Who Likes Hockey?

[Mark86]

Just want to see who else if following the NHL playoffs this year. So far, I think the series and games have been amazing. I am a huge Rangers fan so my heart has been pounding for 15 games so far. It is very interesting in the NY/NJ area with the Rangers vs. Devils. I hate the Devils and currently live in NJ so I have to pick my bars carefully I am a bit intimidated by the Kings because they are playing great hockey. Let's get some hockey chit chat going. What are your thoughts?

 

[Trevloc]

ill admit it, im a huge kings fan. and they are playing hockey like ive never seen before. tonights game was rather pathetic. i live in az, so i am naturally a somewhat fan of the coyotes. but they deserved to loose tonight. they played some dirty hockey. and what was up with smith? cheap shot central.

now i do like the rangers too, but i am rooting for the kings all the way. sutter really made them into a true hockey team, and its going to be one hell of a cup no matter who is in it.

ps. i hate the devils.

 

[Johnny Utah]

big hockey fan as well. However i root for the capitals. I think we could have won that rangers/capitals series but, we botched a few games. Either way it was a good series. The rangers are a dangerous team right now.

When i watch the games, it seems like all the teams have physically bigger guys than my caps. Maybe it's just me. I feel like we are out muscled or out sized.

I'm a bit surprised that the flyers went out so early.

I watched most of rangers/devils game 1. The rangers look better.

Exciting stuff to watch!

 

[Millerad1651]

I don't have a favorite team, so I don't root for anyone in particular. But I have been watching most of the games and its been some exciting stuff. Hockey is not real big around here ( we have a minor league team ) so not many people I know watch it. I've always liked it though, so I watch at least the playoffs every year.

 

[propman07]

Big hockey fan....been following the LA Kings since the late 80s. They are playing some really great hockey. Glad that they won last night, considering that Phoenix played a pretty dirty game. I know that a lot of that stuff goes on during a game, but the hit on Lewis by Doan and the hit on Brown were cheap shots. The announcers are okay, but I would much rather hear the game called by Bob Miller and Jim Fox on FSW. They are the guys that do the games during the regular season, but it looks like NBC bought the rights to the play offs, so Miller/Fox won't be able to do any more games this season.

The Rangers look pretty good against the Devils. NJ looked flat the other night, and it seemed that it was going to be a matter of time before NY took over the game.

I hope the the finals are exciting, no matter who makes it in.

 

[Trevloc]

i couldnt agree more. bob miller knows his hockey. i basically watch it on mute. i cant stand how moronic these announcers are. make comments like "center field"..... field!?!?!? really!?!?!?

and in game one, when smith facewashed the kings, they caleld it a "stink finger"....... really?

 

[Coctailer]

Too much skating around between fights.

 

[theizzardking]

i frigg'n love hockey, greatest game on earth! nothing is as fast,rough and skill related as hockey... i'm bias though played for 22 years all the way upto midget AAA with various tryouts around the county for the ECHL league and played against the central red army in the early 90's (that was cool!), so i'm old school my fav teams haven't changed since i was a kid, Bruins (bobby orr, ray borque,cam neely!) Blackhawks , chelios ,roenick ,belfour ,probert and then the wings, brendan shanahan,yzerman,gordie howe,sergei fedorov, and the puck face killer himself terry sawchuk, lol....

that said, i haven't been watching the NHL playoffs like i would have liked , the wife watching glee or some sort of nonsense like that, but i've been watching the WHL games which are a blast, the winterhawks down in portland were doing quite well and there has been some pretty exciting games to be had...

what's the next big match up in the NHL?

 

[propman07]

i couldnt agree more. bob miller knows his hockey. i basically watch it on mute. i cant stand how moronic these announcers are. make comments like "center field"..... field!?!?!? really!?!?!?

and in game one, when smith facewashed the kings, they caleld it a "stink finger"....... really?

No kidding....

How about the embellishment call on Brown last night....for Smith lumber-jacking him in the back of the leg when he skated by the crease....REALLY ??? What the heck was that....two minutes for receiving?

 

[Huskey]

I'm a huge Canucks fan, so it's a good thing I spent the better part of the post season in South America - I left right after our final game.

 

[propman07]

what's the next big match up in the NHL?

Turn on the game tonight with the Devils vs the Rangers....should be a good game. The next Kings/Coyotes game is on Saturday @ noon....that should be a good match up as well.

Sounds like you played for a while....and had some game. You're right, hockey is a great sport to watch as there is a lot of skill involved. I played for a little while (~10 yrs), but it was in at the adult hockey (beer league) level...no where on par for what you've experienced.....must have been pretty cool playing against the Red Army...how'd you guys make out?

 

[Trevloc]

No kidding....

How about the embellishment call on Brown last night....for Smith lumber-jacking him in the back of the leg when he skated by the crease....REALLY ??? What the heck was that....two minutes for receiving?

THAT WAS SUCH BULL! i would like to take some wood to the back of the refs knee and see if he embeleshes...

and why didnt smith get an acting call when he was slightly knicked and he jumped across the crease like it was the end of the world.

edit: also, hanzal might be getting a suspension for the porr hit on brown. we will find out today.

 

[Hepar]

I love hockey. To be honest, I really don't watch a lot during the regular season, but I don't think much can hold a candle to playoff hockey. This years playoffs have been AWESOME! I've been a Pens fan since the 80's. Tough loss for them this year, but they deserved to lose to the Flyers. Not sure what they were thinking in that series. If no Pens, I root for the Flames and the Canucks (closest team to me, so they're the home team).

 

[theizzardking]

must have been pretty cool playing against the Red Army...how'd you guys make out?

yeah one of the highlights of my career, i have never met, or played against guys that were so wiry and tough , they were a bit smaller then i was at the time, but x2 as strong and i don't know, just down right "tough" and we weren't slouches ourselves, my coach used to believe in the no shoulder pads practice and would make us run the gauntlet along the boards to "toughen up our shoulders for hitting" along with bringing a boxing coaches to teach us to fight, we were being trained to kill, haha, that said though after going to moscow for a week i could see why they were so hard, it was a way of life for them to be hard, not just some sort of training that you would do 5 times a week, when they stopped playing hockey their life was still hard unlike us Canadian and Americas for the most part, in the end of the little series we did, we lost 5 games to 3, but all in all the experience was very eye opening, it was still soviet russia at the time so we were required to have escorts everywhere we went and the kids we were playing against were literally part of the red army as their sports program at the time was very closely tied to the military, the player i stayed with and that stayed with me rarely got to see his family and lived in a complex in moscow as opposed to his home town on the other side of the country, it was a very strange and eye opening experience especially me only being 13 years old at the time, but that's the age they start grooming you for the NHL and such....
yeah, i loved it and was getting flown all over the country by semi-pro teams for tryous when i was playing a pick-up game that summer and some kid tripped me, did a nose dive into the boards and fractured my neck and crushed 3 discs in my back, i have never been the same and am on painkillers for life now....i tend to not watch as much hockey now as i used to just because it makes me sad, as i'd much rather be playing then watching and that really goes for any sport...:gun4:

 

[Mark86]

Awesome, more hockey fanatics around here! Tough game for the Rangers tonight. I hate to say it, but they looked slow/tired and deserved to lose. The Rangers have been great this season and there is a lot of young talent on the team. The Rangers Capitals series was fantastic to watch. It was a cleanly played series as well. If Richards doesn't score with 6.6 left, Rangers aren't advancing. Holtby has a lot of potential but I wonder where the Caps stand without Dale Hunter. Pens and Canucks have shocked me in the playoffs (curse of the President's trophy lives on). I thought the Pens were taking it all. As for the West, I was pulling for the Coyotes or Kings. After watching Game 2, I hope the Kings sweep because the Coyotes were dirty. Quick is fun to watch in net!!

 

[Hepar]

yeah one of the highlights of my career, i have never met, or played against guys that were so wiry and tough , they were a bit smaller then i was at the time, but x2 as strong and i don't know, just down right "tough" and we weren't slouches ourselves, my coach used to believe in the no shoulder pads practice and would make us run the gauntlet along the boards to "toughen up our shoulders for hitting" along with bringing a boxing coaches to teach us to fight, we were being trained to kill, haha, that said though after going to moscow for a week i could see why they were so hard, it was a way of life for them to be hard, not just some sort of training that you would do 5 times a week, when they stopped playing hockey their life was still hard unlike us Canadian and Americas for the most part, in the end of the little series we did, we lost 5 games to 3, but all in all the experience was very eye opening, it was still soviet russia at the time so we were required to have escorts everywhere we went and the kids we were playing against were literally part of the red army as their sports program at the time was very closely tied to the military, the player i stayed with and that stayed with me rarely got to see his family and lived in a complex in moscow as opposed to his home town on the other side of the country, it was a very strange and eye opening experience especially me only being 13 years old at the time, but that's the age they start grooming you for the NHL and such....
yeah, i loved it and was getting flown all over the country by semi-pro teams for tryous when i was playing a pick-up game that summer and some kid tripped me, did a nose dive into the boards and fractured my neck and crushed 3 discs in my back, i have never been the same and am on painkillers for life now....i tend to not watch as much hockey now as i used to just because it makes me sad, as i'd much rather be playing then watching and that really goes for any sport...:gun4:

Well, DUH! Didn't you see Rocky IV?

And that sucks man. I had no idea. Back injuries are no bueno. I've got a herniated disc and two bulging discs and ever since it happened, I've probably gotten a handful of decent nights rest. It's slowly driving me mad.

 

[Mr. Banks]

RE:Hockey

I'm a huge Capitals fan! Stationed in Quantico VA for over 6 years, I made it to the Verizon Center every chance I got while I wasn't traveling. Win or lose, the Caps are always going to be my team. Good to see other Hockey fans, and a Caps fan - Johnny Utah.

Now, even though the Caps are my team, I admit to thinking New York was going to win Lord Stanley's cup. I guess I know my team well enough. The Caps remind me of the San Diego Chargers. Anyone? Anyone? My wife is from LA and we hate the Kings, sorry to the King's fans here. I'm calling LA and New York, with New York to win the cup.

Back home in Portland I'll support my local Winterhawks.

 

[propman07]

yeah one of the highlights of my career, i have never met, or played against guys that were so wiry and tough , they were a bit smaller then i was at the time, but x2 as strong and i don't know, just down right "tough" and we weren't slouches ourselves, my coach used to believe in the no shoulder pads practice and would make us run the gauntlet along the boards to "toughen up our shoulders for hitting" along with bringing a boxing coaches to teach us to fight, we were being trained to kill, haha, that said though after going to moscow for a week i could see why they were so hard, it was a way of life for them to be hard, not just some sort of training that you would do 5 times a week, when they stopped playing hockey their life was still hard unlike us Canadian and Americas for the most part, in the end of the little series we did, we lost 5 games to 3, but all in all the experience was very eye opening, it was still soviet russia at the time so we were required to have escorts everywhere we went and the kids we were playing against were literally part of the red army as their sports program at the time was very closely tied to the military, the player i stayed with and that stayed with me rarely got to see his family and lived in a complex in moscow as opposed to his home town on the other side of the country, it was a very strange and eye opening experience especially me only being 13 years old at the time, but that's the age they start grooming you for the NHL and such....
yeah, i loved it and was getting flown all over the country by semi-pro teams for tryous when i was playing a pick-up game that summer and some kid tripped me, did a nose dive into the boards and fractured my neck and crushed 3 discs in my back, i have never been the same and am on painkillers for life now....i tend to not watch as much hockey now as i used to just because it makes me sad, as i'd much rather be playing then watching and that really goes for any sport...:gun4:

DANG....that sounds like quite the experience. It really sucks about your injury...I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to watch sports, when you really want to play them. Thanks for sharing your story, and again, sorry to hear about the injury.

 

[sigepbiker]

HUGE STARS FAN! Watched their entire play-off run in '99 when the won The Cup and have been hooked ever since. This year I watched the Winter Classic over all the football bowl games. This year's Star's playoff run was horrible, a 5 game loosing streak to finish the season is no way to get you in the playoffs!

I've watched a few play-off games but constantly keeping up to date on all the series. The Kings looked really strong in their early series taking down 1 and 2 seeds. I'm on the Kings side of the Kings/Coyote tilt, and Kings for the Cup.

Any thoughts on the realignment of divisions next year?

 

[theizzardking]

HUGE STARS FAN! Watched their entire play-off run in '99 when the won The Cup and have been hooked ever since. This year I watched the Winter Classic over all the football bowl games. This year's Star's playoff run was horrible, a 5 game loosing streak to finish the season is no way to get you in the playoffs!

I've watched a few play-off games but constantly keeping up to date on all the series. The Kings looked really strong in their early series taking down 1 and 2 seeds. I'm on the Kings side of the Kings/Coyote tilt, and Kings for the Cup.

Any thoughts on the realignment of divisions next year?

yes, arizona loses the team they never deserved and i can start hating Canadians again and feel ok "aboot" it.haha
How the Phoenix Coyotes could be bound for Seattle - Puck Daddy - NHL Blog - Yahoo! Sports