[John Corn]

Anybody else feel the same way?

There's got to be some kind of a middle ground. It seemed like early on in the Colorado-Dallas game the other night, they completely took out the physical play by the end of the first period. That first goal by Niko Kapanen never should've happened. Last year, he would've been a splat along the boards. Although it was a beautiful goal.

I thought tonight's Atlanta-Carolina game was pretty well-reffed. There were a lot of power plays, but at least the refs let the players throw a few hits here and there.

I love speed and offense as much as the next guy, but I miss seeing guys getting hit. That's a part of the game too, and I hope the NHL top brass doesn't try to get rid of it. Otherwise, it's just figure skating with sticks.

 

[Ryan]

If they want more open skating make the rinks bigger. More space, especially with todays big players, will open things up a little.

It always fun to see a guy duck or slide by a check that looked like a sure thing. More space will allow more of those escapes.

The hitting isn't the problem persay, it's the lack of room for many players to avoid the hits.

With more space, a good clean hit will be an exiting and important part of the game, because it will be more difficult; plus a player takes more a risk trying to put a check on, when there is more chance for the puck handler to jink past the hit.

Free skating and hitting are both part of the game. Penalizing checking out of the game is not the best way to free the players movements.

 

[Ronmort]

I am not much of a hockey fan, but Fri. nite I watched the Capitals-Predators game. There was so much action, the time flew by. I don't know if it was the new rules or what, but I haven't enjoyed a televised game of any sport like this one in a long time. I am going to try watching a couple of more games this weekend. If I get into those games like the one last night, I may even purchase the CI package from Dish.

 

[Unthinkable]

Originally posted by Ronmort
I am not much of a hockey fan, but Fri. nite I watched the Capitals-Predators game. There was so much action, the time flew by. I don't know if it was the new rules or what, but I haven't enjoyed a televised game of any sport like this one in a long time. I am going to try watching a couple of more games this weekend. If I get into those games like the one last night, I may even purchase the CI package from Dish.

That was a good game to catch if you were looking for action as was the Sabres vs Islanders game a few nights ago. Cairns can really fight. Last night Lang and Jagr rekindled some of the old magic from their Penguins days together sending the team owner a rather convincing message that bringing in Lang would be a great move for the Caps.

 

[John Corn]

After watching a couple of games from last night that I recorded off of Center Ice, I'm willing to concede that maybe it's not so bad. It's possible the first couple of games were aberrations, because the two games I watched last night were pretty physical.

 

[angiodan]

The Leafs-Sens game was pretty physical, although they were calling a lot of penalties.
The game flew by though, and after not seeing HNIC for over 8 years, it was great! Don looked like a pimp in that gold suit!
I'm ordering CI from Dish for sure.

 

[Unthinkable]

It used to be that you could pretty much count on a non-OT NHL game lasting 3 hours where a 20 minute period with penalties, tv timeouts, and the brief intermission afterwards would occupy an hours time, but now with the hurry up faceoffs and other new rules implemented, these games are ending much sooner. I am actually enjoying seeing the commercials in other markets for places that don't even exist here in New England like Carls Jr. for example as opposed to the same ones over and over aired on NESN where you want to bang your head into a concrete wall over and over again. The Bass Ale spot with the guy telling the story about his favorite shirt is fast growing on my nerves though and isn't a good enough tale to warrant telling multiple times. Hopefully that one gets canned soon.