2010-2011 NHL Season Thread

[Chips]

Pacioretty's already been released from the hospital.

Btw, I agree with the suspension on Kubina, that was worth 3 games.

[Ishido]

So apparently Bettman's response to the Air Canada thing is to say "fuck you guys we're gonna use other planes" in a slightly more polite way. While I applaud his ability to take a stand and not be pushed around by sponsors, this isn't exactly the smartest way to go about this whole thing. In fact pretty much everything about this incident hasn't been the smartest way to go about the whole thing.

[Anton]

Hey feelgoods, news flash: Air Canada won't pull out, they'd be insane to.

First of all, Air Canada has no real business managing the game of NHL hockey - they're business partners, not a co-op. As much as they may want to change the game, a terse public statement is as far as their jurisdiction ends and everyone knows this. Especially Bettman, who IMO looked fairly smug as he told Air Canada where to stick their statement.

Second, consider Air Canada's commitment to the ACC in Toronto and the Maple leafs by extension. What, are they going to walk from them to?
-The agreement with the City is by contract, and you can't just up and walk away from that without serious legal gobbledegook.
-The ACC is the only name that building has ever had, and it's pretty much stuck in this city. I still call the Rogers Centre the Skydome, because that's what it is. How much brand power would they throw away walking from the largest City in Canada, power they paid big money to acquire the rights for?

Finally, the endgame sucks. Suppose Air Canada packs its bags and leaves. Now what? What's the endgame?
-The NHL makes a deal with Westjet
-???
-Profit.

How does that solve anything?

The fact is you don't just walk away from a lucrative exclusive deal with one of the Big Four sports here in North America. Hockey is a viable sport - the fans love Hockey, most more than any other sports, and in the markets where the product is good (and, well, Toronto) the fans turn out in droves. Air Canada went bankrupt like, what 5 times? And they still honored their NHL contracts before anything else.

So Bettman's deadpan response about alternate travel arrangements is pretty much right on the mark.
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PHI vs TOR, currently 1-0 Philly in the first. Komisarek got 5 and a game by pulling a Pat Probert Special: wait till Carcillo is about 4 feet off the boards, and hit em with a low cross-check. You wanna see what dangerous hockey looks like, that's it.

Phi converted once on the 5 min major, and we've outshot phi 6-1 since the penalty ended, so who knows what's up. I understand PHI has some roster problems (Pronger isn't playing tonight but Carter just returned), and they've played spotty recently.

Then again with only 5 defencemen left, BRETT LEBDA IS GETTING EXTRA ICE TIME. This fkin guy, eh?

Carcillo had taken the opportunity to chirp the Leafs bench, earning him a lashing from the refs. Versteeg took 2 for roughing. Toronto on the PP, lets go boys

[NynJa]

I'd say its more a big sport in Canada, and Bettman's too much of a tool to realize that ice sports wont really work in climates that dont have snow(well...didnt have snow untill this winter)

[bluefan]

Halak vs Habs. This should be fun.

[NynJa]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle1937767/

“It’s just something with Boston,” Thornton said. “It just seems like they have a horseshoe. We’ve seen the [Milan] Lucic cross-check to the head [of Maxim Lapierre] earlier, and there’s no disciplinary thing.

[Izzy]

Anyone else watching this Boston game? These announcers are the WORST fucking homers EVER.

[NynJa]

Anyone else watching this Boston game? These announcers are the WORST fucking homers EVER.

I knew that a LONG time ago.

[Anton]

I'd say its more a big sport in Canada, and Bettman's too much of a tool to realize that ice sports wont really work in climates that dont have snow(well...didnt have snow untill this winter)

LA Kings, San Jose Sharks, only ones I can think of that buck the trend, and the Kings were nothing before Gretzky. Also, the Great Lakes states have big and long hockey traditions, with fans as real as any.

But it's closely identified as Canadian, and for Air "Canada" to back out is even more ironic.

PHI 2-0 off a fluke through Reimer. Toronto turns around scores... off Grabovski's face visor

2-1 halfway through 2.

[bluefan]

Halpern!

1-0 Habs!

[NynJa]

Also, the Great Lakes states have big and long hockey traditions, with fans as real as any.

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border.

I specifically stated cities that dont even have snow, not cities that border on Canada >.>

[Thoronas]

I specifically stated cities that dont even have snow, not cities that border on Canada >.>

Some of the cities that southern NHL teams are in are just not good sports towns, hi to you Atlanta. Also Dallas does pretty well considering they're in fucking Texas but I think part of that has to do with them screwing Buffalo out of a cup.

[bluefan]

Price is doing what Halak did last post season. Absolutely robbing people tonight.

[Thoronas]

PHI 2-0 off a fluke through Reimer. Toronto turns around scores... off Grabovski's face visor

Just saw that goal. Nice to see Phaneuf still has the accuracy of a Star Wars storm trooper.

[Anton]

I specifically stated cities that dont even have snow, not cities that border on Canada >.>

You did say it was bigger in Canada. I just stopped by to say

Top 5 Average Attendance records this season:
5. Toronto - 19295
4. Detroit - 19347
3. Philadelphia - 19606
2. Montreal - 21273
1. Chicago(well duh) - 21283

because frankly I didn't think anybody would beat out MTL.

also
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...lbu3An6NZ2q8XQ

[bluefan]

Ah, Blues tie it.

Fun game to watch.

[Chips]

Just saw that goal. Nice to see Phaneuf still has the accuracy of a Star Wars storm trooper.

Was redirected off of a stick

[NynJa]

You did say it was bigger in Canada. I just stopped by to say

Top 5 Average Attendance records this season:
5. Toronto - 19295
4. Detroit - 19347
3. Philadelphia - 19606
2. Montreal - 21273
1. Chicago(well duh) - 21283

because frankly I didn't think anybody would beat out MTL.

United Center
Hockey: 19,717 (2009–present)
with standing room at least 22,428

Bell Centre
Capacity Ice hockey: 21,273

average attendance for the year, 21,273 all day every day...21,273 people paying ridiculously overpriced tickets every home game LOL...and then accounting for anywhere between 5-40% of away games attendance.

[bluefan]

Wow, the Fox guys completely agree with the Chara ruling. Surprise surprise?

[bluefan]

Ugh, bad give away Habs.