Ms_Hockey

Obviously, the thread starter cares. If you don't, don't post in the thread. Simple solution.

They sure did. The jersey said "Lindstrom" on the back. You'd think after SIX Norris trophies, they'd finally get it right.

I'd much rather have Lidstrom & Datsyuk rest this week than ship them off to the All Star Game with the risk of injuries for... well... absolutely nothing of merit. Losing to the Yotes = Sad panda. BUT. Losing Datsyuk or Lidstrom = Sadder panda.

Agreed. But, such is the nature of some people.. blame the goalie.

And thus begin the Conklin bashers.

I don't think they're wrong. It's one thing if your goalie has a tendency to fall down on the right, so the D watches the left a bit more carefully. It's another thing entirely to say that the defense loses confidence because they know how poor of a goalie Osgood can be, so they start making mistake upon mistake. These guys are professional ice hockey players. They're coached to not let stuff get in their head - including things like that. Also, they're a team. Maybe one or two of them think Ozzie should be gone - but you don't do that to your teammates. Nobody goes in the locker room and says "Great job, Osgood. Why don't you just sit in the net and not do anything next time?" Why? Because a team takes a loss as a collective loss and doesn't place blame on certain players. Osgood knows he wasn't up to par. Defense knows they weren't doing their jobs. I highly doubt the Wings dwell on their losses the way we do and start blaming people and losing confidence.

My mistake. I know he likes the idea, though. -.-

Depends. I don't know how consistent of a goaltender Nabokov is. I know Ozzie is capable of stepping up to the plate - but let's face it.. he hasn't this season. He's not been a very solid goalie one way or another. I'm not saying it's what Babs SHOULD do. Just saying it's what I'd do as motivation to get him to get in gear.

Too right, my friend! I wish he would've stayed with Detroit as well. He already made a name for himself here. He fit in perfectly with our team. But oh well - hockey is hockey and people get traded. Still love him as a player, though.

Gotta be honest - I could care less about what Hank says. If he's in front of the camera with his helmet off, I'm not listening anyway.

The fact that Bettman wants hockey to be a high scoring game is no secret. He showed that with his "smaller pads, bigger net" idea. If it seems to you that the refs are laying back on disallowing goals - then you're probably right. And it's not all too surprising.

Alright, put us on the list. If we don't get dumped with 1,000 feet of snow (slight emphasis ), we'll be there!

I stand corrected. As for the second half of that, that's what I meant with the whole little girl with ribbons analogy - but you said it much better.

Hahaha. Well, she IS female. We are the superior gender.

I don't know about you, but Ozzie taking the Isles to the playoffs was pretty damn impressive.

ROFL!!! That's the best thing I've read all day. I'm definitely putting that whole quote in my signature. Hahaha.

The rule right now says that if the goalie is outside of the trapezoid, he's free game - right? (Just want to check.) If that is the case, I've seen many times where goalies ARE outside of the trapezoid, but players will bend over backwards to make sure they don't run into them. The fact is, nobody wants to run into the other team's goalie or knock him down on the ice. Teams, including the Wings, would defend their goalie hardcore if that were to happen. That said, calling interference when the goalie is outside of the crease is just stupid. But again, it's the protective attitude toward goalies. I think of the goalie as the little girl with ribbons in her hair that all the other players try to protect and keep the opposition away from. (Weird, I know.) But it's that kind of protective nature that the teams hold for their goalie. At least, that's what I've observed. So while calls (like the one on Sammy) aren't exactly legit, it fits in with that mindset.

It's safe to say that hockey is one of the most underrated sports in the states (second only to soccer), but I have a feeling that if the NHL decided to do that to allow for newcoming fans.. diehard hockey fans would not appreciate it. As I said, they may gain some viewers.. but I'd be willing to bed they'd lose a lot more. Fans are already on the edge of their seats over all of the changes being made to the NHL over the years. I don't think they'd take it lightly. Also, I'm not entirely positive the players would take it lightly either. They've been playing this way for years. Some of the players are signed specifically because of their gritty fighting ability. Taking out fighting would mess with a lot more aspects of the game than I think you or I realize at face value. If it saves the NHL, then I'm enough of a fan to say "okay, do it". But I'd be worried about losing my existing fans and possibly some players without having to throw large sums of money in their face.

Isn't that the truth? You're going to be labeled an Ozzie sympathizer pretty soon.

Playing Ozzie was a 50-50 chance for Babs - and there's no doubt that he knew it. We ALL knew it. Ozzie can show up big some games and he can completely flounder during others. However, I don't think Babs is dumb enough to let this continue into the playoffs. (I hope.) The forwards (and other players on the team, for that matter) probably react in one of two days. They either get frustrated and blame the goalie or they take it as a team loss and don't pit blame on anybody. My guess is that in professional sports, they don't blame each other for their losses. I don't think anybody goes in the locker room and starts rounding on Osgood for not making the saves. There are people on that team who are best friends with Ozzie on and off the ice. My feeling is that it's probably a collective blame that they each take. Ozzie CAN make timely saves - he just doesn't do it often. And he rarely does it under intense pressure. In those situation, work Conklin. See how he fares. If Conklin can't handle the pressure either - then you're probably right. It's probably time for us to start scouting for a new goalie. I agree with you on mostly everything - but I don't think the team blames Osgood for their losses. Nor do I think it puts a dent in their confidence. If anything, it enforces in their head that they have to work even harder and be even better. Motivation. (Not a good reason to keep him as starter - but true nonetheless.)

Every coach coaches differently. You and I may not agree with Babs' decision to keep rotating back & forth - but it's his decision. I can fully understand why he played Ozzie in the SJ game on Saturday night. If I were him, I would take that and NOT play him against high intensity/skill level teams for the rest of the regular season. Put him in against "easier" teams. As long as this is all figured out by April, I won't have much to say. Until then, I'll just trust Babs to find the right formula to get the goaltending back where it needs to be.

Honestly, nobody cares what's a "*****" sport and what's not. They're all sports. People love watching each and every one of them. Labeling them as "***** sports" is just idiotic. It's for entertainment. It's for enjoyment. Who really cares?

I'm failing to understand the logic here. Fighting is a part of hockey and it has been since way back in the day. Taking it out of the game simply because people who don't watch hockey don't understand it doesn't make sense. If they don't understand the reason for the fighting - chances are they don't understand all that much about hockey. I don't, for the life of me, understand basketball. Doesn't mean they should start removing aspects of the game just to get me interested. If those people you're referring to want to watch a hockey game, that's up to them. If they watch it enough, they'll understand it more. Anybody who follows hockey knows it's an emotional sport. If a young child asks why the men are fighting, the parent can tell them that's their job on the team or whatever else they'd like to say. However, hockey is hockey. You may pull in some more viewers by eliminating the fighting, but you'll lose a bunch of others entirely for changing the sport itself. EDIT: And just on a side note (I could be entirely wrong), comparing southern states to northern states - there's really not a whole lot who HAVE hockey teams in the NHL. Texas does, but Texas is dominated by their football team so it's natural that the football team would get more publicity. Florida does, but they aren't exactly anything to tune in to watch. Some other southern states do, but there's not a whole lot you could add to that list.

Is the regular season important? Yes. Would it be nice to get the Presidents' Trophy? Absolutely. Is a regular season loss as heartbreaking as a playoff loss? Absolutely not. While the regular season matters - it doesn't matter NEARLY as much as playoffs do. It matters more to the teams who are fighting to make it into the playoffs - not so much to the teams who have a secure place barring out a major blunder.

Our defense is nowhere near what it was last season. Almost anybody agrees with that. THEY are what we should be focusing on. Put Conklin as a start, Osgood as a backup, and straighten out the defense and we'll have no problems. There's no need to start trading players away if you have perfectly good ones and a system that has shown time and time again that it works.