by Daniel Dullum

GLENDALE AZ–The NHL made the right call in canceling the regularly scheduled game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night due to the shooting at Parliment in Ottawa earlier in the day. This game can be played at another date there are plenty of dates in the schedule to do that where you take a look at Ottawa and Toronto’s schedule and look for a date that everybody could agree on.

I suppose they could have played it but I don’t know if there would be anyone in Ottawa who would feel like watching it after what happened on Wednesday. This was such a tragedy so in that light the Commissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman (as much I like to rip on Bettman at times) their making the right decision. You can always play that game another day.

The morning skate was also canceled by the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday morning the Leafs made a statement paying condolences to the families of the victims of the shootings and most Canadian franchises in the league feel the same way about this. It’s their version of what if something like this happened in Washington like when the Pentagon got hit on 911 in 2001?

This is no different we know a little about the shooter who was shot and killed by Police in Parliment. The suspect was identified today as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. Zahaf-Bibeau had a criminal history and apparently had an ax to grind and chose the wrong way to do it. The other thing too for Canada in general a crime like this is very rare, especially in the capital city of Ottawa it’s somehting that capitals around the world are weary of.

In Canada they have so few weapons crimes compared to the U.S. this was a real shocker and we at Sports Radio Service share our condolences as well. It’s a sad day for the 49th Parallel. It’s doubtful when things get back to some normalcy that fans will be in fear and most likely they will return to the Senators games. The security checks will be no different than they are now, this is one person involved here and one person acting alone here, you just can’t predict what their going to do.

The Pittsburgh Penguins who were hosting the Philadelphia Flyers had their fans after the U.S. National Anthem pay tribute to the victims in Ottawa by singing O’Canada before Wednesday night’s game at CONSOL Energy Centre. The Penguins wanted to pay tribute to the Canadian players who mostly make up the rosters of most NHL teams and the Canadian Anthem was beautifuly dedicated.

Daniel Dullum does NHL commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images