Midway through the second period, in a game between the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club and the Ezurum Youth Sports Club of Turkey's Ice Hockey Super League, an incident occurred.

Actually, more than an incident: a violent brawl so out of hand that riot police were called in to break things up.

It starts out innocuously enough: There's a dust-up in the corner, two players square off, and the officials step in to break things up. Nothing untoward.

But then everything goes haywire. The players dart to the half-wall, and when the cameras get there, everyone is into it. Soon, the goalies have joined the fray, as have the benches, and members of both teams are leaping over one another to throw wild haymakers. Untoward.

Be sure you take notice of Kocaeli's No. 18. That's him, taking a savage beating from No. 55 at the 0:47 mark, only to get up and slash someone else in the head immediately afterward.

Your on-ice proxy: No. 19 of Ezurum. Check him out, standing with his arms

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No. 1 Star: Matt Moulson, New York Islanders

Moulson had seven shots in the Islanders' 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars. He scored on four of them. It was the third hat trick of his NHL career and his first ever 4-goal game. John Tavares added three assists.

No. 2 Star: Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers

Read opened the scoring four minutes into the Flyers' tilt with the Phoenix Coyotes on an unassisted powerplay goal. He would add two helpers before the period ended with the Flyers on top by four. Philly would hold onto that lead, winning 4-2.

No. 3 Star: Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames

After going down by 2 goals in the first 3 minutes Saturday night versus the Edmonton Oilers, Jarome Iginla helped the Flames immediately answer back, setting up the first of two goals they would score in the three minutes immediately following. Iginla would finish with 3 assists in the Flames' 5-3 win. Olli Jokinen scored twice.

Honourable mention: Brooks Laich scored the overtime winner and Dale Hunter got

What do the 2011-12 NHL season and The Essential Billy Joel have in common? Both are full of questionable hits. Yeah. Billy Joel sucks. Deal with it.

Anyway, here's another one of those questionable hits. Midway through the first period of Saturday's tilt between the New York Islanders and the Dallas Stars, Nino Niederreiter was cutting through the neutral zone when Mark Fistric absolutely levelled him.

Problem was, unfortunately, the principle point of contact was the head. And Niederreiter left the game with what appeared to be (and was later announced to be) a concussion. That's never good.

So will Fistric get suspended for this hit? It's up for debate. The fact that Niederreiter was concussed doesn't bode well, but the fact that the hit went unpenalized does. There were six minutes of penalties handed out on the play: a minor to Fistric for roughing and a double minor to Matt Martin (for double roughing?), all from the scuffle after the hit. As far as the officials were concerned,

Saturday night saw Ryan Miller return to the lineup after missing a month with a concussion believed to be from his run-in with Boston Bruins' forward Milan Lucic. You probably remember that incident.

Miller looked excellent through the first half of the game, stopping every shot the Predators threw at him. It was enough to make one wonder if, like Frogger, his only weakness was being by run over. So Jordin Tootoo decided to test that theory:

Welcome back, Ryan Miller.

First question: was that intentional? A generous read of the situation says that Tootoo was on his way to the goal when Christian Ehrhoff shoved him from behind. Unable to stop, he tried to leap Miller, as Ryan Kesler successfully did the other other night. He was nowhere near as successful.

The less generous read, however, says that Tootoo saw an opportunity to hit Miller, fully aware that sort of thing tends to throw Buffalo off their game a little, and took it. And he leapt into him. This seems the likelier read,

134312368Not unlike the Hamburglar with a plateful of hamburgers, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is running away with the Calder. The 18-year-old boasts 11 goals and 17 assists through his first 26 games, tops among rookies and fifth among, you know, everyone. He's received NHL rookie of the month honours for both October and November, and looks poised to clean up Advent as well.

Most importantly, he's turned the Edmonton Oilers into a respectable hockey team, which is no small feat: Only last year, they were the Patch Adams of the league, capable of inciting laughter just by walking into a room. This is appears to be a thing of the past. RNH is the real deal.

134262870Impressive as this is, it's also something of a shame. Sure, it's nice to herald a brand new superstar, especially one young enough to wear light up shoes to the rink, but it's also sucked much of the intrigue from the Calder debate. The league boasts a number of other standout rookies, but none are mentioned in the same breath as Ryan

As if Nathan Gerbe didn't have enough problems, what with being the shortest player in the NHL at 5'5", the diminutive Buffalo Sabres forward left Friday night's game with the Detroit Red Wings after being kicked in the face by teammate Paul Gaustad.

Let us remember that Paul Gaustad, like all NHL players, wears knives on his feet during NHL action. Here's the gruesome video, although if you're squeamish, trust me -- it looks pretty much how you think it will.

Yikes. The fact that Gerbe skated to the bench on his own here is admirable. Take that, people who think the Sabres are soft.

And as for Milan Lucic: watch out, because Paul Gaustad has been training for round two with Shaolin monks, and the full-fledged bicycle kick to the face is now a part of his repertoire. Stay away from Ryan Miller.

According to David Amber, Gerbe received treatment for cuts to the nose and lip. Incredibly, nothing serious. Clearly, what the guy lacks in size, he makes up for in strength of face. He's

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

RQYY3• Best NHL.com pun ever? I'm saying yes. [Reddit Hockey]

• Tough break for the Calgary Flames: Standout defenseman Mark Giordano is out indefinitely with partially torn leg tendons. [Flames]

• Not nearly as tough a break for Calgary: Cory Sarich has requested a trade. [Matchsticks & Gasoline]

• The Tampa Bay Lightning has increased season tickets from 6,000 to 11,000 in the last year. Sure, some of that has to do with the fact that they're winning and have one of the most exciting young players in the league, but it's also because they sell jerseys with freaking microchips in them. [Mashable]

• Reimer, Reimer, gonna be startin' Reimer. After missing the last 18 games with concussion-like symptoms (one of which is a concussion), the Toronto Maple Leafs' goalie has been cleared to play. [The Globe & Mail]

• With 16

134342091There probably weren't a lot of people in the Montreal Canadiens organization happy with Brendan Shanahan's decision to suspend Max Pacioretty for three games, but if you were looking for one, I'd suggest 2009 1st round draft pick Louis Leblanc.

Down a forward, the Canadiens fired up the old claw crane and plucked Leblanc from their minor-league affiliate in Hamilton on Monday. Two days later, he dressed in his first ever NHL game, a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Leblanc registered 1 shot and 2 hits during 7:52 of icetime Wednesday night, so it wasn't a impactful debut for the Point-Claire, Quebec native. Still, it was a massive career milestone, one that his parents were in attendance to witness.

And that's where this story gets sort of cool. Were it not for Erik Cole, they wouldn't have been.

During last night's broadcast, Canadiens' announcer Pierre Houde explained that Cole had taken it upon himself to ensure the Leblanc family was able to witness their son's big day firsthand,