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Hello! We are here from Something Awful's Sports Argument Stadium subforum to answer any questions you may have about the NHL and the game of hockey. The Stanley Cup playoffs, considered the most exciting sports playoffs by many hockey and non-hockey fans alike are about to start, so if you want to start following along but have questions you want answered first we are here to help. We have many posters who can answer questions about the the NHL, local team culture, junior hockey, playing hockey, and probably anything else to do with the game. The National Hockey League 2013-4   The NHL is bifurcated into two conferences, Eastern and Western. 8 teams from each will advance to the playoffs, with the eventual winner being crowned the Stanley Cup champion. The playoffs are a "best of seven" structure, where two teams will play a series of games with the first to win four games advancing. This year's favourites are probably Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Jose. Chicago, LA, and Boston are the last three teams to win, while San Jose has never won. One of the major storylines of this season has been the total collapse of the Canadian NHL teams. Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa all fell sharply from last year, and even Montreal does not look as good as they used to. Given that this country puts a (probably unhealthily) huge emphasis on hockey, this is leading to some expected nationalist handwringing. Something to watch for will be whether or not the "all Canadians should unite behind the last Canadian team" will emerge this year when the last Canadian team is Montreal, instead of Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, or Edmonton. Some questions you may have: - I have never watched hockey but my team made the playoffs. Who are the good players on my team? - I am a fan of Buffalo/Toronto/the New York Islanders. Why is my team so terrible? - What are fancy stats? Why do people on twitter get so angry about them? - Why do people drink out of the Stanley Cup knowing that both humans and non-humans have pooped in it? - Has there been anything funnier than Toronto's collapse this year? (Maybe a few things, but not many.) Ask away! We are here to help!
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Apr 13, 2014 20:41
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Can you explain the new playoff structure for this year? Because I'm a regular and I don't even know anymore. Bettman 
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Apr 13, 2014 21:45
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DOOP posted:Can you explain the new playoff structure for this year? Because I'm a regular and I don't even know anymore. They're divisional playoffs with a wildcard twist. - There's 2 divisions in each conference. - The top 3 teams in each division get seeds 1, 2 and 3 in their division. - The top 2 remaining teams in the entire conference are given wildcard spots 1 and 2 -- Wildcard 2 will play against the regular-season conference winner -- Wildcard 1 will play against the other division winner - Division seeds 2 and 3 will play against each other on round 1 - The two wild card teams will remain inside that division's playoffs even if they advance to round 2; no reseeding or reshuffling. Zat fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Apr 13, 2014 |
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Apr 13, 2014 22:07
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This thread is a great idea! I started following the Bruins after the olympics partly as something to follow in the NFL offseason and more because hockey is AWESOME (as the olympics showed me, so hopefully they let the players go in 4 years). I get the rules but not a lot of the nitty gritty/culture stuff so... A few (maybe many) GDTs ago someone said Marchand was the kind of player you really don't like unless he's on your team - why? Is it his play style? Is this a Bruins thing?
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Apr 13, 2014 22:14
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Zelamir posted:This thread is a great idea! I started following the Bruins after the olympics partly as something to follow in the NFL offseason and more because hockey is AWESOME (as the olympics showed me, so hopefully they let the players go in 4 years). I get the rules but not a lot of the nitty gritty/culture stuff so... Marchand is a douchebag but he's an effective player. He's what known as a "pest" or an "agitator". He gets under the skin of opponents because of his borderline-legal playstyle - questionable hits, trashtalking, taunting, embellishment, and general antics of the sort. However he's also skilled at putting up points and perhaps throwing opposing players off their game. That's what people mean when they say they hate him but he's the kind of guy you want on your side. With all that said, I'm a Canucks fan so I generally think Marchand is a straight-up dickface and his other talents don't matter because gently caress that guy. He's fundamentally a bad person, whereas Alex Burrows (perhaps Vancouver's answer to Marchand) is at least a likeable person off-ice (here's when a Bruins fan says I'm butthurt). Players like Claude Lemieux, Esa Tikkanen, Steve Ott, etc. are some more examples of this type of player. Universally hated until they're on your side. PS: You should be proud that you are a new hockey fan but ashamed that you are a Bruins fan half-joking goldrush fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Apr 13, 2014 |
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Apr 13, 2014 22:23
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He's also short. Everybody hates midgets. Wise man once said "Midgets piss me off."
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Apr 13, 2014 22:25
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Zat posted:- The two wild card teams will remain inside that division's playoffs even if they advance to round 2; no reseeding or reshuffling. This means that this year the Dallas Stars of the Pacific Division could be the Central Division champions and the Minnesota Wild of the Central Division could be the Pacific Division champions.
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Apr 13, 2014 22:31
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His nose is also freakishly huge. His rap nickname is "Noseface Killah".
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Apr 13, 2014 22:33
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Hand Knit posted:This means that this year the Dallas Stars of the Pacific Division could be the Central Division champions and the Minnesota Wild of the Central Division could be the Pacific Division champions. Except that part where the Stars are in the Central Division to begin with and are playing in the Pacific.
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Apr 13, 2014 23:08
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Heaf posted:Except that part where the Stars are in the Central Division to begin with and are playing in the Pacific. Except for that part, yes.
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Apr 13, 2014 23:14
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And anyways, I'm relatively confident any official NHL records will just use regular season standings to determine the actual division champions. I'm sure they're aware of the problem that would arise if they were decided in the playoffs with the current format.
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Apr 13, 2014 23:25
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Yeah the division champs are determined by regular season only.
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Apr 14, 2014 00:41
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Division champs are an official thing? I thought it was just what loser teams (Detroit) would hang.
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Apr 14, 2014 00:49
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If you cheer for Boston God will smite you with crabs.
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Apr 14, 2014 01:01
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Take Aphrodite, for instance.
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Apr 14, 2014 01:37
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Who came up with Pronger physics? What are they exactly?
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Apr 14, 2014 02:23
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Veskit posted:Who came up with Pronger physics? What are they exactly? http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2007/05/chris_pronger_blames_physics_c.html quote:"It's a nothing play if Robbie doesn't hit him," Pronger said, stressing that he did not intentionally hit Holmstrom in the head. The contact, he said, was partly because he is 6-foot-6 and Holmstrom is 6-foot-1. Of course I'm going to hit him in the head," Pronger said. "He's quite a bit shorter than me. It's just law of physics."
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Apr 14, 2014 02:27
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Why is Corsi wrong and why is Fenwick worse? Edit: GO AVS
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Apr 14, 2014 02:51
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ch3cooh posted:Why is Corsi wrong and why is Fenwick worse? Corsi isn't wrong so much as it's not perfect, unless you're Damien Cox. Fenwick is better than Corsi, in that it's been shown to be more accurate in predicting team success/placement in the standings and the eventual Cup winner over the course of a season. Now, since you're an Avs fan, Corsi is wrong because the Avs success this season is 1000000000% totally a product of Patrick Roy's coaching methods and grit and #WhyNotUs, they are the team of destiny. Any and all luck-based measures that indicate their season was at least partially a fluke are the filthy lies of Satan and not to be trusted, it's all been hard work and dedication and improvement and coaching. That may even be true about the goaltending!
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Apr 14, 2014 03:05
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I didn't know that was a direct Pronger quote. gently caress I miss that guy. I hope he goes into coaching.
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Apr 14, 2014 03:20
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Awesome OP,OP. I'm happy we have a hockey thread! I hope I get to hang around to the end. I just saw my penguins lose the last regular season game in OT though. At least we are going in healthy! Good Luck every one!
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Apr 14, 2014 03:26
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Probably not an ideal place for this question, but.... Did anyone else watching the Pens/Flyers game YESterday hear Daniel Byran's wrestling theme song playing in the arena just before the 3rd period?
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Apr 14, 2014 03:32
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McPhock posted:Probably not an ideal place for this question, but.... Hockey arenas love wrestling themes. You still hear Hardcore Holly and the Hardy Boys themes a lot.
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Apr 14, 2014 04:32
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Veskit posted:I didn't know that was a direct Pronger quote. gently caress I miss that guy. I hope he goes into coaching. That's Dr. Pronger, physics PHD ChairmanMeow posted:Awesome OP,OP. I'm happy we have a hockey thread! Come on down to SAS, hockey threads as far as the eye can see! We love to
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Apr 14, 2014 04:35
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Hand Knit posted:
Wait. What?
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Apr 14, 2014 04:51
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The Black Stones posted:Wait. What? hockey players are weird people, and the cup has been around for a really, really long time.
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Apr 14, 2014 04:54
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Are players actually openly put on teams for the specific purpose of beating up other players?
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Apr 14, 2014 05:10
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the posted:Are players actually openly put on teams for the specific purpose of beating up other players? Yes, there's a stigma in the NHL that every team needs to have "size" and "grit" and this often leads to otherwise bad players who are put on the ice just to get in fights. They're called "goons", ironically. For notable examples, see Colton Orr, it's kind of silly but hockey fights are fun to watch sometimes.
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Apr 14, 2014 05:18
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Austrian mook posted:Yes, there's a stigma in the NHL that every team needs to have "size" and "grit" and this often leads to otherwise bad players who are put on the ice just to get in fights. They're called "goons", ironically. For notable examples, see Colton Orr, it's kind of silly but hockey fights are fun to watch sometimes. It's also a dying art. Years ago, all teams would literally have a guy whose only purpose was to punch faces. He'd get like 6minutes of ice time (very low). Now, a majority of fighters can actually play semi-competent hockey as a 4th liner/3rd line dman. Basically, the Orrs of the world are getting replaced with guys like Brandon Prust, who can fight, pk, and not be totally useless as a hockey player. Hockey also has a couple of dudes like Milan Lucic, who are skilled players that fight a decent amount. If you're into hockey fights, http://www.hockeyfights.com/ is for you.
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Apr 14, 2014 05:29
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Nah, I just heard an NPR story a few years ago about it, and how there was an unusually high rate of suicides among specifically those guys, due to the fact that they get a lot of head trauma combined with being generally ostracized from the rest of the team.
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Apr 14, 2014 05:31
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the posted:Nah, I just heard an NPR story a few years ago about it, and how there was an unusually high rate of suicides among specifically those guys, due to the fact that they get a lot of head trauma combined with being generally ostracized from the rest of the team. They're not generally ostracized from the rest of the team. Very often, the "enforcer" is one of the most popular guys on the team, because he's seen as a protector, and they also just tend to be cool guys, many of whom are very nice off the ice. In general, among actual hockey players, the role is pretty respected. Depending on their overall skillset, they do tend to bounce between the minors and the bigs more than skill players and get paid less money, but "ostracized" is pretty much a complete NPRification. They also tend to be fan favorites, too.
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Apr 14, 2014 05:39
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I may be misremembering it then. They do get less minutes and less pay, though, right?
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Apr 14, 2014 05:47
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the posted:I may be misremembering it then. They do get less minutes and less pay, though, right? Yeah, because they aren't really high skill players. They go out when they need to bring the pain, and sit on the bench when they don't. Watch the really good
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Apr 14, 2014 05:50
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the posted:I may be misremembering it then. They do get less minutes and less pay, though, right? Yep. Most of the guys who are 100% pure punchman are on two-way contracts, which means they have a different (read: much, much lower) salary rate for games they play in the AHL, and their NHL salaries are usually pretty low as well, around league minimum. Even the ones who have creditable hockey skill are still usually paid like 3rd liners, at best.
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Apr 14, 2014 05:51
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I'm a marginal NHL fan at best, but I am a Rangers fan in Boston  (hail to the king)
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Apr 14, 2014 06:22
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The total win/loss tally on that chart is 1221-919, where do the 302 wins with no loss come from?
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Apr 14, 2014 07:56
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OneEightHundred posted:The total win/loss tally on that chart is 1221-919, where do the 302 wins with no loss come from? OT, or Overtime losses. In the regular season, hockey has three 20 minute periods, then a 5 minute overtime period, and finally a shootout. The winning team gets a W no matter when the win happens, but the losing team gets an L if they lose in regulation and an OT point if they lose in the overtime or shootout. Wins are worth 2 points and OT points are worth 1.
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Apr 14, 2014 09:32
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I'm a casual Kings fan. How are their chances against the Sharks? Anything special I should be watching for?
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Apr 14, 2014 09:58
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Smirking_Serpent posted:I'm a casual Kings fan. How are their chances against the Sharks? Anything special I should be watching for? For the past few years, the Sharks have beaten the Kings in San Jose - and vice-versa. It's as simple as that. Last year's semi-final went 7 games and the home team won every game. Therefore, the Kings won the series. It will be incredibly important if the Kings can pick up a victory in Game 1 or 2. The Sharks are no doubt the more offensively potent team with guys like Pavelski, Couture and Marleau (wunderkid Tomas Hertl has been injured most of the season thanks to a collision with Kings captain Dustin Brown so it remains to be seen how impactful he will be). On the other hand, while no offensive slouches the Kings play a defensive first system wherein they attempt to forecheck and pound their opponents into dust while converting on turnovers and odd man rushes. Their advanced possession stats are off the charts and they simply need to score more, something that has become a serious issue during long stretches of the season. It's an excellent match up in goal - Antti Niemi is a great goalie who sometimes lacks rebound control and Jonathan Quick simply lives for the playoffs - but you will know very early if Quick is in regular season or postseason form. His athletic skills are second to none but he must be mentally sharp or he will let in bad goals. The guy just doesn't seem to put up stellar numbers until April. I think it's an incredibly even series but if I had to make a gut call this season it would probably be the Sharks in 7. The Kings have had serious defensive lapses in the 3rd period and they cannot hold leads late. There was a period in the last 2 seasons where the Kings were something like 78-0 when leading going into the 3rd period. They have given up the third period lead and lost in regulation several times this year. MaoistBanker fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Apr 14, 2014 |
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Apr 14, 2014 11:04
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 00:53 |
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Is this a good thing or a bad thing?: http://youtu.be/6MFRpipkQu8 As a sports fan, all of the fighting seems a little ridiculous (and can you imagine the media reaction if the same were to happen in the NBA or NFL!). It also scratches some sort of weird pro-wrestling kind of itch. Do hardcore hockey folk think of it the same way, or is there more depth, imagined or not, to it? Also, say I haven't paid the NHL much attention for the better part of the last decade. I'm local to the Bruins, but they don't excite me. I demand that my sports teams have a certain weird-rear end je ne sais quoi about them. Who should I cheer for? e: And yes to some more talk on Canadian hand wringing over the collapse, please. Insanite fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Apr 14, 2014 |
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Apr 14, 2014 12:38
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