Decius wrote:
] crankymessiah wrote:
] ] ] With the 2003-04 National Hockey League season now
] ] ] underway, it's time for hockey fans to admit the
] ] ] game needs a face lift. Clearly, some refinishing is
] ] ] required to bring hockey back to the fast-paced,
] ] ] highly-skilled, physically-demanding sport that is used
] ] ] to be.
]
] I agree about the goalies. I'm not so much concerned about
] obstruction as I am about the fact that you can't score unless
] the goalie is distracted or slips. It should be possible to
] out-skill the goalie. Higher scores are ok.
]
] I am obviously strongly opposed to eliminating the Nashville
] Predators.
]
] One thing I'd argue is that there are too many fights. There
] are so many fights that they are like clockwork. I imagine
] that the management sets that up such that there is at least
] one fight every game. Fans like fights. However, I'm beginning
] to suspect that the situation is more like that of
] professional wrestling then that of NASCAR. Negative goatherder. I meme'd this article because of two things: 1) I needed to forward it on to others who would be interested in it.
2) I needed to expose the stupidity in tinkering with the NHL. If you read the article completely, you'll realize that the last thing suggested is to do nothing (or very little). Everyone's always trying to tinker with hockey to make it 'better'. Yes, it's a different game than it was in the late 80's/early 90's, which was different still from the late 70s. Sports evolve. Just like everything else does. It will be different in the next 10 years as well. Quit complaining about it. There are a couple of things that need to happen to save the league. I trust the CBA negotiations will solve most of them. Contracting the league is not one of them. There's no reason why a team like Nashville or Calgary cannot be financially successful. It's all about managing expectations. One thing that's been proven is that a large payroll does not equal a Stanley Cup. But to address your particular gripes, the ruling on restricting the size of goalies pads is fine. Goalies get beat. Frequently. In fact, even the best goalies get beat plenty. What's kept the # of goals per game down is defensive systems. There are far less shots per game than there used to be. The shots that do get off are generally weak or low percentage shots. So naturally that makes the goalies look good. They're not as good as the stats would suggest. If you're going to do anything to pump goals up, start calling obstruction. There's no reason why anyone should touch me if I don't have the puck. And that means possession AND control of the puck. Finally, on fighting - no... there needs to be MORE fighting. Fighting is not gratuitous violence as many ignorant fans assume it to be. Fighting is ACCOUNTABILITY! Hoc... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ] | 
