Trouble Getting Into It

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ClamRussel
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Trouble Getting Into It

Post by ClamRussel »

For whatever reason, I'm just finding it hard to get overly excited about the Canucks and the new NHL. As for the Nux, I'm not really digging this new style whatsoever...and not really impressed w/ the cavalry thats been brought in (aside from Bobby Lu). To be honest, I've always preferred the 'promote from within' approach and wonder if players like Bulis, Chouinard & Santala are better than King, Chubarov or Rypien, Reid and Balej would be. Pyatt has been a fine addition but overall I question the toughness of this team....they just seem to lack jam. There's nothing even close to Curt Fraser on this club let alone Stan Smyl. Its not even about wins or losses....if I saw this team grinding the other club down and working their asses off I could live w/ the defeats. Something just seems lacking in the heart department....I can live with change but I'm just not seeing alot to like. For me its akin to watching a film and just not getting into the characters whatsoever. I'm trying but I just never thought we'd miss a guy like Ruutu THIS much.

In terms of the NHL overall...I'm really not digging the lack of flow. More PPs does NOT make for more exciting hockey...shootouts are NOT hockey. Obviously the history of the game means very little to the braintrust of this league. 2 referees stinks. Sure the "new NHL" is better than the trapping debacle we saw for the past 7 or 8 yrs but its still a far cry from the glory days of the late 70s to the early 90s. The early 90s were amazing....how did Teemu, Pavel, Hull, Mogilny, Fedorov, Yzerman, Jagr, Lemieux, Gretzky et al put up those kinds of numbers in the "old" system. THATS the kind of hockey I was in love with, those were the days man. Not diggin' it, sorry.
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Soapy
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Post by Soapy »

I agree with a lot of what you say about 'not getting into it'
I like the way the Sedins play but there is not a lot of excitement or character to them. They have their style & they stick to it.
Naslund is a great player & can be exciting but his character is 'dried toast' Where is the 'heart & soul' of this new team??
Is the media to blame a little bit for not introducing us to the new characters on this team? ( if there are any!!)

As for the new NHL....I agree about the lack of flow...incredibly frustrating to watch the game & not see the fouls even in replays! Shoot outs are not hockey but they are better than a tie & in some games that is the only excitement for the whole game...I think this leads into your next comment...the glory days of hockey were sooooo much better refereed. The rule book was followed but not at the expense of the game. Hopefully this new swing to calling everything will correct itself over the next couple of years.
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Post by SRsez »

Well, that's what I've been saying since before the lockout - the best hockey league in the world is the W.

Now what exemplifies the W and sets it apart from the crappy NHL?

Heart & grit.

Time to give up the Canucks? I know, it's hard, when you've followed them your entire life, but what are they giving you to keep you coming? Skills competitions to decide who gets extra points? only 1/2 the league's teams?

If we didn't have season's tix, with all that entails, I'd be tempted to scrap them.

Nonis better watch out, or this will get like the late 80's, when there were only 9000 season's & tickets were easy to get. Of course, the hockey with Dana Murzyn was much better then, so maybe that's asking too much.
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Post by Arbour »

Glad I am not alone on this. The "new look" NHL looks a lot like pond hockey, particularly the way games are being called. Call the hooking and the holding but lay off legitimate contact including jostling for position in front of the net, and in the corners where the puck is being played. This is the only sport I can think of that has turned to the use of infractions to supposedly generate fan interest.

Perhaps they should sit the referees down (better yet Bettman) and let them watch some older playoff series which were hard nosed entertaining contests but filled with contact, some of it incidental, that for the most part fell within the rules, where the referee had some discretion as to the calls he made. The good referees knew how to enforce the rules without disrupting the flow of the game which in itself was a talent that seems to have disappeared under the "new look" NHL. Now its seems the point of the game is to have the officials make their presence known, and quite frankly in spite of two referees, or maybe because of, there are more questionable calls than ever.
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Post by ververgaert »

I hear ya Clam! I ain't diggin this at all!

Half the teams , no scraps , Minny style nux, no Bert, c@#ksucker media, shootouts! WTF is that crap!

Can't wait for the yanks to get tired of this so shit can go back to normal.
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Ropesauce
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Post by Ropesauce »

I enjoy the shoot-outs but other than that most games lose their flow from all the phantom-penalties.Part of me thinks the calls will be more accurate as time passes and the ref's adjust to the system,while another longs for the much simpler 1 ref. system.

And of course the 82 game season with playoffs stretching into June is the most pathetic thing of all.(I'm sure the league would roll it year round if they thought they could rip off the fans and players anymore)

the WHL is by far the better product at this point and time
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Sid Dithers
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Post by Sid Dithers »

I'm with you Clam. My interest has been dwindling every year since about 1996 or so. I can't even make it through a period anymore, let alone a game. Shoot-outs, three-point games, two referees, PP's coming out your ass, goalies who look like the Michelin Man and Bettman selling his soul at every turn to try anything to create more goals...it's all too much. Let's face it, the game is so incredibly fast these days. Big guys who can all skate and the fact that there really aren't many floaters anymore (because of the possibility to make big money) mean that it is bloody difficult to create anything any more. The game is much faster than it was even 5 years ago. I swear, if you took the 1985 version of Wayne Gretzky and dropped him into today's NHL, he wouldn't be able to score 100 points. There just isn't open ice like there used to be. Guys who can put up lots of points these days are real physical specimens. Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Crosby etc, are all physically strong guys with talent. They have to fight through all kinds of stifling checking to get their points. Gaps on the ice open quickly and close quickly. If you don't have the hands/vision to make quick decisions, you can't manage. The game is remarkably fast, that's the overriding theme that strikes me when I watch these days. Too fast for its own good, really. The talented guys just don't have enough time to do much anymore, space and time are all but gone, making the play look scrambly for the whole game some nights. I just don't see it getting any better until the league contracts back to about 24 teams. That would solve a lot of problems. But it probably won't happen.
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Cornuck
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Post by Cornuck »

Sid, I like your concept of the game getting 'too' quick, but how would contraction help that - if anything, it would speed the game up more.

If your theory is true, then only a larger ice surface would help.
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Post by Fred »

I was never quite sure if it was myself just becoming cynical about the sport or was the actual entertainment value going down the tube. Personally I think coaching and tactics have been one of the primary culprits. Coaches teach their players from, Pee Wee up to overload the half ice, try and defy the players to thread a pass through an impossible volume of skates and sticks. Like the full court press but all the time. It become a over flow of bodies all trying to prevent a decent game taking place, ... and I get bored quickly. The need to win and the effect on the bottom line with so much money at stake has become paramount and the entertainment suffers. I watched about 4-5 mins of the leaves/ NJ game last night and I had to think to myself. The Devils are back to their old tricks, simply gumming up the works. I switched channels
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