NHL 2008-2009 Thread

[JustAGuy85]

Yeah I have Centre Ice and it's saweeeeet.

I like watching football, the last few minutes of a tight basketball game, and maybe even the last couple innings of some post-season baseball. But NOTHING is better than watching some good ol' hockey.

I get the feeling that a lot of Americans don't reallly give a shit about hockey and I wonder why. I mean, what other sport has bare knuckle boxing? Maybe it's the way it's marketed. Here in Canada it's hockey above all else.

And as I said before, there is no other trophy harder to win than a Stanley Cup. Not only do you go through 82 regular season games, but then you enter into 4 rounds of the hardest hockey in the world. You look at pictures of winning teams and the players are beat to shit with bruises, scars, and disgusting beards. That's what hockey is all about.

 

[Marlo Manson]

Since we are on the topic of NFL versus the NHL, I have to agree that the NFL is just unwatchable now. I wouldnt say its the rules so much, I personally think the game is just too easy for today's players. I saw so many fucking teams last season throwing hail mary's on a 1st or 2nd down. One minute a team is down by 32, next minute they are up by 3. Is an 100 yard field still considered long? And I mean that by today's athletes. Its like in baseball, hitting a home run is not challenging anymore because any player can hit 300-400 ft. Maybe its just me, but I've been falling asleep while watching football.

And then theres the players. Goons who run dog fighting rings, beat their wives, run people over and shoot themselves in the leg. Why do I always hear about so and so getting a DUI? The league is just out of control.

The NHL on the other hand is at its prime. The game is so perfect with the new rules, and its faster.

Agree'd can't stand NFL football. I only like and watch NCAA football. but the way of determining a National Champion sucks. so with football its damned if you do and damned if you don't, sort of speak. :dunno:

Its like I told my friend today... if I had the NHL network, thats all I would watch.

Hopefully someday soon on a big ass plasma HD screen

I must say I Loves me some NHL. by far and away my FAVORITE SPORT OF ALL TIME!! NO OTHER SPORT COMPARES TO THE NHL. THE STANLEY CUP IS THE HARDEST PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TROPHY TO WIN.

Albeit IMO the NHL game is watered down now a days. I don't know how long (people reading this have been die hard fans?) but NHL in the 90's was wickedly exciting and intense.

The present day NHL is alright. I still love it compared to any other sport. but all the ticky tack penalties, and with Scary Batman aka (gary bettman) attempting to get the NHL as sissified / wussified as possible, by (TRYING TO BAN FIGHTING) what other sport allows fighting? NHL fighting is illegal if your over 18 anywhere outside of a NHL hockey game, its bare knuckled fighting no gloves. :nanner: and with that joke of a president anything even resembling hard hitting has all of the sudden been frowned upon and its really affected the NHL NEGATIVELY in a big time way IMHO. :eek::scream:

 

[member979979]

Yeah I have Centre Ice and it's saweeeeet.
I get the feeling that a lot of Americans don't reallly give a shit about hockey and I wonder why. I mean, what other sport has bare knuckle boxing? Maybe it's the way it's marketed. Here in Canada it's hockey above all else.

I too wonder why and would like to investigate this decline among American hockey fans. All Americans want is battle and blood which hockey has, and yet golf gets more ratings and coverage. And turn on ESPN or Versus at any given time and what do you see? Poker and Bull-riding :dunno:

 

[JustAGuy85]

I too wonder why and would like to investigate this decline among American hockey fans. All Americans want is battle and blood which hockey has, and yet golf gets more ratings and coverage. And turn on ESPN or Versus at any given time and what do you see? Poker and Bull-riding :dunno:

Maybe it has to do with the announcers. I'm watching some out of town games in Nashville or LA and these guys are actually explaining what an offside is. Theres a few in Canada that are bruuuutal too. The guys on TSN (Canadian ESPN) and VS seems to be the best.

 

[JustAGuy85]

There needs to be a NY Ranger/LA King Stanley Cup Final series.

 

[member979979]

Albeit IMO the NHL game is watered down now a days. I don't know how long (people reading this have been die hard fans?) but NHL in the 90's was wickedly exciting and intense.

The present day NHL is alright. I still love it compared to any other sport. but all the ticky tack penalties, and with Scary Batman aka (gary bettman) attempting to get the NHL as sissified / wussified as possible, by (TRYING TO BAN FIGHTING) what other sport allows fighting? NHL fighting is illegal if your over 18 anywhere outside of a NHL hockey game, its bare knuckled fighting no gloves. :nanner: and with that joke of a president anything even resembling hard hitting has all of the sudden been frowned upon and its really affected the NHL NEGATIVELY in a big time way IMHO. :eek::scream:

The 90's was great but I personally love the game today. I love how you can do 2 line passes, I love the off-sides tag up rule, and I love how goalies cant enter the corners.

As for fighting, I think the biggest misconception people assume is that fighting in hockey is brawling. Its not, its respectful and regulated much like boxing. You do not see 20 guys rushing from the bench to throw fists. Hockey without fighting not only takes away the entertainment, but also the strategy.

I think the only problem with the NHL today is the coverage. Versus and NBC just are not doing it right. They need to pull their heads out of their ass, and get this game back on ESPN.

 

[Marlo Manson]

I too wonder why and would like to investigate this decline among American hockey fans. All Americans want is battle and blood which hockey has, and yet golf gets more ratings and coverage. And turn on ESPN or Versus at any given time and what do you see? Poker and Bull-riding :dunno:

I think its allot to do with television contracts and the lack of televised games on a regular basis, and think its got to do with some of the issues I mentioned above about gary bettman fuckin with the rules so much, that the rules have changed the NHL so much its just not as exciting as it could be. :2 cents:

 

[member979979]

I have friends who have been so stubborn about getting into hockey, and then when I take them to watch a game, they fucking loooooooooove it.

 

[feller469]

The average American is scared of the unknown. That and ESPN continually downplays the sport because it doesn't have broadcasting rights. If there was ever a redneck sport, it was hockey. Somebody takes a cheapshot at your teammate, you don't wait for the ref to do something, you go nail the guy.

One stat to look at is attendance. Most NBA and MLB teams are running well below capacity. Check out the NHL. there are a couple cities that are sturggling, but for the most part, teams are at 90% or higher. Especially the playoff teams (obviously)

Hockey is a niche sport, but if the powers-that-be keep true to the game, the audience will come.

If not, then bring on Rollerball.

 

[Marlo Manson]

The 90's was great but I personally love the game today. I love how you can do 2 line passes, I love the off-sides tag up rule, and I love how goalies cant enter the corners.

As for fighting, I think the biggest misconception people assume is that fighting in hockey is brawling. Its not, its respectful and regulated much like boxing. You do not see 20 guys rushing from the bench to throw fists. Hockey without fighting not only takes away the entertainment, but also the strategy.

I think the only problem with the NHL today is the coverage. Versus and NBC just are not doing it right. They need to pull their heads out of their ass, and get this game back on ESPN.

No I love those rules you are talking about. those are some sweet rules. I am talking about the hooking, the tripping calls. the ridiculous holding. the interference. the slashing (the stick out of a guys hands) if the players not holding his stick thats his problem.

Its just all of the ticky tack, chincy calls that make the games so referee dominated, slow, and the unpredictable interpretation of the rules is different from ref to ref. I mean these calls refs are making are brutal. :eek:

I don't like the collective bargaining agreement, I don't like the salary caps which are in place to support teams that shouldn't even be in the league. revenue sharing does the same, its complete if the team can't pay for a great lineup and the fans don't support the teams in cities which hockey is not even popular, then why should teams like the original six, and other teams who are doing well, suffer because of the teams that are living off of the established teams? :dunno: its really diluted the NHL and it shows. :hatsoff:

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

I don't like the collective bargaining agreement, I don't like the salary caps which are in place to support teams that shouldn't even be in the league. revenue sharing does the same, its complete if the team can't pay for a great lineup and the fans don't support the teams in cities which hockey is not even popular, then why should teams like the original six, and other teams who are doing well, suffer because of the teams that are living off of the established teams? :dunno: its really diluted the NHL and it shows. :hatsoff:

Without that agreement, then sure, there wouldn't be teams in Phoenix and Atlanta, but there wouldn't be ones in Calgary or Edmonton either. If it wasn't for that agreement, then there would only be three Canadian teams, and a lot of pissed off Canadians.

 

[BigSwede]

They should get rid of the instigator and bring the league back to Canada and northern US.
In Dallas and Phoenix and those places they seem more interested in drinking beer and waving to the camera every time it passes by.
They couldn't care less about what's happening on the ice.:thefinger

 

[JustAGuy85]

They should get rid of the instigator and bring the league back to Canada and northern US.
In Dallas and Phoenix and those places they seem more interested in drinking beer and waving to the camera every time it passes by.
They couldn't care less about what's happening on the ice.:thefinger

LOL I always see that too. When the camera is following the players on the ice theres always some jerkoff on a cell phone standing up and looking back to wave at the camera.

 

[rodfarva]

Yeah I have Centre Ice and it's saweeeeet.

I like watching football, the last few minutes of a tight basketball game, and maybe even the last couple innings of some post-season baseball. But NOTHING is better than watching some good ol' hockey.

I get the feeling that a lot of Americans don't reallly give a shit about hockey and I wonder why. I mean, what other sport has bare knuckle boxing? Maybe it's the way it's marketed. Here in Canada it's hockey above all else.

And as I said before, there is no other trophy harder to win than a Stanley Cup. Not only do you go through 82 regular season games, but then you enter into 4 rounds of the hardest hockey in the world. You look at pictures of winning teams and the players are beat to shit with bruises, scars, and disgusting beards. That's what hockey is all about.

It's really simple people. The reason why Americans don't care about hockey is because they aren't very good at it. Look at the major American sports: baseball, basketball, and football; Americans clearly dominate those sports. Americans just don't care about a sport that they're never going to be the best at. It's the same reason why soccer has never become big in the US.

Also, I actually think Versus is doing a way better job than ESPN has ever done in covering hockey. Keith Jones and Brian Engblom are smart guys and good analysts. However, being from Canada, it's just not the same watching an American hockey telecast. The camera work is shotty at best, the announcers have no idea how to call a game, I want to vomit every time the play-by-play guy jizzes in his pants when a goal is scored and goes WAY overboard on screaming "HE SCORES!" with some girlish enthusiasm that just hurts my hockey-loving ears. CBC has got the art of broadcasting hockey perfected. The camera work is always perfect, they zoom in on the net at the perfect time, they cut to close-ups of bone-crushing hits just at the right moment, they cut to a fight as soon as the gloves are dropped, etc. American hockey broadcasts miss this stuff, or cut to it just a bit late. And NBC just absolutely sucks at broadcasting hockey, I'd almost rather not watch the game than watch it on NBC.

Also, fuck the Sean Averys of the hockey world. Hockey does not need villains, or should I say: hockey does not need piece of shit garbage human beings in their league. Enforcers, or even agitators, are fine as long as they aren't scumbags. Despite the "violence" of hockey, it is a game of gentlemen, and Sean Avery is anything but that.

The NFL is full of piece of shit garbage human beings who only care about their salaries and their bonuses. It's a league of individuals. You'd may as well not even call it a team sport anymore. Thank God hockey doesn't have "characters" like that.

Hockey is the best sport to watch. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience, when you live in a REAL hockey town, as I did in 2006 when the Oilers went all the way to Game Seven and lost :weeping: there is nothing else like it in the world of sports, save the World Cup of soccer (which obviously has crazy-ass fans). However, I think playoff baseball is incredibly good to watch because of the way you hang on each and every pitch. And a really close, back-and-forth style basketball game is also very fun to watch. All better to watch than an NFL game.

 

[titsrock]

There's a lot of great points in this thread and I'll just throw some shit out there in reply

--The latest Avery incident= it's nothing. It was a silly "stir-the-pot" kind of thing. It certainly wasn't a Claude Lemieux or Ulf Samuelson type cheap shot. And, I'm sorry, but Avery, for the most part, IS good for Hockey. The problem is it seems like he doesn't actually listen to his teammates because generally, an effective agitator works within the goals of his team. Avery "freelances" too much and he does run the risk of having his own teammates let him defend himself.

--Americans are simply too dumb to understand that "free-flowing" sports are better than overly-complex, micro-managed sports, like the NFL.

--Americans believe that small scores = boring sport. If Hockey assigned 7 points for every goal, I wonder if there would be more interest in the sport in America?

--In the U.S., Hockey MUST RETURN TO ESPN. Hockey should PAY ESPN $10/million a year to broadcast the sport. ESPN has turned into a 365 day Promotion Network. ESPN only treats its own broadcast properties as IMPORTANT sports. This is also why Soccer is being kept down in the U.S. If Americans saw more BIG TEAM soccer teams (The big 4 in England, the Big 3 in Italy, the Big 2 in Spain, plus Bayern Munich) --we would begin to see how interesting pro soccer actually is.

--The lack of ESPN exposure is the single greatest threat to Hockey's sustainability in the future. I don't care if Versus broadcasts it better than ESPN...Hockey needs to get back on ESPN, WHATEVER THE COST!

--For me, I think the recent changes Bettman made need to be overturned. Go back to the way the game used to be played. Simply ban the Left wing Lock defense or scheme. That was what actually "ruined" the offensive nature of the sport...

--Do not try to ban Fighting. I don't see why people get all over hockey and yet don't seem to care about MMA and Boxing which are far more brutal fighting forms than a Hockey fight....

 

[feller469]

Avery is a piece of shit. that punk move on Thomas was pure bullshit. He should be kicked out of the league. you want to play like that, go to some league below the ECHL. Avery is perfect for the about to miss the playoffs again New York Rangers.

 

[member979979]

good topic discussions.

 

[JustAGuy85]

Haha I can't believe how everyone is so against what Avery did.
It's fucking hilarious.

Did he get fined for that? Pretty ballsy for a guy just hanging on.

 

[Ol-Skool-Perv]

Haha I can't believe how everyone is so against what Avery did.
It's fucking hilarious.

Did he get fined for that? Pretty ballsy for a guy just hanging on.

Avery is a shit-disturber nothing more. He got cut from his team and contract, had to go to counseling, and it looks like he's learned his lesson finally.

 

[member979979]

Haha I can't believe how everyone is so against what Avery did.
It's fucking hilarious.

Did he get fined for that? Pretty ballsy for a guy just hanging on.

Its just what that guy calling the game said, how do you back up your player who does stupid shit like that?

There is such thing is taking good penalties and taking dumb ones.