This is ridiculous and has to stop

Three Stars of the Game Selection, I mean.

I looked at Yahoo! Sports selections for Sabres/Habs game last nite: they have Price as 1st star, Erik Cole 2nd, and Goose 3rd.

I can somewhat understand Price - who had 37 saves - getting a star {though not the first, not in a game he lost.} But Cole - who was off the scoresheet - getting 2nd over Gaustad {who had a 3 point night including the GWG} is a load of BS.

This was reminiscent of Game 1 of last year's Sabres/Flyer playoff series, where James Van Riemsdyk somehow got first star, despite being off the scoresheet {as were all the Flyers, since the Sabres shut them out.}

I know, I know -- you're about to scream, "it was the local media that made the choices" . . . and therein lies the problem . . .

Which is why I propose new rules for the assignment of the Three Stars of the Game, effective immediately:

- the NHL, through a rep assigned to each game, not the local media, will make the OFFICIAL selections for each game, and media outlets that report on the game in BOTH cities, as well as national sports media {Yahoo, NBC, ESPN, TSN, etc.} MUST use the NHL selection. Any outlets that don't, will have their NHL reporting credentials pulled for the next game. Repeat violations will result in creds pulled for longer periods.

- relating to the above, I realize local hockey writers, being "homers", will want to emphasize the contributions of the home team's players, even in a loss . . . that's fine -- just do so in the opinion pieces and/or recap that follows, not the star selection.

- a player from the winning team always gets first star -- NO EXCEPTIONS.

- a team that gets shut out gets no stars -- the only possible exception(s) being

a goalie on the losing side of, say, a 1-0 shutout;

a player who turns in a hat trick in a losing effort

in those cases, it would be reasonable for them to be given a star for their efforts in a losing cause, but neither the goalie should get awarded a higher star than the player who scored on him, nor should the player who turned the hatter get first star if at least one of his goals wasn't the game winner.

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