Official Hockey discussion thread

What happened to parity, Mr. Bettman?  Everyone's sweeping everyone else, the longest series last round was 6 games!
 
You still have parity. in the west you have the 1st seed vs the 5th and in the east the 2nd vs the 6th. While there were upsets, higher seeds are generally better teams. take a look at the standings too, freakin' tight. I don't think a length of a series speaks to the leagues level of parity or lack thereof.
 
I disagree.  Detroit has annihilated everyone who came up against them.  If they had played Osgood in nets from day one, they'd have beaten Nashville in 5.  Colorado in 4, looks like Dallas in 4 or 5.  That's not parity.  That's dominance.

Dallas easily beat one of the best teams in the NHL with San Jose.  They also beat out the defending champs.  And Detroit is DESTROYING them.  Outscoring them 3:1, outshooting them 90-60.  Pittsburgh defeated last year's Stanley Cup finalists in four (admittedly, Ottawa had sucked), and then only took 5 games to get rid of another favourite, New York Rangers.  Similarly, Philly beat out one of the NHL's promising young clubs, then got rid of the top seed in the East, and they're getting CREAMED.  For teams that were this close in the standings, this is ridiculous.  Parity is being proven a joke right now.
 
I agree with you LC, but right now the only thing I care is that my prediction of Detroit vs Pittsburgh is all but finalized.  :)
 
I, of course, disagree. As the 1st and 2nd seed I see no problem with Det and the Pens CREAMING their opponents. That's what is supposed to happen, I don't care if it is regular season or playoffs. And most of the games have been close. 4-2 is NOT getting creamed, specially when the last goal is an empty-netter. The reason teams are seeded the way they are in the playoffs is so THEORETICALLY the 1st seed in the east faces the 1st in the west (and it has happened in recent years). Theoretically once in the playoffs it is anyone's game though in the past that was just wishful thinking. In recent years that has been very much true (Anaheim 7th seed in '03, Edmonton 8th in '06 reaching the finals, the 5th and 6th seeds reaching conference finals this season).
With that said Dallas is up 3-1 with 5 minutes left in the third...
 
Bloody hell!  After that amazing goal by the Wings... what with the goalie being blocked.  I thought they had it.  I get home and get a load of a surprise.
 
Terrible call by the ref to wave off that goal.  Really changed the entire dynamic of the game - Holmstrom was actually doing what he was supposed to!
 
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WHAT THE FUCK IS BETTMAN THINKING!!  No matter WHO is in the Stanley Cup finals, the biggest hockey market is CANADA.  We watched all those years between 1994 and 2004 when NO Canadian teams made the finals.  We watched Detroit vs. Jersey in 1995, we watched Colorado vs Florida in 1996, we watched Detroit vs Philly (?) in 1997, we watched whoever Detroit beat in 1998!  We watched Dallas, we watched Jersey, we watched Colorado again!  We watched, in 2002, when Detroit's superstars smashed all opposition, we watched in awe when Anaheim made that spectacular run to game 7 OT against the Devils!

So this weekend, the absolute FUCKERS at the NHL have put the weekend games in the AFTERNOON!  Why?  So NBC can show the fucking hockey games in the AFTERNOON.  Do you know what that means?

NO HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA.  Absolutely not.  No Don Cherry on a Saturday night.  No Ron, no Satellite Hotstove, no ridiculous comments from Scott Oake and Kelly Hrudey.  Fucking ridiculous.

And then, when Canada is most likely wanting to watch Pittsburgh, the retards in the scheduling department scheduled the Pittsburgh vs Philly game at the SAME TIME as the World Championship gold game!  Not just any game - an epic Canada vs Russia matchup! Can you believe this absolute horseshit?!  The IIHF had their games in the afternoon SO they wouldn't have NHL games run over them, they always do that, but in this case, Bettman has not only decided that you can only have one brand of hockey in the most exciting time of year, but also to go against his biggest market's traditions.

Gary Bettman needs to be fired.  Now.
[/rant]

Congrats Finns on beating Sweden, I have no idea why Lundqvist wasn't in nets, what's up with that Sweden?
 
That's quite ridiculous ... moving the NHL match away from the usual starting time just to have it collide with the World Champs final. I understand why you and plenty others are pissed off.

Good luck with the match against the Russians, I'm going to watch it myself, having a pizza and a beer besides  :)
 
That is horse shit indeed. I've been pissed since Canada has been losing teams to non-traditional American markets just in the name of making a buck... fuck that shit. Now this... I cannot believe this guy still lives.

Congrats to all the medal winners! I'm pleased with the results. Of course Canada winning Gold would have been amazing, but honestly, Russia, Canada and Finland taking home medals is just great.
 
Nash took a stupid penalty and Kovalchuk made him pay.  Great game, though...and there's always 2010!

congrats for the Pens in locking up their series in convincing fashion - 6-0, Hossa with 4 pts!
 
Onhell said:
Congrats to all the medal winners! I'm pleased with the results. Of course Canada winning Gold would have been amazing, but honestly, Russia, Canada and Finland taking home medals is just great.
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Amen to that. Canada vs Russia was a classic match! High pace all the way, some great passing, the momentum shifted several times between the teams and the game went to sudden death. What more could I wish for, being fairly neutral? But I wonder what Nash was thinking when he sent that puck over the boards ...

A question for you North Americans; It seems like the NHL is regarded higher than the World Championships over there. But how does the Olympic hockey tournament compare? After all, it is played only every 4th year, and if I've got it right, the NHL takes a two-week break during the Olympics.
 
That might be your opinion, but still the players usually prefer to play for their club if they are still competing for the Stanley Cup come May. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the World Championship was amateurs-only until 1976, and since the NHL was a professional league for decades before that, the best North American players could not participate? This means the Stanley Cup has a much longer tradition as the top trophy for the best North American hockey players.

Or perhaps it could be because the opposition for the top 7 teams is usually crap until the quarter-finals start? After all, the NHL/Stanley Cup is a very even league, with many teams that could win it. The World Championship is always won by one of the big 7. Only once has a team outside these 7 won it, and that was Great Britain as far back as 1936 ...

I agree with you about international vs club, but it doesn't seem the players think the same. (Of course, it could also be very simple: who is paying their salary ...)
 
You don't make any money for playing during playoff times, however, clubs do contractually have your services.

I can guarantee you that the Stanley Cup is more prestigious than either Olympic or World Championship Gold, though Olympic gold comes very close, and since it's such a rare shot, that's why the NHL is shut down.  The gold medals fade, but once your name is on Lord Stanley's Mug...
 
Most of Russia's golds came in the 70s and 80s, when their "amateur" players were actually pro players.  They basically won every year, especially with #20, Vladislav Tretiak, between the pipes.
 
It's not as popular here as the World Junior Hockey Championship, I think.  But it is still very popular, as evidenced by the 450,000 people who watched the many games this year live - 3rd highest ever.
 
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