Tough guys

Ok, we all know that hockey is a pretty rough sport (even though they are trying to make it more "family friendly"), and that Stanley Cup Playoffs tend to be just that much more physically brutal. Players do their best to hide injuries and "play through" for that opportunity to skate around with Lord Stanley's cup.

Players routinely are out on the ice with sprains, bruises, stitches, and even broken bones. They don't miss games - it's an overload of testosterone that keeps them going through the pain. So when Red Wing Nicklas Lindstrom missed some playoff games (for the first time in his career), you just know it had to be something awful.

Awful? You decide. He was in surgery instead of in Game 4 because he had been speared in the testicles by an opposing player.

I don't even HAVE those parts and I cringed in sympathy.

I think that level of ...dedication? insanity? makes him the "winner".