NHL '11

[BarTopDancer]

After a horrible summer with the deaths of three enforcers and a plane crash killing an entire Russian team including some NHL players and All-Stars the start of the season is finally upon us.

And I'm probably the only one who cares ;)

But game on!

[Moonliner]

Really? Already? Where does the time go.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Fixed the thread title for you.

[BarTopDancer]

Like I'll remember to look it up next year :p

[Ghoulish Delight]

Isn't that all the same season?

[BarTopDancer]

Same could be said for baseball.

[Ghoulish Delight]

End of Stanley Cup - beginning of pre season games = 3 months
End of World Series - beginning of spring training games = 5 months

NHL loses.

[Alex]

Don't forget:

Length of NHL Postseason: 19 months.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Bring on the hockey season! :)

[Moonliner]

Out with the old and in with the older.

The caps are having a roller coaster year and they just fired their head coach replacing him with an ex-player turned coach who has no NHL coaching experience.

I have a bad feeling about this....

[BarTopDancer]

I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!

[Moonliner]

I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!

Ummm. OK.

Errr, so hows the weather?

[BarTopDancer]

Oh, wait. You were referring to the Caps, weren't you. Sorry, that was a conditioned response these days. Carry on ;)

Things can't get much worse for them, right?

Oh, wait.They could be 1 point out of last place in the ENTIRE LEAGUE!

[Ghoulish Delight]

I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!

Neither do I.

[Kevy Baby]

It could be worse: you could be a Blue Jackets fan

Or a sports fan at all in Maryland/DC

[Strangler Lewis]

You hockey fans should just be happy that the lockout's finally over, and the season can start.

[BarTopDancer]

Out with the old and in with the older.

The caps are having a roller coaster year and they just fired their head coach replacing him with an ex-player turned coach who has no NHL coaching experience.

I have a bad feeling about this....

We have a new coach (http://ducks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=604085) Um, thanks?

[Morrigoon]

So funny, Alex was just bitching about the coach tonight and saying he'd replace Carlyle with... guess who! :)

[Moonliner]

We have a new coach (http://ducks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=604085) Um, thanks?

I think you got a good deal.

[BarTopDancer]

I think you got a good deal.

At least he has experience ;)

[BarTopDancer]

Major conference realignment will occur next season (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=604852).

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The NHL's Board of Governors on Monday approved a radical realignment plan, eliminating the current two-conference, six-division setup in favor of a configuration that features four conferences based primarily on geography. Two conferences will have eight teams and the other two conferences will have seven teams.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, as long as a team still has to actively try to be bad enough to miss the playoffs, I'm okay with it.

[Alex]

Will one of those conferences take the Astros? I don't want them in the AL West.

[BarTopDancer]

Well, as long as a team still has to actively try to be bad enough to miss the playoffs, I'm okay with it.

That's what we're doing this year. I'm sure we can find a way to miss them next year too.

[BarTopDancer]

Congratulations to the Kings. Awful, awful way to end the series (and not because they won).

GO Eastern Conference!!!!!!!!

[CoasterMatt]

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4062/57947044899373179463810.jpg

I'm gonna have a big ole stack of delicious pancakes for breakfast. :D

[Moonliner]

Wait, what?? Hockey? It's 80 degrees outside!

[Ghoulish Delight]

The hit was a barely after the whistle and they were already at full speed toward each other before the whistle blew.

Whether it was knee-to-knee...he leaned in a little but the knee-to-knee contact looked more incidental than anything. I say good no call (and as you well know, I have no loyalties to either team or player, making my decision fair, impartial, and binding).

[BarTopDancer]

I think the hit just made the atmosphere more negative than it needed to be. Coyotes fans weren't going to be happy with the outcome but as a rule, they are respectful of the winning team in the end. If the hit didn't happen they probably wouldn't have thrown stuff on to the ice, booed the team and the handshake line wouldn't be one step away from a bench clearing brawl.

[CoasterMatt]

Never mind that the guy who WAS hit, had flopped epically just a few minutes before. Karma jumped up and bit those little desert dogs in the ass...

[BarTopDancer]

I will call a dirty or bad play on my own team when it happens. It's a shame the Kings fans can't do the same. The whistle blew, he could have changed his trajectory to not cause injury. He could have moved to not have his knee hit where it did. You learn to control your body at those speeds, on ice. It was unnecessary and put a sour note on the end of the game. Coyotes wouldn't have been happy but they wouldn't have been booing and tossing stuff on to the ice.

[CoasterMatt]

It happened AS the whistle blew, AND he hit shoulder first. It was a clean hit, on a team that kept throwing dirty hits all series long.

Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnMzHN_QzBE)

[BarTopDancer]

I know the Puppies were throwing dirty hits all series. That's why I stopped rooting for them and instead hoped somehow they both would lose.

I watched it live, I disagree. He could have not stuck his knee out. Intent to injure was there.

I said the Kings deserved to win. The outrage the Kings fans are having over this is turning in to a case of "doth protest too much". It was a bad hit. Not dirty, but bad. It was preventable. If it didn't happen the atmosphere would have been better for the Kings to win. But I guess they got what they deserved. Booed and bottles thrown at them.

[BarTopDancer]

When's the parade? ;)

[BarTopDancer]

The Kings really did deserve it this year.

[madmonkeygirl]

Yay to the KINGS they deserved the CUP!!!

[BarTopDancer]

That they did. They played their asses off.

[Kevy Baby]

When's the parade? ;)Thursday

[alphabassettgrrl]

Excellent! I'm off work Thursday!

Yay for Kings!

[BarTopDancer]

Is LA on fire yet?

[CoasterMatt]

http://i.imgur.com/c0gTY.jpg

[alphabassettgrrl]

Love it!