howeaboutthat

Thats not so hard, I can do that. Well something like that. I can stand on the ice with a stick....

Glad I caught the game, what a cracker that was. Unfortunately for some reason I couldn't access the FSD feed through my Slingbox so had to make do with the Tampa Bay version via ESPN America. Its not the same watching the Red Wings without Redmond and Daniels.

He best make his mind up quick, apparently he has 20 seconds to comply......

Whats not to love about Draper? I'd buy that for a dollar.

When even the NA boys flag waver-in-chief, Don Cherry, is criticising your play you may well have a problem.

As has been said, in the era of Probert/Kocur et al this sort of thing was self-policing. You played dirty then you watched your back because a train would be coming for you. Unfortunately the modern game is in many ways faster and as a result teams can't carry an all-out enforcer but this should really be where those numpties in Toronto are stepping in. Toronto needs to be picking up where the enforcers left off but as we've seen, Toronto can't even make accurate calls on the simple matter of goals/non-goals, let alone calling out players for being dirty. The NHL is at a tipping point and it nees to decide which way it wants to go. Throw the instigator rule and allow teams, if they so wish, to police the ice themselves or start making decisions to stop players like Cooke attempting to end other players careers?

This thread needs more Konstantinov.

You don't need to go to the south to see rednecks. A few years back a load moved up to the Detroit area and the city of Taylortucky was born. Yeehaw. As for the All Star Game, I've a 'Bob Probert's Greatest Fights' DVD I can watch instead. Now thats entertainment.

I seem to remember some vague rule in the distant past that says netminders can choose to play with an out-skater stick rather than a goalie one. Could be an interesting time to experiment in 'real world' conditions if Nabokov decides to take Wang's money.

Fistly, before anyone jumps on, I know how waivers work. Right, got that out of the way. Having a gander over on HF Forums I'm just amazed at the comments being made defending Snow for attempting to grab Nabokov. "How was he (Snow) supposed to know Nabokov didn't want to play for the Isles" seems quite a popular one. Hint, he signed for the Red Wings. Yes, as I said, I know how waivers work but the head scratching and "whodathunkit?" type comments over Nabby not wanting to play for the league's comedy element, backed up by similar comments from Wang and Snow are just gobsmacking. Are the Isles really trying to play the "we're a great organisation, why would anyone want to turn us down" card against all the evidence that counters such claims? Its a funny old world.

I'm no doctor either (I'm a trauma nurse and ex-RAF aeromed nurse) but flying whilst still suffering the effects of concussion is considered a big no-no. Considering Crosby is still apparently suffering concussion after missing 10 games I'd suggest its possibly serious enough not to bother with flying somewhere to do grip and grin photos. There are a lot of things to dislike Crosby for but suffering a concussion is no laughing matter and one that has kept him out of 10 games must be pretty bad.

Could age of the respondents affect this poll? For me there can be no other than Lemieux. Yes Crosby is a ****** but how often is he of relevence to teams in the Western Conference? Aside from the fact you can't watch a hockey-related sports show without mention of the flightless whinger in the purely playing sense he factors very little with regards the Detroit Red Wings. Yes he picked up the SC against the Red Wings but he also watched it being raised up in front of him the previous year (or had he left the ice by then?). Thats 1-1. How likely do you think he and the 'Guins will repeat this feat? Lemieux though was a major factor during multiple league and play-off runs for the Red Wings. His cowardly actions and dirty play culminated in the 'one dollar man' being injured. Crosby is the product of the NHL spin machine. Lemieux was a ****** of his own making.

Great picture. Apparently the pilot of this RAF Tornado is a 'Hawks fan.

Visors aren't the answer to everything. He currenty plays for Nottingham Panthers in the EIHL and is slotting them away quite nicely, 8 goals and 7 assists in 12 games. The daft thing over here though is that league rules mean everyone has to wear a visor, including enforcers (Beauregard BTW wears a full cage).

Poor reffing decisions/non-decisions happen the world over. As for Doan's hit, it looked a little late and letter of the law its not a good hit......but it was against the Ducks and there should be a seperate rule for them.

Indeed. Forget all the technology, big screens, heated seats or whatever, the on-ice product is what matters. All the stadium technology in the world won't get you a Stanley Cup.

Not all European countries are the same. US sports have a huge following in England but it seems only if played by actual US-based teams. Having attended both the Ducks/Kings games at the O2 Arena in London, start of the '07-'08 season, I can say this was defintely not an issue there. Tickets sold out in very short time. Same as the pre-season NFL games that have been played in London, tickets sell-out. The Red Wings games I attended in Stockholm last season, whilst sold-out (or near enough) just didn't seem to have the same atmosphere as the London games. In mainland Europe many countries have ther own leagues which play to a fairly high standard, which means hockey fans in those countries might be less inclinded to look elsewhere for their fix and hence the lower turn-outs for NHL games. The top level of UK ice hockey (EIHL) is not much more than a beer league (about ECHL level quality-wise) and the majority of the ten team within the league struggle financially, mainly due to very low crowd numbers. So London (and England as a whole) have very little 'hockey culture' but there is a sizeable following for the NHL, go figure.

Well the hockey team that play in the city where I now reside, the Nottingham Panthers, have been sporting jersey sponsorship since the mid 1980's, though in those days it was just the one, similar to soccer teams. There are a few more on the jerseys these days but as you can see in this photo taken at my favourite place to watch hockey, they aren't as bad as some of the mainland European teams. 'GMB' by the way are a union over here in the UK and its considered quite a big sponsorship deal in UK hockey terms.

To be fair advertising on jerseys alone is unlikely to put people off watching hockey. Over here in Europe the amount of adverts squeezed onto jerseys, socks, helmets, hell even the goal posts, is ridiculous but attendences in some European leagues is pretty good. Not NHL levels, after all hockey over here has to compete with the dominating presense of soccer for fans, but pretty decent levels nonetheless. Would I want to see adverts on Red Wings jerseys? Definately not, but lets not be fooled into thinking what we think really has any relevance. As an aside though NHL players already have plenty of adverts on their playing kit, whether that be the Reebok branded jerseys, the Bauer/Warrior etc branded gloves, very obviously branded sticks or Vaughn pads sported by Jimmy Howard. Do you think all hockey players pay going rate for their kit or do you reckon there might be some sort of discount for using certain makes?

But what about those fans who have season tickets for hockey and basketball? I'm sure there is fair few of those. Two linked arenas, I like the idea of that, I'm just not so sure that having two sports events on at the same time wouldn't affect attendances overall.

A dual-use arena. Jack of all trades, master of none.

There are many things the Illitch's can do but turn the Lions into a great team? I'm all for happy thoughts and positive thinking but thats a step too far for me. I revel in the pity expressed by people when I tell them a Lions fan, it counters the hatred expressed when they find out I'm a Wings fan. If the Lions became great it'd mess with my ying and yang or something.

You have to remember the SEL is a Euro league and a fair few of the Euro leagues are pretty tough on more physical aspects of the game. That said I've seen poor calls made in the NHL over physical aspects of the game (eg. Kronwall's hit on Havlat). Considering #63 appears to jump into the check against the boards and considering the less physical nature of some Euro leagues his ban is not suprising. As for "all the s*** they have all over the ice and uniforms" I'm not sure you understand just how dominant soccer is as a sport outside of NA and just how much scratching around other sports have to do to secure sponsorship to fund their teams. Soccer teams have all the plum sponsorships in Europe, most other sports are left with the scraps and hence need many of them, thus multiple sponsorship logos all over the ice and kit. Going back to the type of hockey played in Europe for a moment though, not all leagues play the same. The EIHL which the team local to me (Nottingham Panthers) plays in is very much a NAesque league (probably pegged at about ECHL level), full of hard hitting play and featuring this year a whole raft of minor league enforcers (Alex Penner, Mike Hoffman, Sean McMorrow, Cedric Bernier and Jeff Smith amongst other) for the fight fans.

$50 for a hockey team. Don't be too hasty, you might be able to pick up Glendale Coyotes for that when the NHL finally realises hockey isn't a desert sport.