Thursday, October 06, 2005

 

NHL: Day One Thoughts

The first highlights I saw when I got home from my legalized torture (aka Night School) was that of the Senators beating the Maple Leafs in a shootout victory. I didn't know if I should cry or laugh. Seeing a game end in a shootout is just such an empty feeling...kind of like having sex with yourself. *ahem* Can Senators fans really feel good about winning that way over their rivals?

Hockey Analysis offers their thoughts on the shootout from a Leafs fan point-of-view:
Ummm, maybe I would have a different opinion had the Leafs won the shoot-out, but I doubt it. People talk about how interesting the shoot-out is, but to be honest it wasn’t one tenth as interesting as the actual hockey game. It just seemed that going from a fast paced, hard hitting, nail biting regular game and overtime to a slow paced shoot-out was a bit of a let down. The shoot-out takes about 10 minutes to take place but most of that is just watching players stand around waiting for one of them to take 5 seconds skating down the ice on a breakaway. And when you think about it, all it proved was that the Senators have more pure talent than the Sundin-less Leafs, but didn’t we already know that?
Tell me again why we need shootouts in the first place? >:(

I felt like the unpopular kid who was never invited to parties as I had to miss out on ALL of the fun and was subjected to getting the sloppy seconds via highlights. While co-workers and cohorts on other blogs were discussing the night's games, all I can do is stand to the side and check the boxscores.

Anyway, here are some scattered thoughts on Day 1 of the New NHL.

James Mirtle has a nice little wrap-up of his own. Why doesn't the Globe and Mail publish this in their sports pages?

Comments:
During the OLN review last night, their summary of the OTT/TOR game showed a final of 3-2 Sens in a Shootout. That's OK. But they showed Alfredsson as having a hat trick (He scored both goals and in the SO). Surely they aren't going to count shootout goals in the individual stats. Right? It doesn't show that way on TSN's website. Stats on NHL.com are inconclusive.
 
Our office pool admin was asking me about this and the answer is NO, goals scored in the shootout do not count in your personal stats. If they did, individual stats and records would be quite tainted because of all of these freebies. And who would get a goal? everyone who scored, or just the 'winning' goal?
 
First things first.. Ottawa won that game before the shootout started. They scored the first goal of the game it and it wasnt even reviewed. They won it in regulation, end of story.

Second, Where is Zach Parise on your list? 1g and 1a (including a PP goal) and he gets obscured by the Crosby mania. Oh well, I didnt forget him, and thats why (for one day.. and prob only that) im leading the hockey pool right now. GO DEVILS
 
Don't forget:

Mike Richards: 20:14, 1G, 3SOG
 
There were 15 frickin games! I can't remember every player ;)

Parise should be a good rookie for the Devils. It's amazing how little hype their young players seem to get. Only Scott Gomez, in recent memory, got a lot of hype as a rookie. Guys like Paul Martin fly way under the radar. Petr Sykora sure did as well as did Elias.

As for Mike Richards, he is a Flyer. He can go to hell and die! >:)
 
Ok, I forgive you. Besides, I respect the fact that we have a mutual distain for the Flyers. :)

Richards did play well though.

Whats up with our Hockey pool? I can only see my team.. everyone else causes errors. Im very curious what your lineup is.
 
Corey Perry was dangerous all night for the Ducks against Chicago, too.

He only got 1 assist, but was buzzing around the net all night.

Oh yeah, and the Flyers can go to hell.
 
And the Devils can go right along with 'em.

They can move into the Red Wings' corner, right along with the Blue Jackets.
 
Acid Queen,

The Devils are already in hell.. and by that I mean New Jersey

Also, have the Blue Jackets been around long enough for people to hate them? Exactly who are they a threat to??
 
Not only did Martin Gerber hurt you, but he hurt himself. They say he had a hamstring issue, which is why we went with Ward in the third.

I'd get him out of your fantasy lineup ASAP.

As for me.... I have Khabibulin and Thibault starting this week. They each gave up 5 goals last night. Ouch.
 
As for the tsn.com hockey pool, it just put up the scoring stats and they have issues with the database I believe. Just give it a bit of time and it'll work itself out.
 
Night school would have been bad on the first day of a long awaited season... however boxscores were the best I can hope for, week in week out... At least on a positive side, Eastern games begin as I begin work and Western Games end just before I finish work... boxscores will be getting a thorough workout.
I do get cricket on TV here however... haha not the same is it?
 
People hate the blue jackets because the haters don't think the blue jackets should even exist. It's part of the whole nhl-over expansion thing. While this might not be true of every Blue Jacket hater, it's true about all the Buffalo Blue Jacket haters. I can understand not hating the Wild because of the North Stars, but why not throw some hate at the Preds or the Thrashers? I don't know. All I know is to just wait. Revenge is a dish best served cold . . .
 
I was going to answer this in my blog, but I'll actually do it here (and probably devote a post sometime in the future to why I hate the teams that I hate).

I hate the Blue Jackets because my interactions with Jackets fans have been almost universally horrible. If it's not the smug "we're better fans than you rednecks because we have to have PSLs to get season tickets" (which is laughable, because if that were the case the Carolina Panthers would have the best fans in the NFL even though they don't show up when the team is sucking canal water), it's a spate of "Crackerlina" jabs and barbs about the KKK and other such unsavory things that have jack squat to do with anything except a desire to just be pricks.

That, and most of my mom's side of the family is from Cleveland--so there you go.
 
Ah yes, I forgot about the Blue Jackets bitter feud with the Cleveland Lumberjacks.
 
Well, AQ answered the question as I figured she would :)

I think Columbus has been a good market for the NHL. The attendance has been good and there isn't a lot of pro sports competition. It may not be 'traditional', but it's good.

Fortunately, I haven't had the same bad experiences AQ has had...probably b/c I don't frequent msg boards as often anymore.
 
Night school would have been bad on the first day of a long awaited season... however boxscores were the best I can hope for, week in week out... At least on a positive side, Eastern games begin as I begin work and Western Games end just before I finish work... boxscores will be getting a thorough workout.
I do get cricket on TV here however... haha not the same is it?


True, I don't have it all that badly compared to most people, even most Americans ;)

Do you get the highlights at all?
 
Highlights? haha not likely... We get the fights on the "Plays of the week" segment... classy.

There is a 5 minute slot on the only decent channel (we have 5 channels remember, not many people have cable) that shows sports that do not involve Australia. Their primary focus is Football (Soccer) as there is a massive European heritage in Aus, which is great for me, being a huge Man. Utd & England fan. Last week the slot was taken up talking about the baseball playoffs... everyeone loves the Yankees dont they? ... and they mentioned, oh... "the new NHL season begins this week"... finito. I think getting an American to host the slot really isnt helping matters, with NFL and Baseball to compete with, Hockey seems to rank a very low third.

That is my hockey highlights package... However, I shall be living in London next year and I believe that Channel 5 show the odd game late night... finally. haha
 
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