[Credit: National Post] But here, two decades later, we have labour peace and the sport is perhaps at the peak of its international visibility and popularity. So how should Bettman and his owners spend the summer? Perhaps they should learn from the successes of this postseason, and tweak the game accordingly. The NHL playoffs were fast skating, hard hitting hockey highlighted by skill and spectacular goaltending. And there was but one fight, and not even the most ardent supporter of fighting in hockey could argue fisticuffs were missed. I understand the regular season is a long slog through winter, but do we want a sport where unnecessary violence breaks up the monotony? Especially when weve been witness to the majesty of the sport in its absence? Im not saying take fighting out of the game, but Colton Orr and George Parros are unnecessary elements of the sport.[Credit: ESPN] The hockey entity most in need of this summer break is the expansive community of punditry, from the media (both mainstream and not, though the line between the two becomes more and more blurred with each passing season) to the social media inclined fan. On Monday I witnessed an obsessive and rhetorically flawed argument on Twitter over the rumoured re-signing of Montreal Canadiens forward Dale Weise. Was he signed? Should he be signed? Was the term good for the cap? Who did and did not celebrate his acquisition from the Canucks for Raphael Diaz. French media versus English media versus fan versus blogger, all desperately lacking humility in their arguments. When the Habs officially announced a deal on a two-year contract extension with Weise Tuesday morning (for the exact term and dollar amount reported and endlessly disseminated Monday) the futile and superfluous argument began anew. I mean, over a fourth line winger? Paul DiPietro never received this kind of attention. Neither did Weises concussion, but thats a story the media will ignore another day.[Credit: NY Times] While social media and universal web access has taken the discourse to an inclusive realm, it has created an obsessive and pathologically invested fanbase and a media that stretches itself thin to fulfill the 24-hour new cycle. Take a breath folks. Go outside. Do something extraordinary. Expand your horizons. Go love up on a Bruins fan. Take a day at the beach. Spend a week without checking hockeydb.com or capgeek.com. Leave the sport alone for a few minutes. Itll still be there when you get back.The seasons not quite over yet. This week the NHLs 30 teams will consider buyouts to prepare their caps for next season. On June 22nd the 2014-15 schedule will be released so that we can all plan our November Saturdays accordingly. On the 24th, the NHL Awards ceremony takes place, where scarred players freshly relieved of their playoff beards wonder quietly who George Stroumboulopoulos is. The draft takes place on the weekend of the 27th in Philadelphia, which will ignite the hotstove and fuel dreams of parades and revelry. July 1st, Canada Day, a day we should all be out drinking Labatt 50 in the sun and launching bottle rockets recklessly into the night, finds much of the hockey world inside watching TV and waiting to see which albatross of a contract will be bought out in the summer of 2018. And then nothing until September, beautiful autumn, summer fading into the promise a new season, when all teams in first place, except the Oilers, who will be tied with the Flames for 30th. Arizona Diamondbacks Pro Shop . 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Northern Irelands Graeme McDowell (66), Englands Robert Rock (66) and Frances Romain Wattel (65) were tied for second at 8 under, and three-time major champion Padraig Harrington (67) was 6 under.dddddddddddd The loss of McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, was a blow to event organizers. He followed his opening 74 with a 69 to miss the cut for the second straight year in the national open. McIlroy had a double bogey on par-5 fourth after his tee shot clipped a tree and ricocheted out of bounds and over the fence into the adjoining Fota Island Wildlife Park. "Ill be back next year and try and do better," McIlroy said. ' ' '