2019-2020 NHL Season

BeyondFedUp

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For hockey fans who miss the sport, this was a signature goal by Lemieux from Gretzky in the 1987 Canada Cup. It went a long way to solidify the then 21 year old Mario as a superstar:

Phenomenal goal and assist. I almost choked up watching that. Seeing two of the greatest, back when that world, our world, still existed. I had the privilege of seeing Gretzky play in person a few times back in my years in L.A. Even at that point in his career he made it look like he was a man among boys...
 

Bucky

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Don Wassall

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With hockey close to returning, here are Mario Lemieux highlights. Being from Pittsburgh obviously I'm partial toward Lemieux but there's no question Wayne Gretzky was the best offensive hockey player ever, the Babe Ruth of his sport. Mario suffered a lot of injuries, notably severe back problems and a bout with cancer, but he was also like Gretzky a hockey genius who could see the ice like no others and at 6' 4" a physical freak as well. He made it look easy. It was a privilege to watch him play for the Penguins and he's still a quiet titan of the community as the owner of the team.

 
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Shadowlight

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The Premier League is sailing on rather well and it is all over TV throughout the week and weekends. They filter in some noise that sounds like a crowd and it is almost just like watching the games before the virus hit.

Now that Canada has their virus rate down ( and a lot lower than England) why the hell doesn't the NHL hole up their players in Canada for a spell and get things going for crying out loud?

There are what five ready to go arenas in Canada and they can finish out the season and the playoffs in Canada.

You have to be flexible and open to all available avenues in these times and here is a perfect opportunity to finally get the ball rolling in one of the Big Four sporting leagues yet everything is moving at a snail's pace?
 

white is right

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The Premier League is sailing on rather well and it is all over TV throughout the week and weekends. They filter in some noise that sounds like a crowd and it is almost just like watching the games before the virus hit.

Now that Canada has their virus rate down ( and a lot lower than England) why the hell doesn't the NHL hole up their players in Canada for a spell and get things going for crying out loud?

There are what five ready to go arenas in Canada and they can finish out the season and the playoffs in Canada.

You have to be flexible and open to all available avenues in these times and here is a perfect opportunity to finally get the ball rolling in one of the Big Four sporting leagues yet everything is moving at a snail's pace?
According to this report the NHL will play in Toronto and Edmonton...
 

Don Wassall

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The way the corporate media continues to treat a positive test for Covid-1984 as a death sentence when it's not even as potent as a common cold for the vast majority of the young and middle aged, especially athletes, makes one wonder if the four major sports leagues will end up being able to conduct their seasons, abbreviated or otherwise in the case of the NFL.
 

Shadowlight

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It comes down to a lack of will. I promised myself not to post about MLB because I will go into convulsions. I am with the players 100% and think Manfred and his gaggle of devious owners don't care if they destroy the game. The obnoxious NBA is mimicking terrorist groups with their bogus BLM campaign. I sense though the NFL will figure it out and get their games in.

But back to the NHL. Using the Premier League as a barometer the NHL should have been up and running by now. It is simple.

The UK was one of the hardest hit in the world with over 44 thousand Covid deaths and most of those were in England.. They started up their soccer league in June and had protocols in place including rigorous testing which is essential. And the last round of testing showed not one positive case so they have a handle on the situation. Leave it to the Brits. Beautifully done!

Meanwhile they have been playing games across England in 20 different stadiums. Which means they were traveling and not holed up bunker style in just a couple of hubs. For sure they keep social distancing and masks when they travel or at hotels etc. to protect the over 50 crowd and such but combine that with the testing things have gone smoothly.

The Canadian virus death total is over 6,000, far lower than England. They have seven available venues. Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and of course Montreal and Toronto. I would throw in Buffalo too since their case counts are down. That makes 8 arenas they can play in and serve as hubs. Why limit it to two when the Premier League plays all their games as they normally do under much harsher conditions as they spread across the country in 20 stadiums?

And Canada is bigger and more spread out than England. Several teams are in the London area, one of the most populated cities on the planet and they still are pulling it off without any big hitches. Meanwhile the lifeless NHL stands around with their you know what in their hands. Talk about missed opportunity. The NHL could have owned the sports landscape with no baseball and the NBA jerking around in Orlando. The Premier league is setting TV rating records after coming back. Talk about being asleep at the wheel.

My point is simple. If the Premier League ( England's soccer league for those who don't know) can get it done, with flying colors I might add, I see no reason why the NHL can't pull off a similar trick. Other than lack of will.
 
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Don Wassall

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It's lack of will, but also constant political considerations. The teachers union and other Democrat strongholds don't want to open up the schools in September even though it's beyond ludicrous not to. It need hardly be mentioned that most of the institutions in the U.S. are dedicated to causing as much destruction and strife as possible leading up to the November election, not to mention the agenda of keeping as many people as possible fearful of the virus even when all the early predictions about Corona-1984 proved to be severe overestimates.
 

white is right

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It's lack of will, but also constant political considerations. The teachers union and other Democrat strongholds don't want to open up the schools in September even though it's beyond ludicrous not to. It need hardly be mentioned that most of the institutions in the U.S. are dedicated to causing as much destruction and strife as possible leading up to the November election, not to mention the agenda of keeping as many people as possible fearful of the virus even when all the early predictions about Corona-1984 proved to be severe overestimates.
In my jurisdiction there has been talk of split days with morning sessions for half of the school and afternoon for the other half and computer/ correspondence work making up for the half day. I have no clue about students doing apprenticeship training in various trades as these classes are hands on and are really only taught in older inner city schools, so students can't disperse as easy.

The school problems with social distancing requirements are immense and senior management types are going to be fearful of being sued if an outbreak occurs and students or staff are positive and sick.
 
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Shadowlight

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I think it is important that games have some sort of noise and so does the Premier League. They have a continual wave of fluctuating crowd noises filtered in throughout their soccer matches for TV audiences. Artificial noise in a sense but it works and sure beats the alternative of a quiet scrimmage like atmosphere. I think all sports need to add crowd noises one way or another. I have mentioned this in a previous post.

Can't comment on how the NHL noise experiment works out and sounds on TV but they are asking fans to prerecord cheers and chants. Maybe the cheering fans from home will be visible at times for fans watching at home too? Anytime you can add real crowd noises during this "empty crowd era" it is a good thing. It takes imagination and good planning to get these leagues up and running as smooth as possible. This is a step in the right direction. You can bet the NFL is thinking about this subject. See below what the NHL has in mind.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/29452716/nhl-use-fan-videos-team-specific-cheers
 

TomIron361

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NHL: No players tested positive for COVID-19 in final ...
https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/nhl-no-players...
Jul 27, 2020 · Phase 3 of the NHL's return-to-play plan concluded on Saturday. During the final week of Phase 3, which spanned from July 18 to July 25, 4,256 COVID-19 tests were conducted and none came
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Looks like the White guys aren't testing positive. I wonder what this means?
 

Shadowlight

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One of the beauties of sports is it's simplicity. Dumb fun diversion from the everyday bore and grind. Too bad the NHL has opted for complexity when it comes to their restart schedule. They have decided for the trigonometry (ha) approach in regards to their new restart scheduling scheme. I won't bother helplessly trying to explain it but see below the schedule "equation."

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/07/26/how-2020-nhl-playoffs-will-work-stanley-cup/

Not ideal because I would have preferred some sort of a standard type of completion to the season with all the teams involved.

But there is good news as the restart kicks off Saturday. At least they will be playing again. All the games will be played in the two "hub" arenas located in Toronto and Edmonton so I don't anticipate COVID messing things up.

The extra treat for hockey fans is there will be plenty of TV coverage. Much like way NBC networks aggressively televised a plethora of Premier League soccer games after their start up, NBC and NBCSN will heavily televise the games. Another NBC affiliate USA will also televise at least a few games. The NHL network will also be involved but that network requires either a sports package or extra tier.
 
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Claimjumper

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One of my biggest fears going into these playoffs was seeing an undeserving low seed get hot and make a run After 4 months off. Under normal circumstances the playoffs can be a crapshoot with 7 or 8 seeds making deep runs on a consistent basis. Well it’s early, but both 12 seeds won last night, with the Blackhawks in a dominating fashion
 

Shadowlight

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A tale of two cities. Both hockey and baseball were founded on tough blue collar values but only one has continued in that vain.

Tampa Bay beat Columbus in a six hour plus five overtime opening playoff game. A rugged fast moving sport they won't be able to walk properly for weeks it seems.

Meanwhile back at the MLB daffodil ranch they decided that during COVID to cut back doubleheader games to 7 innings and adopt a little league lets get the game over with extra innings rule. They must preserve themselves at all costs. I mean really. An outfielder spends 98% of the game standing out there doing absolutely nothing beyond picking his nose on occasion. Good thing they are cutting back on those rugged doubleheaders a couple of innings. We wouldn't want them to wilt under the duress.

Baseball our "National Pastime" was a game that took great pride in tradition and good ole fashioned values. Needless to say they threw those virtuous qualities completely out of the window and are now the laughing stock of American sports. A true American tragedy.
 

Don Wassall

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I tuned in the TB-Columbus epic battle in the 4th OT. After being swept last year as the number one seed by Columbus, I doubt Tampa would have recovered if they didn't eventually win in the fifth overtime.

I usually love the Stanley Cup playoffs but am still totally disgusted by the Penguins' gutless rollover against the #24 seed (!) Canadiens. This after being swept in the first round last year by the Islanders, who were promptly swept the next round. The team that won the Cup in '16 and '17 with talent and relentless determination somehow morphed into a pack of heartless losers. Big changes should be coming this offseason but probably won't be.

After watching the Lightning-Blue Jackets battle I'll start to get into the playoffs now. Haven't picked a favorite team yet, but definitely don't want the hated Flyers to win!
 

Shadowlight

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One of the breakout NHL players this season was Liam Foudy (20) of the Blue Jackets, who just got eliminated by the Lightning. Foudy is a lanky blazer on the ice. Both of his parents were big time athletes.

Dad Sean was a DB in the CFL for six years.
upload_2020-8-21_7-46-44.png

Mom France Gareau anchored the silver medalist 4x 100m silver medalist team in the 1984 Olympics.
upload_2020-8-21_7-49-34.png

upload_2020-8-21_7-51-25.png
 
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Don Wassall

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Washington fired head coach Todd Reirden after losing in the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row after winning the Cup in 2018. The Penguins kept head coach Mike Sullivan but fired the rest of the coaching staff after also falling in the first round for the second year in a row. I watched the Islanders eliminate the Caps in Game 5, and like the Penguins they played like they wanted to get out of Toronto, a gutless performance.

But there's some great hockey being played by other teams in spite of the strange circumstances they're forced to compete under.
 

icsept

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One of the breakout NHL players this season was Liam Foudy (20) of the Blue Jackets, who just got eliminated by the Lightning. Foudy is a lanky blazer on the ice. Both of his parents were big time athletes.

Dad Sean was a DB in the CFL for six years.
View attachment 3064

Mom France Gareau anchored the silver medalist 4x 100m silver medalist team in the 1984 Olympics.
View attachment 3065

View attachment 3066

Cool story. Nice athletic genes.
 

Don Wassall

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The NHL may regret going all out for the communist BLM as much as any of the other professional sports leagues. The beginning of the Philly-Islanders game last night was delayed while BLM propaganda was blared through the PA system in the empty arena and spokesmen for the Flyers and Islanders woodenly spoke the lines written for them. I'll bet very few NHL players support this crap and even fewer fans. Public sympathy for BLM and its Antifa partners in crime has peaked despite the all-out propaganda and financing efforts of Corporate Media and Big Business and is declining by the day.

Dallas Stars CEO Admits to Losing Fans over Black Lives Matter Support

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/20...dmits-losing-fans-black-lives-matter-support/
 

white lightning

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The NHL may regret going all out for the communist BLM as much as any of the other professional sports leagues. The beginning of the Philly-Islanders game last night was delayed while BLM propaganda was blared through the PA system in the empty arena and spokesmen for the Flyers and Islanders woodenly spoke the lines written for them. I'll bet very few NHL players support this crap and even fewer fans. Public sympathy for BLM and its Antifa partners in crime has peaked despite the all-out propaganda and financing efforts of Corporate Media and Big Business and is declining by the day.

Dallas Stars CEO Admits to Losing Fans over Black Lives Matter Support

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/20...dmits-losing-fans-black-lives-matter-support/


I hope all of the 4 major professional sports lose millions of dollars because of this. Americans do not want to be socialist or communist. The best way to show these leagues and the over 250 businesses is with your non compliance. People must wake up. On
a bright note there all rallys all over the world with 100s of thousands of people protesting the mask, vaccine, communism, draconian laws, etc. We love our sports but get the politics out of the sports.
 
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Bucky

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Tons of complaints about NHL going BLM on Gab. Normies realizing they can't even watch Hockey without the infestation!
 

Don Wassall

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Since I'm apparently the only poster interested in the grueling playoffs of a great, 95 percent White sport, here's an update for lurkers:

The Islanders just defeated the Flyers to go up 3-1 in their series. The Lightning are up 3-1 over a very strong Boston team in the other Eastern Conference semifinals matchup. In the West, the Stars are up 3-1 over the Avalanche, while the Golden Knights are about to drop the puck on Game 4, up 2-1 over the Canucks.

I thought this could be the Flyers' year to end their 45 year drought since winning the Stanley Cup in back to back years in '74 and '75, but if they don't rally it will be the Islanders trying to win for the first time since their dynasty, the last true NHL dynasty, ended after a four year run in 1984 when they lost to the upstart Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers when going for a fifth straight Cup.

I've watched more of the East than the West, but am impressed with the skill and determination of all the remaining teams. In the East, prima donna losers like the Capitals and Penguins played like they wanted to go golfing, but to their credit the teams remaining in both conferences are playing just like it's a normal Stanley Cup playoffs.

It looks like Vegas vs. Dallas in the West and Tampa vs. NY Islanders in the East barring comebacks. I've decided to make the Islanders my team for this playoff run. They're disciplined, relentless, and have a lot of talent. Head coach Barry Trotz is one of the top of his profession going back to his success with the expansion Predators followed by leading the otherwise cursed Capitals to their only Cup win in '18, only to be cast off by the idiots running the Capitals.

Gotta say also that the fake crowd noise for the NHL playoff games is topnotch, continually piped in and instantly raised for goals and other moments.
 
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Hi Don.
I am glad you are keeping this site up. Without Whites from the USA that know the score, the rest of White Peoples are even more screwed.
Hopefully the Islanders can win it all. I am pulling for Vancouver in the west. Isles were up 3-2 now it’s 3-3 near the end of the second period.
Van. tries to stay alive later.
 
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