Calder Cal and speaking of hat tricks...

Okay, so Russo keeps mentioning Cal in context of the Calder, so I feel that gives me license to go full throttle in that direction. If The Don says it, it must be true.

All I can figure out to do is get after it Jehovah's Witness-style and go door to door of all the professional hockey writers and ask them if they've accepted Cal Clutterbuck as their rookie savior.

Goodness knows he's done enough in his short NHL career to put together a pamphlet of information, including exciting color photos of NHL stars getting Clutterbucked.

I was curious what the record for hits in a single season was, but it looks like that stat wasn't maintained much before the lockout. Dustin Brown's 311 hits last season is, presumably, the number to beat. Cal's leading the league now with 173, so he's well on his way. He got a team record 9 last night. And for that matter, if he'd just gotten one little assist, he'd have had a Gordie.

Then there's the 4 goals and 5 points in his last six games. That's not exactly slouching offensively, and given his involvement offensively and his willingness to shoot rather than pass, I think those numbers should stay fairly steady.

Of course, I'm a little rankled by him leaving his visor on during the fight. Not so much because I care about that specifically (White didn't take his off either, Cal stripped it off his head early in the tussle), but because I don't want to give any opportunities for people to say, "Yeah he's awesome, BUT..."

We in Clutterbuck Nation know the only "but" about Cal is the one he's kicking.

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Speaking of hat tricks, my hockey clan came up with a new one:

John Scott Hat Trick

Which is where a player single-handedly fights three guys in one shift, like Scotty did in the now-infamous Matt Foy game last Friday, and wins them all.

As far as I can tell, the league is enjoying its mid-season break and has yet to hand down Foy's suspension terms, beyond the initial "indefinite" suspension.