Posted on 05/26/2025 2:21:32 PM PDT by FLNittany
FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice added another gem to his long collection of golden quotes on Sunday morning after being asked about his team’s humility off of the ice despite their ferociousness on it.
The Panthers are, to be sure, one of the most hated teams in the NHL due to their aggressive, take-no-prisoners style.
They certainly are not popular in some parts of their own state, much less in Canada or North Carolina.
Yet after Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes to pull within a game of a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, Brad Marchand was talking about eating ice cream during intermission.
“Is that a fact?” Maurice said when asked about Marchand’s penchant for frozen treats.
“I know he said it, that doesn’t make it a fact. You have video evidence? No? This is a conspiracy theory.’’
Matthew Tkachuk, one of the league’s top agitators, spoke Sunday about going after Sebastian Aho on Saturday two days after he took out Sam Reinhart with a low hipcheck which appears to have injured Reinhart’s knee.
“I don’t really look at it as intent or intimidation at all,’’ Tkachuk said. “It’s just sticking up for teammates. We’re a family in here. It could happen to anybody and there are 20 guys racing to stick up for a teammate. That’s just how our team is built.’’
Moments later, Maurice told a story about Tkachuk seeing a young fan who is battling cancer outside the locker room and stopping for a chat. Maurice even introduced them, joking that he quickly realized Tkachuk certainly needed no introduction. So, Paul, how could a team seemingly this unlikeable be so, well, likeable?
It is all in the context of where you run into them. On the ice? Not good guys.
Off of it, pretty chill bunch.
”I’ll ask you two questions, and they might be personal so you don’t have to answer them,’’ Maurice responded. “Have you ever shotgunned a beer? Have you ever been to church … or something spiritual? OK. Would you shotgun a beer at church? That doesn’t make you a hypocrite. There is a context and a place for all things.
“I will tell you they are honest, these men are honest. That personality is all real. I hated Matthew Tkachuk, that’s a little too strong, when I was in Winnipeg. Then you meet him, and you’re like ‘what a wonderful human being.’ “They are hard on the ice, they are. But that’s driven by how they feel about each other. They don’t want to let the other guy down. There’s a caring about them. These guys are different. Barkov’s personality is our room. Sam Bennett and his wife are raising money for cats and dogs. They are really nice people.
“And then the puck drops. Sometimes you say a prayer, sometimes you shotgun a beer. That’s like our team.’’
As for Maurice’s ice cream preference, he said his go-to is “something with cherry in it. Black cherry, raspberry. That would be good.’’
6-3, 5-3, 6-1, 6-2. And these are playoff games, when traditionally scoring goes down, even in the “good ol days”. And yes teams sometimes do go a long time without a shot on goal, because of another big invention from the 90s: team defense. Players that aren’t goalies block shots all the time now. Teams now generally have 2 to 3 times as many shot attempts as shots on goal, because pucks don’t even get to the net anymore. Even with scoring talent up it’s hard to get 300 goals when half your shots don’t get to the goalie and the goalie saves 90% of the ones that get to him.
The game is awesome now. Sorry you can’t enjoy it. But that’s a you problem. All you want to do is whine so all you see are reasons to whine.
a womens college basketball game actually doubled the tv ratings on an NHL game. Chick basketball has passed hockey.. again, trapping defense ruined hockey. But heyHEY, ENJOY AN OBSOLETE GAME...YOU ARE A DYING BREED.
Women’s basketball is very popular currently. Been on the rise for a while. Hockey on the other hand has always been the jazz of sports. Never terribly popular. For the first few years of Gretzky’s career the NHL didn’t even have a national TV contract. Financially it’s healthier now than ever. But we do finally agree on something, yes the trap ruined the game. Luckily the trap is dead. Has been for almost 20 years.
If you're referring to the 2023 college finals, let it be known that a big part of that had to do with another once-in-a-generation figure for their respective sport: Caitlin Clark. Her influence rose the waters for all women's basketball ratings, be it college or professional.
Now if you want to get into a discussion about the NHL's marketing, or its blackout policy, that's an entirely different kettle of fish:
huh...the trap is played every single game on almost every single shift. Do you guys even know what it is?? Forwards stop trying to score and care more about clogging the nuetral zone and cutting off the passing lanes. Thats why the game is now a constant dump and chase. Thats why they had to come up with this weird trapezoid thing. If they didnt, NO OFFENSE WOULD BE GENERATED. FEEL LIKE I’M TALKING TO BRICK WALLS. As for Gretzkys first few years in the league...he single handedly saved that pathetic league. Teams were folding left and right...Cleveland Barons..KC Scouts, Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Flames. Even the Detroit Red Wings, original 6 team, almost folded. After a promise from the city to build a new arena, Mike Illitch bought the team AND Olympia stadium for 6 million dollars..the whole thing, 6 mill. The NHL owners hated the WHA teams and Gretzky too. Only after they won their first Cup did they finally embrace him....you guys need a hockey history lesson bad...
No, the trap is gone. The trap, aka the left wing lock, was forcing a dump that the goalie would handle (there’s another one of those big changes from 90s, puck handling goaltenders, long gone are the days when the goalie was the guy who skated worse). By limiting the goalie they made it so dump could work, especially a cross corner dump, which would put that locking winger WAY out of position, allowing the attacking team to get the puck. The trapezoid, and getting rid of the 2 line pass rule made the trap ineffective. And in a couple of seasons it went away. Not that there isn’t plenty of defense, and standing up teams at the blue line, but the force a dump for the goalie to handle is gone. The trap IS GONE.
And there’s nothing wrong with the dump and chase, that’s been a part of hockey since before TV. I think you’re the one showing vast lack of knowledge of hockey history. And hockey present. And hockey in general.
Btw, Michael Jordan never set not ONE league scoring record..not one....weird example.
Please tell me you're kidding.
MJ *still* holds the NBA record for scoring averages in the regular season (30.12 points per game) and the postseason (33.45 ppg). At the time of his retirement, he held the NBA record for points scored in the playoffs at 5,987 (which has since been eclipsed by LeBron James, who has a ludicrous 8,289). He was the NBA scoring champion 10 times, a total which is still unmatched to this day.
Heck, it wasn't until this year that Michael Jordan's record of games with at least 30 points was broken (also by LeBron).
Michael Jordan? "Not ONE league scoring record"?
Give me a break.
i dont wanna hear about no “averages”...too many variables go into that. Im talking hard core records. Wilt Chamberlain demolishes him in every catagory...besides, the NBA coddled him in the 90’s and everybody knows it.
One story from that time, not confirmed, was that forward Wayne Cashman got put in the can for drunk and disorderly after a game. While in jail, he ordered in Chinese food for himself and the guards, who happily partaked. They then let him out the next morning so he could make the trip to the next road game.
That was a fun team to watch back in the day. We are now talking more than half a century ago. Makes me feel old.
oh yeah..the dump and chase was great, until the Soviet Union creamated those Canadian teams that did that. Oilers adopted the Soviet style of play and the NHL enjoyed its greatest years ever...almost all the teams started copying the Oilers AND IT WAS A GLORIOUS TIME. Then the NJ Devils started the trapping garbage and here we are today. You incredibly dont see it, but the forwards simply lineup on the ice, cut off the passing lanes, and teams are forced to just dump it in. A few guys like McDavid try to dipsy doo into the offensive zone, but that rarely works..maybe 10% of the time. It was all designed to drag the more skilled, talented teams down to their level, thats why Lemiuex retired in 1997, he was fed up..and when ALL the teams started doing it by the year 2000, the league panicked and tried these weird rules. Helped a little bit, but not much. Gretzky and Oilers scoring recoreds have stood over 40 years now and these dorks are no closer to breaking any of them. In 2015, not that long ago, the Art Ross winner had a grand total of..ready??...87 points. 1963 was the last time the winner had a total so low. Go from players scoring 150-200 points a year to 87..and you wanna blame that on a few inches of goalies pads??...just rename the league and start all over. The record book is as obsolete as the game it self
Dump and chase has nothing to do with why the Soviet TEAM that had been playing together for years beat Canadian all stars that hadn’t. Nobody likes doing the dump and chase, but it’s valid, and ncessary. And no the Oilers did NOT play a Soviet style game. Nobody played a Soviet game until the Wings put together a line of Russians. Yes The Devils perfected the trap. And the league basically legislated it out. It does not exist anymore. The league mostly uses the 1-3-1 now.
Lemieux retired in 97 because he had cancer. And he came back in 2000 and played through the heart of the trap era. You really just plain do not know what the hell you’re talking about.
The rules that got the trap OUT came in 2005. Once again, everything you type is wrong.
Yes, scoring is more spread out now. Which I already addressed and you completely ignored because you fear facts.
You’re obsolete. Have a great time being a constant complainer who is always wrong. Buh bye
Now you're just being arbitrarily critical.
too many variables go into that.
Points per game is literally just free throws and field goals played per game. Then you average it out over every game played. What other variables are you talking about?
Im talking hard core records.
"Hard core" is not a statistical category.
Wilt Chamberlain demolishes him in every catagory
He literally doesn't. Wilt Chamberlain's total career points are 31,419; Michael Jordan has 32,292. (And they're both generational players who were at the peak of the sport when they played.)
besides, the NBA coddled him in the 90’s and everybody knows it.
And the same line of argument can be applied against Gretzky and a general unwillingness to go as physically hard against him during his heyday in the '80s and '90s. "Everybody knows it", after all.
here...you study this. Tell me if you notice anything...lol
https://records.nhl.com/records/team-records/goals/team-most-goals-one-season
The NHL has been terrible since the mid-1990s for because nobody has been able to match the individual and team goal totals of the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s. The NHL was magnificent before that, too -- even though watching video clips from old NHL games on video today will show you that your top quintile of U.S. high school and Canadian junior hockey players in 2025 are faster and more skilled than NHL players before 1970. But these players today suck because they're not Wayne Gretzky in the peak five years of his career and they're not the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s.
Or something like that.
And Ted Williams in his prime probably couldn't even make a major league roster today.
What the hell are you talking about, dude?
And I bet in the 80s they thought the NHL because there was no defense. Some people just wanna be unhappy, and want to make others unhappy... Crap I think it’s my mother-in-law.
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/05/nhl-conference-final-viewership-down-double-digits/
obsolete game
that charts an eye opener, huh. Best part, go to the last page...550th place to 584th place, its almost all teams from the 2000’s...including the last 11 spots. What a game now...skate wildly out of control and then not score. How inspiring.
Of the four teams in the 2025 conference finals, only one of them is from a strong hockey market (Edmonton). The other three are from cities where they barely have any fans outside their own metro areas.
This year’s series will be hard-pressed to match a year ago, as all seven games will air on cable. All seven games last year aired on broadcast network ABC.
Basically, you've just compared apples to tractors.
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