Jump to content

The Hockey Thread


bacardimayne

Recommended Posts

Figure this is worth another shot. If we have an active thread for something as niche as wrestling, a hockey thread is more than doable. How many hockey fans have we got here? I know of bran, mags and the ever-so-elusive Jackie Moon. Anyone else?

The biggest recent news is that Canada won gold in the WJHC for the first time in six years, which is nice to see. I was getting worried there for a while, and still think our dominance will be much less prominent in the coming decades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to be an Oilers fan, but I'm currently boycotting the team until they undergo a housecleaning in the upper offices.

Preds are currently the best team in the league with two games in hand. That's crazy.


St.Louis Blues fan here. Looks like another good season. Then the inevitable 1st round playoff exit. Happens every year.

Bandwagoned the Blues in the playoffs last year. You can at least appreciate that they lost to an incredible team in the Blackhawks and kept it competitive. I'll probably be cheering for them again this year.

How's Magnus Paajarvi doing over there? Haven't heard much about him since we traded him to you guys for David Perron.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Live in Toronto, but not a Leafs fan. Love their losing streak. Brings a smile to my face.

As for Canadians (nationality, not the team) remaining dominant in hockey, I feel like their chances have to be pretty good considering the junior team generally makes it to the gold medal match every year. If this year is any indication, Canada will be dominating hockey for decades to come.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for Canadians (nationality, not the team) remaining dominant in hockey, I feel like their chances have to be pretty good considering the junior team generally makes it to the gold medal match every year. If this year is any indication, Canada will be dominating hockey for decades to come.

Prior to this year, they hadn't won gold since 09 and hadn't been in the gold medal game since '11. They weren't doing well (relatively) for a while.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for Canadians (nationality, not the team) remaining dominant in hockey, I feel like their chances have to be pretty good considering the junior team generally makes it to the gold medal match every year. If this year is any indication, Canada will be dominating hockey for decades to come.

Prior to this year, they hadn't won gold since 09 and hadn't been in the gold medal game since '11. They weren't doing well (relatively) for a while.

It was a three year break, not that big of a deal. It's not as though another team was dominant through this time either. My bet is that if you added up the average place for each country, Canada would still come out on top. Could be wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As for Canadians (nationality, not the team) remaining dominant in hockey, I feel like their chances have to be pretty good considering the junior team generally makes it to the gold medal match every year. If this year is any indication, Canada will be dominating hockey for decades to come.

Prior to this year, they hadn't won gold since 09 and hadn't been in the gold medal game since '11. They weren't doing well (relatively) for a while.

It was a three year break, not that big of a deal. It's not as though another team was dominant through this time either. My bet is that if you added up the average place for each country, Canada would still come out on top. Could be wrong.

During the 5 year gold slump, Canada got 2 silvers and a Bronze.

USA got 2 golds and a bronze.

Sweden got 1 gold, 2 silvers and a bronze.

Russia got 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronzes.

Finland got a fuckin' gold.

I mean yeah, 2 silvers and a bronze isn't bad, but Canada is expected to dominate hockey like Americans would dominate football or basketball. Doing objectively worse than pretty much the only four other countries that compete at a high level of hockey in the prospects tournament over a 5 year span isn't exactly inspiring for the future of Canadian hockey.

That said, SS brought up a good point on another forum. He said it's probably a result of the CHL and Canadian prospects mostly playing in a league with players of their own age, while European juniors tend to play in the major leagues with adults.

Edited by bacardimayne
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's that and it's tough to truly gauge the talent and depth of a team based on one or two games.

In most tournaments, whether they win or make it to gold medal round, Canada generally dominates the round robin portion. Look at the 2011 tournament; Canada dominated every period they played against all opponents save for an overtime loss against Sweden and the third period of the gold medal game against Russia where they shit the bed and gave up a 3 goal lead with twenty minutes to play.

Save for 2011, Canada finished first in their division every year between 2009 and 2015. The fact that they lost in a one-and-done playoff game shouldn't be given too much consideration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean yeah, 2 silvers and a bronze isn't bad, but Canada is expected to dominate hockey like Americans would dominate football or basketball. Doing objectively worse than pretty much the only four other countries that compete at a high level of hockey in the prospects tournament over a 5 year span isn't exactly inspiring for the future of Canadian hockey.

This isn't even remotely close to true. Not even remotely close to close to being true. Canada has long been the best hockey country but we've never outright dominated it the way Americans would football or do basketball. International hockey has always been a pretty even playing field. Yes Canada and Russia are historically the top 2 powers houses while Slovakia and Finland are historically at the bottom of the big 7. In the middle you've got Sweden, USA, Czechs BUT any one of these countries(except maybe Slovakia) has the potential to win it all almost every year. Canada are usually the favourites sure but to say they are expected to dominate hockey the way the Americans would in football or basketball it just false. 100% false. It's never been that way so where does this assumption come from? And when it comes to World Juniors despite Canada's lack of Gold recently they've played in 8 of the last 11 gold medal games, have won a medal in 16 of the last 18 tournaments. I wouldn't get too worried about Canada's hockey future because of a blip on the radar where prior to this year they went a whopping 2 years without a medal. In a one and done situation Canada, Russia, Sweden, USA, Finland, Czechs and even Slovakia can beat anyone on any given day.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to admit that I got grumpy with Nash at times over the past couple years. Not like I was a crazy person like people who call into talk radio and want to trade him, but sometimes he frustrated me. He's been absolutely brilliant this year.

What's different between this year and the last? New linemates? New team playing style? Has he just turned it around? What gives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rangers fan here! Anybody here posting on HFBoards?

I post there very rarely. I checked my account recently and apparently I do have around 800 posts, which is surprising to me, but I have been there since like 2008.

Cool, I've been there since 2012. got around 350 posts so not that big of a poster either.

Nash having two concussion in a short period of time has a lot to do with his sub-par play last season. But this is the best he has been in his entire career. His shooting % is way above his career average and still hasn't dipped with half the season to go. He's awesome in all zones and a very underrated playmaker. Watch thiis:

Nash-to-St._Louis.0.GIF

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...