NHL 2013! Game On!

[Realgeorge]

Training camps were breaking out all over the league today, all to packed houses of screaming, dedicated fans. Have never seen so many White smiles than all the people who make an NHL hockey season.

NHL Tonight is back on the air on NHLNetwork, and Hockey Night In Canada goes on the air next Saturday. Great stories all over the league.

The 48-game sprint season will be a hoot. Even the farty old Jewish Grinch commissioner can't extinguish Nationalist hockey in North America.

Drop the Puck!

 

[jaxvid]

Go Wings!!! About time the season started. I know I said it started too early but this is ridiculous.

 

[Rebajlo]

The "shortened" season means that the importance of each game is amplified, which is fine by me... :icon_wink:

I'm glad that the hockey is back on, but I'd really like to see the following occur: fans impose a blanket boycott of the opening round yet turn up outside the arenas bearing placards reading "REMEMBER US? WE'RE THE AVERAGE-WAGE-EARNING FANS WHO SHELL OUT THE MONEY WHICH MAKES THE NHL A FINANCIAL BONANZA FOR OWNERS, OFFICIALS AND PLAYERS. WE THEREFORE HAVE THE POWER TO PERMANENTLY SHUT IT ALL DOWN - AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT (YOU MULTI-MILLIONAIRE PRICKS...)" :icon_wink:

 

[Average American]

The "shortened" season means that the importance of each game is amplified, which is fine by me... :icon_wink:

the circumstances of the lockout were frustrating, but I kinda' like the shortened season too.. I think the NFL's schedule is a big part of it's success.. I understand football requires longer rest periods, but even if they could play 2 or 3 games a week, imo., it wouldn't increase it's popularity. The fact that every game is significant in the NFL, makes every game a must-see for their fans & has created a Sunday afternoon culture.
In the other leagues, the seasons are so long, most individual regular season games become meaningless. I dont think the NHL should ever drop down to 1 game a week, but a shorter regular season, a trimmed down/higher standard for playoff entry, and ending the season before it's 80 degrees outside would make the reg. season more significant (& same for NBA & their virtually meaningless regular season, half the league makes the playoffs).

 

[Matra2]

Average American is correct about the NFL. Scarcity adds value to the games - though I hear they're trying to move to an 18 game season. NHL games don't matter from October until about February, even early March, except for the teams struggling to make the playoffs. Most years I only follow the playoffs as they are a second season. Year after year teams that just get into the post-season in 8th place knock out the 1st place team in the first round rendering the entire regular season meaningless. The NBA and MLB also suffer from too many meaningless games.

 

[Tannehill17]

I'm ecstatic that hockey is back, mainly because I'm sick to death of seeing nothing but NBA on TV sports wise. A know a lot of people on here don't like Gary Bettman (I think he's done a horsesh*t job of marketing the game) but I really don't think he's this evil villain many hockey fans make him out to be. He's done some good things such as elimination of the 2 line pass rule, the shootout, the winter classic, got the sport a salary cap, expanded the league (which I know a lot of people don't like) I wish he fought harder to keep Winnipeg and Quebec in their respective cities but remember, the Canadian dollar was at an all time low and no one stepped up to replace their aging arenas so they really had no choice but to leave. I'm hoping Phoenix can be salvaged but if not, then I hope we see the return of the Quebec Nordiques. But back to Bettman, the only thing he is really guilty of is his lack of marketing ability. I would take him any day over that IDIOT Bud Selig who has all but ruined baseball.

 

[Vanilla Ice Berg]

I'm ecstatic that hockey is back, mainly because I'm sick to death of seeing nothing but NBA on TV sports wise. A know a lot of people on here don't like Gary Bettman (I think he's done a horsesh*t job of marketing the game) but I really don't think he's this evil villain many hockey fans make him out to be. He's done some good things such as elimination of the 2 line pass rule, the shootout, the winter classic, got the sport a salary cap, expanded the league (which I know a lot of people don't like) I wish he fought harder to keep Winnipeg and Quebec in their respective cities but remember, the Canadian dollar was at an all time low and no one stepped up to replace their aging arenas so they really had no choice but to leave. I'm hoping Phoenix can be salvaged but if not, then I hope we see the return of the Quebec Nordiques. But back to Bettman, the only thing he is really guilty of is his lack of marketing ability. I would take him any day over that IDIOT Bud Selig who has all but ruined baseball.

I don't want to fight you on this one but scoring was way up 20 years ago WITH the 2 line pass. Its the goalies that started getting bigger padding because the union complained that they were more prone to injury. Either reduce the padding or widen the ice and make the net 4 inches wider. Fighting is a good thing in hockey but its the scoring that made it marketable.
The most incredible hockey I ever saw was the 1987 Canada Cup with the Soviet Union going up against an all star Canadian team. The passing was jsut brilliant and the flow was almost at break neck speed. I saw the Oilers Glen Anderson take a slap-shot about 15 feet in from the blue line , while on the rush, go directly through a defenders legs and into the left top corner of the net over the goalies blocker. It was not a lucky shot. You could see that he purposely shot it through the defender as he used him as a screen.
Hockey will only be marketable and appealing again when the goaltenders start slimming down.

 

[Matra2]

I don't want to fight you on this one but scoring was way up 20 years ago WITH the 2 line pass. Its the goalies that started getting bigger padding because the union complained that they were more prone to injury. Either reduce the padding or widen the ice and make the net 4 inches wider. Fighting is a good thing in hockey but its the scoring that made it marketable.
The most incredible hockey I ever saw was the 1987 Canada Cup with the Soviet Union going up against an all star Canadian team. The passing was jsut brilliant and the flow was almost at break neck speed. I saw the Oilers Glen Anderson take a slap-shot about 15 feet in from the blue line , while on the rush, go directly through a defenders legs and into the left top corner of the net over the goalies blocker. It was not a lucky shot. You could see that he purposely shot it through the defender as he used him as a screen.
Hockey will only be marketable and appealing again when the goaltenders start slimming down.

Well said. I prefer watching European-based tournaments with their wider ice surface. The NHL had a chance to widen theirs when all the new arenas were built but I guess that would've meant fewer seats. Much taller players doesn't matter in sports like soccer with such an expansive playing surface but in hockey all these 6'4" guys reaching out with their sticks can cover too much of the ice. Dump and chase hockey is not as entertaining as the more skilful short passing European game.

That there are no rules about the saggy jerseys the goalies wear is absurd. I'm surprised anyone can score these days.

Fighting is something I find boring in hockey. They're not even good fights.

I agree about the 1987 Canada Cup, and I would add the 1984 semi-final between Canada and the USSR. The last Canada Cup was in 1991. It was replaced with the World Cup in 1996, but was only played one more time in 2003. Unfortunately, this is part of the Americanization of hockey. The USA is the only hockey nation that doesn't attach more importance to international competition than to the pro-leagues. Americans don't have the same historical connection to international sports in general as the rest of the world. International hockey only gets good ratings in the US during the Olympics and, of course, the NHL owners don't want to send the best players. It will be very interesting to see if the NHL allows its players to go to Sochi. If it doesn't I suspect the Russians in the NHL will be fuming. (Ovechkin says he's going no matter what the NHL and his team say).

 

[Don Wassall]

Well said. I prefer watching European-based tournaments with their wider ice surface. The NHL had a chance to widen theirs when all the new arenas were built but I guess that would've meant fewer seats. Much taller players doesn't matter in sports like soccer with such an expansive playing surface but in hockey all these 6'4" guys reaching out with their sticks can cover too much of the ice. Dump and chase hockey is not as entertaining as the more skilful short passing European game.

That there are no rules about the saggy jerseys the goalies wear is absurd. I'm surprised anyone can score these days.

Fighting is something I find boring in hockey. They're not even good fights.

I agree about the 1987 Canada Cup, and I would add the 1984 semi-final between Canada and the USSR. The last Canada Cup was in 1991. It was replaced with the World Cup in 1996, but was only played one more time in 2003. Unfortunately, this is part of the Americanization of hockey. The USA is the only hockey nation that doesn't attach more importance to international competition than to the pro-leagues. Americans don't have the same historical connection to international sports in general as the rest of the world. International hockey only gets good ratings in the US during the Olympics and, of course, the NHL owners don't want to send the best players. It will be very interesting to see if the NHL allows its players to go to Sochi. If it doesn't I suspect the Russians in the NHL will be fuming. (Ovechkin says he's going no matter what the NHL and his team say).

If the NHL essentially boycotts the Sochi Games it could turn out to be a big mistake as it would be a huge slap in the face to Russia and international hockey following the absolutely ridiculous U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. (Remember that one? It was because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; talk about hypocrisy!) More Russians might decide to play in Russia instead of the NHL with all the cultural and language transitions that requires. And more Europeans might do the same, maybe even some North Americans.

"Globalization" of sports means more options for athletes. NHL players get paid more, but there are other considerations and it's not like those that play in Russia and Europe are paupers, they make millions too, just not quite as many millions as their North American counterparts. Same with golf, the PGA still has a U.S.-centric outlook on the sport when the majority of the best players are now non-Americans and there are thriving tours in Europe and Asia. The international players are expected to play the important PGA tournaments (including three of the four majors), but American players rarely bother to leave the U.S. to play in important tournaments overseas except of course for The Open.

 

[Rebajlo]

An exercise in condescension:

http://www.sportsgrid.com/nhl/this-...rom-the-nhl-totally-makes-up-for-the-lockout/

"We hope you'll get in on the action". They forgot to add "and shell out your money"...

 

[jerseypinebarrens]

Watching my devils now....... From a castefootball perspective, what's better then watching great White athletes flying around at incredible speeds using their athleticism to score goals. DEVILS WIN!!!

 

[Leonardfan]

I need to start getting into hockey more. I have gone to games but have not been able to follow it as closely as I have wanted. I think its time for that to change.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I see my Penguins won today too! I was out, so I didn't get to see it, but it was nice seeing the score and Fleury not giving up 5 goals to Philly this time around. I think Pittsburgh is all white this year, and have two of the world's best in Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. They should be fun to watch this year!

 

[Freethinker]

The Rangers stunk it up against a pretty good Bruins team yesterday. They really could use the win or at least a point today against the Penguins (who seem to be CF's most popular team at the moment).

 

[Tannehill17]

After watching the Panthers completely dominate the Hurricanes two days ago, they're looking pretty lackluster against Ottawa right now. OTOH, Ottawa does look like a team to watch out for. They crushed Winnipeg the other day and their goaltending has been pretty strong so far.

 

[jerseypinebarrens]

I'm trying to scan the crowds to see if the rinks are full. Online attendence stats look good, but there are plenty of tickets that corporations buy and the seats don't get full. But they are listed as sold out.

 

[Realgeorge]

Short Season but Welcome Back NHL!

Some splendid team efforts so far, about game nine:

SJ Sharks were 7-0 and kicking everybody's butt
Blackhawks were 6-0-2 and have few weaknesses
TB Lightning 6-1 and dominating their division
Crosby and Malkin are both HEALTHY! And the Pens look reasonbly good this year.
Bruins and Vancouver leading their divisions

Poor performances: Flyers, Caps, Rangers

All the arenas are PACKED for games, except for the Florida Panthers. The most Zionist and and non-white of all arenas in NHL, its amazing this franchise stays afloat every year.

NHL fans INSTANTLY returned to the great White sport. TV ratings excellent. I will greatly enjoy watching Caps-vs-Penguins today at 1230 hrs EST ... and then completely ignoring the Negro Super Bowl later today :nod:

 

[Trolling for Hollas]

As soon as the Rangers get rid of Tortorella and bring up Christian Thomas and JT Miller and get rid of their plodding third and fourth liners we will be great.

 

[jerseypinebarrens]

Devils-Rangers game last night felt like playoff hockey.......I think it was Yogi Berra who said it "It's getting late early". This is great, all the games are important now. Not much time to right the ship............Go Devils!!!!!!!

 

[Tannehill17]

Panthers are starting to play a bit better. After that disastrous 5 game losing streak (due to injuries) they've been pretty respectable taking 7 out of 8 points in their last 4 games. Good to see that the fans are still packing the arena as well. People like to compare our market (South Florida) to Phoenix when in reality, Phoenix has a myriad of problems the Panthers don't have to worry about. There's still a chance the Coyotes could be gone after next season.

 

[Freethinker]

The Chicago Blackhawks are playing some historically good hockey right now. After their OT win over Columbus last night they now have recorded a point in every game (21) in the season thus far. They remain undefeated in regulation and the point streak to start the season is an NHL record. Even more impressive is their streak of 27 games recording a point stretching back to the end of last regular season. The record is 35 games by the 79-80 Flyers.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are both playing at an elite level right now. Marian Hossa can still score with the best of them and Patrick Sharp is playing well. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are providing solid defense. The Blackhawks have to be the overwhelming Stanley Cup favorites at the moment.

 

[Don Wassall]

The Blackhawks are off to a very nice start, but the points scoring streak is a bogus record. They've scored a point in every game so far, which makes it sound like they're undefeated, but their 18-0-3 record is actually 18-3. They have three losses, so it can't be compared to streaks from before the NHL went to its current gimmicky system of having two loss columns (but only one win column).

Since there are no longer any ties, it should be wins and losses only; when a team wins in regulation or OT or a shootout it goes in the win column, but when they lose in overtime or a shootout, it goes in that third column instead of the loss column. I seem to be the only one complaining about it, on this site or anywhere else for that matter, but to me it's a farcical record keeping method that cheapens the league, something it doesn't need.

 

[jaxvid]

The Blackhawks are off to a very nice start, but the points scoring streak is a bogus record. They've scored a point in every game so far, which makes it sound like they're undefeated, but their 18-0-3 record is actually 18-3. They have three losses, so it can't be compared to streaks from before the NHL went to its current gimmicky system of having two loss columns (but only one win column).

Since there are no longer any ties, it should be wins and losses only; when a team wins in regulation or OT or a shootout it goes in the win column, but when they lose in overtime or a shootout, it goes in that third column instead of the loss column. I seem to be the only one complaining about it, on this site or anywhere else for that matter, but to me it's a farcical record keeping method that cheapens the league, something it doesn't need.

Far be it from me to want to give any credit to the Blackhawks but just for arguments sake consider that originally before any attempt to break ties they would have no losses at this point. As every regulation game they have played in has ended with them either tied or ahead. In the very old days that would mean they were undefeated.

I didn't bother to check what they have done in overtime but apparently they have "lost" 3 times either through the additional 5 minute OT period or in a shootout. I'm not sure how long the additional OT period has been in effect but I know the shootout is pretty recent.

Anyway the point record of the 79-80 Flyers would have been acquired under the same situation since back then as I believe there was no OT play at all so like the Blackhawks of this year all of the points they got would have resulted from being tied or ahead after regulation.

I'm sure that the only way the league could have got the owners to agree to the OT rules was to assure them that the tie they earned in regulation (and 1 point) would not be lost in an OT.

Isn't the last column basically the "tie" game column that the team couldn't hold onto in additional play? However you are right. It is a LOSS. I have been at a few games and when you lose in OT in feels like a loss. The shootout loss doesn't feel like a loss, it's kind of a gimmick--but fun to watch.

I was brainstorming with a guy about the way they break ties in the NHL (or try to break ties) and we came up with some better ones then the way they do it now. My idea was to play a 5 minute OT period, 2 on 2, with one team having to use a goalie and the other with the open net. Another idea was to play without the goalies. And my favorite was to have a "fight-out" and have each team match up their best goons against each other in a series of scored fights. :icon_surprised:

 

[Don Wassall]

Far be it from me to want to give any credit to the Blackhawks but just for arguments sake consider that originally before any attempt to break ties they would have no losses at this point. As every regulation game they have played in has ended with them either tied or ahead. In the very old days that would mean they were undefeated.

I didn't bother to check what they have done in overtime but apparently they have "lost" 3 times either through the additional 5 minute OT period or in a shootout. I'm not sure how long the additional OT period has been in effect but I know the shootout is pretty recent.

Anyway the point record of the 79-80 Flyers would have been acquired under the same situation since back then as I believe there was no OT play at all so like the Blackhawks of this year all of the points they got would have resulted from being tied or ahead after regulation.

I'm sure that the only way the league could have got the owners to agree to the OT rules was to assure them that the tie they earned in regulation (and 1 point) would not be lost in an OT.

Isn't the last column basically the "tie" game column that the team couldn't hold onto in additional play? However you are right. It is a LOSS. I have been at a few games and when you lose in OT in feels like a loss. The shootout loss doesn't feel like a loss, it's kind of a gimmick--but fun to watch.

I was brainstorming with a guy about the way they break ties in the NHL (or try to break ties) and we came up with some better ones then the way they do it now. My idea was to play a 5 minute OT period, 2 on 2, with one team having to use a goalie and the other with the open net. Another idea was to play without the goalies. And my favorite was to have a "fight-out" and have each team match up their best goons against each other in a series of scored fights. :icon_surprised:

You're right that the Blackhawks would be 18-0-3 if you go back before overtime, which precedes the shootout by some years, but because of the changes over the years it's a pointless record to me [pun intended].

What the NHL has now is equivalent to a situation where say when the Tigers win in extra innings it's counted as a win, but when they lose in extra innings, instead of a loss it goes into a mysterious third column that's neither a win nor a loss. Same thing if the NBA and NFL counted overtime wins as wins but losses as something else.

The only way it would be accurate would be to have four columns - wins and losses in regulation, and wins and losses in overtime and shootouts, but that's cumbersome and unnecessary. The way it is now it makes teams look better than their actual record -- as I write this there are 19 teams over .500, 4 at .500 and just 7 under .500, which is a psychological ploy that is bush league from my perspective. At times I've seen as few as 5 teams out of 30 under .500. The combined record of all the teams in any league should always be .500.

The NHL's points system itself is now extraneous given the elimination of ties. Playoff berths and seedings should be determined strictly by won-loss record as they are in the three other major sports leagues.

 

[Don Wassall]

Just watched the Penguins beat the Canadiens in overtime 7-6. Exciting game, which is the norm when the Penguins play. Don't get to see them often out here until the playoffs. The last four games I've watched going back to last season's playoffs, they couldn't protect a lead, and didn't tonight but did ultimately prevail. After three straight one and outs in the playoffs since winning the Cup in '09, have to worry about their defense going into the playoffs this year.

The game was on the NHL Network, courtesy of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada's feed, now in its 60th season as continuously hypnotically noted during the broadcast. One of the four employees on set was black (Kevin Weekes), and the guy interviewing players between periods and after the game was also black. That's two out of five or 40% in a league where 98% of the players are White. The same wildly disproportionate pro-black affirmative action when it comes to announcers is also the case on the Golf Channel and Tennis Channel, and in baseball, football and basketball blacks range between 40 to 100 percent of on-air talent given the situation. More evidence, as if any was needed, that "diversity" means constantly portraying blacks as the majority and the most accomplished race not only athletically, but, according to the system and its propaganda, blacks clearly are also the world's superior race when it comes to articulation and intelligence. No wonder generations can pass without there being a single White man (or member of any other race) capable of being a starting or backup NFL cornerback or a starting running back. We should all be kneeling and giving thanks on a regular basis that we are so privileged to be on the same earthly plane with such a great race of people.