OK, WTF?


In less than a week, there have been two incidents of hockey players—one Swedish, one Finnish, just sayin'—biting an opponent. That's right, biting. This could threaten to get uglier than Tampa Bay's third jersey. We're talking New York Islanders Fisherman logo kind of hideous.

The first incident took place during the World Junior Championships (don't worry about it, America, just know that someday these kids will be playing for one of your NHL teams). Los Angeles Kings prospect Thomas Hickey got more than a love bite from a Swedish d-man during a scrum in the crease:



To be fair, Sweden ended up being drubbed 5-1 by the 'Nucks, losing the gold medal in the process. Emotions ran high, Swedes lost their cool. You know how it goes.

Then, a few nights later, the biting bug hit the NHL during an Ottawa Senators-Buffalo Sabres game. Sabres tough guy Andrew Peters went to take notorious Finnish pest (and vowel hog) Jarkko Ruutu, who normally just turtles for a few minutes than sticks someone in the eye later on. Not this time:



Ruutu got himself a two game suspension for failing to curb his mid-game snacking, not to mention setting himself up for a million "Peters in your mouth" jokes for months to come.

What say you fans? Is this some dastardly Euro fetish, or are these the actions of individual douchebags working alone?