Re: The NHL Thread
 

:lol :lol :lol Wings fans

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thought the rangers got outplayed last night.
just looked really out of sync
lucky to capitalize on the kreider break away.
felt like they were just trying to withstand the punches and get a point the entire game

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Weren't you listening to the TV announcers though? They were "really playing hard" :rolleyes

That's surely what he meant though. They were just fighting to stay relevant.

I said it last night, but again, Byfuglian should be removed from the league.

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:lol:lol no way, shit like that happens in basically every game

don't get me wrong, it was still vicious and dirty, but the NHL doesn't really care. in fact, they pretty much encourage this shit

it'll be a 2-3 game suspension then everyone will forget about it because garage league gonna garage league

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id like to see examples of something like that happening "basically every game"

I totally get your sentiment, and you're right that garage league gonna garage league. it's hockey at the end of the day.

but he slid up to him, behind his back, lined up, and dropped his crossed stick straight onto the back of his neck, falling into it with the weight of his body

had he actually hit his target, he could have paralyzed him. the league encourages that?

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yea, pretty much

there are boards, slashes, fights & cross-checks that could do just as much damage every night in the NHL

the worst part being that a lot of those dangerous plays are technically legal according to the NHL rules

to me, that is encouraging the behavior

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first of all, no.
second of all, make some effort to spell his name right, christ.

i guess i just don't see what everyone else does. he deserves a suspension yes but he was protecting his goalie, i applaud physicality at that end of the ice, just not in the manner he applied it.

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well, no. everything you just listed is literally the name of a penalty.
and the league doesn't encourage it, the fans do. the league is in the business of making money which means catering to what fans want to watch. pretty sure if the masses resented physical play they would get it out of the game.

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Is the sky really falling in Detroit? The Panthers are virtually done. The Sens will need to be red-hot. Sure, would've been nice if you guys had taken care of business last night. Might be 7th might be 8th but when it's all said and done the Wings will make it, no?

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Wings will make the playoffs, but march has been fucking embarrassing

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the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, aka how it is enforced, are 2 different things

yes, those are the "names" of penalties, but again, fighting is legal...sure you get a 5 minute "penalty" but grown ass men are allowed to remove protective equipment, throw haymakers, all while standing on skates on a rock hard sheet of ice...but you're right, it's the fans' fault

no one resents "physical play" dude. assault & battery on the other hand? yea, i could do without that.

Crosby (just as an example because i can attest to it) was literally being cross-checked (by the letter of the law) in the head repeatedly all during the C-bus and NYR series last year. never a penalty called

Ovechkin literally used his stick as a weapon against Kris Letang earlier this year. no penatly, and he had the balls to defend the play afterwards. embarrassing for the league

Zach Rinaldo exists.

i could go on but i think my point is clear by now

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you just lost all credibility, later.

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the Boston roots still show, becca

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seems like wings, bruins, Ottawa and florida all don't want to be in the playoffs. great last 3 games by the b's (although they should've won the ducks game), but before that they had consecutive 5+ game losing streaks.

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really?

i'd argue crosby's annual playoff bitch fest and the pens fans all crying for him are on par with the tom brady treatment.

and if you really think fighting is not there for the fans and the fans only, you actually do have 0 credibility on this topic.

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we're melting!!!!!!!!


says the pens fans in about 10 hours.

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:lol:lol:lol

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what are you talking about? Crosby was just 1 example out of plenty i could've used. there are actions that would be considered assault and/or assault with a deadly weapon every night in this league.

and fighting is for the fans? there has never been more of an opposition of fighting among fans than there is now. and it's only growing

fighting is still allowed because meat head canadians that run the league think it's "part of the game" and helps the game "police itself" its all bullshit and has little to do with what fans want

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I'm really liking the guy whose team has never won a playoff series giving lip to a pens fan.

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this may all be true but it's a sentiment shared more by bigger fans. the masses and casusal fans still enjoy the fighting. that's quite obvious going to a game.
the league is in the business of catering to the fans, there's no way they could be presented with evidence that the vast majority of fans hate it and still choose to keep it in the game.
the league office is dumb but they're not that dumb.

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what does that have to do with anything? i've watched and played hockey my entire life, so im not allowed to have an opinion because CBJ hasn't won a playoff series yet?

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i never said vast majority

and there have been plenty of polls taken and people i've talked to that say the fighting turns them off from the game

catering to the fans is such a bullshit excuse that i'm so tired of hearing

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flyers fan dude, flyers fan

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fair enough but you have to believe they are trying to create a product that puts the most people possible in the seats and gets the best TV ratings. there can't ever be a departure from that.

the fighting all but disappears during the playoffs, just makes me think that it's a made for TV type thing to keep casual fans engaged during the regular season.

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i guess so, it just seems like a bad business model if its true. cutting of your nose despite your face type deal

with all the brain injury science that's constantly being revealed, i feel like its going to get easier and easier for the casual fan to not like fighting

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I think it might disappear because players don't want to take 5 minute majors during a playoff game.

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ya, well once that happens is when you'll see it go away.

i go to a lot of NHL games and the crowd gets super fired up for a fight. not even just young, relatively uneducated hockey fans like in columbus, i was in MSG and the arena in Buffalo for a game just this past year and the fans went wild for a fight.

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of course, that's just natural

you see 2 linebacker sized dudes fist fighting 20 feet from you, you might stand up and watch. maybe even root for the guy wearing your colors. the just human, mob mentality

shit, i've done it before at penguins games. that doesn't change the fact that i want fighting eliminated

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right - and the guys who typically fight don't get as much ice time in playoff games. my point is that the game is just fine without it, which leads me to believe that it exists during less marketable games for other reasons...

ya, im with you. im not especially opposed to it but i wouldnt miss it. i just think the fans who really drive the bottom line for the league don't feel the same way, most people are idiots.

anyways, i think we've covered the topic.

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Great backread going to last night. :lol

I appreciate fighting as a way of sticking up for your teammates. It's the ultimate sacrifice in terms of hockey. It's not fun... those few players who've said they enjoy it are crazy, but it's - for lack of a better word - heartwarming :lol to see guys willing to take some punches in the face and bloody their knuckles up on a helmet for someone else.

The last fight I was in was in a men's league. We had, as far as men's league was concerned, a fairly high-caliber "star" player. One game, against this team of meatheads, he was getting clobbered. Spears, elbows, checks behind the play and punches in the back of his head when he went down. So finally, after someone slew-footed him and he went down hard, I just went after that someone and we had a pretty spirited bout (again, as far as men's leagues go). Sure, I got ejected from the game (men's league, FTW!), but NO ONE bothered our "star" the rest of the night. But dude, I won't lie... it sucked being the one fighting :lol

And I know, I know, "get even by winning" and all that. I get it. But I've had teammates fight for me just like I've fought for them, and I'll tell you, it really brings dudes together. I know people are going to disagree with me... it's an argument we've had over and over in this thread. And I'm comfortable with that now. Just giving my opinion.

Now the "staged fights" and stuff? Different story.