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In a week dominated by the NHL playoffs, we'll take this week's edition of TWIS to focus on what's going on around the NHL.

Shocking Results

It's been the biggest surprise of the entire first round of the NHL playoffs: the two teams everyone expected to be meeting in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks, are both down 3-0 in their respective series. The Pens have been man-handled by the Philadelphia Flyers, virtually a shell of the team they were coming into the playoffs. The Flyers have pumped 20 goals past the Pens' netminders, 17 of them going past a befuddled Marc-Andre Fleury, who many consider one of the league's top 3 netminders and a lock for Canada's 2014 Olympic team. The Canucks, meanwhile, are desperately missing leading scorer Daniel Sedin, and can't seem to find a way to beat Los Angeles Kings netminder Jonathan Quick. Barring a miracle for both squads, it looks like these two once-contenders will be heading into an earlier offseason than anyone expected.

Hockey or Back-Alley Brawls?

Another unexpected aspect of these playoffs have been the amount of all-out brawls in virtually every series. Every hit, scrum, or shove seems to escalate into complete chaos as teams try to gain a psychological edge over their opposition. We've seen Matt Carkner of the Ottawa Senators sucker punch Brian Boyle of the New York Rangers in the face, resulting in a one game suspension. We've seen Rangers rookie Carl Hagelin take out Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson with an elbow to the head, resulting in a three game ban. We've seen full out melees in almost every series, most notably the one at the end of Game 2 between the St. Louis Blues and the San Jose Sharks, and perhaps the craziest of them all in Game 3 of the Pens-Flyers series that featured a bout between superstars Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux. The NHL has been unable to tame the violence, and doesn't seem too concerned about it either; perhaps the league feels the violence brings up the excitement factor of a game, but if someone gets seriously injured, this ordeal will turn into a very serious issue for the league and it's image

Despite the craziness of this first round, there has still been some exciting, "normal" hockey going on. The Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers evened their series against the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, respectively, with exciting and hard-fought Game 2 victories. The Nashville Predators took Game 3 of their series against the Detroit Red Wings, showing that Detroit can in fact be beaten on home ice. Phoenix and Chicago is tied at one, and its clear Jonathan Toews has been a huge boost to the Hawks lineup. He may be the X-factor Chicago needs to get past the feisty Coyotes.

All in all, the one thing that hasn't been lacking from the playoffs is excitement and entertainment, and if history is any indication, this is nothing but a teaser for what's about to come for hockey fans around the world.

-Andrew Maggio co-hosts Game Misconduct every Sunday from 12pm-2pm and runs a dedicated Habs blog that you can check out here

After the arrest of two journalists last week, this time a teacher was taken into custody.

According to CTV Montreal, a professor of the University of Quebec' Outaouais in Gatineau was arrested during a student protest on Tuesday.

The social sciences professor was accused of obstructing police while they were trying to evacuate the school. But students present at the scene said the professor was unjustly apprehended.

According to them, he was only gathering his belongings when the police arrested him.

Colleagues of the instructor said the man was epileptic and was injured during the bust. Details of his health state are still unknown.

The incident came 10 weeks into a student strike that is still in a deadlock. Both the government and the leaders of the 180,000 students on strike refuse to make any concessions.

Some schools, like the Univeriste de Montreal, are resorting to legal injunctions to force students back to their classes.

CEGEPs and universities affected by the strike are still trying to find a way to complete the academic requirements of the winter semester.

Flickr photo: Tina Mailhot-Roberge

A fight that turned vicious was observed and not stopped by onlookers.

In a report by the Montreal Gazette, Matthew Brooks was beaten by a 17 year old student last week just outside the yard at Westmount senoir high school.

Brooks suffered a broken cheekbone and shattered left eye socket. He has regained only a fraction of his vision from the left eye.

50 or so fellow students stood by watching and did not call 911. Instead they recorded the altercation and uploaded it online. Police officers and the principal were left in disbelief.

The Lester B. Pearson school board has recently set up a program to teach students about responsibility with smartphones and uploading dangerous behavior on the internet.

The agressor was charged by police and is banned from school grounds until the end of the academic year.

Flickr by: TheBeachSaint

Premier Jean Charest won’t let Education Minister Line Beauchamp meet with striking student groups until they condemn Monday’s vandalism attack.

According to the CBC several Montreal buildings were splashed with red paint and had their windows smashed Monday morning.  Montreal police also reported four attempted firebomb attacks.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of CLASSE denied that his coalition of protesting students had nothing to do with the incident.  He refused although to condemn the activities citing that it was not part of his groups’ mandate to do so.

Last Sunday Beauchamp offered to meet with student groups to discuss university spending.  The proposal discounted any discussion of tuition hikes.  Organization of said talks if off until further notice.