I keep watching this expecting something different to happen.
-
-
In the days when forwarded passes were illegal, how did they distinguish a shot from a pass? If you shot it, were you not allowed to get the rebound or touch the puck until the other team did?
It seems the change that most people - or too many people - are worked up about is the change to white jerseys for the road team. Like that matters.
In all walks of life, organizations have a tendency to just mess with things that don't really matter because changing the things that do matter requires a lot more cooperation among disparate groups, but they need to appear to be doing something.Comment
-
I don't really know, but have a few guesses.
There would have been fewer rebounds, in part because goalies couldn't go down voluntarily and in part because the style of goaltending was still heavily influenced by football, with more shots being caught or smothered.
Ice surfaces and boards would have been much too non-uniform for any kind of game dependent on passes off of the boards to be effective.
I expect that following up on rebounds was allowed, though.
I'm one of the people that still hasn't gotten used to the home team not wearing white. I think that I wouldn't care as much had not been to dozens of games where that was the case before I turned 18. It just feels wrong for the Rangers to wear blue at MSG, especially as the superstructure of the building hasn't changed. Somewhat paradoxically, it isn't as weird for me to see the Bruins wear black at TD Garden because the feel of the arena is completely different than that of its predecessor, even if it occupies the same real estate.Comment
-
I understand why fans like the tradition, but of all the major problems facing the NHL - head injuries, inconsistent officiating, Arizona, racism, inaccessibility for youth, toxic/hazing cultures - this seems to be the thing that people mention online the most. Or, at least, way more often than its significance merits.
I'm not sure why they made the change. Either it was a carefully calculated move based on jersey-sale and/or TV data or a completely random whim suggested by one of the owners. I can't think of an in-between possibility.
Most college sports, including hockey, have the home team in white. However, conspicuously, it's the opposite for college football. I'm not sure how that got started.
The NBA and MLB still usually do white or (yellow) at home. The NFL lets the home team pick, I think, although now it's all worked out with TV and Nike, etc. I think MLS is the same.
Perhaps the NHL should do the "home team picks" idea.Comment
-
I think because they (the NHL eggheads) decided to privilege alternative home colours to league-wide white. This has been controversial forever in every sport. For donkey's years English soccer had the away team change, which annoyed some home fans because they wanted to see Man Utd (or whoever) in their traditional strip. Others insisted that "our boys" should be wearing their "proper" colours. It's an argument with no winners.Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View PostComment
-
That makes sense. So it probably does ultimately sell more merch, I guess, if teams wear their third jerseys/alternates at home.Comment
-
Originally posted by caja-dglh View PostI keep watching this expecting something different to happen.
Comment
-
Man alive
I literally cannot believe that the Canucks won that game last night after a first period when they were flat as a pancake and Halak looked like he couldn't stop a thing. Halak shut Columbus out the rest of the way and the Nux scored three in the third to win 4-3.
Bruce, there it is indeed.Comment
-
It's almost as if the team were waiting for Green and Benning to be gone before they started playing. I'm not saying they were deliberately trying to get them canned, but this turnaround began almost before Boudreau and Rutherford had got their coats off. And it's everyone, not just the one or two guys like Garland who've been playing well all year. Pettersson is, once again, the player we saw two years ago. And don't get me started on Myers, there are ships in Vancouver harbour who turn faster than he does, but last night he was charging up the ice like a a Mastodon on 'roids. This is fun, long may it last.Comment
-
There's angst in Edmonton now.
Comment
-
Canadian legislation requires that at least one of the country's NHL clubs be IN CRISIS at all timesComment
-
I guess Ottawa just sucks as opposed to being in crisis so the Oilers stepped up.Comment
-
They've been saying (they being guys like Seravalli, Steve Dangle, The Hockey Guy and Elliotte Friedman) have been telling us that an announcement was going to be out yesterday but we haven't heard it yet.Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
Very sad, but really, the whole games should be postponed. Nobody wants to get stuck in a Chinese hotel for three to five weeks with no control of their circumstances, but that's what all the coaches and athletes face, apparently. China's internal politics won't allow that, I suspect.
The players will blame the owners for this. They'll argue that not so many games needed to be postponed and they might eventually prove to be right. It's unclear - at least to me and I haven't found anyone who seems to know otherwise - what the risk is of letting asymptomatic, vaccinated players play even if they're positive. Of course, if nobody knows but the chances of something terrible are real, then it's probably best that they don't play until the risk can be exactly quantified one way or the other.
If in fact a lot of players were going to not go because of the protocols - at least some said they didn't want to - then it is better that the league and NHLPA agreed that nobody will go so players didn't feel pressure to go anyway and put themselves at risk, not to mention create an pointless and potentially unbalanced tournament like the Olympic baseball tournament which is a big meh.
I don't know what men's players will go now. I imagine even the chance to call themselves Olympians isn't going to be enough to get many minor leaguers and European-based players to go and risk getting stuck there. Nobody cared about the 2018 men's tournament and nobody is going to get up early in the morning to watch this one. What's the point of even having it? Just let Chinese teams play some exhibition games.
All of this could have been avoided if the IOC would have let them just have the hockey tournament in North America. It's not like they can really get involved with the athlete village scene or the ceremonies and all of that anyway. Too risky. Some have cited a past olympics - I think it was Melbourne - where the horse stuff had to be in Europe. Or maybe I'm getting that backwards.
But that would expose the Olympics grift for what it is. There really isn't any great reason to fleece one city or country to host the games. The threat of a good example is too great.
Comment
-
-
Not NHL news but my local team has signed Great Britain International Ben O'connor. As I suspect the Erste Liga is a step down from the UK league he must not be getting much of a game for Cardiff from where he's been signedComment
-
O'Connor has played in virtually all of Cardiff's games this season, including European and Cup matches, as well as adding to his collection of GB appearances.
He is, however, 33, so definitely on the downward slope of a long career.
He played for four seasons in Kazakhstan, so you could trade stories if you come across him in town.
FWIW, I think most observers would put the two leagues in the same tier, well below the European elite.Comment
-
Aw crap. Oh well. They might as well go home, I guess. If they can't play today, I can't see how they're going to be able to have a team in a few days either.
And they probably won't be the only team. It's going to fall apart now, I suppose. Just let Canada win. They're the only ones who really care anyway.
It can't go on like this for the IIHF or NHL. They either have to find a way to let asymptomatic people test out very quickly or just do the don't-ask-don't-tell approach of the NFL and just hope nobody gets extremely sick. It's unlikely anyone would, but if and when hundreds of players get it, "unlikely anyone" starts to become "likely at least one."Comment
-
That escalated quickly.Comment
-
IIHF explains, sort of.Comment
-
Currently about -8 F at the Winter Classic at Target Field.Comment
-
Amazing from the Canucks. Not only a brilliant jersey, but such a wonderful gesture and donating all proceeds to a wonderful cause.
Brought joy and hope to my heart.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canu...r5QGEtVh5GGdx8Comment
-
That should just be their new logo.Comment
Comment