dobbles

you know whats funny? that even without hossa, samuelsson, hudler, and franzen, the wings still managed to score 10 goals in the last 2 games against a couple of the best goalies in the league. its still not our scoring that is the biggest problem. we are still in the top thirs of the league at scoring goals. its just we are almost in the cellar as far as giving up goals. i realize that part of having good offense is it allows you to have the puck more and further limit scoring chances against. but for the most part, the team still needs to get its act together in its own zone. for how much we pay our top 4 defenseman, having this many goals allowed is insane. i know lilja is out, but should losing the 5th dman on the depth chart really be that big of a deal? losing filppula will make it that much harder to win these high scoring games, but the problem with the team isn't forward depth, its getting their head out of their ass in their own zone.

every wings game that center ice has had the ability to broadcast i have been able to watch in HD. they always have the fsnd feed in standard and high def. as i mentioned in a previous post, i never seem to have any canadian feeds in HD, so last night the vancouver feed was standard def only. but anyway, most games for me have had a high def option. the other day i stated 50%, but i think its probably much higher.

i am kinda confused as to the folks saying that they can't see HD games on CI. i would say well over 50% of the games are in HD for me. the biggest problem seems to be canadian feeds. they don't ever seem to be in HD. i also got it for free because of the versus directv battle though.

ok, there is a difference between the manufacturer of a jersey putting their logo on it and what is already in place in europe http://hockeyadventure.com/wp-content/them.../eurojersey.jpg while i do realize some teams do have some additional logos on jerseys or helmets, its kinda silly that you use total hyperbole and attack reebok putting their logo on their own product.

and you wonder why people think you are ad bot?!?!!? i think something like 70% of your posts links to hockey streams. i am actually really surprised you didn't provide your usual sign up link that gets you account credit...

what do you expect babcock to say? think he is just going to throw him under the bus or something? i certainly respect the opposing opinion that bertuzzi is good (though i don't agree with it) but we might as well ask bertuzzi's mom for her unbiased opinion of todd's play. i honestly don't put a lot of weight onto babcocks comments; not because i don't trust him, but because there's only so much you can say about a guy you have to have around for the next 78 games. also getting back to something that was talked about regarding bertuzzi putting up 44 points last year... the actual thread is comparing him to robert lang; lang put up 52 and 62 points in his 2 full seasons here. but fact remains that with all those points, he was generally disliked by fans. its the same thing we see with many players. just because a guy can put points on the board doesn't mean he will be liked, or that he plays good defense, or that he isn't a turnover machine. will be interesting to see how the season goes for bertuzzi and how the fans continue to react.

mikael samuelsson had 40 points and was an even player, yet he was pretty much run out of town and hated by fans for boneheaded plays. so often times there is more than just numbers. and as you mentioned, he had the wirst +/- on the team. and he only played 66 games. could have been even worse had he played more. todd bertuzzi can still put up a decent amount of points for a depth player, but his defense and decision making is pretty awful. just keep watching; you will see.

i am not basing my opinion off of 4 games though. i am basing it on the probably 30 or 40 flames games i watched last year, and the opinions of many other flames fans that are knowledgeable. i know how he played last year, and i am saying so far he looks like the same exact player this year.

because i was formerly a season tickey holder for the flames ahl team, i have followed them for the last few years. all of the flames fans disliked Bertuzzi because he was lazy defensively and made tons of stupid turnovers. as someone that watched a fair amount of flames games, i can see why they felt that way. so even though bertuzzi does have a pretty small salary, i still expect very little. so far, in the 3 games i have seen, he has shown that he is still very much that same player. i very much expect him to be one of the most hated wings in a month or so.

i agree this is something that is totally useful. though at least if this post is out there, it can be linked when people incorrectly state waiver rules. i know not everyone cares to know the rulebook, but for the amount of times this issue is incorrectly argued, something needs to be out there.

and then the stream dies with 30 seconds left... boo!

yeah, i realize how they got such high quality. its just hard to have to go from those really high quality streams to the crappy ones on justin.tv. yours has turned out to be really good though. i can maximize on my screen and still get a decently crisp picture. kudos.

well it may nto be an exclusive, but they still carry the national rights to this. the stream i am watching right now is versus. and they are not allowing CI to play it.

thanks for the stream. decent quality. i still miss those awesome atdhe streams early last year. those were super quality.

versus has exclusive rights to those games. directv can't air them no matter what they want to have on their channels. and as far as dedicating 2 channels per game, its because they offer the home and away versions so you can have your choice of who you want to listen to broadcasting it. center ice is a pretty awesome option. they do dual feeds, have HD, and allow you to watch more hockey than any other option. for those of us outside the detroit area, we may only see a handful of wings games on regular tv without it.

guys have you not been watching the directv thread? people have been free center ice and more for several weeks now. all you have to do is threaten to disconnect your service.

totally agree with that. i first called and asked about the issue in general and what could be done about it and the CSR just kinda blew me off. so i called back and asked for the cancellation dept. the guy there immediately offered me free CI. then we talked hockey for a while. i just started directv like 2 months ago so to cancel i would have to pay out the wazoo, but they still were desperate to keep me.

did they just play jerry lee lewis during the last stoppage? crazy europeans!

the nhl.com stream seems ok. not quite as good as those atdhe streams from early last year (weren't those like right fromversus's feeds) but definitely better than most stuff on justin.tv and comparablesites.

battle of who could care less - ben folds five

too bad they don't also provide a way to contact versus to tell them that they are demanding way too much for their crappy channel...

but they didn't lose another game to chicago. so what does it matter? the playoffs are plenty spread out. and as mentioned, later in the series they made up the extra days. the penguins finished 1 day earlier so its not like it was unfair to just one team either you should be for back to back games or against. these are professional athletes, i think they can handle not having a week off. whether malkin is a fighter is not at issue. the rule is very black and white. maybe we should let guys come off the bench to be involved with fights as long as they aren't fighters... exactly what i said. but thanks for continuing to try and argue i feel like they carried the flow of play in the first 2 games. sorry you see it a different way.

the league did the best they could to keep the darn playoffs from running all the way into july. while the setup wasn't optimum for the wings, taking a week off would have killed all momentum for the series aside from the teams fan bases. the nhl isn't like the nfl where they can spend 2 weeks hyping the super bowl. for the nhl, the week off would have simply meant less people caring. that is bad for the league, so they made the smart decision. with the back to back games, it may not have been ogreat for the wings, but having more games on the weekend was better for the nhl. had the series been short there might have only been those 2 weekend games for maximum exposure. and if anything, this was made up for at the end of the series when there were 2 days off between each of the last 3 games. malkin not getting suspended was a bad call, no argument there. but that doesn't mean there is a league conspiracy. the too many men call was bad refereeing and that happens no matter what. while it was insane they missed it, what can be done? should the league have made them replay the game? i just don't see how a refereeing mistake can be the foundation of a league conspiracy? i am sure bettman took all the officials into the back room and told them that if the penguins put an extra guy on the ice for 80 seconds not to make a call! how did you ever figure it out?!?!? and IMO, the wings didn't show up the last few games. whether it was fatigue, injuries, whatever, i don't care. fact of the matter is they were a shell of the team that dominated the first 2 games by the end of the series.

i think this year is the hawks one big chance. with their had contracts, they can't keep a lot of these good young guys around. though it all hinges on huet. i seem to have a little more faith in him than most. i think he is at least a decent goalie. he's no brodeur, but hopefully the hawks won't need him to be. the hossa injury sucks for them. but assuming he gets back on time i don't think it will significantly derail them. and whats with all the whining about adam freaking burish? sure i love the grinder type guys as much as anyone. but if burish was a central piece in the hawks plans maybe they aren't as good as i though... i think the hawks have a chance at winning the division this year. and unless they get some miracle contracts, it might be their only shot at it. and i am fine with them winning. helps get the rivalry going with them. it will make our playoff opponents tougher starting at a lower spot, but thats ok. being a top seed has backfired many times, so sometimes its better to play tough teams and have to bring it every night.

i think the thing to remember is just how much power espn has to push the sports it likes. their coverage, or lack thereof, can really form opinions by viewers of whats important. so while you can say 'people want poker more than hockey' that may be true. but it may be true because espn created the market for it. they were very important in helping hockey make strides in many american markets in the 90's. however, much like mtv and music, espn spends less and less time each year actually showing sports. instead they just talk about sports. i think that is huge for a sport like hockey which really captures people with its action. once espn decided not to renew their hockey contract, they seemed to make a decision not to even cover the sport on highlight shows. now the only time they talk about it is when someone gets suspended for attacking another player. its very much a chicken/egg problem. i know hockey is not the most popular u.s. sport, but i think that espn has played a very large factor in that.