NHL Season 08-09

[Ratatapa]

wait Canes have people watching them?

I thought canes had 2 fan Vedder and Mizango

[Evanos]

--Detroit is a shitty market. Joe Louis gets filled up come playoffs and its loud, but regular season, again, it was empty as shit. It doesn't make it "all the more impressive" that you DO sell out the playoffs despite the economy, it just means you have shitty fans who only pony up for the playoffs.

Not quite sure where you are getting your sources but in the 2009 season Detroit was the 3rd most attended home stadium behind only Chicago and Montreal. NHL Attendance Leaders - National Hockey League - ESPN
You can point to the 6 $9 dollar ticket games that they had and say it was because they were desperate to fill seats, but the fact of the matter is that they only sold 1,600 of those tickets per game, they were way in the crappy seats, and they sold out almost instantly (I know, I tried to buy some on the day they opened).

[Sepukku]

Not quite sure where you are getting your sources but in the 2009 season Detroit was the 3rd most attended home stadium behind only Chicago and Montreal. NHL Attendance Leaders - National Hockey League - ESPN
You can point to the 6 $9 dollar ticket games that they had and say it was because they were desperate to fill seats, but the fact of the matter is that they only sold 1,600 of those tickets per game, they were way in the crappy seats, and they sold out almost instantly (I know, I tried to buy some on the day they opened).

If you go by stadium % filled, they fall to 14th, and thats despite their ticket gimmicks even they still didn't hit 100%.

[Bregor]

Wow you actually busted out Don Beaupre. I haven't heard that name in years. Fucking hated Dale Hunter. Fantastic player, just hated him to death. I miss Al Iafrate.

Iafrate could bring the heat. I always loved playing NHL games on Sega with him, just unleashing bullets at the goalie. :D But to me he's like a Mike Gartner, a great player but not a "Caps great" since they spent so much time on other teams. Still kinda surprised the Caps retired Gartner's jersey.

Strongly disagree with Sepu, but gotta love busting out the XI references in a hockey discussion.

[Abraxas]

every team plays to win is my point. it doesnt matter if its fast, slow, aggresive or defensive. everyone plays for the same thing and each team's approach is different.

[Abraxas]

Iafrate could bring the heat. I always loved playing NHL games on Sega with him, just unleashing bullets at the goalie. :D But to me he's like a Mike Gartner, a great player but not a "Caps great" since they spent so much time on other teams. Still kinda surprised the Caps retired Gartner's jersey.

Strongly disagree with Sepu, but gotta love busting out the XI references in a hockey discussion.

the blackhawks owned NHL 93-96

steve larmer, michel goulet, jeremy roenick

wat

[Bregor]

the blackhawks owned NHL 93-96

steve larmer, michel goulet, jeremy roenick

wat

Don't forget Eddie the Eagle.

[Brill Weave]

Good lord another name I haven't heard in forever Steve Larmer. What next, we start talking about Bernie Nichols lol? Speaking of Blackhawks, what ever happened to Erik Daze?

[Absolutely Virtue]

Sepukku, your "World's Greatest Penguins Fan" box of tampons individually wrapped and autographed by Cindy Crosby is in the mail. I included a hand-written note scrawled in Semin's blood.

Speaking of old school Caps and blood, you're not true ballin unless you remember the Clint Malarchuck human sacrifice neck slash blood party. He played for us the season (or was it two?) before that game when he was with the Sabres. I dare you to Google that for old time sakes. Yikes!

My fave as a kid was Dave Christian (might need to look him up, he was on the '80 Olympic team), but that's because he lived in my neighborhood and he gave us Christian sticks when we were like 12 or something. We were so stoked we would tape them together and play with them after we'd broken them all playing street hockey.

[Brill Weave]

That Clint Malarchuk video is still scary as hell. It's unbelievable to me that he lived through that. It is still horrifying to watch.

[Izzy]

I still cringe when I see that. I still don't see how he got off the ice on his own power. I would have been freaking the fuck out so bad.

[Selamis]

Good lord another name I haven't heard in forever Steve Larmer. What next, we start talking about Bernie Nichols lol? Speaking of Blackhawks, what ever happened to Erik Daze?

His back was so fucked up from the years of hitting that he threw out that he was put into the unfortunate position of retire and have surgury to fix his back, or keep playing and risk permenate paralysis on any given hit. A damn shame too because Eric Daze was the freaking heart of the team when he was playing, and at one point he was the longest tenured Hawk. This was around the time Bill Wirtz started to clean house and got rid of all our star players.

[Gadritan]

That Clint Malarchuk video is still scary as hell. It's unbelievable to me that he lived through that. It is still horrifying to watch.

As a goalie you have no idea how much that scared the fucking shit out of me. It's not something you ever think about as a possibility until it happens. That one in a million thing.

I'd be lying if I didn't say it made me shy away from a few impacts. Finally picked up a neck guard the following season, but it was always still in the back of my mind.

Fucking brutal.

[Ishido]

But I'm not a Detroit fan, and neither is 95% of the league. That stuff is only entertaining if you enjoy watching that specific team win. I'm sure Chicago won't enjoy watching that. I'm sure if Carolina wins and advances to meet Detroit, they won't enjoy watching that either. And if I'm randomly just watching a game on TV that is non-Pens, I don't want it to be Detroit. They're not fun to watch. Caps-Pens would be fun as hell to watch, even if I wasn't a Pens fan. Open, fast-paced hockey is the best it gets and is the deservedly rightful direction for the NHL to be heading after the lockout.

So many people here are Up in Arms for a mother fuckin Kraken Club over my Detroit comments, yet everyone says Chicago-Pens would be the best series cause it would be most entertaining. I'm being attacked by Hostile Herbivores like I'm going for a 1.2mil Erase in 2004-2005 over my Detroit is lame comments by people who WANT to see Detroit lose because they WOULDN'T be as entertaining in the Finals as Chicago.

Wow, you're just as unbiased in your Detroit hate as you are in your Philadelphia hate. They're not fun because they play a puck possession style (which every team tries to do, there is no team which tries to give up them puck) and harrasses through the neutral zone well on the backcheck (which again, every team tries to do, no one just lets the other team gain the blue like unmolested).

You're right about the fans of the teams playing them probably not liking to watch it. I wouldn't like seeing my team with out the puck more than with it, or taking fewer shots than the Wings. I'm willing to bet a fan with no stakes in the game (and without some strange hate against detroit) would be entertained by the offense they generate, and the clinics that Datsyuk puts on in the offensive zone at times.

No idea what half of the shit in the last paragraph means, but I know that you want to see a Chicago/Pitt final because it gives the Pens a better shot at winning the Cup.

I am now thoroughly amused. I was reading comments on Yahoosports a few minutes ago, which is always amusing. There's a guy over there attempting to claim that Semin is a better player than Crosby. Even those of you who can't stand Crosby would have to admit that Crosby is flat out a better player. Even the retards on Yahoo are laughing at him. Now that's bad. I mean like a firetruck on fire bad.

I don't like Crosby (gotten over my "hate with a passion") and actually like Semin's comments earlier in the year, despite how untrue they may have been, but he's not better than Crosby.

[Gadritan]

Ish. It's been well established that Sepukku has absolutely no fucking clue what he's talking about. No point in trying to argue with him.

He's one of those people who argues for the sake of arguing without actually knowing a single thing about the subject at hand.

Just go back and look at some of his post, lol.

[Sepukku]

I'm the king at getting under people's skin. You're right. I argue for the sake of arguing. This thread would be boring if we didn't have dissenting opinions.

"Washington vs Pittsburgh will be an exciting series!"
"I agree!"
"Wow what a good game last night"
"I know I saw too"
"Wow I cant wait to see the next game."
*WEEK PASSES*
"Chicago-Pittsburgh would be very good for the NHL's future."
"Bettman would like CHI-PIT because its marketable and exciting for the league with all the young players."
"I agree"
"me too"

What fun.

I had a psychic connection with Abraxas during game 6 vs Philly, I swear. When Eaton put in that goal after all the season-long Timmonen agitating and the rivalry of the prior week and a half, I think somewhere (even if he won't admit it) he thought about me and got that white blinding anger flash for a moment.

[Gadritan]

I'm the king at getting under people's skin.

Giving yourself wayyyyyyyyyy too much credit.

What you fail to realize is that it's not getting under our skin. It's entertaining to see someone so ignorant to the sport talk like they're a certifiable genius on the subject. It's a little bit obvious that it's the exact opposite the vast majority of the time too. Everyone else gets under your skin so bad, you HAVE to say something back, and hilarity ensues.

I'd say you're more like a King of Comedy.

I do have to give you props on your avatar though. It's perfect for you.

[Saphirea]

Iafrate could bring the heat. I always loved playing NHL games on Sega with him, just unleashing bullets at the goalie. :D But to me he's like a Mike Gartner, a great player but not a "Caps great" since they spent so much time on other teams. Still kinda surprised the Caps retired Gartner's jersey.

I still have my Al Jensen signed broken stick from the 2nd grade. I've lived in the DC area my whole life, my parents are just from Pittsburgh ... you follow the team you dad follows ya know?

Iafrate was amazing to watch.

[Rhinox]

Holy shit is Pierre Mcguire garbage.

This is my first NBC hockey game I've watched so far this season. aside from Eddie Olczyk I've never seen such coupling of Redwings nuts outside of...Detroit. They basically had the series won for Detroit before the puck was even dropped.

[Ishido]

Macguire is fucking terrible, and annoying to boot.

I liked the way the game looked today. Too many turnovers and it seemed like they had a bit too hard a time clearing, but the offense generated when it needed to. It's fun to see scoring come from the secondary players on the roster.

I didn't see a terrible Wings bias outside of them interviewing Wings players and the usual "coaching" they do during the intermission. Certainly not on the level of many regional broadcasts, at least.