Like putting money in a swear jar

"The unprofessional conduct of Avery in initiating this altercation, less than a week after being involved in an incident in the pregame warm-up against New Jersey, is the basis for this discipline,"

Colin Campbell, Director of Hockey Operations

And so comes to an end the great debate over Sean Avery, the agitating Ranger with the uncivil elocution. Avery found himself in the centre of a nasty little fencing session with the Leafs Darcy Tucker prior to the Leafs Rangers game on Saturday night. It was but the preliminary event to a chippy game and a main bout later on in the game which once again featuring Avery and Tucker.

For his part in the pre game hostilities Avery has found himself fined 2500 dollars by the NHL, the maximum amount allowed under the collective agreement. His team the Rangers will be parting with 25,000 dollars, their punishment for not keeping a better watch on their barbarous Blueshirt.

Over on the other side of the centre line from Saturday night, Darcy Tucker has been fined 1,000 dollars for his short tempered reactions, while the folks at MLSE will be dipping into the coffee can swear jar for 10,000 dollars for not monitoring the kids on the playground properly before class began.

Left unsaid and undisciplined, is just what exactly Mr. Avery might have said that precipitated all of the pre game festivities on Saturday night. The apparent target of his uncivilized debating points, Jason Blake isn't saying too much about the situation.

His most recent observations on the topic of the day were that "You hear different things in a game", he isn't quite sure, or he's not saying what derogatory comments Avery may have made about his current medical condition.

It's a topic that had Avery hot over the weekend, threatening to sue a Toronto Radio station for their reports on the nights developments. As late as Tuesday, he was still contemplating the legal options regarding the broadcasts aired on the station on Monday. A decision which would no doubt make lip reading a very important and much requested skill in any court room where the case might be held.

For the moment however, it's apparently going to be a case of forget, but somehow we don't think it will be a matter of forgiveness any time soon.

On any given night, whenever Avery takes to the ice there is probably somebody ready to take issue with his on ice demeanour and his tendency to try any measure required to get under the skin of the competition.

The Rangers may want to top up the swear jar, we have a feeling that now that he's on Colin Campbell's radar again this year, Mr. Avery will most likely be making another deposit after some other incident to come in the future.