Leafs hit hard, warm-weathered Kevin Glenn, referee freeze-out, NHL bust and a Hall of Fame writer.

They say what goes around will eventually come around, sooner or later. So maybe while Toronto defenceman Mike Van Ryn is rehabbing from that hit from behind that broke his nose, his finger, and left him with a concussion, he can hang with teammate Ryan Hollweg, who has perfected that hit.

“It is time for the NHL to punish careless players as severely as the dangerous ones,” began an article in Monday’s Globe and Mail, in the wake of Tom Kostopoulos’ hit on Van Ryn. The author noted with great consternation that (gasp) Luke Schenn was nearly injured on a dangerous play later in the game.

The inference gained, of course, is that it is one thing if the rest of the league is piling up injuries from dangerous hits. But now that the chickens have come home to roost in Toronto, well, should not the NHL head office act?

Sure, the Leafs employed cheap-shot artist Darcy Tucker for eight seasons, and now have added a serial-offender in Hollweg. But when people start taking shots back at the Maple Leafs, you see headlines like the Globe’s: “Time to crack down on the careless.”

Leafs Nation. It never ceases to amaze.

When was it that you knew Bombers quarterback Kevin Glenn didn’t have the jam to win on a cold November day in Winnipeg?

When he came out with a gloved throwing hand? When he glanced down in blame at the glove/hand every time he missed another receiver? Or when he abandoned the glove altogether in the second half, leaving us with the perception that maybe he just came up with the glove idea on the way to the ballpark Saturday morning?

“When you look at the quarterback play, Ricky [Ray] had an outstanding day,” Bombers coach Doug Berry said of Edmonton’s East semi-final win.. “I was a little bit disappointed that we weren't able to match that in a game of this magnitude. We just didn't match up.”

Translation: Their quarterback was good. Ours was not.

The running tally: 33 games between East and West teams in the CFL this season. The East lost 27, won six.

Their might be one more game, unless in an only-in-the-the-CFL moment, the Eskimos come out of the East and take the home locker room in the Montreal for Grey Cup.

What if the long-shot came through and Edmonton played Calgary in the Grey Cup – in Montreal? You couldn’t find a way to pour colder water on that party.

Remember when Matt Carle had that 42-point season in San Jose in 06-07. They were talking about Carle like he was the NHL’s next great offensive defenceman.

Today – not two seasons later – he has 17 points in his last 75 NHL games, and he has just joined Philadelphia, his third NHL team. Carle went to the Flyers for Steve Downie and Steve Eminger., a move Tampa GM Brian Lawton is selling as a good financial deal

“Cap space is a commodity, and it definitely gives us quite a bit of breathing room,” Lawton said.

Puck-moving defencemen are a far more valuable commodity, however, and the Lightning moved Dan Boyle for Carle. Now they have neither.

Nice work.

If it’s true what they’re saying, that Andy Van Hellemond is driving a shuttle bus from Guelph to Pearson Airport in Toronto, that’s sad.

There is a lot of wasted NHL experience sitting behind the wheel of that passenger van, but NHL Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom couldn’t consider bringing Van Hellemond back in a supervisory role.

Van Hellemond cooked his own goose when he vindictively presided over the officials a few years back, running several good officials out of the game long before their time before the league finally stepped in. The league knew it had a problem, and the officials ranks have never run smoother than they are today under Walkom.

It would be a feel-good story if Van Hellemond were to be included again, except for one problem: The zebras don’t want any part of him.

One last item, on one of the great sports writers of our time whose name very likely means nothing to you.

Neil Stevens of the Canadian Press will be officially inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame tonight, presented with the Elmer Ferguson Award for decades of fine copy generated for the outfit he always refered to as “The People’s Wire Service.”

While most folks this craft strived to make a name for themselves in local markets, Neil was that guy whose copy ran below the columnists and inside in sports sections from coast to coast. He covered the Maple Leafs, the rest of the NHL, his beloved lacrosse, figure skating and countless other topics with an eye for an angle that few of the rest of ever spotted.

You have read him for decades, even if the name only rings a distant bell in the back of your memory. But that’s OK with Neil, who always reminded us that he was “only a humble wire servant.”

Humble, certainly. Servant, indeed.

But there are writers across Canada who have far more ego than Stevens, far less talent, and will only find their way into the Hockey Hall of Fame the traditional way.

By purchasing a ticket.