So ... who likes hockey ?

I am a ice hockey fan as well, but don't follow any specific team. Given my geographic location I tend to support the Western teams.The rule changes made after the lockout have really improved the sport, at least for the spectator. Fewer whistles and wide open play. By removing the red line they did away with the trap which was killing hockey.BTW, Pens v. Caps tonight. Should be an awesome game.

High school and College fan only. The NHL is not as much fun as far as I am concerned.Home town teams for me are the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. Womens team is always one of the best in the nation. Mens is usually quite competitive.

Hi, Slevesque.On your introductory thread (message #23), you said this: I'll let the viewers decide: Personally, I love the little "H" in the middle of the Canadiens' "C": it's funny to me that they had to add that "H" to clarify that the Canadiens are actually a hockey team. Edited by Bluejay, : I'm not sure what happened, but the pictures didn't work until I repasted the exact same URL's.

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-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)Darwin loves you.

Nobody watches Ice Ball!

What is it, they've won 5 of the 10 national championships so far?I've managed to stay remarkably oblivious to what's happening.We used to play street hockey, using a tennis ball for a puck. I haven't been in ice-skates since back in the 60's.Mooseps - I actually live about 15 miles outside of Duluth, although I am a native Duluthian and did graduate from UMD.

I like hockey. I mean, I saw Slapshot!

Although I am a native of Orange County, Calif, my son was born in North Dakota when I was stationed there. He returned there to attend university, police academy, and served there for one year as a policeman before transfering to the PD of the OC city he was raised in.While in ND, he grew to love hockey and started playing it himself -- since he did not benefit from having grown up ice skating, he became a goalie. While playing soccer with his cousins in Mexico, he again took the position of goalie and drove his opposing cousins crazy with his hockey moves that they couldn't get the ball past. Even though he's a policeman, he currently plays goalie on the team of the fire department of the neighboring city.Once a year, he plays in a benefit game at the Anaheim Pond (or whatever they call the place nowadays -- Honda something or other) following a Ducks game. Last year, a friend and I came to watch him play, though (fortunately for me) a dance class we were in kept us from arriving until the final few minutes of the Ducks game. This year, I was not so fortunate. I had to sit through the entire professional game. It was horrendous! When I got home I had to drink through two full bottles of wine -- normally when I drink wine as part of my problem drinking, I can only consume a bit more than half a bottle, so you can see how traumatic that was for me.Now, the only other professional sports venues I had ever attended was the Anaheim Angels a couple times with family just for the sake of family, but at least there we weren't locked up in an enclosed space with maniacs, plus the clouds in the sky were visible, so at least there was something interesting to look at.PS
OK, when we were visiting the family of our son's university friend in Winnipeg, I was forced to go to a hockey game between the Winnipeg (AKA "The Peg") team and some US team. But it was an older facility without the extreme and extremely oppressive hype of the Pond and even though there were some signs of "sports frenzy" which in the past had always resulted in physical violence directed against me, I was not alone and, thankfully, we were in the top-most seats so I didn't have to watch my back.PPS
Most truthful movie line ever. Link (Stanley Tucci) in Shall We Dance? (the US remake of Japan's Shall We Dansu?):

quote:

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And football sucks.

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Edited by dwise1, : The PegEdited by dwise1, : PPS

Just out of curiousity, what did you find so horrendous about the NHL game?

I think it's the atmosphere of sports and crazy fans, coupled with the fact you don't have a lot of room for yourself in there.

What isn't? It's a hostile, very potentially violent environment. Add to that the blaring klaxons, glaring lights, fog machines, etc. If the fans really wanted to watch the game, why have all that? At one point, one team made a goal and the stadium FX people kicked in and in the middle of distracting the fans, the same team made another goal, undoubtedly unnoticed by most of the fans until those damned FXs kicked in a second time.The only good thing was that I was in the top-most row, which meant that I was able to keep my back to the wall throughout the ordeal.

I'm with you both. The overhyped sensory overload is a bit much. They had it right in the old days. A short klaxon burst for goals, organ music, and ice cold beer. That's all you need.I have noticed that some baseball venues have moved towards this as well. Why does every batter need walk on music? Lame.

I went to CSS years ago. I used to go to most of the home UMD games in the early 80's. Scholastica didn't have a good hockey team at all. This was also years before there even was women's hockey.

I prefer to watch from home: it's cheaper, and, while I can scoop up my two-year-old and put him in timeout if he misbehaves, I cannot do so for a drunken, pyscho hockey fan.And, I hate loud noises. And crowds.

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-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)Darwin loves you.

By the way, the Predators have clinched a playoff spot!Sure, it's nothing like Montreal's 24 Stanley Cups, but I'd like to see Nashville at least advance past the first round this year (it's a tough year to hope for that in the West, though: any of the top four would be a tough draw---I think I'd actually prefer the Canucks to the others, amazingly).And, good luck to the Habs, too: they need two more wins and a Rangers loss to clinch.

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-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)Darwin loves you.