Hockey Trash Talk & BS thread

I'm cheering for the Sens because they are playing the Pens. If ISIS were playing Pittsburgh, I'd be in the stands rockin' a burka!

 

Sadly it'll probably be the only truly national best on best tourney available for just under a decade. The NHL World Cup will keep having gimmick team's which is fun but doesn't really show the true Team Canada.

 

It might be the closest thing we have to best on best national hockey, but still a cheapened version that is borderline meaningless. With all of the great players that are still in NHL playoffs, while the IIHF tourney is going on, plus factor in NHL players who choose not to go (whether it be fatigue or lack of caring etc). It still is never the nation's best players representing their country in that tourney.

 

No arguments here on most of that. However, with Bettmans shrewd tactics and a few steps by the IOC the NHL won't be going to any Olympics unless they see at as being in the best interest of the pocket books of the owners. We are likely seeing the end of true best on best hockey and entering an era of the NHL pandering for dollars with the gimmicky All Star like format World Cup while the only legitimate tournament left, the World Hockey Championship, continues with the same caveats you just mentioned.

The tournament isn't meaningless though. By winning or placing highly in the tournament you can secure a better bracket for the Olympics in China. So Canada still needs to do well at the IIHF tournaments or they'll face a shitty bracket when the NHL does go back to the Olympics.

 

^^^^This!!

 

I understand where you're coming from Sterdog. I have really never watched the world's. Not sure why just never got into it. And I don't know why but I preferred when the juniors played. Olympics are supposed to be amature after all.

 

Where did this come from? Sure, decades ago that was the case. But last I checked all the other sports had professional athletes in them.

Usain Bolt is a professional Track and Field.
Tennis has Nadal, Federer, pretty much every professional.
Basketball has the team USA dream team
Curling has professional teams that compete in other tournaments
Skiing is all FIS world cup skiers

I mean the list goes on and on. This whole 'amateur olympics' idea was dead decades ago.

 

I have three thoughts on that:

1. No other Olympic sport other than boxing is all amateur at the Olympics. Swimming, the boat sports, track/field, skating sports, skiing sports etc etc are all paid endorsed athletes that compete in for money events around the world. The concept of the original Olympics was for amateur sport, but modern day all of the events involve athletes that are paid. Heck, winning an event means a big payout for most athletes even the boxers. You really think that amateur will mean anything? Because it doesn't in every other sport anymore so why should that be a feather in the cap for hockey? It won't be, it's a farce at the Olympics just like Boxing is a farce of a sport now.
2. On that note, the KHL is still going to the Olympics. So are the other European paid Elite leagues. What's funny is that the AHL/CHL participation isn't even likely at this point. So no, we won't be sending even our Second or Third tier best players over. The AHL does basically whatever the NHL wants so they definitely won't send players. Do you think the CHL wants to give up it's best right before the playoffs? So no true major AA Juniors for Canada. Same argument can be made for the various Junior A leagues throughout Canada, they won't release their players. So what's left here? The CIS? Great, CIS players who are usually the washouts from the CHL and you want them playing against the KHL? How the fuck is that going to be good hockey? It'll be brutal.
3. This whole deal has nothing to do with the IOC deciding to go Amateur. The IOC only went full pro because the NHL needed them too in order to negotiate a better TV deal with ESPN way back in the day. Now the NHL is basically bullying the IOC into running a tournament that will be best on worst. Fuck the NHL. If I wasn't such a huge fan of good Hockey I'd start watching more Football and get into that the way most of the guys at work are. Long and short, the NHL is pushing away their traditional fan base while chasing the idea that a billion Chinese people might someday want to watch a Hockey game that starts at 8:00 am in China. How the fuck does that makes sense?

 

Oh ya you are 100% right. And I should clarify, what I meant by 'meaningless' is I just think overall a lot of people don't place much importance on it, like some players and even a lot of fans. I have tried to watch the games when I can but I admittedly am not as invested as I would be for an Olympics.

 

I wrote it out in longer words but you are absolutely right.

 

In truth the best games are after this round. If you didn't watch the rest of the tournament you would think it's great hockey. Players get pretty serious when their is a medal on the table.

 

Long and short the thing that is pissing me off the most about the Olympics situation is this illusion that this tournament is going to be like the 80's and some underdog kids are going to beat the Russians at a loaded game. The truth is that this tournament is going to be the Lethbridge Pronghorns versus Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Fucking blowout.

 

I did enjoy watching the Olympic games with the pros, don't get me wrong. I do however remember watching the juniors play it when I was young and I liked it just as much if not more. All the sports should only be amatures imho. It's used to be their proving grounds. Often Junior players could move up the scouting lists by proving themselves at the Olympics. And Canada did just fine without pros.

 

Yeah but you're missing that back then team Canada had all of the CHL players to draw from. the was still a part of Hockey Canada at that point, it wasn't even called the CHL yet, and so all of the players Hockey Canada picked had to go. Basically all of those under 21 players that would end up being NHLer's one day. This time around though, due to the IIHF agreements around the World Juniors and the CHL not being a part of Hockey Canada anymore, the CHL teams have no binding reason to release their players. Sure, a few bottom feeder teams will let players go. Do you really think though that anyone with a shadows chance at a playoff spot is going to release players for two weeks when financial times are so tight for most CHL teams? Heck no. So most of the team will be the leftovers from Europe and the Canadian University leagues, you know the guys who are playing off into the sunset because they will never play a game again in the AHL let alone the NHL.

This new tournament won't be your childhood tournament. It'll be like watching a kids Bantam D team play the AJHL Brooks Bandits. That's how far apart the skill level will be because Hockey Canada won't have access to even near the level of talent they did in the Pre-NHL tournament while Russia will have access to almost their full deck in the KHL. It'll be the sort of games where you have to turn it off because we are being outshot 20:1 and the goalie is crying.

 

You're probably right Sterdog. If that's the case then ya NHL players would be better. Although hey maybe with a little training I could make the team! I've never played anything better than junior B!

 

How many people here listen to Jim Rome? The dude is easily the worst major sports personality I've ever listened to. Sarcasm for three hours straight with miscued sound bites and knob sucking phone calls from your audience is enough to make someone want to jump out a car window at high speed.

 

Can't be much worse than Dan Leb-retard.

 

I can take Rome in small doses. Our local 'hockey radio guy' is Mark Madden. Total jabroni and absolutely brutal to listen to. I'll pay for XM willingly rather than listen to horrible free radio hockey talk. Patty O'Sullivan > *

 

I can't stand Madden. Every time he talks it sounds like he has a face full of cheese puffs.

 

LMAO. He probably does.

I got asked by a team to play in 1 of his tournaments once. He was a crazy ass. I was watching the game before ours and he came out on the rink and flipped on the person running the clock/scoreboard and dropped like a million f-bombs etc. It was a weird first impression, that's for sure. Doesn't seem like a cool guy at all. but I could be wrong.