Hot Ice: NHL Thread

[Amor de Cosmos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Or senior North American players reaching the end of their careers. I could see Luongo or Ryan Miller saying "fuck it, so sue me."

[Hot Pepsi]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

ursus arctos wrote: As unsurprising as it is deptessing.

The NHL owners don't give a shit about the game other than as something they can monetise.

It will be interesting to see the extent to which European stars seek to to negotiate individual deals, as the tournament is vitally important to many of them.

The tournament is vitally important to a lot of North American players too, but not more important than their professional careers.

It would be much better to make it an all junior tournament - perhaps simply supplanting the WJCs that year, since that system is already entrenched - than a random assortment of players of varying levels. That would be closer to the original spirit of the Olympics too, I suppose.

The owners are short-sighted and certainly selfish, but there's plenty of blame to go around. The players could have made the Olympics a priority in the CBA, but didn't (not saying that's wrong, but they could have). And the IOC could have done a lot more to address the NHL's problems, but either they're just idiots or they just don't care, or both.

I don't think this really hurts "The Game" very much. Not from a development perspective, at least. I suppose that the opportunity to see top-class hockey on their TV at a reasonable hour might create some more fans on that side of the planet, and maybe a few of them will then be more interested in their domestic leagues and watching the NHL and European leagues at odd hours, but not much.

And it won't do much good in North America because the games would be on in the middle of the night. The North American and European fans that cared enough to watch the Olympics at odd hours will most likely continue to watch hockey regardless. A few long-term fans will be pissed at the owners and Bettman about this and it will be just one more thing driving them away from the NHL, but that ship sailed anyway, and that number is somewhat offset by the number who care way more about their NHL team and see the Olympics as an impediment to its success.

To really make an impact, the NHL and IIHF need to work on Asia over the long-haul - supporting grass-roots, playing international tournaments there frequently, getting the NHL and European leagues on TV and the web there, etc. Not just bringing the circus to town every 20 years. But its quixotic anyway. Hockey requires rinks and equipment and a lot of time on the ice to practice. It's global popularity is naturally limited.

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

One for Snake

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

KHL Finals (so far)
Sat Apr 8 - 8:00 am Eastern/1:00 pm UK @ Metallurg MG
Mon Apr 10 - 10:00 am Eastern/3:00 pm UK @ Metallurg MG
Wed Apr 12 - 12:30 pm E/5:30 pm UK @ SKA St. Petersburg
Fri Apr 14 - 12:30 pm E/5:30 pm UK @ SKA St. Petersburg

Good luck finding a stream.

[danielmak]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

jason voorhees wrote: KHL Finals (so far)
Sat Apr 8 - 8:00 am Eastern/1:00 pm UK @ Metallurg MG
Mon Apr 10 - 10:00 am Eastern/3:00 pm UK @ Metallurg MG
Wed Apr 12 - 12:30 pm E/5:30 pm UK @ SKA St. Petersburg
Fri Apr 14 - 12:30 pm E/5:30 pm UK @ SKA St. Petersburg

Good luck finding a stream.

If you live in the US and have satellite, Eleven Sports should have all of these (Channel 623 on DirecTV).

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Yeah, I checked their programming schedule, but it wasn't on there.

I was wondering what happened to One World Sports.

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

They went bust rather spectacularly, leaving a bunch of folks unpaid

Frozen Four semis about to start on ESPN 2

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Aw crap

We got within 26 seconds of taking them to overtime

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Sorry U. Gut-ripper.

If it's any consolation, I actually saw Nassau Hall get struck by lightning this afternoon on the way home from work.

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

That makes me feel much better.

Thank you.

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

The Fighting Irish get Six to Oned.

Denver v Duluth Donight at 8pm Eastern.

KHL - SKA comes from behind to win 5-4 in Magnitogorsk.
Pain in the ass but great quality 1 goal at a time highlights here.

YouTube 8 minute non-pain in the ass version here.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

The Canuckleheads virtually assured themselves of a top five draft pick by losing to the Oilers last night, (the Oilers!... has it really come to this... sob.) Though no one of McDavid or Matthews calibre, there are four grade 'A' centre's at the top end, so unless Benning's totally brain dead — or the 'Nucks record of abysmal luck in the draft continues — we should get somebody who can score a few goals, which would be nice.

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

The Oilers can win the division this evening

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Denver wins the title, and the last ever game at The Joe tonight.

Wings up 1-0 on the Devs in the 1st.

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Wings up 3-0 in the 2nd.

Thankfully Ray Shero has 20 picks in the next 3 years.

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Well, at least the Devs were nice guests for the last game in the Joe. Even if they weren't so nice in 1995.

https://www.nhl.com/stanley-cup-playoffs/

It's just amazing to me at how much more hard it seems to win a Cup these days. The pressure has increased immensely over the past decade.

I mean the Pens or Blue Jackets can't really afford to lose in the 1st round.
Same for the Preds or B-hawks/Wild or Blues/or the Rangers and Habs.

KHL Game 2 starts in 4 minutes (it's now 9:56am Eastern.)

edit - FOUND DA STREAM

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

First Round Matchups in Full

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Metallurg up 2-1 at the end of the 2nd.

Great game, because SKA is so much better and has 4 chances for every MG chance, but MG's goalie is standing on his head and the crowd won't let them die. Especially with 2 minutes left, and MG hit on a shorthanded goal in a league with wide ice which makes a power play that much more dangerous.

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

MG adds MT Nyet to make it a 3-1 final and a 1-1 tie heading into St. Petersburg.

edit - Official 7 minute highlights here.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Coach Willie sent down the road this morning.

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

No challenge?

It wasn't really his fault, ownership refuses to be accountable.

I think he will get another shot in couple of years.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

If he wants one. He's 60, and might be more comfortable back in junior.

It was always going to be a thankless gig, and remains so. I wonder if they'll promote Travis Green? He's done a good job in difficult situation at Utica, is familiar with most of the players and been on the short-list for a couple of NHL jobs. He may go elsewhere if they don't.

Desjardins, astonishingly, leaves as the fifth all-time winningest Canucks' coach. After AV, Marc Crawford Pat Quinn and Harry Neal. This says a good deal about the pitiful history of the franchise.

[Hot Pepsi]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Red Berenson has retired from Michigan after 33 years. Now the UM and MSU jobs are available at the same time, which should be interesting if they're both looking at the same people. However, I suspect that Michigan will insist on getting a "Michigan Man" which is generally a bad approach (not just for Michigan but any school), although it sometimes works out anyway.

[ursus arctos]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

John Madden (not that one) has done ok with Cleveland in the AHL this season, but there aren't a lot of True Blue candidates

[jason voorhees]

Hot Ice: NHL 15/16

Hey, Sutter's available.

That was one bonafide reign of terror he had. The Kings were '85 Bears/'86 Tyson level of scary.