Kinda nervous posting this (hockey related)

[El Fangel]

I started writting a hockey blog last week, I have two articles posted and thought I would share them if people are interested in reading hockey stuff.

Its located at

200by85.forumer.com

Feel free to sign up if you wish, would love some regular readers.

[Lara Emily]

Correction on #9 in top 10 moments in hockey. Lemieux in 2000 returned from back injury and just a general dislike for the way the game went all clutch and grab in late the late 90s, his Hodgkin's disease had been not a problem since 1992-93, so he never retired due to cancer, he had beaten cancer 6 years prior.

[El Fangel]

Ah, thanks for the info LE. You are likely a couple years older then me so you would remember it a bit better.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Great start for your site. Can you explain what the name of the site is about?

I love the idea of rookie and prospect games. Though you need to see how these players would react to the real members of the team. There wouldn't be any starting five on a team with just rookies. All you will be doing is seeing how these guys play against players in the same skill level. There wouldn't be much in-game use because scouts have seen them play in similar situations by following all of their college careers.

It might also lead to people trying to make a name for themselves over other teammates. That would lead to them hot-dogging plays and maybe picking more fights with the other team.

As a fan I would love for NHL to adopt these games because it would be sort of like Spring Training for hockey. I'm sure people would want to buy discounted tickets to games like this and it would be great for a cheap family sporting event. I don't see what would be the value of the games for the teams. Seems like another set of exhibition games that are unpopular enough even more so because the rookies and prospects could get injured and their futures jeopardized.

What are your thoughts on fighting in Hockey? Do you think they should stop fights earlier? I think something should be done about goons in hockey. Seems like they are getting like the movie Slap Shot out there with the Hanson Brothers.

I'm a Boston sports mark but I think Bobby Orr's goal should be higher. Canada winning an Olympic gold is expected so I wouldn't have that rated so high no matter what the scenario behind it was.

Your two is number one in my opinion.

[Lara Emily]

Just moving this down

Now as for your other list

7) Rookie Games - In the preseason, there should be a small amount of games where a team may ONLY have rosters consisting of rookie eligible players and prospects. Give fans a show of the future so to speak.

Teams participate in yearly rookie tournies, not sure if all teams do but most do, so this already happens, if you made it mandatory for pre-season games, 1) people won't go, even for preseason they want to see some NHL players 2) teams have 4 or 5 games on average to get ready for the season, they need to see which new guys fit in with their roster players and need to see which roster players should be promoted or demoted. In other words reducing the number of games a coach/GM has to evaluate their team hurts their regular season preparation.

6) Rookie Max Games - Change this from 10 to 20, 10 is too few to judge a prospect and it rakes a few games to get adjusted.

That;s the thing teams don;t have time in the regular season to wait for their players to get adjusted, usually by 10 games the Teams knows if their non superstar rookie is NHL ready or not or if he'd be better suited for more time in the juniors. Most non superstar rookies with junior eligibility end up back in junior, expanding it to 20 games could actually hurt a player's development as they could end upp riding the pine for an extra 10 games playing maybe on the 4th line or as the 7th D, getting little time, when they could be playing top minutes in junior and trust me 90% of these guys get sent back unless their names are Crosby, Stamkos, Hall whatever.

5) Draft - The lottery system, while it has its uses, I do not like. Hockey should be about skill, not luck. The worst teams need the best player available. The lottery would have been a great idea pre salary cap.

I get the feeling you don't know how the draft lottery works. All the non playoff teams are entered in the lottery, the lottery is weighted so that the worst team has the best chance, the 2nd worst the 2nd best chance and so on, the max number of slots a team can move up is 4, so that means only the worst through 5th worst team in the league actually has a shot at #1 it also means worst team can draft no lower than 2nd, the 2nd no lower than 3rd, 3rd no lower than 4th, and so forth. This is in place to ensure that one team doesn't go out there and tank on purpose to get that #1 guaranteed.

4) Coach Firing Deadline - After 20 Games, The coach can't be fired until the season ends. As of this writing, the Devils fired McLean mere days ago. His best player is out, his captain is aging, his top center hasn't got anyone to pass to who can put the puck in the net, they can't ice a full roster due to ownership breaking normality and signing an offensive player and Marty is losing his battlr with father time...and this is McLeans fault? Its another case of imcompentantcy being blamed on underlings.

I'm going to be brutally honest, this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard suggested like ever. I'm gonna give you a direct example why: If this were in place it would have cost the Pittsburgh Penguins the 2009 Stanley Cup, they were on the outside of the playoffs looking in and on the verge of a total collapse when they fired Therrien and hired Bylsma, after that they went on a tear, going 18-3-4 in the final 25 games to finish 4th in the league and gain home ice for the opening round. The Penguins had 59 points in 57 games under Therrien and got 40 points in 25 games under Bylsm. Therrien had lost his team if his job had been safe, the players would have given up even further and guarantee you not made the playoffs. A good coach who the players have faith in is crucial to a team's success, limiting a team's ability to fire a coach to shake up a team in a downward spiral is crazy. You do know coaches get their money when they are fired right, really no one gets screwed, team gets the change fired coach gets his money.

3) Entry Level Contracts - Players on ELC's who were drafted by the team that signed them to contract shouldnt count towards cap. This would allow rookies to get played more, would allow bad teams to spend the extra cash resigning a key player or signing a free agwnt. Many wouldn't agree with this idea however.

So sign a bunch of your rookies, to fill your 3rd and 4th lines and then used that extra money to field 2 top lines that could end up being star quality, their would be a huge cap loophole. Or all this might do is drive up salary demands for everyone else right? Players would come to a GM and say you're saving a ton of cap money, give me some of that or I walk. More players would be making max salary as a result.

You have a weird obsession with rookies, they're cool and all but last thing ya want is rushing these players into NHL service before they're ready, it can fuck up their development big time. A lot of player benefit hugely from extended playing time in he AHL, they become better players for it. Not to mention would these players count towards a team's salary flooor beause if not look out all you are doing is forcing a poor (financially) team to go out and overpay a bunch of veterans to make sure they hit the salary floor while still having to pay these rookies their money thus you'd be forcing already poor teams to spend more money then they would be previously for pretty much the same roster.

BTW even if this worked out exactly as think it would you'd be sending even more established players into early retirement and diluting the NHL talent pool and risking pissing off a lot of fans who want to see established NHL talent not the AHL at the NHL level.


2) Goalie Equipment - Goalies are good, this is not the 1980's, we don't need to see massive scoring games, hence goalies shouldnt be punished for this.

So in a lost of things you'd change your #2 thing to change is not change the goalie equipment? How is not changing something a change.


1) Shootout - I boycotted the NHL for 3 Years because of this, It is by far and away the worst change to the game that has ever happened. I want hockey, not a skills competition. And get rid of the loser point, hockey is about trying to win the game, instead of trying to not lose in regulation.

My opinion? 10 mins of 4-4 overtime, then each team gets a point and goes home. A game should be worth two points, no more, no less.

I can't believe you stopped watching hockey for something that happens maybe 10 to 15 times a year per team, if that much. Now I don't really care for the shootout either but it's silly to just give up on hockey because of it.

[El Fangel]

Great start for your site. Can you explain what the name of the site is about?

I love the idea of rookie and prospect games. Though you need to see how these players would react to the real members of the team. There wouldn't be any starting five on a team with just rookies. All you will be doing is seeing how these guys play against players in the same skill level. There wouldn't be much in-game use because scouts have seen them play in similar situations by following all of their college careers.

It might also lead to people trying to make a name for themselves over other teammates. That would lead to them hot-dogging plays and maybe picking more fights with the other team.

What are your thoughts on fighting in Hockey? Do you think they should stop fights earlier? I think something should be done about goons in hockey. Seems like they are getting like the movie Slap Shot out there with the Hanson Brothers.

I'm a Boston sports mark but I think Bobby Orr's goal should be higher. Canada winning an Olympic gold is expected so I wouldn't have that rated so high no matter what the scenario behind it was.

Your two is number one in my opinion.

For the name, Google the dimensions of an NHL Rink;)

I see your point for the prospects game, hmm. Not sure how to fix that to be truthful, suggestions?

Fighting in hockey THESE days is all but useless in my opinion. It HAD its place, it doesn't anymore. There is absolutely no reason it needs to be in the game, however it is part of it and I would rather the game stay the same it was during the golden ages.

Orrs goal was amazing, however if you were Canadian, it was our version of the Miracle on Ice. Canada no longer has a stranglehold on mens gold in the Olympics, USA was a better team and I will admit, should have won that game.

I was contemplating putting #2 as #1 but I asked 3 unbiased people and 2/3 said Summit Series, other said Miracle. It is a wire thin difference IMO.

[Lara Emily]

Great start for your site. Can you explain what the name of the site is about?

I love the idea of rookie and prospect games. Though you need to see how these players would react to the real members of the team. There wouldn't be any starting five on a team with just rookies. All you will be doing is seeing how these guys play against players in the same skill level. There wouldn't be much in-game use because scouts have seen them play in similar situations by following all of their college careers.



They already do them. Rookie tournaments are a yearly thing

[Lara Emily]

For the name, Google the dimensions of an NHL Rink;)

I see your point for the prospects game, hmm. Not sure how to fix that to be truthful, suggestions?

Fighting in hockey THESE days is all but useless in my opinion. It HAD its place, it doesn't anymore. There is absolutely no reason it needs to be in the game, however it is part of it and I would rather the game stay the same it was during the golden ages.

Orrs goal was amazing, however if you were Canadian, it was our version of the Miracle on Ice. Canada no longer has a stranglehold on mens gold in the Olympics, USA was a better team and I will admit, should have won that game.

I was contemplating putting #2 as #1 but I asked 3 unbiased people and 2/3 said Summit Series, other said Miracle. It is a wire thin difference IMO.

Are you serious? USA was not the better team not on paper, and eventually not in execution. USA defense [aled in comparison to Canada's D, Canada was younger, faster , stronger. The forwards were on par but the advnatge definitely goes to Canada on the strength of Towes, Crosby, Iginla, Heatley etc... Goaltending goes to Ryan Miller (the reason that game went into OT)

What worked for USA is that they worked as a cohesive unit quicker than Canada did but once Canada did they fucking rolled, Canada lost to USA that game in the prelims because of Brodeur and only Brodeur. Let's not forget Canada never trailed in the gold medal game, not once. So no the USA did not blow anything, it was not a situation where they should have won that game and blew it, Canada was the odds on favorite to win and they did simple as that. So to imply that the USA should have won that game sells Canada so short and sells your team short too, they shouldn't have won, hell they shouldn't have made it to OT but they did and that's impressive.

[El Fangel]

I'm on mobile, so I can't quote your message LE.

Tell me if I miss anything.

6&7) Rookie stuff, love rookies. Love drafts. Love absolute late round steals. I hate waiting so long to see players playing in the NHL. Esposito, Ashton, Caron, Kassian, Cormier, Hodgson. Seems they got drafted ages ago and I never see them play.

5) I know how it works, I just don't like it thats all. I understand its to prevent a team from tanking. Just would hate to see a team lose first overall because of a stupid bit of luck.

4) I am not so much against it coach firings, I hate when it is obviously not their fault. Coaches do what they can, with what they are given basically. Perhaps change it so a team can't fire a coach if they are over.500 or something. I dunno, always hated coach firings.

3) I love seeing rookies used as I have said before. I love when teams build through the draft instead of trades. That's why I enjoy watching the Oilers, Islanders, Kings.

2) There were rumors that goalie equipment was going to get even smaller, I think its small enough.

1) The lockout angered me and adding something so stupid angered me farther. Hockey is a team effort not a goddamn skill show.

[El Fangel]

I dunno LE, the gold medal game was so tight, USA seemed to be playing so much better in that game. I was fucking esctatic that Canada won but I don't think I ever saw a closer game of hockey.

[Lara Emily]

Tell me if I miss anything.

6&7) Rookie stuff, love rookies. Love drafts. Love absolute late round steals. I hate waiting so long to see players playing in the NHL. Esposito, Ashton, Caron, Kassian, Cormier, Hodgson. Seems they got drafted ages ago and I never see them play.

Angelo Esposio isn't playing in the NHL because he fucking sucks. Players need time to develop, not everyone is a SIdney Crosby or even a Taylor Hall, creating a system where these guys are rushed fucks them up and makes the NHL less talented

5) I know how it works, I just don't like it thats all. I understand its to prevent a team from tanking. Just would hate to see a team lose first overall because of a stupid bit of luck.

Yeah but there's rarely a guaranteed basement team it's usually a bunch of really bad teams and other than Sidney Crosby years 2nd overall is still great. Look at the Ovechkin year, Washington got him and Pittsburgh ya know got Evgeni Malkin.

4) I am not so much against it coach firings, I hate when it is obviously not their fault. Coaches do what they can, with what they are given basically. Perhaps change it so a team can't fire a coach if they are over.500 or something. I dunno, always hated coach firings.

Those are rules for the sake of rules, Temas have to be given the opportunity to make changes when changes need making. Trading players is hard to do, improving your team when you suck through mid season trades is next to impossible and almost never works. Coach firing is easier to do and it works. BTW your new system again would have prevented the Penguins from getting rid of Therrien when they did, they were just over .500, what would they have had to tank a few more games to fire him. Your new proposed idea basically encourages players to give up on their season in hopes of getting blow .500 to get rid of a coach that isn't working. Basically meaning your system actively stops a team from doing something to stop a downward spiral before it gets worse. In another words instead of patching up the dam before it completely explodes your new system forces a team to wait for it to exlode and then try and build a new one.

3) I love seeing rookies used as I have said before. I love when teams build through the draft instead of trades. That's why I enjoy watching the Oilers, Islanders, Kings.

Plenty of teams do that. Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia, have all built their teams largely through drafting. I just think you aren't suggesting things that are better for the game, just things that are better for you.

Random not the Islanders are a total joke and have not tried to build anything through the draft,


2) There were rumors that goalie equipment was going to get even smaller, I think its small enough.

Yeah but until they do it arguing not changing something equals a change is kinda weird and just in-congruent with the thesis of your article

1) The lockout angered me and adding something so stupid angered me farther. Hockey is a team effort not a goddamn skill show.

Eh, still hockey is hockey, not watching because of a shootout would be like not watching cause they took out fighting.

[Lara Emily]

I dunno LE, the gold medal game was so tight, USA seemed to be playing so much better in that game. I was fucking esctatic that Canada won but I don't think I ever saw a closer game of hockey.

It was a great game. But the right team Won, no Canada didn't dominate, never said they did, but they were the better team in that game, on paper and on the ice.

In fact going into the tournament most people doubted the USA, they played well above their means in that tournament

[El Fangel]

6&7) I agree with ya, so no point in farthering this

5) Yeah, in recent years the top few have all been blue-chip guys. But think if your team bottomed out, won 10 games all season and didn't get to pick first, as the team who got 5th won the lottery, wouldn't that kinda you know suck balls.

4) I see your point, however i see coach firings as stupid no matter what.

3) ELCs I really like as it allows teams to field players for 3 years on the cheap. Your right that rushed development rarely works.

As for the teams you mentioned, they have mostly completed their build, LA is late in the process, Oilers beginning.

Islanders aren't rebuilding? Tavares, De Haan, Nino, Petrov, Kabanov (if he comes around) Joensuu, Okposo, Bailey, Moulson, Koskinen all look a lot like building blocks to me.

2) Touche.

1) The shoot-out is NOT hockey, look up hockeys definition. A game played on a rink of ice, three forwards, two defense, a goalie.

Ties made sense, end of story.

[Lara Emily]

6&7) I agree with ya, so no point in farthering this

5) Yeah, in recent years the top few have all been blue-chip guys. But think if your team bottomed out, won 10 games all season and didn't get to pick first, as the team who got 5th won the lottery, wouldn't that kinda you know suck balls.

4) I see your point, however i see coach firings as stupid no matter what.

3) ELCs I really like as it allows teams to field players for 3 years on the cheap. Your right that rushed development rarely works.

As for the teams you mentioned, they have mostly completed their build, LA is late in the process, Oilers beginning.

Islanders aren't rebuilding? Tavares, De Haan, Nino, Petrov, Kabanov (if he comes around) Joensuu, Okposo, Bailey, Moulson, Koskinen all look a lot like building blocks to me.

2) Touche.

1) The shoot-out is NOT hockey, look up hockeys definition. A game played on a rink of ice, three forwards, two defense, a goalie.

Ties made sense, end of story.

5) No offense but now you are using a stupid hypothetical that has happened twice, both times to expansion teams and the last time 18 years ago when parity was much lower. Anything that encourages tanking is a bad idea, and right now there is never just one team that is so much worse then the other 4

4) Then you don't really understand hockey. Like maybe at all. Sorry but you asked what people thought of your articles and this tells me a lot about your understanding of the game. The right coach is super important and can make a bad team into a good team, a good team into a great team and a great team into a legendary team

3) ELCs still need to count against the cap or it fucks up the whole system a million different ways.

Matt Moulson was drafted by Pittsburgh, then signed with LA when the Pens didn't want him and then went to NYI not a draft pick, and of course they're rebuilding they're still a joke of a franchise right now though. Seriously they have a former backup golie for a GM, an owner who has publicy stated he regrets buying the team and it was only a few years ago that they hired Neil Smith in the offseason and then fired him a month later. Not to mention Rick Dipietro's contract is a joke. So even with all these supposed prospects, I have a lot of doubt the Islanders will be going anywhere anytime soon

1) Just to be a bitch: your definition then means Powerplay/Penalty Kill/OT isn't hockey either. Look I don't like the shootout much either but like I said it's silly to boycott hockey over it oh and it's also going nowhere, a ton of fans love it, just look at moments like Linus Omark's winning SO goal for why

[El Fangel]

5) No offense but now you are using a stupid hypothetical that has happened twice, both times to expansion teams and the last time 18 years ago when parity was much lower. Anything that encourages tanking is a bad idea, and right now there is never just one team that is so much worse then the other 4

Tell you what, Ill agree. I think though that if a happy medium between tanking prevention snd the last place team getting first overall was found, I would very much enjoy it.

4) Then you don't really understand hockey. Like maybe at all. Sorry but you asked what people thought of your articles and this tells me a lot about your understanding of the game. The right coach is super important and can make a bad team into a good team, a good team into a great team and a great team into a legendary team

I understand hockey plenty good, trust me. The right coach is important yeah, but in the end isn't it the same players the new coach gets? What exactly makes it so different to play for a new coach, the style of play? Couldn't the old coach have just been advised to try a new approach instead of firing him and getting someone else to do it.

Think about it, between Therrin and Blysma what changed. I would like someone elses opinion on that. And ill have questions for this answer as well.

3) ELCs still need to count against the cap or it fucks up the whole system a million different ways.

Matt Moulson was drafted by Pittsburgh, then signed with LA when the Pens didn't want him and then went to NYI not a draft pick, and of course they're rebuilding they're still a joke of a franchise right now though. Seriously they have a former backup golie for a GM, an owner who has publicy stated he regrets buying the team and it was only a few years ago that they hired Neil Smith in the offseason and then fired him a month later. Not to mention Rick Dipietro's contract is a joke. So even with all these supposed prospects, I have a lot of doubt the Islanders will be going anywhere anytime soon

Made a mistake with Moulson, forgot he waa signed not drafted. The franchise is a joke, yes but its not as if they deny it. They know they are bad and seem to be taking steps to fix it. Unlike some teams that trade their future for a decent player.

Having a backup goalie is questionable, but tell me recently how many stupid moves have been made?

Rickity D is a joke, hate the guy myself and no idea why they drafted him. They signed him thinking they had a franchise goalie on their hands, they were wrong.

Chara, Luongo both gone, they made aome huge blunders for sure. However it seems like they have a plan and are trying to stick to it.

1) Just to be a bitch: your definition then means Powerplay/Penalty Kill/OT isn't hockey either. Look I don't like the shootout much either but like I said it's silly to boycott hockey over it oh and it's also going nowhere, a ton of fans love it, just look at moments like Linus Omark's winning SO goal for why

...really? Lol.

Omark would NEVER have attempted that had he not had a breakaway in a skills competition. In your opinion what was so wrong with the tie that they needed this.

[Lara Emily]

BTW here is how you exploit the ELC thing:

You fill your bottom 6 with ELC, maybe even your bottom 2 D
then that gives you 56 milion to spend on 10 players and 2 goalies.

Allowing you to spend on average of 4.6 million per player, even more if you have like a few prospects that might be top line material.

Also back to coaches,coaches have systems they like to run, having the GM walk in and say no do this system doesn't mean all of a sudden that coach is going to know how to coach that style. Coaches also can lose the lockeroom and when that happens, there's really fuck all the coach can do

As for Therrien vs Bylsma yes there was a difference. Therrien was a very D first stay back don't take big chances passive sort of coach. It often resulted in the Pens spending a lot of time in their own zone. Bylsma was a much more be aggressive offensively sort of coach, this resulted in a lot more puck possession in the offensive zone, stronger forchecking much more more pressure in the defensive zone on opposing players, the downside is it lead to an increase in oddman rushes going the other way but the Pens had a great goalie in Fleury and solid D to break those up.


And fans do love it, they are often standing on their feet going nuts during shootouts, like I said I don't like them personally but they aren't going anywhere and my problem was with you boycotting hockey over it for 3 years which is just silly.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

They already do them. Rookie tournaments are a yearly thing

If they already do them, then why did you list it as an improvement they should make?

[Lara Emily]

If they already do them, then why did you list it as an improvement they should make?

WTF why you asking me I didn't write this stuff, I said it wasn't in need of improvement as it is already done

[parkmania]

When they instituted the Shootout, NHL had been doing market research for a couple years, and the one thing that casual fans hated more than anything was that the game could end without a winner. And let's face it - the NHL needed (and still needs) to appeal to the casual fan in an effort to make them dedicated fans.

It's an old hockey adage: "A tie is like kissing your sister."

[El Fangel]

If they already do them, then why did you list it as an improvement they should make?

I meant for something completely different from what they have now.

Was thinking about it last night, that maybe during the game, you have to always have a rookie forward and a rookie dman on the ice.

And always a rookie goalie.

Thoughts people.

When they instituted the Shootout, NHL had been doing market research for a couple years, and the one thing that casual fans hated more than anything was that the game could end without a winner. And let's face it - the NHL needed (and still needs) to appeal to the casual fan in an effort to make them dedicated fans.

It's an old hockey adage: "A tie is like kissing your sister."


The casual fan really doesnt understand hockey though, thats the problem.

Thats like me, a casual football fan saying that ties in football should be a TD chance with a wide receiver vs a linebacker.

Or in basketball a player at center court has to get by someone ay the free throw line and make a dunk.

Or in baseball, pitcher vs batter, if pitcher strikes out batter his team wins, if batter hits then his team wins.

None of those one on ones seem appealing to me, so why should our sport be ruined by casual (and face it, by casual they mean sunbelt americans or americans in general) fans who want to see a skills competition.

You try that football thing, they would be in an unending uproar.

[Lara Emily]

I meant for something completely different from what they have now.

Was thinking about it last night, that maybe during the game, you have to always have a rookie forward and a rookie dman on the ice.

And always a rookie goalie.

Thoughts people.




The casual fan really doesnt understand hockey though, thats the problem.

Thats like me, a casual football fan saying that ties in football should be a TD chance with a wide receiver vs a linebacker.

Or in basketball a player at center court has to get by someone ay the free throw line and make a dunk.

Or in baseball, pitcher vs batter, if pitcher strikes out batter his team wins, if batter hits then his team wins.

None of those one on ones seem appealing to me, so why should our sport be ruined by casual (and face it, by casual they mean sunbelt americans or americans in general) fans who want to see a skills competition.

You try that football thing, they would be in an unending uproar.


You have a really big obsession with rookies, like seriously, do you just watch hockey for rookies? Your rules and suggestions do nothing to improve the sport nor it's marketability. Plus they seem to be rules for the sake of rules. Like I said they already have rookie tournies, that's all you need, teams use preseason to scope at a few guys, try some new line combos, forcing them to play certain players at certain times is stupid and defeats the purpose of preseason.

You are definitely overreacting, note that a shootout has been part of international play since forever.

[parkmania]

The penalty shot has also long been considered the "most exciting play in hockey".

The problem with your analogy is that (in America) football, baseball, and basketball have achieved "critical mass". It has become mainstream enough that the fanbase is self-sustaining. Those sports have been known to most of this country for well over 100 years. Hockey still needs to grow in this country. As recently as my lifetime, hockey was not played on any level in over 50% of the USA.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Hockey has two 15 minute intermissions. I was so bored with that crap that I always left the U-Mass Hockey games before the 3rd Period.

They need to improve the time that it takes to clean the ice with the Zamboni Machine. Has there really been no Zamboni improvement in the last 20 years? That kind of intermission is bad for television because people might turn it off and keep it off. It kept me away from at least two hockey games. I mean it might be great for the heavy beer drinkers who need to use the bathroom a lot during the game, but U-Mass doesn't sell beer at the Mullins Center.

[El Fangel]

Oh and LE, I enjoy watching rookies explode onto the scence such as Stamkos did last season.

[Lara Emily]

Oh and LE, I enjoy watching rookies explode onto the scence such as Stamkos did last season.

yeah in his sophmore season, he was also #1 overall, unless you're near the top in the draft and even then not always, you don't generally make that impact right away hell even Stamkos had a mediocre first season. Stamkos, Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin are relatively rare most rookies take a hell of a lot more time to develop.

[SaskatchewanChamp]

Hockey has two 15 minute intermissions. I was so bored with that crap that I always left the U-Mass Hockey games before the 3rd Period.

They need to improve the time that it takes to clean the ice with the Zamboni Machine. Has there really been no Zamboni improvement in the last 20 years? That kind of intermission is bad for television because people might turn it off and keep it off. It kept me away from at least two hockey games. I mean it might be great for the heavy beer drinkers who need to use the bathroom a lot during the game, but U-Mass doesn't sell beer at the Mullins Center.

So.... How about them 7 hour baseball games? Or the 15 minutes, if not more to finish the last 5 minutes of basketball game?

[Gertner]

I get flak for this but I like the shoot out.

Also, I would throw a fucking fit if fighting were taken out of the game. It's half the reason I even watch Leafs games anymore.

STD, it's hockey hardly looks like slapshot now. Watch a game tape from the 70's or 80's and get back to me.

[Kapoutman]

I also like shootouts. FA, I don't know if you play hockey or just watch it, but a shootout is just as much a part of the game as anything else. They're just recreating a breakaway, basically. The only reason you see shit like Omark's goal is that now that the shootout is more proeminent, they need to come up with trickier stuff to beat the goalies. Lemieux did wicked dekes during his entire career, and Denis Savard used the spin-o-rama like nobody else back in the days. Shootouts, and crazy dekes, have always been a part of the game.

[El Fangel]

I really need to get back into writting these.