NHL Thread - December 2007

[Red Baron 0]

I know being and loyal and stuff, but this was a cool idea but the cost...not so much.

 

Personalized Brick at the Centennial plaza in Montreal.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

Hey, someone is forcing me to hate the Blackhawks as much as the Ravens.

Let's not get carried away with our analogies.

[devo 0]

I know being and loyal and stuff, but this was a cool idea but the cost...not so much.

 

Personalized Brick at the Centennial plaza in Montreal.

 

Got something like that as a Christmas present for my dad to go into the new Mets' stadium. Cost was a little easier to swallow since it's technically a charitable contribution which makes it tax deductible.

 

Oh, right, hockey. The Jackets haven't been terrible this month with ten points in nine games, but damn it's frustrating to see them constantly lose in overtime. They're tied for the league lead with six OT losses. I'm pretty sure at least four of those were from shootouts, too, which doesn't make a lick of sense to me considering how solid Leclaire and Norrena have been and the fact that the team has several good shooters.

 

Still, they're on the edge of the playoff picture, which is a hell of an improvement over their performance in any year, ever, so I can't really complain.

[Guest RyechnaiaSobaka]

Pascal Leclaire is awesome. I remember about four years ago, some friends of mine were saying how awesome he was/was going to be. Turned out they were right. They were not Blue Jacket fans either, for sure.

[CanadianChris 0]

I'm watching the Bills game right now, and all I can say is I really hope the weather in Buffalo improves for next Wednesday's hockey game. It's seven degrees and raining right now.

 

This is what happens when you plan an outdoor game for somewhere other than Edmonton in the dead of winter. That game was just awesome to watch.

[Red Baron 0]

They are calling for scattered showers with a high of 38 for Buffalo on the first.

[CanadianChris 0]

They are calling for scattered showers with a high of 38 for Buffalo on the first.

Awesome. I would say I hope the rink has a covering over it, but then how would anyone in the upper stands see the game?

[Guest Kyle Raymond Orton]

Not awesome. We want nasty lake effect. No chance of that with it being in the 30s.

 

Therefore, cloudy with flurries. Which is like every winter day in WNY.

[Red Baron 0]

You mean the Canadians? They'd be hammered and then head over to the Anchor Bar for some wings afterwards.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

How many times will the Ducks and Sharks play each other this month. That was crazy.

[Red Baron 0]

Three times in four days.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

I hate the concept of the overtime loss. Why should teams get a point for taking longer to fail? There aren't varying degrees of losses in the other three big leagues, the leagues that don't cancel an entire season due to work stoppage. Look at this shit. Columbus is 15-14-6, 36 points in 35 games, which is technically an above-.500 record. They SHOULD be 15-20, well below the break-even mark, but because they took a little longer to lose, they're artificially elevated. Here's what the rankings ought to be in the West, if the NHL weren't clinging to the last vestiges of the tie:

 

1 Detroit 26-10 (0)

2 Colorado 21-15 (+2)

3 Minnesota 20-15 (+2)

4 Dallas 21-16 (-2)

5 St. Louis 18-15 (+4)

6 Vancouver 20-17 (-3)

7 San Jose 18-17 (-1)

8 Chicago 18-17 (+2)

9 Phoenix 17-17 (+3)

10 Anaheim 18-20 (-3)

11 Nashville 16-18 (+3)

12 Calgary 17-20 (-4)

13 Edmonton 16-21 (0)

14 Columbus 15-20 (-3)

15 Los Angeles 12-25 (0)

 

Parenthesized number = how many spots they moved. I knew the Jackets were not what they seemed, but the Ducks are getting away with murder.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I agree with that. I think the games should end with sudden death extra periods just like in the playoffs. I hate the points system.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

Nah. Too taxing for regular season play. 10 minutes overtime, shootout, a winner and loser are determined. Wins, losses, that's it.

 

Definitely keep sudden death for the playoffs, though.

[Red Baron 0]

Bring back the Tie!

[RepoMan 0]

Bring back the Tie!

I always argued there was nothing wrong with ties in a sport that plays an 82 game regular season.

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

You argued wrong. Ties are not acceptable in any sport with any schedule of any length. What do you mean, acceptable for 82 games? Would it be acceptable for baseball's 162? Of course not. You play to win the game. (Hello.) When you win, that's great. When you lose, you can figure out what you did wrong. When you tie, nothing is lost, nothing is gained, and the fans get nothing out of it.

 

My theory is that if hockey's genesis was in the United States and not Canada, there would never have been ties and this "points system." Isn't overtime fairly new to the NHL, like the last 25 years or so? So they'd just play an hour and say "okay, done"? Preposterous.

[Nightwing 0]

I agree with MPtT. Personally, I love the Shoot-out as a Regular season solution: It gives fans a legit ending to the game without putting ridiculous strain on the team for a regular season game. It's not for the playoffs (Tim Cowlishaw should be shot for his suggestion that playoff games should use it except for "important games". What the fuck isn't important about a game in the playoffs? EVERY game is important at that point...), but the NHL does need to start phasing out the "Consolation Prize" points. Going to straight W-L makes the system that much easier.

[Guest]

I REALLY don't like the shootout, but it's the best way to go. Get rid of overtime points entirely, or if that idiot Bettman insists on having them, give out a point to teams that lose before the shootout, and not during it. Maybe it'll make OT more offensive minded.

 

Shootouts in the playoffs, well, everyone that likes that should be taken out back and shot.

[Red Baron 0]

You know, I wouldn't mind if the shootout and OT didn't give away points.

 

Besides Football has ties too, and no one bitches about them.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

That's because it's almost impossible to have a tie in football. It's like adding an extra period in hockey where you only need a shot on goal to win.

[Red Baron 0]

I meant Footy.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

Montreal Gazette Rips in Michael Ryder

 

Looking at what Michael Ryder has done so far this year, I can't say I really blame them for hopping all over him now. The thing that pissed me off was the bitching and moaning when he WAS playing well

[RepoMan 0]

You argued wrong. Ties are not acceptable in any sport with any schedule of any length. What do you mean, acceptable for 82 games? Would it be acceptable for baseball's 162? Of course not. You play to win the game. (Hello.) When you win, that's great. When you lose, you can figure out what you did wrong. When you tie, nothing is lost, nothing is gained, and the fans get nothing out of it.

 

My theory is that if hockey's genesis was in the United States and not Canada, there would never have been ties and this "points system." Isn't overtime fairly new to the NHL, like the last 25 years or so? So they'd just play an hour and say "okay, done"? Preposterous.

 

I've got season tix for the local AHL team. There are plenty of nights every year when I think the teams deserve to be tied and not have some gimmic shootout to determine a winner. I think it's more fair that when two teams play an even game they just split the points. I feel like the NHL caved into non-hockey fans who rip on hockey for having ties but would never watch the NHL even when they got rid of ties.

 

I would agree that I that they should get rid of consilation points if they're going to have a winner and loser every night.

 

[Red Baron 0]

Montreal Gazette Rips in Michael Ryder

 

Looking at what Michael Ryder has done so far this year, I can't say I really blame them for hopping all over him now. The thing that pissed me off was the bitching and moaning when he WAS playing well

 

The Gazette is fucking horrible. They have chased away so many players from Montreal.

[Red Baron 0]

King, you should be happy about Johnathon Bernier, he's gonna be good for the Kings in the future.

[Guest]

I'm just as happy about Thomas Hickey.

[treble 0]

Andrew Raycroft is really bad.

[Red Baron 0]

Ya, I didn't know why last year I defended him so much.

 

The curse of the calder lives on.

[treble 0]

He actually played alright after the first period, but he was awful before that.