The Hockey Thread

[Insidious Rex]

The Downfall of Hockey

Only watch this if you have broad band otherwise youll be loading it all night. Its pretty funny although it simplifies the issue just a touch. Interesting how Gary Bettman is becoming the real anti christ figure in this.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

The Downfall of Hockey

Only watch this if you have broad band otherwise youll be loading it all night. Its pretty funny although it simplifies the issue just a touch. Interesting how Gary Bettman is becoming the real anti christ figure in this.

That was quite funny. Although most people I have heard are blaming the players.

[Nurvingiel]

That was hilarious! Rick Mercer is really funny.

I think it's equally the fault of the NHL management (as the comissioner I guess Bettman will take most of the blame) and the players, as well as some other factors I'm sure exist in this equation.

I stand by my rant I made months ago.

[Insidious Rex]

Well for anyone who cares the lockout is over. Hockey is back.... Yea you remember... that game involving sticks and pucks...

*crickets*

Yeah I dont care too much either. NHL Hockey has done itself a great diservice. Ive lost a lot of my interest. Lets see how the general public feels about it now.

[mithrand1r]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Well for anyone who cares the lockout is over. Hockey is back.... Yea you remember... that game involving sticks and pucks...

*crickets*

Yeah I dont care too much either. NHL Hockey has done itself a great diservice. Ive lost a lot of my interest. Lets see how the general public feels about it now.

I still have interest, but it was seriously hurt by the NHL collectively shooting themselves in the foot.

Too bad it wasn't the NBA that went on a year off. Then the NBA may be encouraged to improve their collective game.

I usually like listening to the game by radio anyway vs. watching on TV. (same with Baseball).

[IronParrot]

I'm actually quite excited about NHL hockey's return - strange, considering I was off the game for a good deal of time until the big Flames run in 2004. Don't know about some of the new rule changes, though... the shootout in particular.

So. The Pens got Sidney Crosby. Thoughts?

[Rconsole]

Originally Posted by IronParrot

So. The Pens got Sidney Crosby. Thoughts?

whatever the Sens are still gonna kick their butts :P
I think it was yesterday we beat Pittsburg but it's still preseason so they didn't play Crosbie or Lemieux...oh well...I'm soooooooooooooo glad to have hockey back

[rohirrim TR]

say could one of you hockey experts explain hockey strategy to me? i have watched it and i can't see any strategy , all i see is dudes figthing with sticks which in turn makes me want to try the game sometime

[Curubethion]

Hey, has hockey season actually started...or are they still in a lockout?

[Nurvingiel]

*bump*

My boyfriend and I went the the Canucks-Kings game last night!

The Good

- We won 7-4! woo!
- Auld played excellently
- The "Brother Line" of Carter and the Sedins were on fire!
- The "West Coast Express" Bertuzzi, Burrows and Kesler, were similarly on fire
- Alex Burrows got a hat trick! After his third goal, fans threw their hats on the ice. Security looked the other way for a for a few minutes.
- Twice during this game, the Canucks scored two goals in less than a minute!
- Ruutu is awesome. He gets to people not by running at the mouth, but by grinning maniacally.
- I like the way the Kings play hockey. Parrish (forward, scored two goals) and Garron (goalie, made great saves) are very talented
- I really like the way the Canucks play hockey


The Bad

- Our passes were sloppy in the first period, for the first 15 minutes. (However we did shape up after this and the rest is history.)


The Ugly

- Brown (of the Kings) broke Matt Cooke's nose by accident. That sucks enough, but as Cooke was skating past the King's bench with a bloody towel on his face, Avery taunted, "How's the face Cookie?" What a jackass.

Also, Brown didn't get a penalty for elbowing someone in the face. Bwaa!? (Other than that, the reffing was good in this game.)

Avery seems to have a grudge against Cooke because when they played junior hockey, Cooke knocked him out with a clean, legal body check.

Avery, get over it. And shut up, you're not even a good player.


Scoring Summary: (from canucks.com)

1st Period
LAK - Kostopoulos(8) (Miller) 17:33
VAN - D.Sedin(20) (Carter, Ohlund) 18:44pp
VAN - Carter(29) (H.Sedin, D.Sedin) 19:30pp

2nd Period
LAK - Parrish(27) (Conroy, Norstrom) 1:49pp
LAK - Parrish(28) (Pushkarev) 3:55
VAN - Burrows(5) (Ohlund, Bertuzzi) 14:10
VAN - Morrison(16) (Ohlund, Naslund) 16:43
VAN - Burrows(6) (Bertuzzi) 17:15

3rd Period
VAN - Park(8) (Morrison, Naslund) 1:38
VAN - Burrows(7) (Kesler, Baumgartner) 12:41
LAK - Cammalleri(25) (Conroy, Norstrom) 17:24pp

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by rohirrim TR

say could one of you hockey experts explain hockey strategy to me? i have watched it and i can't see any strategy , all i see is dudes figthing with sticks which in turn makes me want to try the game sometime

Hockey strategy? Generally its to put the puck in the oppositions net. And minimize the puck going in your net.

[Nurvingiel]

Well, there are different ways to accomplish that.

The Minnesota Wild do this by playing a very tight defensive game. The Canucks change lines (of forwards) often and the same players work together. (eg. Bertuzzi, Kesler and Naslund; Carter and the Sedin twins).

Also Ruutu is another element to the Canucks' strategy by drawing penalties. Then the Canucks have the chance to score on the power play.

There are strategies for making the most of power plays and killing one against you, which seem mostly to do with positioning. When a team is in poor position it's like the other team has an extra player.

Positioning, sharp passes, good plays (to put the other guys out of position), and drawing penalties while avoiding getting them are also part of strategy.

Hockey does look like a fun sport though eh?

[Nurvingiel]

A bump for the hockey thread because... da da DAAA, it's the Stanley Cup Finals!!

The Edmonton Oilers beat the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to win the Western Conference. The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres to win the Eastern Conference.

Now, these two fine teams face each other for Lord Stanley's Mug. So far they have played three games.

The first two games were played in Carolina and won by the home team. In the first game, Edmonton's completely fantastic goalie (and Con Smythe trohpie candidate) Dwayne Roloson was unfortunately injured where (Oiler) Bergeron checked (Hurricane) Ladd from behind, sending him crashing into Roloson and injuring his right knee. Roloson wanted to keep playing, but he could barely skate and the refs made him leave.

He was replaced by Ty Conklin who made an unfortunately-timed mistake that led to Caronlina's game-wining goal. Score: 5-4. Ty Conklin is a perfectly talented goalie, but he made a mistake that I do not think is entirely his fault - the poor guy did not get a huge amount of ice time this season.

Game 2, also in Carolina, was a 5-0 bloodbath for the home team. I didn't get to see this game, but I was surprised to hear the Hurricanes won so handily given that the Oilers have a lot of heart and agression, and block shots like their grandmother is standing in net. However, I think the loss of Roloson (in many ways the keystone of the team) and Conklin's shaky confidence led to a poor performance from my favourite Albertans.

For game 3, the first one in Edmonton, Jussi Markanen got a chance in net. There was a huge amount of pressure on the guy but he rose to the occasion with some huge saves and generally solid goal-tending, and the Oilers squeeked by 2-1. They deserved this win and I think they were generally the better team in this game (though they still can't get past Caronlina's incredible power-play killing). Most importantly, they absolutely needed to win this game and they got their act together and did it.

I think Markanen's terrific goal-tending will boost the team's confidence. The Oilers played more conservatively than they normally do - only a few big hits, and they never left Markanen alone against the Hurrican forwards, but that was a good move. They could get away with leaving Roloson hanging out to dry, but less risky defence is needed for Markanen.

I'd like to see them keep this well-knit defence going while getting more aggressive (one of the Oilers' great strengths) and putting some big hits on talented Hurricane forwards like Rod Brin'damor. I want to see Brind'amor get "pronged" (pronged: to get hit very hard by Oilers' defenceman Chris Pronger). I have nothing against Brind'amor, but the simple fact is he needs to be stopped from scoring so much, and taking it to him would reduce his assisting and scoring chances.

I am totally biased here. While I do think the Hurricanes are a great team (darn you Cam Ward and your fantastic goal-tending), the Oilers have really captured my heart.

The Canucks stank the place up this season and left a void in my heart. I don't care so much that they didn't play that well and didn't make the playoffs, what saddened me is they lost because they didn't have any heart when they played. If you're going to lose, give the other guy a black eye on the way down eh? But they played as if they wanted to hit the showers by the middle of the second period.

Interestingly, the Canucks' ballsing it up is the only reason the Oilers made the playoffs in the first place! The Oilers also had a poor season, but when they got the chance to go the playoffs (seeded eighth I think) they pulled it together, made some bold changes right at the beggining of the playoffs, which is usually not done, and started kicking some butts.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still love the Canucks as much as ever and I want to see them have a great season next year (hint: trade Bertuzzi!!). But watching the Oilers in the playoffs has been a wonderful experience! I love the way the Oilers play hockey and I want them to win the Stanley Cup!

I now cheer for two teams - the Canucks and the Oilers.

Go Oilers! Win the next game and tie up the series! You can DO it! I believe in you Markanen!

Who else is following the playoffs?

[Nurvingiel]

No one follows hockey here?

The Oilers faced elimination last night, but they won in overtime with a brilliant goal from Fernando Pisani. He blocked a bad pass, got control of it and took off, and rifled it over Cam Ward's glove into the top corner! It was the most brilliant goal I have ever seen!

Now that the series is 3-2, the Hurricanes are gunning for one more win to bring them the Stanley cup. But game six is going to be in Edmonton, and after their brilliant win, the Oilers are going to be very fired up.

I predict that there will be two more hard-fought games, and Edmonton will win the Stanley Cup!

[Insidious Rex]

Good luck stirring up this crowd about Hockey Nurvingial. I dont think your average Tolkien fan is nearly as knowledgable about Hockey unfortunately. And after the strike you really did see a dive in interest. At least in the states. So this thread could end up like the basketball one where 2 or 3 people talked to each other about the games.

That being said look for the Hurricanes to win the series in the next game. Would have been nice to see the Oilers take the cup just like the old days but I think Hockey has changed too much for any direct comparison to those days.

[mithrand1r]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Good luck stirring up this crowd about Hockey Nurvingial. I dont think your average Tolkien fan is nearly as knowledgable about Hockey unfortunately. And after the strike you really did see a dive in interest. At least in the states. So this thread could end up like the basketball one where 2 or 3 people talked to each other about the games.

That being said look for the Hurricanes to win the series in the next game. Would have been nice to see the Oilers take the cup just like the old days but I think Hockey has changed too much for any direct comparison to those days.

I would like to see the Hurricanes win the series. (What can I do if New Jersey is not playing. )

Although I am not very knowledgeable about hockey, I find it more enjoyable than Basketball. (Especially when seeing the game in person.)

I could not follow much hockey on TV since many games were on OLN and I do not get OLN. (School could be another reason. )

[Nurvingiel]

No worries Mithrandir, you don't need to be knowledgeable about hockey to enjoy the sport.

Moving the games from ESPN to OLN was the stupidest NHL decision in the history of time. Only something like 1/3 of Americans get OLN, so you're not alone! Now ESPN has filled its programming with stuff like poker, which is a lot cheaper to produce and it still draws viewers, so even if the NHL went crawling back to ESPN, ESPN might tell them to forget it!

Not surprisingly, hockey viewership in the States has dropped to something very pathetic like 0.4. I'm not entirely sure what that number means, but according to the Okanagan Daily Courier, that is pathetically low.

It's not really your fault though - only 1/3 of Americans even have the chance to watch a lot of the games, and not all those people will be hockey fans!

At least you can read recaps at NHL.com. Here is the recap of game 5.


I wouldn't be so quick to discount the Oilers IRex. They're only down by one game now in the series, and they are absolutely on fire right now. Furthermore, the next game is in Edmonton. I still stand by my prediction that the Oilers will win.

I agree about support for NHL hockey dropping after the strike. I think people did not appreciate being jerked around by the organisation, and they found other things to do with their time. Once they started playing again, I think most fans followed hockey again, but there was certainly a drop.

I like the Hurricanes, especially Dough Weight, Rod Brind'amour, Mike Commodore, and Cam Ward (I heart him), but I like the Oilers more. I really, really want the Oilers to win, and I know they can do it!

[Jonathan]

Carolina won against Edmonton in Game 7. So the Hurricanes finally got their first Stanley Cup title. Congrats!

[Nurvingiel]

Well, it's playoff time again. The only series I'm following right now is the Western Quarter Finals between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars.

The series is 2-1 Vancouver because of the Canucks' win in overtime last night. Taylor Pyatt scored the winner.

Janik Hansen, a new Canuck, is the first Danish hockey player to play in the playoffs. His first game with the Canucks was in this series! I bet he was pretty nervøs, but he has been playing very well. He can skate like heck and makes smart plays.

Anyone cheering for the Flames, Red Wings, Stars, Wild, or some other random teams that I haven't been following because they aren't the Canucks?

[Jonathan]

I'm cheering for the Devils. However I wouldn't mind seeing a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup this year. It's been a while since that happened, eh?

I kind of hope the Red Wings will go down quickly. That would mean many good Swedish players would be free to play in the upcoming World Championships

Btw, congrats Canada on winning the women's world championships as usual!
The Swedes won the bronze - yay!