Nhl thread

[palmerq]

I'm going to bump this thread #1 because I'm following hockey closer again and #2 I'm preparing myself to start playing again......yeah AGAIN. Born and raised in the South and I played growing up and will hopefully get back on the ice soon.

I actually came looking for this thread just now .... good bump :S As for your points I won't pretend I really dont know much about ice hockey at all... I just follow it as I am in a hockey country just now...

I did try ice skating this year for the first time:S..... i was terrified.. I even hit a child with a plastic walking frame.... i was using the walking frame :S................. I can't even imagine playing ice hockey.




anyway after I started the season of saying I wont be going to any games due to the price I have been to two so far and bought tickets for a 3rd in march. Even though it is crazily over priced, I paid about 90 dollars for the last row behind the goal for a game v new jersey, I really like going, I like going to teh games a lot more than watching on tv so once every couple of months I will fork out the money and get myself down to rogers arena.
So I saw the canucks play new jersey back in october was good to see jagr score, even though he was the enemy that day and of course corey schneiders return ! Saw florida in november which was a pretty crap performance from the canucks allround but they managed to get a point from it and at the end of march I'm going to the buffalo game, hopefully buffalo stay as crap as they have been and kassian and hodgsons get in a fight !

As for the canucks :SS:... What a terrible run, constantly losing to la even though la have been crap recently too, all the talk on the radio was about moral victories and playing with fire ... but you've got to score sure they roughed la up but where's the points ? and then following it up with a 9-1 loss ! anaheim are good but not that good. Not that I am an expert on the canucks( been following them since 2009) but I think this current team has found it's level , I think the stanley cup run was half luck the players are good but for those president trophy winning seasons I think a few fellows played above them selves and now everything is reverting to normal coupled with the sedins aging, fight for the wildcards in the west sounds about right..

As for the sedins.... what a disaster since they signed the contracts, I think teh contracts are a disaster too, point output has dropped a lot I guess henrik has never been a big goal scorer so I am more disapointed with daniel but to be fair it may not all be their fault. I remember at the start of the season tortarella was playing the top guys for a lot of minutes each game and then going on to say it won't tire the out and good teams will find a way to win... it's possible he got that wrong and he's worn out his stars..

canucks are crap this season but I'll still go along to games when I can and watch em on tv .

[El Kabong]

[El Kabong]

[Beanflicker]

Up here in Canada, hockey is a religion.

I guess it isn't as big down in the states as sports like football, baseball, and basketball because hockey is much less accessible. The cost of buying skates, pads, stick, helmet, registration fees, ice time, ect really limits hockey to mostly middle class and rich kids.
Which is really a shame, because as we know most of our sport heros (especially in boxing) were fueled to greatness by poverty.

[El Kabong]

Yeah, boxing, soccer, baseball, and basketball are all best suited for the poor just based on equipment.

Hockey is so fun to play and the self policing is great as well

[Beanflicker]

As far as the Canuck's mediocre season goes, it might just be the enevitable growing pains of the coaching switch. Vigneault spent the last 7 or 8 years coaching a more "run and gun" style that gave the Sedin's a lot more offensive freedom. Tortorella is trying to turn them into more defensively responsible two-way forwards, like what Bowman did to Yzerman. I guess time will tell if it works out or not.

The Canucks are still a great team though, and will most likely make the playoffs, which is an impressive accomplishment in the Western conference.

[El Kabong]

I like run and gun hockey, but you have to back it up with some bangers on D and one hell of a goalie! I love full speed net to net, big collisions, loads of shots, crash the net, and an air tight penalty kill.

[Beanflicker]

I like run and gun hockey

Same man. They tried to do the same shit to Ovechkin and it didn't work, it just killed his offensive output and clipped his balls.

They're all about getting that cut now though, other than going to the finals with Boston a few years ago the Canucks are always either put out in the first or second round. We'll have to see how deep they go this year.

[El Kabong]

I must say the players today are only decent when you think about the players from back in the late 80's to the mid/late 90's. Certainly there are some guys who could hang with the beasts from back then but if you allowed 2 line passes when Bure and Federov were playing then they'd have scored many more goals.

Sid the Kid better thank his lucky stars he never played in the same division as Scott Stevens.

Ovechkin is a solid player, but when you compare him to Federov he's just not all that great. Sergei was just amazing.

My Hurricanes are having a bipolar season. When everyone was injured we were really clicking, but now with Eric Staal back we're kind of having chemistry issues again. I think Jordan Staal is better without his brother on the ice. Touomo Ruutu has been shit this year as well which is sad. Khudobin is a fucking beast of a goalie though, I hope we keep him and ditch Peters or Ward.

[Beanflicker]

The late 80's/mid 90s were a great time for hockey, and a huge leap in terms of skill and athleticism over past eras.

To be fair to the guys of today though, it's a hell of a lot harder to score goals today than it was back then. Goalie skill has come a long way, and of course goalie equiptment is much bigger. So not only do you have a smaller target, you also have a much more competent guy trying to block your shot.

Early 90s was a golden age for me because that's what I grew up watching. Gretzky, Mario, Pavel, Federov, Jagr, Hull, Yzerman. It was a great time.

I really loved the pure goal scorers like Pavel and Hull. Pavel could make a play out of anything, and Hull could score from anywhere it seemed.

[Beanflicker]

I remember being 5 or 6 in peewee hockey league, and the whole team fighting over who got Pavel's #10. He was a fucking rockstar.

[El Kabong]

Goalies back in the day were SOOOOO much better!

Fuhr, Potvin, Roy, Osgood, Hasek, McLean, Vanbiesbrouke, CuJo, Moog, Richter, Brodeur, Belfour, there were so many more great goalies back then.

Pavel Bure was my favorite, Theo Fleury was a favorite, John LeClair, Mats Sundin, Doug Gilmoure, Dave Andrychuk, Stevie Y, Ron Francis, Roenick, Modano, Messier, so many STAR players

[Beanflicker]

They were great (especially Roy who I still think is the #1 GOAT) but they marked the beginning of the evolution of goalie when Roy popularized the butterfly style. They got the ball rolling and now they have goalie down to a science. I'll watch old goal highlights and it's like "what the fuck was that goalie doing" with the stupid kick-save attempt that looked more like a "rock pose".

To me Roy will always be the best, because he was amazing when it mattered and won 3 Conn Smythe's, which is something nobody else did. Not even Wayne Gretzky won 3 Conn Smythes

[El Kabong]

The NHL in the 1990's was just filled to the gills with STARS! Skaters and net minders, just studs on every single team.....bar Ottawa for the most part though, they ALWAYS sucked out loud! They had Yashin & Alfredsson and that was it!


Hopefully hockey will get back to that status, it's progressing pretty good since the lockout. I love the Winter Classic! Brilliant idea! That fucktard Dan Shaugnessy wanted to abolish it though stupid old lesbian lookalike! He believes in "spirits" and "ghosts" and "curses"........dumb dumb dumb.


Anywho the NHL is doing ok now, hopefully the Olympics pique the interests of the fans as well. It should be great hockey. I want USA vs Canada of course, that HAS to happen. Russia has a squad but 0 defense which is tragic because they used to produce EXCELLENT defensemen! Zubov, Konstantinov, Fetisov, etc

[El Kabong]

Just ordered my custom Bauer IMS 11 helmet and visor.....going to play stick and puck for the first time next Thursday. Hopefully I pick up where I left off.

Canes lost vs the Habs the other night but they've been in good form recently. Hopefully that continues. Anton Khudobin is solid at making saves, but he spills too many rebounds. Jay Harrison has been weak in the last few matches but our attack looks sharp and we're getting lots of shots on goal....maybe Muller knows what he's doing after all.