2011-2012 NHL Thread

[southsider2k5]

The Hawks would be better suited staying in 4th place in the division & 6th in the conference. Nashville & Detroit would have to face each other in the playoffs, while the Hawks would get the winner of DAL/SJ/LA/PHX. That's a much better match up than any Central Division rival.

 

they trail both teams by 4 points, and both teams have a game in hand. I think they are pretty well locked into sixth barring a total meltdown of one team, plus an incredible hot streak by the Hawks.

[Steve9347]

So the Hawks are hot all of the sudden.

[zenryan]

Edited March 20, 2012 by zenryan

[The Critic]

I think s*** like that makes the league (and the sport) look like a joke, but the cheering you hear is why it will never leave the game, no matter what the NHL tries to say publicly.

[LittleHurt05]

I think s*** like that makes the league (and the sport) look like a joke, but the cheering you hear is why it will never leave the game, no matter what the NHL tries to say publicly.

 

I concur. It's one thing if you are retaliating for someone taking a run at your star players, but staged fights like that are unnecessary.

[southsider2k5]

I concur. It's one thing if you are retaliating for someone taking a run at your star players, but staged fights like that are unnecessary.

 

That wasn't staged. That was some anger. If it was staged, they wouldn't have lasted as long as they did.

[LittleHurt05]

That wasn't staged. That was some anger. If it was staged, they wouldn't have lasted as long as they did.

 

When I say staged, I mean that 3 different groups of guys pre-planned to drop the gloves at opening faceoff. It wasn't a direct result of some play that occurred, it was just pure anger like you said. I think stuff like that is a bit over the top and doesn't do hockey any good.

[Steve9347]

Sh*t like that is why the NHL is 4 or 5 on most people's radars.

[Jake]

I have to think the fighting helps more than it hurts

[Steve9347]

I have to think the fighting helps more than it hurts

I have to disagree.

[EvilJester99]

The biggest problem I ever hear from non fans.. its too hard to follow the puck.. I highly doubt most non fans gives two s***s about fighting. To me fighting isn't the biggest issue with hockey anyway. To me its due to so many soft players who know if they get hit in the back they will draw a penalty.. so they turn their back to people when they know they are going to get hit...instead of bracing and taking the hit they get nailed into the boards and injury occurs.. IMO.

[daa84]

im a fringe fan - i certainly fall into the category like steve mentioned that has hockey 4 or 5 on my radar...now that said, it being 4 or 5 on my radar still means that I watch the hawks almost every night that they aren't playing opposite the bulls.....

 

but i can honestly say the fighting has 0 to do with the sports lack of popularity with me...it certainly doesnt push me away ...i cant say it draws me to it, but i know it doesnt push me away. Frankly the reason its 4-5 on my radar is just the fact that its not as interesting a sport as football, bball or baseball (to me - not to everyone obviously). Also, just like 90% of ppl growing up, the extent to which I played hockey was limited to a PVC pipe goal we used to carry onto the driveway ala wayne and garth. these are hockeys problems IMO, not staged fights (though i do think staged fights are silly - they just arent why the majority of fans dont give a s***)

[IlliniKrush]

Sh*t like that is why the NHL is 4 or 5 on most people's radars.

Fighting has its place in the game. But like I've said before, I disagree with the pre-meditated crap, like the example at hand.

 

But it's not the reason it's a 4 or 5 on people's radars.

[CanOfCorn]

2 minutes of two goons rolling around on the ice doesn't keep hockey off people's radars. In fact, I bet if you took a poll asking why they don't watch hockey, it would come down to two things. One, what EvilJester said about it being hard to follow the puck/game and two, it's not an "American" sport. While fighting may be on that list...it would be near the bottom. JMHO.

[southsider2k5]

I have to think the fighting helps more than it hurts

 

I don't buy that at all. American's love their violence. Look at football, boxing, MMA, etc. Fighting in hockey doesn't hurt the popularity of the sport at all. The biggest problem is people who don't like it, don't understand it to some extent. Whether that means following the puck, understanding the play, knowing the rules, or just not knowing how to pronounce names.

[Jake]

I don't buy that at all. American's love their violence. Look at football, boxing, MMA, etc. Fighting in hockey doesn't hurt the popularity of the sport at all. The biggest problem is people who don't like it, don't understand it to some extent. Whether that means following the puck, understanding the play, knowing the rules, or just not knowing how to pronounce names.

 

 

I think the biggest problem with hockey popularity is that it is not played nearly as commonly at the youth level as the pro sports it competes with. It is much more difficult to understand a game that you have never played in any way, shape, or form.

 

If I wanted to play hockey when I was young, my parents would have had to drive me 45-90 minutes just to get to a league. Why would they do that if they themselves never played hockey or had the opportunity to play...

 

Instead, I could go in the backyard and play baseball, football, basketball, golf, snowmobile, grabass

[The Critic]

I think the biggest problem with hockey popularity is that it is not played nearly as commonly at the youth level as the pro sports it competes with. It is much more difficult to understand a game that you have never played in any way, shape, or form.

 

If I wanted to play hockey when I was young, my parents would have had to drive me 45-90 minutes just to get to a league. Why would they do that if they themselves never played hockey or had the opportunity to play...

 

Instead, I could go in the backyard and play baseball, football, basketball, golf, snowmobile, grabass

 

When I was a kid, we played tons of street hockey. All we needed was 6 to 8 guys with a stick, one or two street hockey balls or pucks, an empty street (or even better, an empty tennis court at the park with the net taken down) and a couple of garbage cans for "nets" on each side. We were lucky to have guys with goalie equipment most of the time, but if nobody had goalie s***, you didn't really even need goalies. When I got older we played in some VERY competitive floor hockey leagues, but as kids getting a hockey game together was not an expensive or difficult endeavor.

[clyons]

I love a good hockey fight, but its not why I watch.

 

I first saw that Rangers/Devils video on SI's "Hot Clicks" page today, where lots of other sports fans saw it as well. It sparked discussion in this thread too, which despite the Hawks mini-hot streak had been kinda dead lately.

 

I think fighting probably helps more than it hurts in terms of generating interest in the game. That said, I do think its time has come, and I expect it will be eliminated in my lifetime. The NHL will be fine without it, or at least as compartavely fine as it is today. Its elimination will neither attract nor repel huge droves of fans.

[zenryan]

When I say staged, I mean that 3 different groups of guys pre-planned to drop the gloves at opening faceoff. It wasn't a direct result of some play that occurred, it was just pure anger like you said. I think stuff like that is a bit over the top and doesn't do hockey any good.

 

 

 

 

no different than a baseball team waiting 3 months to bean an opposing hitter.

[zenryan]

The biggest problem I ever hear from non fans.. its too hard to follow the puck.. I highly doubt most non fans gives two s***s about fighting. To me fighting isn't the biggest issue with hockey anyway. To me its due to so many soft players who know if they get hit in the back they will draw a penalty.. so they turn their back to people when they know they are going to get hit...instead of bracing and taking the hit they get nailed into the boards and injury occurs.. IMO.

 

 

 

 

To me its all the soft players who take liberties with other players because they know they can hide behind the instigator rule.

 

 

Fights have been cut in half over the past couple of years but the concussions and dirty checks have gone up. hmmmm

[LittleHurt05]

Shouldn't the Jackets be relegated to the AHL or IHL by now? Maybe the KHL?

[MurcieOne]

Sh*t like that is why the NHL is 4 or 5 on most people's radars.

 

You listen to too much B&B. By cracky.

[LittleHurt05]

no different than a baseball team waiting 3 months to bean an opposing hitter.

 

Totally. One guy throwing a baseball at someone & avoiding his head = six guys pummeling each other in the face

[southsider2k5]

Totally. One guy throwing a baseball at someone & avoiding his head = six guys pummeling each other in the face

 

A six guy brawl in hockey happens about as often as a bench clearing brawl in baseball.

[Steve9347]

Happy 900th, big guy!