Why Hockey Is The Best Sport

[Ming]

Enjoy it while you can folks... "the BEST SPORT" may not even be played next year as the owners consider shooting themselves in the head by locking he players out.... morons... so enjoy... something Black Hawks fans can't since we have the chief moron as an owner.

[Ben Kenobi]

Wow... another Stanley Cup win without facing the Avs, Red Wings, or Canucks?

Nah. They'll fall behind Montreal, grab the 7th slot and get pounded by Philly in the first round.

Vancouver will go to the cup against the Leafs.

[Imran Siddiqui]

They'll fall behind Montreal, grab the 7th slot and get pounded by Philly in the first round.

You wish. Philly can't beat Jersey in the playoffs... it's a fact. .

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

They'll fall behind Montreal, grab the 7th slot and get pounded by Philly in the first round.

You wish. Philly can't beat Jersey in the playoffs... it's a fact. .

Bite me Imran.

[Flubber]

Oh and I agree with Ming on the whole lockout thing. The players and owners have seen this coming for YEARS and yet nobody seems willing to move-- All a lockoput does is cost everyone money, peeve off the fans and leave a smaller pie to be shared-- idiots all around. I know the owners are taking a pretty hard line on where their revenues actually are but the players are looking at such things as related Tv and stadium revenues as being part of the pie as well

[Guynemer]

Fighting--it is a completely useless sideshow.

I've lived in Ann Arbor for nearly eight years, home to the University of Michigan. U-M is consistently one of the top schools in the nation when in comes to hockey. College hockey has no-touch icing, no two-line pass rule, and no fighting. The games are MUCH BETTER than the NHL product, which I love. The games are more fluid, with less stopages, and more wide open offensive play. No fighting is a major part of this: you just don't see those big *****-waving pissing matches that you see in NHL, which completely interrupt the flow of the game and really have no place in such a beautiful sport.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

You'll be eating your words in June when the Leafs win the cup.

Don't you say this every year

The Leafs are in their best position in years. They have made really smart trades and have enough depth to do it. All they really need is a stand up defenceman. If they get Gonchar, they will be favourites to come out of the east. And they have the easiest run in of any of the other contenders. Most are at home where they have a very good record. And they are the meanest team in the league.

Without their best defenceman, the Devils are going to have some problems and it appears that he's gone for the season.

Philly's problem is that Burke is neither Belfour or Brodeur. They better hope that the Leafs don't win the Northeast division or there is a good chance that Philly will meet Ottawa, and Ottawa has beaten them twice already in the playoffs IIRC. The Devils were very lucky to beat Ottawa last time as well, so they should be scared.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Ohh and for the record anyone (including the stinkin devils) other than the Leafs.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Fighting--it is a completely useless sideshow.

I've lived in Ann Arbor for nearly eight years, home to the University of Michigan. U-M is consistently one of the top schools in the nation when in comes to hockey. College hockey has no-touch icing, no two-line pass rule, and no fighting. The games are MUCH BETTER than the NHL product, which I love. The games are more fluid, with less stopages, and more wide open offensive play. No fighting is a major part of this: you just don't see those big *****-waving pissing matches that you see in NHL, which completely interrupt the flow of the game and really have no place in such a beautiful sport.

re: fighting its all part of the game within the game and needs to remain.

[Guynemer]

To which, I carefully and thoughtfully reply:

pppppppppffffffffftttttttttttt.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

That does it "wanna go?"

[Imran Siddiqui]

The Leafs are in their best position in years.

Didn't you say that last year?

Without their best defenceman, the Devils are going to have some problems and it appears that he's gone for the season.

Perhaps, but that also depends on if you think Stevens is actually their 'best' defenseman . Stevens is a good stay at home guy who has a lot of leadership (and that what makes me believe he'll be back for the playoffs), but Niedermeyer and perhaps Rafalski are better defensemen. And with Brodeur having a great year, the Devs will be tough to beat again.

And hockey don't need no stinking fighting.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Poke, jab, poke.

Your wife eats pu$$y.

and if Stevens comes back for the playoffs it would be a good thing. I like Stevens if only for the reason that he finally finished Lindros in Philly.

I hope he doens't come across the blue line with his head down.

[Pekka]

I think what happened was that in NHL when the European players and their style of playing, which is in a bigger rink had an effect, as they were used to appreciate more skill and speed because it's harder to close the offense with hard hits if there's more space and it's more difficult to suffocate the game with that. So what happened is when these players started finally coming to NHL in bigger groups is that they found out they couldn't move so much and had to be even more skilled and faster, or learn how to adjust to the hard hitting game.

Now, few people can raise their level so much it's possible to forget the physical hitting game. So you're pretty much out if you can't adjust, because as skilled player you are supposed to make points for the team, result or out, and if you can't adjust to the harder physical side, you can't do anything for the team.

But they started adjusting, and gaining some toughness. That made a dangerous player, fast, skilled and who can take hits. That came back to Europe, and as NHL is the number one league and followed closely in here and is every hockey players dream, people figured out, hey you need to be able to take the hits, and even more so you need to deliver some back.

So, as the new generation of hockey players came, they already knew the physical side. But they weren't as good as the NHL players in it, more like able to play in that game and take the punishment, and occasionally give some back, but it didn't take away their skill so much anymore. The American and Canadian players in NHL, they also evolved more into skillful players, as they realized they need to be able to be as fast, and also have the other depths too. And so it happened, but also nwo you see new generation of European players, who can solely be physical.

So what you have now is the evolution of the players, they are big, they hit hard, they are able to take hits, they are fast, they are skilled.

So these days it's tough to say who's european, who is american, who is canadian, you just can't tell. They look the same, they play the same, and I think it was essential that they got mixed up in order to grow better players and bring the game yet to another level, and I think it's all great.

[Guynemer]

Is that your face, or did an elephant **** on your neck?

* Guynemer drops the gloves *