Want to discuss any hockey related issues? Heard some interesting news? Watched a great game? Heard an interesting rumor or quote? Talk about it here! CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Thundercleese wrote:Hasek was solid, solid, solid too. Any hope of a Ducks comeback was quashed every time they got close to the net. If Pronger gets suspended for the Holmstrom hit, this series will be over pretty quickly...
That's rough for the Duckies...maybe the Super Neidermaybe Brothers will step up again....or maybe they'll get blown out again. Can anyone say unpredicatable series?
Oh, also rather than start a new thread, I'll put this here. The Blackhawks sign J.Toews to a 3-yr deal.As per TSN.
Obviously, this is sweet for the 'Hawks that Toews is willing to bail on college to go pro. He showed he's ready at the WC. I bet Minty is pumped!
Actually this is perfectly fine here. Because in two or three years, the Stanley Cup final will feature Mr. Toews and Mr. Crosby. Just not sure if Toews will still be a Hawk then.
Well the Sabres went on to stave off elimination 3-2. I can't wait until tonight though, 9pm EST drop time Wings and Ducks! If the Wings want to win this one, they'll have to work very hard at it. Pronger was suspended, but the Ducks aren't the type of team to just roll over on anyone. It's going to be a dandy!
Daniel Alfredsson! A shoo in for playoff MVP if (when) Ottawa wins the Stanley Cup. I have consistently picked against them and Detroit, so the Stanley Cup final rightfully will be Det-Ott. Go SENS!
Thus guaranteeing a Dead Thing Cup win. Or maybe since I said they will win, they won't?
I'll call the Sens as Cup champs now, without any double-negative, reverse-psychology magic. They will not be denied. They've beaten the best goaltender in the world, the biggest young star in the world and now the most potent offense in the world, shutting them out even. They can win river hockey games or tight trapping games, they can hit and skate and score and win. Detroit/Anaheim is only academic.
I'm really starting to believe there is some conspiracy against the Wings this post-season. Pretty much all breaks are against them and the refs always seem to have some major dough riding on the other team. Look at last night, where Datsyuk gets put in the box for an almost non-existant mini push (that gets called 'holding') with two minutes left in a game where the refs have let that **** go all the time.
Systemfel wrote:I'm really starting to believe there is some conspiracy against the Wings this post-season. Pretty much all breaks are against them and the refs always seem to have some major dough riding on the other team. Look at last night, where Datsyuk gets put in the box for an almost non-existant mini push (that gets called 'holding') with two minutes left in a game where the refs have let that **** go all the time.
Officiating has been poor in the "new" NHL. In the "old" they didn't call enough now they're calling too much and too inconsistent. Either way is wrong.
However, as a neutral fan, I absolutely disagree with your statement, there have been funny calls against every team.
Right...everyone is out to get the Dead Things. Everyone was out to get the Rangers. Everyone out to get the Sabres. Systemfel, I know you are on Hockey Futures board...come on...look around. Every set of fans, from every team has a set of people who complain about officials and conspiracies. I betcha there is a conspiracy against Anaheim from Duck fans, because Detroit is "hockeytown". Detroit got beat 3-2 in OT. No conspiracy, they just got beat, in the end because of a brutal, stupid mistake by some guy named Lilja or Lebda. A brutal stupid play.
Officiating has been poor in every single sport since the beginning of time. Cause noone is perfect. Please stop banging the official, conspiracy drum people. THere are no excuses, or conspiracies. Sooooo tired of reading posts in every forum about officials and conspiracies from fans. A team got beat, whup de doo.
Hey wait...maybe there is a conspiracy against the Canucks causing Luongo to ....nope...jeez.
Of course there are no conspiracies, batdad... What conspiracy would be behind a lot of breaks going against the Wings? About the refs, I just feel they've been kind of against Detroit the last month or so.
Last night on CBC they played game 7 of the 1989 series between the Canucks and Flames. Guys were getting hauled down left and right, but the hockey was fast and action-packed, exciting to watch even though I knew the outcome. The way the NHL is going about officiating is dead wrong. Power plays are not going to get casual fans excited, and when one team or the other is on the PP for literally half the game, there's not much action to keep channel surfers locked in.
Argh...defending the NHL...argh. The NHL has never once said that the pp is exciting to watch, and that they want more pp's. What they are trying to do is stop the clutch, grab. hold, and stick off the ice bit completely. It is very hard for this generation of players to stop because it is routine for them to do these things...and they are getting called for it..even a slight tap.
I agree that hockey...sometimes...was exciting back in the day. But only some times. Once they have the new generation trained to stop holding, hooking, and tapping with sticks off the ice...then the game should be even more exciting. One suggestion I have heard is that the league should have stayed the same at the NHL level and gradually changed as the players who have been trained properly came up through other levels. However, that may not have worked either.
Sorry but watching Joel Otto, Jamie Macoun, Bryan Glynn, Robert Dirk, Sergio Momesso, and all the slugs of the old days...although exciting at times...was not the way to go either. It was getting too clogged up.
However...the league does need to allow clean body checks. They need to stop head shots, and need to stop holding and hooking. Unfortunately, it means a training period that may be 5 or so years long. As a Canadian I have the patience for this...the game will be better in the long run.
As I am in 6-7 minor hockey rinks a week during minor hockey season, I am noticing an appreciable difference at the minor hockey level, where the talented kids are allowed to do their thing now...because of the no tolerance rules. Instead of being mauled all the time by bigger, slower, less talented kids who are told..."Just grab onto that guy and don't let go". Coaches cannot tell kids to do this anymore, and now that the big slow buffoons can't do it..the game at the grassroots level is markedly improved. I am sure this will eventually translate to the NHL.
Too bad though that it will be too slow a transition, and the league may give up, because the patience level is not there. I think the NHL hoped the players would learn much faster than they have. But the little hook, and ski is too much in the brain as an instinct when a player gets beat. The game would be much better if the patience level is there to learn, develop and get better. Our minor hockey players between the ages of 10 and 15 are proving it right now. Some of the hockey is amazing, because players are allowed to skate, and make plays without being mauled.
I agree that it should be changed in a more gradual fashion, and I'm not opposed to wide open hockey. My problem is that the officiating is very, very, very inconsistent. The players cannot adapt their behaviour if they're unsure what is permissible and what isn't, because it changes from game to game, period to period, shift to shift. I complain about power plays being unexciting (to the casual fan, that is, I enjoy PPs just fine) because there are so freaking many of them. The NHL HAS made it quite clear that they want to increase scoring, and plenty of power plays is a logical way to do so, so don't count that aspect of the issue out--there may well be a 'penalty quota' or something in effect that we don't know about....
I don't believe about the 'penalty quota' or any stuff like that. I think it's more kind of a 'respect the rules or you'll get penalized any time you don't!" thing
Of course, in the first season (and maybe in the few next) it results in a lot of penalties. But if players stop to hook, trip, hold, etc, there will be less penalties, but still many goals as the players will have more possibility to express their skills.
About the inconstancy of the officiating, well that's a problem for sure... But that's a problem in any sport where there's a ref, and the only way to have something perfectly consistent would be to have a machine as a ref Sorry, but i prefer to deal with human mistakes...
See this is the problem, it's not so simple as just 'respecting the rules' and eliminating the hook/trip/hold behaviour because the rules say you should. The inconsistency comes in the fact that a guy can just about haul an opponent down one period but get called for gently tapping him the next. Guys get called for lifting other players' sticks. They get called for pushing a guy down from behind (they get called for holding, and it's not a dangerous play into the boards when I've seen it happen, so there's no reason to make any call at all). If you want hooking out of the game, it needs to be clearly defined as to what a hook consists of. Tapping a guy with your stick to throw him off his game a bit, or lifting his stick, or so on, doesn't constitute a penalizable (is that a word?) offense, as far as I'm concerned. So unless all that kind of thing is going to be taken out of the game, hooking/tripping/holding/whatever needs to be defined and consistently called according to that definition. There's no way to stop doing something wrong if you don't realize that you're doing something wrong to begin with.
Okay...so back to the playoffs. This is going to be a heck of a hockey game. Hudler is likely in for Bert because of Bonehead having back spasms again. Anyone in the world have any sympathy for Todd?
T-cleese: I see your point And yes, things need to be clearer for sure It'll be...a day or an other... but maybe not under Buttman's tenure
Back on topic: Done for the Ducks! Now, will Ottawa continue their superb playoff play? Or will they fall against the Ducks? I'm gonna cheer for the Ducks, as i'd love to see Pronger and Selänne get their first ring... They deserve it so much... And they'll maybe not have another chance in their carreer
And Alfredsson, and Redden, and Phillips, and ...oh you get the point.
I almost want the Sens to win...so a Euro captain finally wins one. But then again...it is kind of odd is it not done yet. At one point there were 2 Canadian captains, 2 1/2 with Briere, 1/2 USA (DRURY) and 5 Euro...so a real big euro flavor with 8 teams left. Now 1 Canada, 1 Sweden. Hmmmm...
I bet Minty is pumped! 
Sorry, but i prefer to deal with human mistakes...
