NHL review says league in 'catastrophic' condition

The Globe And Mail ^ | February 13, 2004 | PAUL WALDIE

[dirtydanusa]

Actually, these are probably the only professional athletes that deserve the money. Consider a baseball player leaving a game for a blister. I've seen hockey players get hit in the face with the puck or a stick, receive a few stitches and return to the game on their very next shift.

I, too, am a Bruin fan, #24 who showed everyone what determination and hard work can do. Taz gave 110% every night, bled bruin black and gold and never asked for anything. He was an inspiration.

[SamAdams76]

Yeah, it was a Freudian slip on my part. Even as I was posting about the NHL, I still had the NFL on my brain! Ironically, football was my least favorite pro sport growing up. Now it is the only sport the matters, as far as I am concerned. Even baseball has fallen far from favor.

[CharacterCounts]

Scotty Bowman was being intervied by a Detroit radio station today. He was suggesting a rule change to eliminate the trap, or at least make it riskier to use, and to cut down the number of whistles.

[Paladin2]

Does the NHL have more than 6 teams?

[Paladin2]

Where's Derek Sanderson when you need him?

[ml/nj]

the game I used to love

Dittos to that sentiment.

I used to go to 30-35 Ranger games a year and I didn't live within a hundred miles of the Garden. But there came a point where I realized that I was paying to watch other people work, and that I cared more about the outcome than they did. Brad Park was getting about 35c of every ticket ($8.50 top) that was sold and he kept tripping over the red line. Now I wouldn't walk across the street to see a game for free.

The only point I would disagree with you on is scoring. High scoring is not good for hockey, anymore than it is for soccer. There's never a dull moment in a 1-0 game (where the players care more about the score than who won some fight). There can be lots of dull moments in a 5-3 game.

ML/NJ

[Zack Nguyen]

I've seen Slapshot - what this league needs is more fighting! (kidding)

[Pokey78]

The 3 guys who can save the NHL:

[Colinsky]

I think the NHL's problem is the anonymity of the players. I went to every Detroit Red Wings home game in the '64-'65 season, and I knew every player in the league by sight.

Of course, there were only six teams, and the players wore no helmets or faceguards. Today there are, what, 30 teams? I've been unable to sustain my interest since Gretzky retired.

Maybe it's time to rescind some of the rules changes that Gretzky forced. In the old days, when there were two simultaneous minor penalties, each team played one man short. Gretzky invented a new way of 4-on-4 offense that slaughtered the opposition so much that the league changed the rules so that simultaneous minors no longer cost a team a player on the ice. Gretzky's gone, let's go back to the rules for normal people.

[Mr. Mojo]

Used to be a big time Kings fan. Have lost interest

I used to be a Kings fan too back in the Dionne, Goring, Simmer, Taylor, Vachon era. Losing teams, but had some great talent.

[demsux]

I own a licensed goods retail store in St. Louis and I've been hearing this over and over.

CCM, our hockey vendor, just came out of bankruptcy and I can't even get a hold of them to order jerseys. I'm losing thousands of dollars in sales AND the league is suffering from their vendor's incompetance.

Just another sign that the NHL is broken.

I say bankrupt the entire NHL and cancel all contracts (including their licensed vendors) and start over.

[ServesURight]

This is the logo for the Green Bay Gamblers, part of the USHL league. Great amateur hockey action.

[reformed_democrat]

Go Flyers!

I just have to ask . . . Do you remember the book Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie.

[commish]

Old time hockey! Eddie Shore! God that was great movie!

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Go Flyers!

I think the NHL is saying the same thing. If the Flyers end Philly's 21 year drought, it'll do wonders for the league.

Damn shame what that nasty puck did to JR last night. Hope he's back for the playoffs.

[RWR8189]

If the Flyers end Philly's 21 year drought

21 years??

Stop your whining there, we're going on 43 years here in Chicago

The last time we won, Philly wasn't even in the league.

*hangs head in shame at the patheticness of Chicago sports

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

21 years??

That's for the whole city. It's been 7564 days since Philadelphia won it's last championship, in anything (it was the '83 Sixers, if you ever get the trvia question). At least you had the '85 Bears and a Bulls dynasty to hold you over.

Chicago's got nothing on Philly in the futility dep't.

[Luke21]

I'm a Flyer fan also, and hang out on the Philly.com board each playoff season. But I became a fan back in the "Broad Street Bully" days of the early and mid seventies. I loved all the fighting and brawling. It was a combination of hockey, wrestling, and roller derby. Absolutely great stuff. The Flyers, Rangers, and Bruins had some mammoth ice wars.

Guys played without helmets and teeth. The Flyers had Dave Schultz, the Watson brothers, Moose Dupont, and Gary Dornhoffer for brawling and Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, and Rick MacLeish for scoring. Bernie Parent was the goalie and the team always seemed to be skating two men down because of brawls, but Bernie stopped everything. They won two Stanley Cups. It was a blast.

Hockey today is dying of a thousand cuts. The league went too far in stopping fights, where some referees now declare there won't be a single one with them on the ice. Even the teams' designated fighters or "goons" don't get to drop the gloves with these scoundrels around.

The traditional rough and tumble Canadian game has been changing toward the up and down, fast paced, European style for some time now. To stop it the New Jersey Devils perfected the trap and with it stifled the Detroit Red Wings, an emerging dynasty who had a ton of Soviet players back in the mid 90's. The Devils then went on to several Stanley Cups, and the Wings won a few too. Now every team in the eastern conference imitates the Devils and out west the teams all imitate the Red Wings.

I watch the Flyers every night on satellite, but there's not much reason to care what happens when Calgary plays Ottawa. It's not the same tough and rugged sport as before, although the athletes themselves remain very talented.

Ticket prices are way too high and the player's salaries are absolutely disgraceful, given the shape of the sport. When Bettman tells people to blame him, at least he has it right. He's an NBA guy, for crying out loud. Let's get a real hockey man as commissioner.

One more thing. Long live Don Cherry, the last of the breed who tells it like it is on Hockey Night in Canada. He is the farthest thing from political correctness in the world. We need more like him everywhere around us.

[afropick]

I say watch the Chicago Wolves, at least they are going to show home games on tv.