Here are your team’s 2010 NHL Entry Draft Picks (as of last week). The Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders lead with double-digit picks, and the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars bring up the rear with only 4 picks each. Choose wisely!

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So when you look at the match-ups for the next few nights, don’t just discard the teams out of the playoffs, you may miss an exciting hockey game, and maybe a couple of playoff spoilers.

ZamboniDiaries
http://zambonidiaries.blogspot.com
Twitter: @zambonidiaries

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In my opinion, the fascinating statistic of the tournament so far:
Men’s Hockey Score (combined USA & Canada): 20-4
Women’s Hockey Score (combined USA & Canada): 72-3

USA! USA! USA!

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The Problem

Well first of all, while in the first season I don’t recall it changing the way the game was played, it’s unfair that some games are worth 3 points and some are worth 2. Then the coach and players, as they were adjusting started to realize that it was way better to go home with one point than none at all. That’s exactly where the games started to go dry with 5 mins to go in the game. Teams stop playing and wait for the OT where they can get that point; with an attitude of we’ll win it in ot.

But where it really started to affect the game is this year. According to ESPN “Through 381 games so far this season, there were 70 games (18 percent) decided by a shootout, up from 56 through the same number of games last season and 36 during the first season after the lockout.”

Another thing, hockey is the only sport where you have a .500 with a 13-13-7 which really is 13-20 (the Anaheim Ducks as I write this)

As I’m looking at the standing right now, The Caps are first with a 21-7-6 for 48 points and 34 games played. . For this example I’ll go with the Pens as they also have 34 games played. The pens are 23-10-1 for a total of 47 points. They have two more wins but still are behind.

The Solution

I have three ways that this could be fixed. First, there is going back to the old system of a tied game equals 1 point for each teams, which you reestablished the two points given each game. But we return to those cold nights watching a 1-1 game…

The second solution would be to do a 5 on 5 ot of 5 min, then a shootout, without giving points to teams. A Win becomes a W and a Lost become a L. With this system we go to an NBA-MLB standing style with games back (GB) to establish the rankings of the teams. What I don’t like of this is that it changes everything the NHL as always did and I don’t like a shootout win or lost becoming the same as a regulation W or L.

My Favorite solution would be for giving 3 points for a win in ot and regulation. But 2 points and 1 point to the losing team in a shootout after a 10 min 5on5 regulation. The reason for this is, let’s face it, the shootout is a exciting way of finishing a game but it’s not totally fair, as the game is a team effort. So if after 70mins of 5 on 5 the team gets you to the shootout you have a consolation price of 1 point for the lost. Now, let’s say the Flames are playing the Oilers; the flames have 68 pts and the Oilers 66pts. The players wouldn’t want to get to the shootout, the flames want to distance the oilers by 3pts and Edmonton wants to take the lead of the division with 69pts. The regulation and 5 on 5 ot takes all is importance and the shootout is just a What-if for the Networks that don’t want game going for hours but wants an exciting product.

The Conclusion

I know it’s hard to think of a system where everybody is happy. I did a little poll around friends and find out that the results came to be 33% for each solution. I just thought I’d throw it in the air, and see what you guys thought about it. Maybe you even have a better solution, please feel free to comments at the bottom. Good night of hockey tonight, I hope your team wins, except if they’re playing the Flames.

www.twitter.com/cedric34

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After thanking me for my email, she said she’d write about the Sharks all the time if they let her. Then she followed up with this nugget:

“Since Ratto is a columnist and I’m not, it’s a little unfair to compare us….he’s supposed to have an opionion and I’m supposed to be more objective. For what it’s worth, he is always fighting to get more hockey in the paper and he’s very well liked by all the Sharks people; he and Doug Wilson are friends, and Ratto isn’t friends with any other GM in in the Bay Area. I know Doug respects Ray’s hockey knowledge. I like the fact he’s out there all the time and trying to get at least some hockey presence into the Chron. And he’s paid to have opinions, and I’d imagine it’s impossible to have everyone agree with you when you do that.”

I then emailed her back and said I was impressed that she knew I was talking about Ray and she responded since there’s only the two of them, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

So there you have it, the voice that seems to have nothing positive about the Sharks is one of the driving forces to get more hockey in my local paper. I guess Ray has a lot more negative things to say about the Sharks than they’ll let him write!

Okay Ray, I apologize for calling you an idoit. I appreciate your attempts to get more hockey in The Cron, but I still don’t agree with your slant on things. If you read this Ray, let me know what I have to do to help!

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Keep in mind that the discussion was between the show’s hosts - long-time hockey fans, some with actual hockey experience, and myself, the “new generation” hockey fan. In addition to the on-air discussion (below), I had a few additional thoughts on the subject.

First thing I want to make clear is that I completely understand that the game I’m watching today is not the same game played less than a generation ago. I fully respect the ‘old guard’ and their desire to preserve the game as they’ve known it. Although I think some aspects of the current game are natural progressions necessary for the survival of the sport, I don’t claim that “it’s all about the new school”.

Part of the discussion blames Gary Bettman for allowing rule changes that discourage fighting. I would like to put it out there that the reason Mr. Bettman and his rules committee may have had to put those rules into place is because other rules, one’s designed to make the game faster and higher scoring, resulted in more ‘unnecessary’ fighting. I would also like to put out there that the problem with ‘unnecessary’ fighting is partly the fault the players. Let me pontificate…

Rule changes were put into place to make the game faster, no more grabbing and hooking and holding. The addition of the trapezoid also means guys go flying into the corners resulting in more collisions. Mix in that today’s modern athlete is physically more fined tuned and you can see why the speed, and the literal impact, of game has accelerated. All this speed means two things. First it means that clean hits are harder and more violent. Second it means that more infractions (boarding, tripping, etc.) are going to happen because reaction time is significantly reduced.

They say there are no accidents in hockey. If that’s true, then players should be able to change they way they play to avoid thing like boarding or kneeing - things that can end a guy’s career. Officials need to really stay on top of those kinds of calls and be more consistent, and players have to respect each other enough to know that championships and contracts are not worth another man’s health.

What it boils down to is that all the anti-fighting rules are probably in place because players all to often fight to retailiate against clean hits or just to try and fire up a bench.

The expansion of the NHL was designed to broaden it’s fan base. I’m sure one of their tactics was to expose existing fans of other sports to the merits of hockey, people like me. People like me watch football. I may not like Chad Ochocinco, but I know that on any given Sunday he and many like him take numerous violent hits like it’s just another day in the office. When a hockey player takes a clean hit it’s no worse than a football hit. But when someone gets hit and a team mate has to retaliate it makes hockey players look like lesser athletes compared to football players. Shouldn’t a hockey player be able to take a hit like a football player? This is where I think the onus is on the players - stop retaliating for clean hits.

Listen below, our segment starts approximately 30 minutes into the broadcast.

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http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crashthecrease

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In last night’s game pitting the Florida Panthers verses the Philadelphia Flyers, Flyer captain Mike Richards laid a nasty hit on David Booth of the Panthers. The NHL decided not to fine or suspend Richards for the hit. Do you agree? Should there have been a penalty of some kind for this hit? Is this just another example of the NHL favoring star players? Even if you have already seen it, take a look again and then respond.

I will provide my thoughts in a comment below.

Technorati Tags: hockey, nhl

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As a newer hockey fan I found myself frustrated with the lack of passionate, fanatical reporting abundant with all the other major sports. I considered starting this blog after a local sports writer demonstrated an inability to understand what it means to be a sports fan, and more so when I found myself with absolutely no forum for rebuttal. I launched the site with one mission - “Promote hockey through independent reporting in an environment free of defamatory remarks. By hockey fans, for hockey fans.” As a longtime NFL fan, I find myself growing tired of the bravado and ego taking over the sport (Michael Crabtree wants WHAT?!?!). I always appreciated the relative level of humilty and team focus present in hockey, and wanted to launch a blog reflecting the same.

Since I am employed by a technology company working with hundreds of bloggers every day, I wanted to do some research before I started this project. The number one thing I read was to be prepared and moderate my expectations. It’s not that easy to write something meaningful on a regular basis - no matter how passionate you are about an given topic. Turns out that piece of information is Truth #1 - of all the bloggers who contributed to the site last year, only 3 made it to the end - myself, duxrox and pittpen. Duxrox is an absolute fan when it comes to the Ducks, and pittpen never ran out of things to write since his team never lost. If it’s this hard to write about my team on a regular basis, can you imagine how hard it is to actually PLAY the game on a regular basis? This project has given me a better sense of appreciation for the effort both on and off the ice by all those associated with the sport.

My original concept for the site was to open it up to self regisration and let anyone start blogging about any team they wanted. The problem was that, in order to maintain the look and feel of the site, there were some technical issues I needed to work out. I also learned, from my experience at work, that it was best to put as few roadblocks between a person and their ideas as possible. Hence everyone who blogs here simply emails me their thoughts and I post it for them. The last thing you want to have happen is you lose your train of thought not because you’re out of ideas but because you can’t get a paragraph to format correctly.

I also have absolutely no expectation of making any money from this site. Even though we have ads, since the beginning of the 2008-2009 season we have yet to make enough money to pay for one month’s hosting. If anything, I use the ad impression reports as a tool to find out what pages people are reading more than a revenue source.

Going to any lengths to keep The .Net running, I bought a laptop last year that I could take with me when I traveled. For those of you who remember, last season I used to update the day’s hockey schedule followed but the scores on a daily basis. It took me over 6 hours to manually pre-enter the entire sesason’s schedule, then spend some time each night updating the scores at the end of the day. Everywhere I traveled I had to make sure there was internet access, and for the places where there wasn’t, I jailbroke my iPhone specifically so I could tether to the internet and update the site. I stopped that for this season - people can get scores anywhere…

Keeping with my mission, everyone has a voice on The .Net as long as that voice remains positive and constructive. My experience has been that sometimes I find inspiration in the writing of others, and I think this year we have quite the diversity that I hope will help spawn great commentary. We’ve added more women bloggers this year and in addition to our Canandian contributors, we’ve expanded our reach across The Pond to the UK (thanks to the efforts of canucklehead).

I hope all of you have a great time writing this season, please know that I appreciate the time everyone takes to contribute and know that I’m doing everything I can to keep The .Net as active a community as possible.

The Ref

Technorati Tags: hockey, nhl

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