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HBO's 24/7 Pens and Caps


orangecrush8

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Anyone watch this last night.

I have to admit, I had no interest in watching this, just expecting more attempts of shoving the Crosby/Ovechkin show down the viewers throats . But I was pleasantly surprised. Its pretty awesome to see how the players act on a day to day basis.

Boudreau is just an idiot.

"Lets (frank)ing go guys. We need to (frank)ing skate (frank)ing harder. You let one (frank)ing goal in and you all look like you (frank)ing lost the (frank)ing stanley cup"

I now know what it takes to be the Caps coach

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This season more than the last few have made me begin to despise the NHL...the ads for the WC making it seem like none of the others mattered they only existed so that this match up could take place is just pish. The penns getting 2 WC's already...pandering. The fracking HBO special...fluffing. I live outside of DC and have been a hockey fan all my life. I never came across a caps fan wearing a sweater in public until 3 years ago. Last time I was at the caps sabres game 97% of the "fans" got the text pole question wrong. They asked one guy on the jumbotron no less who was the last cap to score a hat trick? and he had no clue...he guessed..anyone?? Ovi of course. WRONG

On to the penns...anyone else tired of gretz fluffing crosby? Lundqvist should have knocked him out for the lougains act he pulled last year

...I'm glad weber had the stones to go after him. The cheap busch league retaliation stuff he does that the NHL turns a blind eye to is sorry. Same thing goes for ovechkin except instead of slashing some on in the shins who laid a clean hit on him (sidney)...the ovetch-cam will follow him as he boards someone or runs someone from behind with no call (see the ducks game yesterday)...then runs to the bench.

we are now back to pre lock-out clutch and grab hockey...refs swallow the whistle so often in the last 10 that there almost is no rule book. Players slappers from the outside are almost always never meant to beat the keeper but to miss as to cause rebounds and bounces. So scares is an obstruction call I forgot the rule was even enforced anymore unless its on a keeper. I for one miss the open skating fast paced game of 05-07...scoring is down by a full goal already. And all the NHL wants to show us is a diver hiding behind a wall of goons and a russian that hasn't done anything but get knocked out of the playoffs each year and wear a stupid outfit (no disrespect to the Canadian flag) at the all-star game...and win no less.

h012423A.jpg

This is the NHL! WOOOOH WHOOO

BTW this rant just made me start a blog... pwnedhockey.blogspot.com

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This season more than the last few have made me begin to despise the NHL...the ads for the WC making it seem like none of the others mattered they only existed so that this match up could take place is just pish. The penns getting 2 WC's already...pandering. The fracking HBO special...fluffing. I live outside of DC and have been a hockey fan all my life. I never came across a caps fan wearing a sweater in public until 3 years ago. Last time I was at the caps sabres game 97% of the "fans" got the text pole question wrong. They asked one guy on the jumbotron no less who was the last cap to score a hat trick? and he had no clue...he guessed..anyone?? Ovi of course. WRONG

On to the penns...anyone else tired of gretz fluffing crosby? Lundqvist should have knocked him out for the lougains act he pulled last year

...I'm glad weber had the stones to go after him. The cheap busch league retaliation stuff he does that the NHL turns a blind eye to is sorry. Same thing goes for ovechkin except instead of slashing some on in the shins who laid a clean hit on him (sidney)...the ovetch-cam will follow him as he boards someone or runs someone from behind with no call (see the ducks game yesterday)...then runs to the bench.

we are now back to pre lock-out clutch and grab hockey...refs swallow the whistle so often in the last 10 that there almost is no rule book. Players slappers from the outside are almost always never meant to beat the keeper but to miss as to cause rebounds and bounces. So scares is an obstruction call I forgot the rule was even enforced anymore unless its on a keeper. I for one miss the open skating fast paced game of 05-07...scoring is down by a full goal already. And all the NHL wants to show us is a diver hiding behind a wall of goons and a russian that hasn't done anything but get knocked out of the playoffs each year and wear a stupid outfit (no disrespect to the Canadian flag) at the all-star game...and win no less.

h012423A.jpg

This is the NHL! WOOOOH WHOOO

BTW this rant just made me start a blog... pwnedhockey.blogspot.com

I will not deny the fact that the NHL has become a joke league and is doing every part to get the "fringe" fans, but in the process is losing the die hards.

I will say however that I beg to differ about the book being put away in the last 10. Flyers Pens game the other night, Pens get a powerplay with 2 and a half to go. And we all know about the recent Pronger/Kipprusoff incident. That was a joke of a call and took the extra point away from the Flyers. And you're talking about how they put the whistles away. I WISH they would put the whistles away. Im so sick and tired of watching games where they show replays of penalties and I think to myself "huh?".

As for the whole marketing scheme with Crosby and Ovechkin, I guess Iv gotten used to it by now because thats all they ever do to promote the league. In my opinion, the league REALLY blew it after the Olympics. They had a chance to get more viewers after how well the Americans did. Instead of every NBC game having to be a Penguins game, promote a Sabres game or a Hawks game and mention how Kane and Miller are looking for redemption after the Olympics. But they decided to stick with the same old Crosby show. And this was after he scored the winner against the US! Ya thats gonna make people want to watch.

As for Crosby the player, and it pains me to say this as a Flyers fan, but the whole diving thing is way overplayed. Yeah he did dive, but that stopped for the most part a while ago. Everyone has their moments, trying to draw calls, its not just Crosby. And if Im a kid or any hockey player in the NHL, I model my game like his. He is the full package, and there is absolutely no one in the league near his level. I see it 6 times a year when he obliterates Philly. Check out his faceoff stats and how they improved over the past few years. That doesn't just come naturally. That takes a ton of work. He scores, has arguably the best vision of anyone in the league.

Trust me, Im sick of the Crosby Ovechkin show too, mostly because I cant stand either of them, but to call Crosby a diving punk who hides behind goons is just flat out ignorant in my opinion.

EDIT: For those who couldnt see the show, just check out this clip. This pretty much sums it up about the competency of Bruce Boudreau as a coach

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I can't deny his skill, ability, and hard work. It all is on display every time he touches the puck, especially on his defections and almost every assist is quality. He has done much less flopping around this year...so you are right about that. It always just irked me that someone of his just natural ability and skill set with the hard work to match would even bother with the simulation. Why do it? All it does is hurt your cred even if it only happens 2 times a season...it still happened and we all see it because hes on every tv.

With the penalties issue. I'm not saying they will never make a call in the 3rd this or last year... more importantly a bogus one (I've seen them I agree with you) It's the instance of penalties called during that time that has begun to decrease during, which I would argue is the most intense part of most games so the chance for an pen is higher.

The article below has the chart from last season with two of the most common calls (hooking and interference) dramatically down in the 3rd. The two that open up the game the most if enforced correctly.

http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/igloodreams/20244/

OC I agree that maybe the Crosby argument was a little too pointed but I am anything but ignorant, it's just the NHL is focusing on the wrong things IMO and its hurting the quality that we see on the ice each night. Wouldn't you rather see Briere really using his open ice skills like on the 06-07 Sabres...instead of having to lurk the crease for rebounds most nights?

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Spoiler Alert: Next week the Penguins' happy streak comes to an end with back-to-back losses to division opponents and losing the overall NHL lead :)

As much as I hate to say it but Dan Balysma is awesome, and Boudreau is a moron. And I think Pascal Dupuis has a flesh eating skin disorder on his face.

I love the first Engelland fight and being able to hear the lead-up:

"F*** You"

"No, F*** You"

"F*** You"

"F*** You, let's go"

"F*** You"

"F*** You"

And then they fight...

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I can't deny his skill, ability, and hard work. It all is on display every time he touches the puck, especially on his defections and almost every assist is quality. He has done much less flopping around this year...so you are right about that. It always just irked me that someone of his just natural ability and skill set with the hard work to match would even bother with the simulation. Why do it? All it does is hurt your cred even if it only happens 2 times a season...it still happened and we all see it because hes on every tv.

With the penalties issue. I'm not saying they will never make a call in the 3rd this or last year... more importantly a bogus one (I've seen them I agree with you) It's the instance of penalties called during that time that has begun to decrease during, which I would argue is the most intense part of most games so the chance for an pen is higher.

The article below has the chart from last season with two of the most common calls (hooking and interference) dramatically down in the 3rd. The two that open up the game the most if enforced correctly.

http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/igloodreams/20244/

OC I agree that maybe the Crosby argument was a little too pointed but I am anything but ignorant, it's just the NHL is focusing on the wrong things IMO and its hurting the quality that we see on the ice each night. Wouldn't you rather see Briere really using his open ice skills like on the 06-07 Sabres...instead of having to lurk the crease for rebounds most nights?

The whole problem with the penalty issues is that there will never be a perfect balance. Sure I would love for Briere to showcase his talents more like you said. The way for that to happen would be call more penalties on the clutching and grabbing. But then if that happens, I get sick and tired of there being 16 powerplays in the game. There just lacks flow in the game when that happens. In the end, not everyone will be happy unfortunately because its either one or the other

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The whole problem with the penalty issues is that there will never be a perfect balance. Sure I would love for Briere to showcase his talents more like you said. The way for that to happen would be call more penalties on the clutching and grabbing. But then if that happens, I get sick and tired of there being 16 powerplays in the game. There just lacks flow in the game when that happens. In the end, not everyone will be happy unfortunately because its either one or the other

You guys are obviously young fans because 10 years ago the NHL was at its worse No salary cap, hooking , clutching, grabbing and mugging were part of every teams tactical plan. The trap was a staple for 80% of teams and to make matters worse guys like Derian hatcher were considered solid defenceman as they hooked there way to big contracts. Oh and the nhl would market there game during intermissions of other sports like the nba. fast forward today HBO has a show on hockey, we are finally seeing 50 goal scorers and 100 point guys and its 2 brightest stars are interesting guys who play hockey at 100 mph. Seems like you guys need a history lesson because the last time the game was this good was back in 1996

The game has come such a long way from 10 years ago i cant even tell you. I was a Canadiens season ticket holder in 2000 i saw so much bad hockey that year not just from the canadiens but most teams they played that it turned me off hockey for 5 years. Hockey is exciting now and is generating interest among non die hard fans.

it's ok to be critical but i think the has finaly gotten things right not perfect but definitely better

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I saw that the NHL was promoting the Winter Classic on The Price is Right too. I thought it was a little weird that the NHL would use CBS to help them promote an event on NBC.

I love the idea of a behind the scenes HBO show though. Would love to see that with the Habs. Problem is, Jacques Martin is pretty much the anti-Boudreau.

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Problem is, Jacques Martin is pretty much the anti-Boudreau.

Meaning he can actually wipe his face and coach hockey? 404 Problem Not Found.

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I'm not really a young fan as you said I've been watching and playing since the late 80's. Anyways my argument was not that hockey hasn't gotten better, it is that it WAS much better right after the recent lockout. Now it is again starting to slowly creep back to the play style of the years you described with such disdain. Look at it more like the NHL had a chance to maintain this status quo to keep the quality of open ice play we got to see in 05-07 yet again are beginning to allow the clutching and hooking of years past.

Also as with the TV visibility...there are many more channels and avenues for fans to find hockey so the demand for it becomes greater. Its hard to be a fan of a team when you have very limited access to it. Just look at the boom in European soccer fans in the US. It wouldn't have happened without internet access that caused the demand so now ESPN has scores on the ticker and coverage on the weekends. People out of market of or that can't get to the arena are creating a demand. More often when people are just getting into a sport they tend to the gravitate toward the stars or the top teams.(How many MAN U shirts have you seen in the past year?) 1. Because they get more coverage and 2. why pick a loser if you aren't forced to be geography? Thus new people come to hockey seeing essentially 2 guys because all that is covered #8 and #87. The are in demand and the NHL is jocking them hard (why not?). HBO wants new subscribers NBC wants viewership and CBS wants some action. But none are still willing to take a chance on a regular season deal...because you can make your money selling the caps and the pens without having to sell all of hockey.

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I agree 100% with everything you are saying but you need to keep it in perspective. #8 AND #87 are the most marketable names in hockey. I would like nothing more then to see the HABS AND FLAMES on HBO instead of the ###### pens and caps but i understand the importance of needing to promote using you 2 biggest marketing weapons. I think its a step in the right direction 10 years ago i would have never believed HBO would do a 24/7 on hockey. As for the quality of play i would agree it is unfortunately reverting back to more hooking and grabbing but is still light year away of the early 2000's.

IF Crosby and Ovie can sell the game enough to get a regular season deal for the nhl i am willing to bite my tongue and watch them. Can i say one last thing is it bad if i am hoping for a work stoppage so i can buy a bunch of Gamers for real cheap?

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