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NHL season opens tonight

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
I CAN'T WAIT... finally, hockey is back.

Though the idiots managed to lose the only thing they had going for them - their contract with ESPN. So I'll probably see more games in person this year (2 at most) than I will on TV.
 

tonyhawk

bikerag.com whore
Sep 21, 2003
512
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CT
Woohoo! If the pre-season is any indication, the rules changes look to have opened up scoring a little. Plus the salary cap seems to have spread out the talent a bit.
 

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
tonyhawk said:
Woohoo! If the pre-season is any indication, the rules changes look to have opened up scoring a little. Plus the salary cap seems to have spread out the talent a bit.
Yep - I'm OK with all the changes the new CBA brought except the shootout. If they wanted to avoid ties that badly, they should have gone to a 20minute 4-on-4 overtime period. If there was a tie after that session, they should have dealt with it.
 

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
Yea, I get OLN... but I don't consider the Rangers NHL calibur hockey. Maybe thigns are different this year, but...

The Devils (my team) look to be in for a long season... no big signings, Scott Neidermyer is gone, Scott Stevens is gone... ugh. Maybe it's good they lost the ESPN contract...

I'll have to check the OLN schedule... are they planning on carying many games, or like one every other week?
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,382
9,285
MTB New England
jacksonpt said:
I'll have to check the OLN schedule... are they planning on carying many games, or like one every other week?
It looks like a couple games a week: http://www.olntv.com/nw/article/view/1268/?tf=nwNHLArticle.tpl

Between OLN, NESN, and MSG, I'll get to see plenty of hockey.

The rule changes will be interesting. No more ties? That will be odd. I didn't realize the change to the icing rule either (the team icing the puck can not change lines until play resumes).

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/preview2005/news/story?id=2180808
 

tonyhawk

bikerag.com whore
Sep 21, 2003
512
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CT
I Are Baboon said:
Should be fun to see the revamped Flyers with Peter Forsberg (sorry Tonyhawk!).
Could be worse - he could have signed with the Wings :p
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,382
9,285
MTB New England
jacksonpt said:
Cool link... a few things I didn't know in there. I like the no-goon rule (about fights after the 55minute mark). I don't like the goalie puck handling rule... but I'm a devils fan, so...
Yeah, Brodeur is one of the best puck handling goalies in the NHL.

tonyhawk said:
Could be worse - he could have signed with the Wings :p
The salary cap will kill them until they rebuild. They're not going anywhere. They lost several key players this off season.
 

Hawkeye

Monkey
Jan 8, 2002
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Naperville, IL
tonyhawk said:
Could be worse - he could have signed with the Wings :p

The Wings are such a soft team. I bet they battle the Blows for second to last in their conference.

I am going to the Blackhawks opener tonight.
 

DNA

The human raccoon
Jan 31, 2003
1,443
0
NH
Hawkeye said:
The Wings are such a soft team. I bet they battle the Blows for second to last in their conference.

I am going to the Blackhawks opener tonight.
Blows? We hometown fans usually refer to them as the Bloosers.
 

DNA

The human raccoon
Jan 31, 2003
1,443
0
NH
Look at all the love coming out of the old "Chuck" Norris Division!
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,494
9,525
Brian HCM#1 said:
I wish the strike was still going:(
You will need something to watch.

The Raiders season will be over in about six weeks.
 

ZoRo

Turbo Monkey
Sep 28, 2004
1,224
11
MTL
two words are worth saying about hockey and the 2005-2006 season MONTREAL CANADIENS. Period.
 

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
Wicked psyched!!! My Bruins lost but that's OK, only 1 game. Got tickets to the B's game the day after Thanksgiving. Nothing like a full day of stuffing yourself with food followed by a day of heavy drinking at the ass crack of dawn for a noontime game with the old man.
 

zahgurim

Underwater monkey
Mar 9, 2005
1,100
12
lolAsia
Looks like the Canucks should do ok this season. Yay Vancouver.

I'm stuck with listening to the radio broadcasts on the internet, but it's better than nothing... The US army channel should brodcast the odd game, too, so it's time to steal the neighbor's cable.
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
I watched the third period of the Bruins vs. Canadiens and I gotta tell ya that was entertaining hockey. Very fast pace, very few whistles and lots of skating!

It helped that the Canadiens won too! Les Habitants!!! :)
 

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
ok... OLN SUCKS!!!

on a side note though... I did hear them talking aboot (my canadian acent :D ) the new rules, specifically the goalie puck handling limits. Apparently the rule only applies once the puck goes over the endline. Guys like Brodeur can still come out and play the puck as long as it doesn't cross the endline.

That means that teams can still rip the puck around the boards, but the soft dumps will still be playable by the goalie. Doesn't sound like the rule will have that big of an impact.
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,382
9,285
MTB New England
jacksonpt said:
ok... OLN SUCKS!!!

Oh man, OLN is certainly not ESPN quality. They were zoomed in too closely on the rink, so you couldn't see what the heck was happening around the puck handler. Plus, the camera operators seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the action. Not good. I watched the Bruins game on NESN instead, only because the broadcast quality was so much better.
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
I Are Baboon said:
Oh man, OLN is certainly not ESPN quality. They were zoomed in too closely on the rink, so you couldn't see what the heck was happening around the puck handler. Plus, the camera operators seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the action. Not good. I watched the Bruins game on NESN instead, only because the broadcast quality was so much better.
Yeah the OLN coverage was cheesy to say the least and they camera work sucked (the ice was all whited out and you could barely see the friggin puck). And their studio was so low budget - c'mon.

At least the regional cable networks have their shiz together.

Is NBC carrying some games too this year?
 

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
I Are Baboon said:
Oh man, OLN is certainly not ESPN quality. They were zoomed in too closely on the rink, so you couldn't see what the heck was happening around the puck handler. Plus, the camera operators seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the action. Not good. I watched the Bruins game on NESN instead, only because the broadcast quality was so much better.
I didn't think that the OLN coverage was that bad. Of course it helped that I had it in widescreen HDTV so you could see more of the ice. The one thing that REALLY bugged me though about their coverage was that anytime they showed a replay they had some cheesy heavy metal guitar playing in the background that sounded like it should be in WWE wrestling.