Sayoonara NHL

[Tracer]

And then the Spurs will win....

[Rhydant]

I'm not a religious man by any means, but I'm praying tonight before I hit the sack.

In my opinion, its Game On. And what a freaking sweet season it will be, super scrappy. Teams clawing at each other tooth and nail with so few games to get into playoff spots. Can't fucking wait.

This might be the best thing ever to happen to the NHL. Every game will count. Its going to be like an extended Playoffs. Fucking awesome!

And the best part, the Kings have areally good shot at the playoffs this year! None of this lose/tie-the-last-12-games-and-lose-a-playoff-birth crap.

[Clash!]

I know I being super hopefull, but I mean come on. If these guys did'nt want this season to happen why the hell would they even be talking right now when the season has been canceld. If it was'nt just Bettman trying to push things, why would they suddenly be metting 3 days later?

This might be the best thing ever to happen to the NHL. Every game will count. Its going to be like an extended Playoffs. Fucking awesome!

And everyone should know, that NO SPORT has as exciting and intense of Playoffs as Hockey does. Its fucking edge of your seat stuff, and to think that its basically being extended by 28 games! Hoo! It gets me giddy!

[Rhydant]

Its true, and a lot of people don't realize this. Mainly because if you don't live in a city with a local team (like me in San Diego), then you dont get NHL games on standard television. You'd have to get ESPN or another network that carries NHL games.

What you do see on ABC is the All-Star Game and maybe a few regular season matches if there isn't anything else happening on a sunday morning. The all-star game is crap because the players are just screwing around. And thats what alot of people in the states think of hockey. Slow paced and lots of scoring.

But to see teams like Detroit/Colorado go at it... its a thing of unadulterated beauty.

[Diff-chan]

This might be the best thing ever to happen to the NHL. Every game will count. Its going to be like an extended Playoffs. Fucking awesome!

The NBA had a season shortened to 54 games a few years ago, and it was pretty damn awesome. It was so awesome that people were talking about permanently shortening the season. Of course the powers that be will never do that.

I dont give a fuck about hockey, but I do hope hockey fans get a short season in some form.

And everyone should know, that NO SPORT has as exciting and intense of Playoffs as Hockey does.

Did you watch the ALCS this year?

[Cowutopia]

I have to admit, the baseball thing was pretty exciting this year, if I wasn't sick to my stomach every time the Yankees were on it would have been great. (That and if the ending to the season had been different.)

But hockey playoffs are generally super exciting and intense. I just...everyone hypes them up so much constantly that I wonder if some newcomers are disappointed. Nothing's as exciting as a ferocious, close hockey game. Baseball makes you bite your nails sometimes but hockey makes you bite your nails with bodies flying. And when you get that perfect pass play to set up a goal...and the goalie flies out of nowhere to make some ridiculous save...it's just amazing.

Greatest moment of my life was seeing the Devils hoist the cup in person. Come on, hockey!

Oh yeah, a short season WILL be awesome. And as I recall, the Devils won the last one. (Though our team's gone wayyy downhill since then.)

[Drewbacca]

liven up the game how? more scoring like everyone seems to think? thats such an artificial fix. the sport is "lively" enough. they just need to chill on the penalties a bit. in recent years the pace of the game has dropped to that of an NBA game with how many stoppages of play there are.

Actually, a salary cap would be a great start. Right now the talent teams like Detriot and New York have makes it almost impossible for rural teams to win cups. Look at Anaheim with their breakout goalie for that season. The team was something EVERYONE was willing to watch because it was a great underdog story, and then they just lost (I think to Detroit, I can't remember, but probably Detroit or some powerhouse team).

Like diffusionX said, alot of interest came back to baseball when some of the smaller teams started winning again. The same thing would happen in hockey. Right now the playoffs are won by a handful of maybe 4 or 5 teams, and it's kind of lame. Forcing a more widespread use of talented athletes around the entire league would spread competition and give other teams a better shake at winning the big one.


Also, half the reason a lot of people hate the NHL now (while liking hockey the sport) is because it's all about violence. Back in the day they didn't even wear helmets for god sakes, it was about talent and scoring. If anything they should be calling more penalties. It'll never happen, but a focus more on the sport in a clean way would probably be the best route.

[Cowutopia]

Dude, the Devils beat them. For the cup. In 7 games. Shame game 7 wasn't that close. I was there. Gah but it was awesome.

And it's not really all about violence at all. The violence is just what makes it into the media. It's the same as when some football star gets arrested for beating up a hooker or what have you...one or two players being retarded screws up the image for the rest of the league. That Bertuzzi thing was really sick.

It's always had fights and hard checks.

[Drewbacca]

Dude, the Devils beat them. For the cup. In 7 games. Shame game 7 wasn't that close. I was there. Gah but it was awesome.

And it's not really all about violence at all. The violence is just what makes it into the media. It's the same as when some football star gets arrested for beating up a hooker or what have you...one or two players being retarded screws up the image for the rest of the league. That Bertuzzi thing was really sick.

It's always had fights and hard checks.

It's undeniable that violence is becoming more and more prominent in hockey. It's more violent now than it was 10 or 15 years ago, when a fight was kind of a rare thing and considered a nuisance. Now there's one in every night.

It's not in the media, it's in the game. The media perpetuates a stereotype that it's ALL about violence, which it's not, but it's definitely become a big part of the game now.

[Error]

Devils Ducks was the most BORING playoff series I've ever snored through. Correction, second most boring. First belonged to Ducks Wild before it. At least the Devils had some talent that year. But it was still boring as hell. I'm sorry but the game sucks right now. Dump chase hack slash ice it play safe cause an offside lull the other team to sleep then get out with a one goal win. Leveling the playing field is a good first step, it would distribute talent more evenly and allow smaller market teams to keep their core players for long periods of time. After they do that they have to make it illegal to allow a coach to preach defence first.