Sportsmanlike Conduct

Twenty-five penalty minutes, multiple fight challenges. Tripping and a short-handed goal in the third period. There were any number of opportunities to ragequit out of this online multiplayer game of NHL 11. But for some reason, perhaps stubbornness, both sides played through.

Reader t0ddd prevailed, but it took plenty of will to stay in. Playing as the Boston Bruins (against the San Jose Sharks) his first breakaway opportunity was cut off by a deliberate slide to trip his forward. Awarded a penalty shot, t0ddd beat Antti Niemi for the game’s first score.

No ragequit.

In the second period, the Sharks scored on a powerplay, repeatedly challenging t0ddd’s Bruins to fight, but he kept refusing. “Online fights in NHL 11 typically suck because when you aren’t sitting right next to the person you’re playing you can get away with just mashing the right stick up as fast as possible,” he writes.

Todd racked up 25 penalty minutes to his opponent’s four. No ragequit.

In the third period, killing off a penalty, t0ddd chipped the puck high in the air. As it bounced toward the Sharks’ net, it slipped through Niemi’s five-hole for the 2-1 lead, late.

“I waited for a connection disruption but my opponent stayed,” t0ddd writes. “We played through the whole game, the heaviest defensive game I have ever played. The moral of this story is sometimes you can find really great NHL 11 opponents despite everyone usually being a super sore loser.”

Here’s the Box Score.

Remember, all you have to do to get yourself featured in Box Scores’ Game of the Week is take a picture of whatever you’ve been playing – crappy cell picture will do – write up a couple sentences about why it was so compelling, and email it to me, owenATkotakuDOTcom, with “Box Scores” in the subject header. I will star all submitters, regardless of whether they are published. So be sure to include include your commenter handle, or your commenter page URL if it is different from your handle.

Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the sports TV highlights for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.

The Masters

CBS coverage of the third round begins at 3:30. Leader Rory McIlroy (-10) has a 2:45 tee time with Jason Day (-8). K.J. Choi and Tiger Woods, who shot a second round 66, tee off at 2:35. Both are -7. Final round coverage is tomorrow at 2.

Frozen Four

Collegiate hockey’s championship drops the puck at 7 on ESPN; the finalists are Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan.

Baseball

On Fox, much of the nation will likely see the Yankees at Red Sox at 1 p.m.; the rest get the Phillies at Braves. On WGN at 4, the White Sox host Tampa Bay. Tomorrow, TBS has Braves-Phils at 1:30; WGN has Cubs-Brewers at 2, and ESPN’s game of the week is Yanks-Sox at 8.

NBA

ABC’s doubleheader tomorrow is the Bulls at Magic at 1, followed by Boston at Miami at 3:30.

NHL

The CBC has an all-Canada broadcast tripleheader today beginning at 1 p.m. with Ottawa at Boston, then Montreal at Toronto at 7, and Vancouver at Calgary at 10. Tomorrow, NBC features Detroit at Chicago at 12:30.

Remember, you may send Game of the Week nominations to owenATkotakuDOTcom, and flag it “Box Scores” in the subject header. Please include your commenter handle for proper credit.