Goatending :mark:Quote:
Originally Posted by A.F.F.
Similarly, I'm concerned about the Habs :s . Carbaneau is messing about with his lines which is always a sign of desperation :mark:
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Goatending :mark:Quote:
Originally Posted by A.F.F.
Similarly, I'm concerned about the Habs :s . Carbaneau is messing about with his lines which is always a sign of desperation :mark:
Is it purely due bad goaltending?Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
At the same time Bruins are in the zone which I didn't expect at all.
Nothing wrong with the Caps. :D
They can even put their web editor in as goalie and win games. :) :up:
Goaltending my hiney. The Damned Senators cant score and that is killing them. Gerber and Auld haven't been letting in so many goals they are getting killed but the Goals For allow no mistakesQuote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
AS for your Habs, there is nothing wrong with that team that having a good power forward wouldn't fix. I cannot fathom why Gainey cant get one.
Sundin finally decided where to play and joins Canucks for the rest of the season.
Yep, makes the 'Nucks an even more offensive team. They stand a chance at the Cup this year.
Only if Luongo stays healthy. I don't think they have the quality on Defense tho. Need someone besides Ohlund back there moving the puck up...
Speaking about their defense, Salo got his ribs broken :mark:
Btw. Nice to see you back Mark :up:
Leafs thumped the thrashers last night 6-2 :D
Thank you sir. I was lurking and seeing posts from time to time but after a year of living up in the boonies and not having a decent internet service ( we could have had dialup but I didn't really consider it worth my time when I am only home for maybe 2 days at a time) I just sort of got on once in a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by A.F.F.
I am now moved back to the city where I can get a good highspeed hookup for a reasonable price and here I am.
Now...lol...on hockey, who is going to be paying attention to the World Junior Championships this holiday season besides us Canadians? John Tavares of my hometown Oshawa Generals is the top star for Canada as we go for a fourth straight title. I just wonder who else on the planet cares about this tournment in the way us silly Canadians do. It is a holiday tradition and I know on the 26th after having my parents over for dinner, my dad and I will open a few cold beers and watch Canada open their tournament....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
:erm:
That would us, Finns.... well, some of us. :wave:
Elite League round up:
1. Sheffield Steeleers 44
2. Coventry Blaze 40
3. Nottingham Panthers 40
4. Belfast Giants 37
5. Manchester Phoenix 34
6. Cardiff Devils 31
7. Newcastle Vipers 27
8. Edinburgh Capitals 21
9. Hull Stingrays 16
10. Basingstoke Bison 16
This year we have been completely and utterly hopeless, it has been one of the toughest years to be a Vipers fan!
Canada 8, Czech Republic 1. I do know the Czechs aren't as bad as the score indicates but I am not sure how good or not good the Canadians are going to be, but for the most part they looked REALLY good....
AFF...I always root for the Finn's unless they play Canada. Even then...I cant work up a hatred. Too many Finnish friends online here and the fact you Finn's don't back down from the tough going as hockey players.....gotta like that.
Better to wait until the quarter finals, in tournaments there is only a few important game.
I watched yesterday the first period of our game against Sweden, good thing was that there was not commercials like in NHL games, cant stand the standing and waiting.
Canada 15, Kazahakistan 0. Why is a nation who has only 12 rinks and 3500 hockey players put in the A pool at the World Juniors? I felt for those guys getting shelled because Canada cannot call off the dogs when goal differential is a tie breaker in the standings?
I often think the IIHF are morons and putting a nation in the A pool who cannot cut the mustard is not doing them any favours. This tournament used to be a 8 team tourney with Canada, USA, Finland, Sweden, Czech Rep. and Russia as the automatic top 6 based on their world rankings and the last two spots as qualifiers. Now they have 4 teams in their with no qualification except out of the B pool to this group of 4. It makes little sense and it leads to walkovers by countries who cant let up. Where is this good for the sport and the development of the young guys from these nations. Heck, they Kazak's lost to Germany 9-0. It isn't like the Germans are a power house but at least they can play one of the top 6 and make a game of it and win on occasion.
They had an interesting story in today's Toronto Sun on a player who plays for Manchester who once had a chance to play for the Oilers Farm system over here. He is the all time leader in British hockey scoring wise and it was a nice article. Maybe some day UK hockey will put players in the NHL........Quote:
Originally Posted by BTCC2
Leafs lose to the caps, vesa has not been good :rolleyes:
Don't know if others cares it in away I know you do but it is something I wait every year :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
So far...the Finn's and Canadians care...lol
Tonight...Germany gave Canada a bit of a tussle for 2 periods before Canada won 5-1.
Happy New Year!!! Canada beats the USA in Pool A for first place. After going down 3-0 to the Americans, they come back and win 7-4 with a hatrick by John Taveres who has now tied a Canadian record for most goals in WJC history held by Jeff Carter with 12......I am getting a bit more optimistic now...
And Finns are out :mark:
leafs lost :rolleyes:
Oh, those Caps. Another big win. :D
Yeah Tony Hand. He's 41 and still going strong over here with the Phoenix. I genuinely think that if some NHL teams took the risk of taking on one of the leading players from the Elite League then they could just about handle the step up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
BTCC...this guy was your Wayne Gretzky and he didn't make the big club, he was getting an invite for the AHL. I think your best players are at or about that level maybe. It isn't to slight British hockey but until some UK natives make noise as a team at an international level (say qualify a team into the B pool or A at the World Championships or WJC) then it is really hard to say anymore than the odd player such as Hand would cut it past the AHL.Quote:
Originally Posted by BTCC2
You are a big fan of British hockey and I am sure it is fun to watch and it looks like hockey you see on TV from over here, but the differences in coaching and talent are slight on the surface but it is large in actuality. You see nations such as Kazakhstan with one or two players in the NHL and AHL and they are barely able to have A pool status in the WJC and in the B pool status at the World Championship level. That last few steps are a long way up.
Hi guys not posted in the hockey thread for a while.
I think in theory most of the very top players in Britain could play 4th line NHL hockey but unfortunately not much higher. Mark Dutiaume (ex Sheffield and Coventry) played a couple of years in the NHL, very good player.
I saw Theo Fleury play once when he played for Belfast. He scored a goal and maybe made another couple. Definitely showed the difference between a very good veteran NHL player and EIHL players in their prime. I think our goaltending is surprisingly poor in Britain as well.
PS Tony Hand scored a heck of a lot of points in his early career.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/p....php?pid=19065
It's great how he can still score more than a point a game, he must stay in good shape at 41 lol.
PPS GO AVS!!!!
Time for the monthly supplemental picks in my pool. Since I'm picking third from last I'm hoping the Steve Mason is still available so I can dump that sieve Legace :s
Mason has indeed had a great month. Just a hint schmenke. Pekka Rinne. :up: Almost as good as Bäckström.
Woody....you guys saw Theo at the end of his career but his conditioning wasn't likely all there and one player by himself cannot really shine too much under those circumstances. Also, as I said, at this level the differences don't look large but they are there. Many top Major Jr. A players who score 50 plus goals in Jr. hockey in Canada get drafted and are lucky to get 10 a year in the NHL....while others come out of nowhere to be stars. It isn't an exact science evaluating talent. Right now everyone keeps saying John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals who just scored 8 goals in the World Junior tourney in 6 games is the number one pick in this years NHL draft. Yet I suspect with his footspeed, he will be a limited player in the NHL. Yet if he went to England, I am sure he would light up the scoreboard, he has tremendous hands and puck sense but only in the NHL would his lack of speed be a detriment. The defense in the NHL is the huge difference. They are as fast as the forwards often and they hit harder and are well coached. You cant teach speed.....Quote:
Originally Posted by woody2goody
first Mair with a off-ice 'argument', and now Andrew Peters gets bit... yes, bit, by Jarkko during the first period. :eek: :bigcry:
Well, as my dear mother used to say, "don't put your hands where they don't belong, okay?" :p : ;)
This last incident just further demonstrates the idiot that Jarkko is :s
Agree, he is stupid, and has always beenQuote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
I watched the clip and the angle is that you can't see if he did bite him or not.
However, Jarkko Ruutu is an idiot.
Lol...glad to see the Finnish hockey fan on here condemn Ruutu for his silliness. The problem with this guy is he needs better PR. If he was as manipulative of the press as Sean Avery, he too could be dating supermodels....
Speaking of good looking women and hockey players..... apprently the cute and cuddly Carrie Underwood has realized football players are passe ( Tony Romo of the Cowboys was an old BF) and is dating Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators. Oh to be a hockey player.......
Thank God it isn't the new Senator Mike Duffy!!!!!!! :D
That is an inside Cdn. joke.
Is she going to dump countrymusic as well?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
AFF...lol...I don't think you cant take the country out of the girl. She is a farm kind from Oklahoma. It would be like asking you Finn's to give up your love of Vodka and Saunas....
Good road trip for the Habs.
Good night for Robert Lang last night in New York :) .
Heck, even Gueey-ohm scored a goal :D
My hometown Oshawa Generals just traded their best defenseman Michael Del Zotto and the scoring machine that is John Taveres to London in the OHL. This bites......seeing two of the best junior hockey players in Canada in my hometown 31 games a year was a pleasure and management better rebuild and WIN for all the picks and younger prospects they are getting back. Trades in Jr. hockey always have been something I have thought as a little dirty and shady....they are too young to be traded like a piece of meat....