The Hockey Thread

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by IronParrot
// offers jerseydevil a handshake

Well, I'm disappointed, but you guys won it fair and square. Party on tonight.

Thank you.

(The NJ fans booing Giguere was really in bad taste, though... he was the right man for the Conn Smythe this year, and that cannot be disputed.)

I didn't like the booing and I thought it was bad taste. But no one was upset when Anaheim booed the New Jersey players on the introductions to their first game in Anaheim. What goes around comes around. It was in bad taste - but Aneaheim and others should look at how they booed our teams and players. The announcers of course didn't point it out - even though the booing was louder in Anaheim.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by gimli7410
congratulations jerseydevil fans and of course the team. you guys won it fair but when the fans booed giguere that just made me hate all the fans in the arena. i mean how can you boo a player who has done so well in the playoffs AND after your team just won. I felt embarrased for them. i mean this was a team who has never really been recognized and they just got second place and brought the series to a 7th game but again congrats to the new jersey devils

Thanks and as I said - Anaheim booed our team very loudly out in Anaheim. I wish SOME of the fans didn't boo - but it wasn't all of them. Anaheim had booed our team - even BEFORE the game started in Anaheim.

Funny how you didn't make a statement abotu hating the fans in Anaheim when they booed.

[gimli7410]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
Funny how you didn't make a statement abotu hating the fans in Anaheim when they booed.

I uhhhh never saw that game. so i wouldnt really know

[Lady of Rohan]

Congrats JD. And good job devils, enough though you will never read this.

*melts into puddle on floor*

[mithrand1r]

NJ DEVILS win the Stanley CUP!

Stanley Cup Finals ReCap
Game 1: NJ, 3-0
Game 2: NJ, 3-0
Game 3: ANA, 3-2 (OT)
Game 4: ANA, 1-0 (OT)
Game 5: NJ, 6-3
Game 6: ANA, 5-2
Game 7: NJ, 3-0

http://www.nhl.com/cupcrazy2003/seri...es061003.shtml

http://www.nhl.com/cupcrazy2003/seri...e7_recap.shtml

It seems that good things (at least for the NJ ) comes in three's

"Three, is a magic number ..."

NJ has three shutouts by 3-0 over ANA in the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. This is the third Cup for NJ in the last nine years.

Hockey does it the best out of the 4 major sports when they award their championship trophy after the game.

On the negative, I was disappointed at the people that booed J.S. Giguere when he received the Conn Smythe Trophy. That was a classless act.

One oddity(rarity) about the finals is the difference in play by ANA and NJ depending on whose home ice they were playing.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by Lady of Rohan
*melts into puddle on floor*

*squeegies the puddle into a dust pan... pours liquid into fish tank* There ya go.

Originally posted by gimli7410
congratulations jerseydevil fans and of course the team.

See... Canadians are good sports!

[gimli7410]

Originally posted by Ruinel
See... Canadians are good sports!

we can be......

[Lady of Rohan]

Originally posted by Ruinel
*squeegies the puddle into a dust pan... pours liquid into fish tank* There ya go.

Ack! I'm scared of fish!

See... Canadians are good sports!

*hides map to Ruinel's house and dager and nouse behind back*

Oh course we are!

[gollum9630]

Originally posted by Ruinel
See... Canadians are good sports!

not me. you should hear my threats to JD

[wahine]

Thought I'd let JD rant about the Devils after I post this article in the NY Times. The thing that got me, is the COACH of the DEvils who led them the the STANLEY CUP *probably a coveted boast* played for the MONTREAL CANADIANS.

Am I fanning the flames here?

Rangers Interview Devils' Robinson (No I don't know who Robinson is...

Glen Sather, the Rangers' president and general manager, interviewed Larry Robinson for the team's coaching opening, the club said yesterday.

The interview took place Wednesday in Toronto.

Robinson coached the Devils to the Stanley Cup championship in 2000, after replacing Robbie Ftorek with eight games remaining in the regular season.

The next season, Robinson guided the Devils to the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in seven games.

Robinson was fired 51 games into the 2001-02 season. He rejoined the Devils as an assistant on Feb. 25, 2002. Last season, he served as a special-assignment coach, a position created for him by Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' president and general manager.

A Hall of Fame defenseman who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Robinson also coached the Los Angeles Kings for four seasons, from 1995-96 through 1998-99. He finished his playing career with the Kings.

Sather replaced Bryan Trottier as the Rangers' coach Jan. 21, but he has not decided whether to return in that role.

The Rangers played better under him, but despite a payroll in excess of $80 million, they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, a franchise record.

Sather established his Hall of Fame credentials with the Edmonton Oilers, who won five Stanley Cups from 1984 to 1990. He is entering his fourth season with the Rangers.

He flew to Nashville yesterday for the N.H.L. entry draft this weekend. The Rangers have the 12th selection in the first round.

[afro-elf]

Go Larry Robinson.

A great hockey player and class act.

My favorite defesnseman.

[afro-elf]

Hull named WHA commissioner

July 15, 2003

The World Hockey Association will give it a Hull of a try when it launches its alternative to the NHL in 2004-05 — two Hulls, in fact.

Bobby Hull, who has been named commissioner of the upstart league, said he hopes to convince son Brett to join him when Brett's contract with the Detroit Red Wings expires after next season.

"Absolutely," Bobby Hull told thehockeynews.com in his first interview in his new job. He will be formally introduced as commissioner via a media teleconference later this week.

"There are a number of players in Brett's position who are getting towards the waning of their careers, where they will have next year in the NHL.

"In order for the NHL to continue, they will have to break the league, they will have to install a salary cap, they will have to restructure, and they will have to profit-share. No matter what (NHLPA executive director Bob) Goodenow says, the owners are saying 'If you guys don't want a salary cap, if you don't want to restructure, if you don't want to profit share, then you'll be out of business. And there will be a lot of people in the position that Brett Hull is in who will want to play another couple of years after the NHL players are locked out. Guys like Chris Chelios, Igor Larionov, Adam Oates, Steve Thomas and Phil Housley. People like that who could still play, and we would welcome them in our league."

Pretty bold statements for Hull's first week as commissioner, but that's exactly what the WHA enlisted him for.

"He gives us some credibility," said Allan Howell, co-founder of the new WHA.

He's sure to also bring the league some color and controversy—something both he and Brett have become famous for throughout their careers. Bobby created waves in 1972 when, as one of the NHL's biggest stars of the time, he jumped to sign with the WHA's Winnipeg Jets for what was then a monstrous contract--$2.75 million over 10 years. Given this background, and his experience in professional hockey, Hull says he's feels additional motivation for his new role.

"I feel, first of all, very privileged that these people think enough of me that they made me commissioner. And it's almost like, as Yogi Berra said, déjÃ* vu all over again.

"They formed the WHA in 1972 because they thought certain areas in the US and Canada were being neglected by professional hockey," Hull said. "Now we're doing it for different reasons. We're doing it to bring back the families to the game, people who love the game, and make it an affordable night's entertainment.

"Right now you don't see a lot of kids at NHL games. (The WHA) is going to change that, so we don't lose those kids as the fan base for the future.

"I feel privileged to be able to do that."

Part of the WHA's plan includes designing its game to address some of the issues the NHL is facing right now. There will be no red line, no trapping, automatic no-touch icing, no checking from behind, and there will be clear rules against obstruction interference and other actions that impede the flow of the game. Officials will award penalty shots for some of these infractions, rather than two-minute minors.

One key change Hull will push for is that, for WHA franchises building new arenas, the ice surface should be the international size of 200 feet by 100 feet, as opposed to the NHL standard 200 by 85.

Hull as commissioner is a real, full-time assignment for the NHL Hall of Famer, not merely a figurehead position. Currently based in Ashville, NC, he will likely move to one of the WHA's new offices in Toronto or Orlando.

"I hope I can do a better job than Mr. Bettman," Hull laughed, when asked about how he will differ from his NHL counterpart. "My job is to suggestion and ratify and use any expertise that I might have gained over the 23 years in professional hockey to make our game a better game."

[afro-elf]

and

The WHA2 will act as the feeder league for the newly resurrected WHA, which is set to begin operations for the 2004 - 2005 season. The original WHA gave the NHL a run for nearly a decade in the early seventies.

Young said the new WHA would not necessarily be in competition with the NHL this time around.

"We are going to play in some NHL cities, in buildings that are not NHL buildings. It will be a salary cap league as well. But it will be a league in which each city has one marquee player who does not count towards the salary cap." Young said.

"Do the math, after the strike is over and the lockout, there are going to be players that are making seven or eight or nine million dollars now who will be making two to three million in the new reality of the NHL." Young said in reference to the expiration of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement.

"Therefore, if one of those two to three million dollar players, formerly a nine to ten million dollar player, can make four million dollars playing in the WHA as a marquee player, I would think that for players who are near the ends of their careers, that that would be an attractive alternative."

WHA Markets
"Several cities have indicated their intentions to acquire a WHA franchise or to acquire the rights to that market and decide at a later date whether they are going to operate in that market." Young said.

These cities include: Birmingham, Alabama; Los Angeles, California; Orlando, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Hamilton, Ontario; and Miami, Florida.

"These teams have a rights' holder for them already." Young said. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to play."

Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami, who are slated for a WHA2 franchise next season could level up to the WHA in 2004 -2005.

"Part of the membership agreement for the WHA is that you must operate a WHA2 franchise." Young said.

One of the major coups scored by the first WHA was the signing of Hall of Famer, the "Golden Jet," Bobby Hull.

Hull may resurface in the new WHA, this time around as commissioner. Young says Hull has already been approached.

"Given the fact that he was the catalyst that started the first WHA," Young said. "He has actively remained a proponent of the type of the philosophy that is being preached by the WHA and has not necessarily always agreed with what the NHL has done and was basically an outcast in the NHL for a long time."

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by wahine
Thought I'd let JD rant about the Devils after I post this article in the NY Times. The thing that got me, is the COACH of the DEvils who led them the the STANLEY CUP *probably a coveted boast* played for the MONTREAL CANADIANS.

Am I fanning the flames here?

Rangers Interview Devils' Robinson (No I don't know who Robinson is...

The Rangers suck - so they have to do something. There is more to Devils success than the coaching - since they have won and have come very close to winning the Stanley Cup repeatedly with many different coaches.

[jerseydevil]

Afro-Elf - I disagree with the the statements that if the NHL doesn't change that they will be out of business and the World Hockey League will take over.

Americans don't really care about world sport leagues - we care about our LOCAL teams. As long as NY still has the Rangers, NJ has the Devils, Detroit has the Red Wings - etc. The NHL will exist.

We don't pay attention to world soccer as much as we pay attention to the NJ MetroStars.

By the way - I can go see the Trenton Titans

Also those cities that the WHA plans on playing in (Birmingham, Orlando, etc) - have to become hockey fans. Soccer failed in Indiana - but goes very strong in NJ.

[Anglorfin]

On another note, I heard somewhere that Sergei Fedorov is becoming a free agent. If he joins the Devils I'll do backflips

[afro-elf]

Afro-Elf - I disagree with the the statements that if the NHL doesn't change that they will be out of business and the World Hockey League will take over.

I don't know if you posted that thinking that was my opinion or just stating your own thoughts.

For me it was more about :

Part of the WHA's plan includes designing its game to address some of the issues the NHL is facing right now. There will be no red line, no trapping, automatic no-touch icing, no checking from behind, and there will be clear rules against obstruction interference and other actions that impede the flow of the game. Officials will award penalty shots for some of these infractions, rather than two-minute minors.

The World in WHL is just a league name. Its not like world soccer is the sense of soccer on the world scene. Unless there is a soccer league called the World Soccer League that I am unaware of.

Other thougt on the topic was this:

we're doing it for different reasons. We're doing it to bring back the families to the game, people who love the game, and make it an affordable night's entertainment.

I recall when the NHL was that way in the early-mid 80's.

The NHL fell out of my favor during the last strike. I could not identify with an an AVERAGE player making 1 million and going on strike.

I hope the NHL crashes and burns and the NY/NJ area gets WHA teams.

Hockey for the last 10 years or so has been a stagnant sport to watch. I believe the WHA format will be FAR more entertianing that the lackluster NHL.

[afro-elf]

Originally posted by Anglorfin
On another note, I heard somewhere that Sergei Fedorov is becoming a free agent. If he joins the Devils I'll do backflips

What if he went to Colorado now? That would be one scary team.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by afro-elf
I don't know if you posted that thinking that was my opinion or just stating your own thoughts.

I wasn't sure what your thoughts were - you just posted the article. I was just saying that I disagree with the article.

Part of the WHA's plan includes designing its game to address some of the issues the NHL is facing right now. There will be no red line, no trapping, automatic no-touch icing, no checking from behind, and there will be clear rules against obstruction interference and other actions that impede the flow of the game. Officials will award penalty shots for some of these infractions, rather than two-minute minors.

So in other words - they're being the NFL - with some rule modifications.

The World in WHL is just a league name. Its not like world soccer is the sense of soccer on the world scene. Unless there is a soccer league called the World Soccer League that I am unaware of.

Then what's the "world" - is America going to have a World Hockey League and then the only teams will be American? I can see that being a great "anti-American" whipping post.

we're doing it for different reasons. We're doing it to bring back the families to the game, people who love the game, and make it an affordable night's entertainment.

Yes - and as I said - I can go to the Trenton Titans - 20 minutes away from me if I want.

The NHL fell out of my favor during the last strike. I could not identify with an an AVERAGE player making 1 million and going on strike.

I don't recall the huge strike of the NHL - and it was no where near as bad as the baseball strikes or the basketball strikes.

I hope the NHL crashes and burns and the NY/NJ area gets WHA teams.

I don't really care about New YORK because New YORK isn't New JERSEY. So New YORK can do what it wants. However I hope that the New JERSEY area team will always be the Devils.

Hockey for the last 10 years or so has been a stagnant sport to watch. I believe the WHA format will be FAR more entertianing that the lackluster NHL.

Not if they don't have the teams. I believe foorball - as matter of fact know so - tried the same thing with their new "league". New Jersey even had a team. It failed within two years I think. No one was interested. We had our teams established.

I think the only thing the league may do - is force some changes in the NHL - but ultimately the WHA would fail.

[Ruinel]

*snif snif* damn... too much testosterone in here for me.

But before I go: ASTROS ARE ONE GAME AHEAD OF THE CARDINALS!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yeah, I know, they're baseball. )