, which lead to who knows how many goals.

In said playoffs, Hartnell served enough penalty minutes to fill up an entire period of play. His insanity showed in a shootout in Pittsburgh, when the Flyers’ forward was frequently making hand gestures and giving disgusted looks which seemed to really be unnecessary…as if to say, “I’m crazy, put the camera on me.”

Speaking of crazy, there was this…

I can’t even find the words to describe what had to have been surging through that curly-haired, seemingly non-existent brain of his. What could possibly possess him to throw his glove at a player with a clean breakaway? If he would have put some thought into it, he would’ve realized that Ryan Malone was the man taking the shot, and how many times does he score on a breakaway?

Hey wait a minute! Curly-haired, seemingly non-existent brain…I think I’ve got it!

That explains a lot. Hartnell’s role model must be Larry from the Three Stooges. Now it’s coming together. Anyway, if I’m Philadelphia coach John Stevens, a good gift for Hartnell might be a shock collar so next time he does something like that, he can just give him a dose of electricity…it might be his only hope.

Tomorrow, the eighth day of Christmas, the Penguins suffer a loss in the hardest game to lose.