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achildr1

Death of the integrity of the NHL.

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I've grown up with this game, I love it. But I've never in my life thought the NHL was so utterly pathetic, cheap, and blatently crooked and biased in my lifetime.

After seeing that Torres got 25 games for that hit, I've seen enough. I understand the game of hockey and have watched and played long enough to know that hit differed from a Kronwall hit by about an extra second. Seriously, watch it again. I have no idea what all this fuss is about. Once again though, its a bottom 6 guy, so the NHL can make a statement. They can make up for not suspending clear intent to injure the head, from behind, of another on a non-hockey play by giving out an assininely overboard suspension to a bottom six guy on what essentially was a late hit. A late hit to the front of a player (head up Hossa!). The clear bias towards star players is sickening. Some of Kronwall's hits have been similar to that hit and nothing happens. The funny part is we knew already that Weber would get a slap on the wrist and it happened just like we said. "Well that's just the way it is" is not good enough, this is embarrassing for hockey. The NHL's attempt at any serious regard for players health and safety is marred by the fact that when the rubber meets the road and they have to make a tough decision, they drop the ball. Any rule they make has some kind of loophole for star players and then they act like they can throw the book at Brendan Smith, Raffi Torres, etc.

E

Now i start to watch closely at what happens when its a player from a team that Bettman really needs to succeed, in his small market experiments (Nashville). The fact that the NHL owns the Pheonix Coyotes is one of the biggest conflicts of interest I've ever seen and should call into question almost everything that happens in a playoffs series with them involved. Bettman has went to near every length he can to keep them there (while letting ATL go without so much as a breath of remorse) and I would not be surprised in the slightest to learn of any involvement between him and anyone that has any way to even quietly influence a series in their favor. There's hundreds of millions of dollars at stake and we all know Bettman is all about money. I'm happy for the Coyotes and I haven't got to watch any of that series but I legitimately wonder if its being called toward Pheonix's favor. I was glad to see the Penguins getting stomped but I started wondering if the officiating was goingto turn toward Pittsburgh because I know that series is getting a ton of tv viewers and makeing the league a ton of money. Call it conspiracy but in the last four years the NHL has shown its true colors and bias and it seems to follow the money to me. Our series with the Pens, the first SJ series in the 2nd round (the most epically crooked thing I've ever watched in hockey), and now the clear confusion/bias in dealing with suspensions has shown how much of a crooked league we have. I miss the old NHL.

I know this is all over the place right now, maybe ill finish and expound on my thoughts when I can (at work now).

Edited by achildr1

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there is nothing new in your post actually. I've lost a lot of interest in this league around 2008 when we won the Cup but hte level of favorism towards Pens was exceptional. Most people forgot about this just because we won. Now it becomes worse every single year.

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What a joke. I could show at least 5 more hits or blatant cheapshots that got a slap on the wrist and were no better or worse than this one. Too high, a bit too late, injury to a star player, history of suspension, and yet still WAY too much. The NHL is a joke.

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Although im not completely blaming the league and their terrible inconsistent officiating, but the refs had the wings number this series, and their ability to kill any momentum the wings gained killed our players motivation. After 4 consecutive playoff runs of battling through bull s*** officiating the wings just seemed to have no drive to fight through it again this year.

And i know there are lots of proud NHL/Red wing fans who wont ever blame a loss on officiating and will never believe in any kind of "Conspiracy" but the last few years it has gotten ridiculous and has really killed my interest in watching NHL hockey.

I am not blaming the series loss on officiating but anyone who watches other NHL playoff hockey should be able to see that other teams get away with penalty's that the wings just dont. Other teams who when ever are down a goal or two just get handed free power plays, other teams don't have to kill atleast one 5 on 3 almost every single playoff game... unfortunately this same "situational" officiating just doesn't seem to apply to the red wings in Bettmans league.

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I've grown up with this game, I love it. But I've never in my life thought the NHL was so utterly pathetic, cheap, and blatently crooked and biased in my lifetime.

After seeing that Torres got 25 games for that hit, I've seen enough. I understand the game of hockey and have watched and played long enough to know that hit differed from a Kronwall hit by about an extra second. Seriously, watch it again. I have no idea what all this fuss is about. Once again though, its a bottom 6 guy, so the NHL can make a statement. They can make up for not suspending clear intent to injure the head, from behind, of another on a non-hockey play by giving out an assininely overboard suspension to a bottom six guy on what essentially was a late hit. A late hit to the front of a player (head up Hossa!). The clear bias towards star players is sickening. Some of Kronwall's hits have been similar to that hit and nothing happens. The funny part is we knew already that Weber would get a slap on the wrist and it happened just like we said. "Well that's just the way it is" is not good enough, this is embarrassing for hockey. The NHL's attempt at any serious regard for players health and safety is marred by the fact that when the rubber meets the road and they have to make a tough decision, they drop the ball. Any rule they make has some kind of loophole for star players and then they act like they can throw the book at Brendan Smith, Raffi Torres, etc.

E

Now i start to watch closely at what happens when its a player from a team that Bettman really needs to succeed, in his small market experiments (Nashville). The fact that the NHL owns the Pheonix Coyotes is one of the biggest conflicts of interest I've ever seen and should call into question almost everything that happens in a playoffs series with them involved. Bettman has went to near every length he can to keep them there (while letting ATL go without so much as a breath of remorse) and I would not be surprised in the slightest to learn of any involvement between him and anyone that has any way to even quietly influence a series in their favor. There's hundreds of millions of dollars at stake and we all know Bettman is all about money. I'm happy for the Coyotes and I haven't got to watch any of that series but I legitimately wonder if its being called toward Pheonix's favor. I was glad to see the Penguins getting stomped but I started wondering if the officiating was goingto turn toward Pittsburgh because I know that series is getting a ton of tv viewers and makeing the league a ton of money. Call it conspiracy but in the last four years the NHL has shown its true colors and bias and it seems to follow the money to me. Our series with the Pens, the first SJ series in the 2nd round (the most epically crooked thing I've ever watched in hockey), and now the clear confusion/bias in dealing with suspensions has shown how much of a crooked league we have. I miss the old NHL.

I know this is all over the place right now, maybe ill finish and expound on my thoughts when I can (at work now).

The 25 games is absurd, I agree with that. But this hit was definitely suspension worthy. It was late, it was high, he hit the head of hossa.

Kronner sometimes leaves his feet slightly, but he never launches himself into the air

Kronner sometimes hits players in the head, but it is always because the other player is looking down.

This was nothing like a kronwall hit

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The 25 games is absurd, I agree with that. But this hit was definitely suspension worthy. It was late, it was high, he hit the head of hossa.

Kronner sometimes leaves his feet slightly, but he never launches himself into the air

Kronner sometimes hits players in the head, but it is always because the other player is looking down.

This was nothing like a kronwall hit

Was it worse then running out onto the ice and blatantly attacking some guy not willing to fight?

How about a crosscheck to the throat?

Shanny is a retard. He has no idea what he is doing and made the league look worse than ever.

I have no respect for him or the NHL anymore. Again I think there will be a lockout and will never recover. It still hasnt from the last one, this one I hope will be the end.

Let the profitable teams form a league of their own, then Bettman and the bankrupt pens can run a league of schmuck teams. The pens can win every year.

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there is nothing new in your post actually. I've lost a lot of interest in this league around 2008 when we won the Cup but hte level of favorism towards Pens was exceptional. Most people forgot about this just because we won. Now it becomes worse every single year.

You wouldn't by any chance have that article that was released almost immediately after the finals were over in 2008 about how the writer really raised his eyebrows towards the end of Game 6? The main message was that something really smelled fishy. Lilja's stick slashed out of his hands, Pav getting tripped at center ice, etc.

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I understand the game of hockey and have watched and played long enough to know that hit differed from a Kronwall hit by about an extra second. Seriously, watch it again. I have no idea what all this fuss is about.

If you understand the game of hockey then you would realize in now of days game, with its current speed, that a second can make all the difference between an illegal or legit play.

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There were way more brawls in the 70's and 80's than there are now.

But the hits to the head weren't as pervasive as they are now. Players are just out to injure each other now with cheap hits.

Maybe it's because back then players didn't wear helmets, so no one wanted to possibly kill someone on the ice with a dirty hit to the head.

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Although im not completely blaming the league and their terrible inconsistent officiating, but the refs had the wings number this series, and their ability to kill any momentum the wings gained killed our players motivation. After 4 consecutive playoff runs of battling through bull s*** officiating the wings just seemed to have no drive to fight through it again this year.

And i know there are lots of proud NHL/Red wing fans who wont ever blame a loss on officiating and will never believe in any kind of "Conspiracy" but the last few years it has gotten ridiculous and has really killed my interest in watching NHL hockey.

I am not blaming the series loss on officiating but anyone who watches other NHL playoff hockey should be able to see that other teams get away with penalty's that the wings just dont. Other teams who when ever are down a goal or two just get handed free power plays, other teams don't have to kill atleast one 5 on 3 almost every single playoff game... unfortunately this same "situational" officiating just doesn't seem to apply to the red wings in Bettmans league.

I don't understand why more focus wasn't brought about Babcock's comments about 2 of the least penalized teams in the league and all of a sudden Nash and Detroit are getting penalties called left and right all series? (did they have the most called in first 5 games of all the matchups?) We really should have been swept 4 to 0 with all the PPs that Nash had and considering they were the number 1 PP in the reg. season.

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There were way more brawls in the 70's and 80's than there are now.

But the hits to the head weren't as pervasive as they are now. Players are just out to injure each other now with cheap hits.

Maybe it's because back then players didn't wear helmets, so no one wanted to possibly kill someone on the ice with a dirty hit to the head.

terrible statement, there were plenty of attempts to injure back in the day they just were more accepted and harder to follow through on, hockey is a tough sport and those who play it know this, it is just now morons who know nothing about the game and the extremely liberal hockey media are up in arms about any type of physicality.

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You wouldn't by any chance have that article that was released almost immediately after the finals were over in 2008 about how the writer really raised his eyebrows towards the end of Game 6? The main message was that something really smelled fishy. Lilja's stick slashed out of his hands, Pav getting tripped at center ice, etc.

That was a complete joke I remember watching datsyuk getting tripped trying to get the empty netter.

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terrible statement, there were plenty of attempts to injure back in the day they just were more accepted and harder to follow through on, hockey is a tough sport and those who play it know this, it is just now morons who know nothing about the game and the extremely liberal hockey media are up in arms about any type of physicality.

Attempts to injure back then weren't what they are now.

Now everyone wants to jump up and hit someone in the head. Everyone is wearing helmets, yet concussions are rampant.

I just don't like how fighting is grouped together with cheap hits under the term "hockey violence". I don't think that's fair.

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Was it worse then running out onto the ice and blatantly attacking some guy not willing to fight?

How about a crosscheck to the throat?

Shanny is a retard. He has no idea what he is doing and made the league look worse than ever.

I have no respect for him or the NHL anymore. Again I think there will be a lockout and will never recover. It still hasnt from the last one, this one I hope will be the end.

Let the profitable teams form a league of their own, then Bettman and the bankrupt pens can run a league of schmuck teams. The pens can win every year.

You need to check your facts. The league has seen increased revenue in each of the years following the lockout, some teams recording franchise record revenues. I may agree that there is an issue with safety and what the league considers dirty or otherwise......but honestly, can we stop with the Penguins consiracy theories, or the conspiracies that the the league has it out for the Wings........the league earns far more money when the Wings are successful and thriving.....why would they want them out?

The fascination with the Penguins is absurd......they don't even play in our conference for christs sake.....why the obsession?

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Attempts to injure back then weren't what they are now.

Now everyone wants to jump up and hit someone in the head. Everyone is wearing helmets, yet concussions are rampant.

I just don't like how fighting is grouped together with cheap hits under the term "hockey violence". I don't think that's fair.

I agree with the fighting statement, but think about some of the vicious plays that happened back in the day. There weren't as many devastating shoulder hits because guys weren't as strong and the equipment was safer. The "80s style hit" was basically just decking a guy up in the face with a forearm shiver. And stickwork and elbows were far more prevalent back in the day.

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You need to check your facts. The league has seen increased revenue in each of the years following the lockout, some teams recording franchise record revenues. I may agree that there is an issue with safety and what the league considers dirty or otherwise......but honestly, can we stop with the Penguins consiracy theories, or the conspiracies that the the league has it out for the Wings........the league earns far more money when the Wings are successful and thriving.....why would they want them out?

The fascination with the Penguins is absurd......they don't even play in our conference for christs sake.....why the obsession?

Im not saying your wrong but it would be hard to get any real numbers on the NHL. Its a privately held company.

Try to find audited numbers. Basically they can say whatever they want.

However if you do decide to look for actual numbers you will find that the integrity of the NHL's numbers have been challenged more than once. Including forbes publicly refuting their numbers on at least one occasion.

The Pens remark was in regards to the Miss. Hockey over there. You know the leagues poster girl. Not so much about the Pens as a team. However if you dont think the NHL wants their poster boy to rip off 3 or 4 Cups in a row, well your sadly mistaken. Look how much Gretz helped the league out for years, even after he left Edmonton. Including really opening up the California market when he went to LA.

Edited by NHLrules?

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You wouldn't by any chance have that article that was released almost immediately after the finals were over in 2008 about how the writer really raised his eyebrows towards the end of Game 6? The main message was that something really smelled fishy. Lilja's stick slashed out of his hands, Pav getting tripped at center ice, etc.

it wasn't even game 6 I'm mostly angry about. It was game 5 overtimes when zebras coudn't stop penalizing our players for just nothing. Finally, Sykora scored. I'll never forget it. Since then I cannot take NHL seriously.

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Im not saying your wrong but it would be hard to get any real numbers on the NHL. Its a privately held company.

Try to find audited numbers. Basically they can say whatever they want.

However if you do decide to look for actual numbers you will find that the integrity of the NHL's numbers have been challenged more than once. Including forbes publicly refuting their numbers on at least one occasion.

The Pens remark was in regards to the Miss. Hockey over there. You know the leagues poster girl. Not so much about the Pens as a team. However if you dont think the NHL wants their poster boy to rip off 3 or 4 Cups in a row, well your sadly mistaken. Look how much Gretz helped the league out for years, even after he left Edmonton. Including really opening up the California market when he went to LA.

Do I doubt the league wants to market Crosby like they did Gretzky.....no, not at all, but do I think they would try and alter the outcome of games (specifically games against the Wings as most here believe) to do it.....no I don't. Let me guess.....all those years ago, the NHL sent in some undercover agents that told Probert and the boys "cmon over to this little bar, its called Goose Loonies, we'll buy you boys a round or two" just so they could ensure another Cup for Gretzky and company?

I'm constantly disgusted with how some Wings fans will create conspiracy theories that the officials are out to get us.....when in reality, we just aren't talented enough to advance. They remind me of U of M fans that think Michigan never loses....they just run out of time, or get screwed by the officials.

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Do I doubt the league wants to market Crosby like they did Gretzky.....no, not at all, but do I think they would try and alter the outcome of games (specifically games against the Wings as most here believe) to do it.....no I don't. Let me guess.....all those years ago, the NHL sent in some undercover agents that told Probert and the boys "cmon over to this little bar, its called Goose Loonies, we'll buy you boys a round or two" just so they could ensure another Cup for Gretzky and company?

I'm constantly disgusted with how some Wings fans will create conspiracy theories that the officials are out to get us.....when in reality, we just aren't talented enough to advance. They remind me of U of M fans that think Michigan never loses....they just run out of time, or get screwed by the officials.

it is not only Red Wings. And it is not a blind bias towards a certain team. NHL simple wants any series to go to 7 games. However, hockey does not work this way as one team is often better than another.

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They made an example out of a cheap shotting head hunting piece of garbage who is the very definition of repeat offender. Now guys on opposing teams don't have to worry about the 1 guy on the Yotes that tries to decapitate every person he hits when he leaves his feet whilst in kill mode. I've never liked Torres and am glad the league made an example out of him.

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it is not only Red Wings. And it is not a blind bias towards a certain team. NHL simple wants any series to go to 7 games. However, hockey does not work this way as one team is often better than another.

I realize its not just Wings fans....I'm sure Leafs fans and others are just as bad.....but I live here, have all my life.....and listening to talk radio and reading the boards after a loss....there is never a time when the officials AREN'T called into question at some point. Its comical. Its very rare when you hear a rational fan say "we just got beat by a better team"

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