Subject: Hockey

Date: Sun May 24 08:53:43 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
Yesterday, as I was anticipating the Pens match against Carolina, I finally realized one thing that makes me prefer hockey to basketball.

Hockey does not have a "possession arrow" where teams get alternate possessions after some stoppages in play. Hockey players have to fight for the puck after every stoppage. It could be at center ice, or in one team's zone or the other's. But there is an exciting face-off be two players with the others positioned strategically and expectantly.

So much better than a possession arrow! (Even though some In-bound passes of the basketball are hotly contested.)

And, as an added treat, toward the end of last night's match, the face-off resulted in a direct goal. (The first one I can recall ever seeing!) The Carolina goalie had been pulled in favor of an extra skater, hoping to generate a goal to close the gap. (Very common when one team is behind, toward the end of a match. It's a desperation move; leaving the net unguarded.)

What happened was that the face-off resulted in a puck sliding into the unguarded net. In basketball that can't happen, I don't believe. A player can't shoot directly on the in-bounds pass at the basket. He/she has toi pass it to an in-bounds player instead.

However, one in-bounds pass in a pro basketball game this week resulted in an amazing play. With a second left the pass went to LeBron James of Cleveland, who smoothly turned, launched and scored as time expired. Cleveland needed two points to tie, but he shot from three-point range and won the game. Wow. (But I still like hockey better!)

Link below.

Link: LeBron's last-second shot.

Date: Sun May 24 09:53:26 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Might be a rematch of last years Stanly Cup finalists! Go Red Wings!
I like the fact that each team gets only one time-out for the whole game, including any overtime periods.

Date: Sun May 24 10:16:53 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
There is no possession arrow in the NBA.

Date: Sun May 24 11:18:33 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
There isn't? Shows how much I know about the NBA. I know there is one in all college games, including the NCAA tournament. Are you saying the NBA has jump balls beyond the tip-offs to start each period? If so, wow.

That impresses me. (I see the reason for the possession arrow, though. If one team has a dominant leaper, it could give the vast majority of tip-off to that team.) Hockey is a bit different. In it, every face-off is a kind of scrum, and there isn't a huge difference between the success rates of the better and lesser face-off teams. And that puck can go anywhere, with both sticks slapping at it.

Date: Tue May 26 08:46:02 2009
User: Ponychick
Message:
Hockey rocks!

Basketball.......not so much

Date: Tue May 26 09:09:03 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
Off-topic here, Pony, but I thought I'd do it anyway (hijack my own thread.) In P&R Board "Modern Christian Atrocities" I mention the Kiva (what a surprise!) And I pointed to this one person "Suzon" in California, who is also a horse lover.

I thought you might find it to be interesting (linked below)

Okay. Now back to Hockey. The Pens/Canes series resumes tonight! (One interesting statistic they maintains is how many "hits" one team puts on the other!) There is some brutal action, and the skating is fast and skillful. Direction changes and reverses at top speed, Wow!

Link: Suzon in Quincy, California

Date: Tue May 26 09:42:10 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
If the Penguins seep the Canes tonight and Detroit finishes off Chicago tomorrow night, NBC wants the Cup series to start on Saturday with a back-to-back game on Sunday. Detroit has a bad history on back-to-back games but NBC is worried about hockey extending into sweeps week. Too bad, if Hockey is an inconvenience, don't bid on it.

Date: Tue May 26 09:43:32 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Penguins sweep....darn keyboard...

Date: Tue May 26 12:10:02 2009
User: LumberJack
Message:
Hockey used to be a great game. It started going soft when they moved it indoors. It continued its slide when they started wear pads (pillows), and it got totally silly when they instituted helmets and face masks. I can only assume that it will keep skipping down the path of its girlish ways and there will soon be a team in San Francisco. Please, God, just don't let them expand to New Zealand.

And basketball? Don't get me started. Bouncing a ball and tossing it through a little circle with an embroidered handkerchief hanging from it. How sweet. And if you touch an opposing player, it is a foul. For those guys, touching each other must be hard to resist.

Click the link for a real man's sport.

Link: Take back America's (CANADA's!) game

Date: Tue May 26 13:02:18 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
And don't forget! The hockey players hug each other after every goal.

How sweet.

Date: Tue May 26 14:00:18 2009
User: Ponychick
Message:
Snowy, thanks for mentionining that Kiva post here, because I just didnt' get to it on the P&R (imagine that huh?? :) It is interesting!

And talking about real sports.....the World's Strongest Man competitions....I just love that stuff. no weenies there

Date: Tue May 26 15:11:04 2009
User: Songcutter
Message:
I'm confused. Are you guys suggesting that there are sports other than the NFL?

Date: Tue May 26 15:25:36 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
They're called "filler", Song.

Date: Tue May 26 15:51:36 2009
User: Songcutter
Message:
Oh, okay...Thanks.

Date: Tue May 26 19:18:39 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
In my opinion, Hockey is the most exciting sport, then football, then march madness (but not pro basketball) and then baseball...it has to do with speed

Date: Tue May 26 19:24:12 2009
User: firenze
Message:
Pony, even if you weren't making a joke with the "no weenies there", I still thought it was a great line.

Date: Tue May 26 19:30:55 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
I loved it too, but didn't make a comment. But now some people think I have no sense of humor.

Date: Wed May 27 08:43:02 2009
User: Ponychick
Message:
.chortle

Date: Wed May 27 10:07:56 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
I'd be interested in hearing something about strategy from last night's game. NHL hockey for decades has had the reputation of unleashing shots every time any player can free up his stick. It is so different from the European variety of controlling the puck until there is a wide open shot. Last night put an exclamation point on all of this.

With about five minutes to play (enough time to get up and down the ice 100 times), the Penguins were up 3-1. Whenever they got the puck away from Carolina, they sent two players down they ice with the puck. As soon as they skated across the center line, they fired a shot. The goalie blocked it easily, steered the puck to a defenseman, and the Canes were back on offense. It happened at least 10 times. I've watched hockey since I was 5, and I don't recall seeing this before. (For basketball fans, it was the equivalent of a one-man fast break in which he shot the ball from two steps across the mid-court line.) This created about a dozen excellent opportunities for Carolina. If just one of those shots by the Canes had gone in, it would have been a different game.

Crazy.

Date: Wed May 27 10:41:30 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
The Penguins were just running out the clock. It's certainly better to run out the clock in your offensive zone than dump and run as you described the Penguins' strategy. What had me wondering was the number of times the Penguins iced the puck. That's REALLY something you don't want to do. But, the Penguins won and they're in the Cup finals.
Go Red Wings!

Date: Wed May 27 11:15:41 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
I'm a Chicago fan, but I'll pull for the Wings when the inevitable happens.

Date: Wed May 27 12:06:06 2009
User: TNmountainman
Message:
It's good to see acknowledgment of one of the "down"sides of steroid usage on this board, helping spread that message.....

Date: Wed May 27 13:07:51 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
The Pens strategy, besides getting the pcu into the offensive zone, included trying to get some shots on gaol, hoping for a rebound they could stick into the net. But actually, it went beyond that. It was more of a "defensive-offensive" game. Create defense by making them start every rush in their own defensive zone.

Also, one thing they were contending with was the Canes' sticks were always on the puck and when not there, there was a Canes' player between the skater and the net all the time. There really were no clear shots in the Pens offensive zone at all.

The Canes made the Pens work hard for every shot, and they broke away a few times too. But considering the Pens had a pretty good lead, their strategy really wasn't all that bad. Except, the Canes were working so hard they did get to ther Pens net a lot!

But had the score been closer, the Pens' skating would certainly have been different. Hey! How about that cross-ice pass the Pens gave up when on a power play? It turned into a steal, a breakaway and a new penalty for the Pens, negating the power play. THAT was sloppy play on the Pens part and a great steal by a Canes player.

But be that as it may, hockey is an amazing sport. Fast, non-stop action with sticks and intentional hitting by the bodies, too! Basketball is fast but it's stopped all the time by scores and penalties. (You hit somebody in BB and you get another penalty.) A BB game could have 80-100 stoppages in a game, even more actually.

Then hockey has breakaways and penalty shots, where the skater and goalie are mano-a-mano, from 40 feet away. Wow!

Soccer (football) is fast too, but the field is so long and large you don't get that much action near the goals as in hockey. Hockey is constant, high-speed movement with sudden directional changes. And the strategy is remarkable! For a low-scoring game, it's pretty hard to fathom that kit could be so exciting.

A 1-0 game in hockey can be more exciting than high scoring games in some other sports. Real edge-of-the-seat and no trips to the fridge excitement.

Go, PENS!!

Date: Thu May 28 08:32:33 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
OK, now the Cup final series is set and it will be a rematch of last years Cup finals. This time the Penguins should be tougher and the Red Wings may be weaker due to key injuries. We'll see.
Go Wings!!!

Date: Thu May 28 11:16:05 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
Well, at least you have your pre-emptive excuses all lined up.

May the best team win, as long as it isn't a team from Pittsburg.

Date: Thu May 28 11:23:18 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
You're right, Buzz. Hockey in Pittsburg, Kansas sucks.

Date: Thu May 28 11:57:24 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Detroit won the last two games against Chicago without Datsyuk and Lidstrom but Chicago is a step or two behind last year's Penguins in experience and development. The Wings are deep and it was fitting that Helm got the game winner last night. Still, when you're playing for the Cup, you'd sure like to have two of your best players on the ice.

Date: Sun May 31 08:02:28 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
Hey, Mike! Helluva match last night. Both teams played real tough, and I have to say, the Wings got a couple breaks, especially on scores off the goalie's body. I hope the breaks swing to the other side tonight!

(How about the puck lying there on the go Osgood's back, like a teed-up golf ball? Good thing for the Wings there weren't and Pens right there to swing away!)

I'm really glad about one thing, though. While the desperation pulled-goalie didn't work with the extra attacker, the Pens didn't give up a cheap empty-netter. That's the problem with pulling your goalie. You can't just attack and swing away, because it usually means an easy goal into your own net. I know there had to be a few Wings drooling at the prospect!

So, it's Detroit 1, Pittsburg(h) 0. I'm looking forward to about 6 or 7 great matches. Regards!
Snowy

Date: Sun May 31 08:30:10 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
It was a good game. The Red Wings have a lousy history on back-to-back games so I'm a little worried about tonight's game.
The Red Wings defense (good thing Lidstrom and Erickson are back!) did a good job of bringing Crosby and Malkin back down to earth.
I think every game will be hard fought. It should be fun to watch!

Date: Sun May 31 08:36:47 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
My wife, who usually isn't much of a hockey fan, was a practically basket case. I wasn't that much better off.

I heard somewhere the Wings haven't been having a lot of success on the penalty kill, but last night they killed both. (I think there were two.)

Date: Sun May 31 09:33:09 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
>>>GoodOlMike: "The Red Wings have a lousy history on back-to-back games so I'm a little worried about tonight's game."

All teams do. It's a bad scheduling move.

Date: Sun May 31 12:22:12 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
I was just reading about the Red Wings' DJ, T. Campbell. He plays songs dedicated to players on that team, when they do things like score goals. It put me to mind about Vince Lascheid, the "only person to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins."

Having been in the business of playing for the Pirates and Pens for many years, he also took on playing for the Steelers. He actually was one of the founders (if not the founder) of the personalized songs, for both home team players and visitors, based usually on their names, and sometimes on some well-known incident. This was especially fun when players would play for the same team most of their careers. (You knew when the Reds came to town, for example, Johnny Bench et al would be on the field.)

He was also reputedly the first to do "Three Blind Mice" after a particularly bad call at a Pirates game. It was in no way necessary to tell which group of arbiters the song was aimed at.It was the same at Pens hockey matches.

It really was sad to see of his passing. This T. Campbell article brought some happy memories to mind, though.

Go, Pens!

Link: Vince Lascheid

Date: Sun May 31 22:57:09 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
Pens win 3-1! Series Tied 1-1! Yeay!

Date: Sun May 31 22:58:37 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
No, I guess not. Red Wings won and lead 2-0.

The Pens have to play better and get some breaks in Game 3, or it could be over in 4 or 5.

:(

Date: Sun May 31 23:00:47 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
Gotta tell ya. Helm, especially, steams me when he knows a shot is coming and he stands in front of the Pens goalie, cutting his visibility. Pisses me off big time.

And, why don't the Pens station somebody like that?

Date: Mon Jun 1 07:23:26 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
Obstructing the goalie's view and being in position for a tip or a put back is just good hockey.

Don't get angry at Helm -- get angy at the Penguin defensemen who let him camp out there.

Date: Mon Jun 1 08:24:40 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
I fully agree. I knew what was coming when he recognized a slap shot from 40 feet was being set up, and he skated backward to the goal moyth. I was ready to mutter "Goal!" Dammit.

Somebody should have knocked him into the third row. But they didn't. The Pens play good hockey, and usually great hockey. They outshoot and sometimes out-hit, but they weren't ready for Wings hockey.

(And, what was up with that Wing who crawled into his own goal?) The Wings are very intense around both goal mouths. On open ice the Pens are pretty good, but they aren't matching the Wings efforts at either end. One wing disputes every foot of the movement of any puck out of the Pens defensive ice. It's really tight. Damn.

Sometimes it looks like the Wings are skating 7 on 5, their pressure is so intense and there are so many guys converging on the puck. They put on a clinic at six-man defense and breakaways off turnovers.

The Pens still have confidence they can play with these guys, especially at home. (They have done so through most of both matches, but the goals aren't going. Perhaps it has something to do with that stone wall wearing goalie pads.) But it will take some doing.

Damn.

Date: Mon Jun 1 08:36:16 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
I'm surprised that the Wings won the back-to-back but more surprising is that Abdelkader, two years out of Michigan State, has two goals so far in the series. He has as many goals as the Penguins have.
I expect the Penguins to come out strong Tuesday night, but I wonder what more they can bring.

Date: Tue Jun 2 13:59:23 2009
User: Somali-wants-a-cracker
Message:
Mike, rumor has it Snowy will be in uniform for the Pens tonight in Game 3. Could that be that something extra?

And, Snowy, believe me when I say you would rather see Helm camp in front of your goalie then see him fly on a break-away.

Date: Tue Jun 2 14:46:36 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
The Penguins will have one extra thing going for the home games -> they get to substitute last so they can try to take advantage of player pairings. That's about it.
Snowguy thought they would call him up because he's even older than Chellios, but the Peguins don't see age as that much of an advantage.

Date: Tue Jun 2 15:08:05 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Oops, let me scratch an 'l' from Chellios...there ya go...Chelios...

Date: Tue Jun 2 16:35:57 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
"And, Snowy, believe me when I say you would rather see Helm camp in front of your goalie then see him fly on a break-away."

No, I wouldn't. I never want to see somebody breaking away, but at least then the goalie has an unobstructed view. (And, if Malkin can be stopped on a breakaway, I suspect Helm can be, too. No too much doubt who has the better shot.)

In any case, the idea is to keep Helm from BOTH breaking away and obstructing the goalie's vision by standing directly in front.)

I want to see somebody crush him if he does that again. And then I want to see Hal Gill or somebody stand in front of Osgood when a slap shot is about to be launched...

;-)

Date: Tue Jun 2 23:41:21 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
Pens Win! Pens Win!

(If the Pens can win Thursday, things might be different in Detroit than they were last week.)

I hope...

Date: Wed Jun 3 06:26:04 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
One thing I appreciated was that, even though the Pens denied the Wings empty-net goals Saturday and Sunday, the Pens got one last night. This could be a series.

(I know--- the Pens struggled to win when they had the home ice and line change advantage, which is true, and Wings fans are pretty confident they will finish the job in Detroit. But, I don't know about that...)

Date: Wed Jun 3 08:16:34 2009
User: BuzzClik
Message:
I missed the game. I watched the championship game in the women's NCAA World Series (softball). It was a great game with U Washingon beating Florida in a nailbiter.

Date: Wed Jun 3 08:21:10 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Well ya know, a sweep was never in the cards :-) Funniest thing about the game was that the Penguins had too many men on the ice for 21 seconds and none of the officiating crew noticed. It'll take that gang a while to live that down!
When you're up 2-0, the third game is always a tough one. The Wings will have a better chance in game 4.

Date: Wed Jun 3 13:45:58 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
But do you think they will play a strong game in Game 7?

;-)

Date: Wed Jun 3 14:09:38 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Hard to say how far this series will go. Maybe the home team wins every time. My guess is that Detroit will win game four and the series will go 5 or 6 games.

Date: Wed Jun 3 14:54:52 2009
User: Snowguy
Message:
My guess is Pittsburgh will win Game four (they are increasing in confidence) and Detroit will have home ice advantage in he final three games.

(If you remember, last year the young Pens were shell-shocked by going into Detroit against the Red Wings and were blown out both games. Had the series started in Pittsburgh, it might ave been different. After the two losses, it was a very competitive 2-2, including a Pens win in Detroit.)

If the Pens can win Game 4, it could be a series! Otherwise, they are likely toast.

Date: Wed Jun 3 15:28:05 2009
User: GoodOlMike
Message:
Last year Detroit won games one and two, then lost game three, won game four, lost game five in Detroit and then won game six in Pittsburg. This series is tracking very much like last year but like they say in the financial business, past performance...:-)