hockey!

**gaming ultima** · 08-27-2004

hockey isnt a popular sport over here you see

**Evolution** · 08-27-2004

Originally Posted by bloodywar

Don't know how you could think hockey is boring

Im from the UK and not many people do like hockey over here. Soccer (The beautiful game) means everything here in the UK. There are many sports that are big in America that I dont like and I have good reasons for me not liking them.

Baseball (Extreme version of rounders)
Hockey (Men thinking they are hard by fighting while wearing loads of protective gear)
Basketball (Mens Netball)
NFL (Glorified Poncies, try a mans game like rugby)

Dont get offended if you play Hockey or whatever. Its just my personal opinion, nothing more.

**Cody** · 08-28-2004

Yah well I am not offended and as for the hockey fighting you are totally correct there is to much fighting in the league and most of it is pointless other sports don't even have half the amount of fighting hockey does(except for wrestling and crap) but then again I can never not smile seeing chara beat the crap out of some one, by the way if there are any members of this forums from ottawa or going to the canada vs slavakia game?

**Dragonlance** · 08-28-2004

I hate american football. Not enough action. I love soccer, court hockey, what the heck is netball??

**Cody** · 08-28-2004

lol American foot ball is better then canaadian, canadian foot ball has a bigger field but alot of the players are americans who couldn't make it into the NFl But anyways people this is a HOCKEY thread stick to topic!:@

**Dragonlance** · 08-28-2004

Umm. a bigger field is harder, not easier bloodywar. And as for american players in canadian football, what about canadian players in american hockey?

**Cody** · 08-30-2004

I said American foot ball is better not harder, as for the Canadian hockey players playing in "american hockey" well guess what the NHL is all of North america.

**Cody** · 09-01-2004

Yesterday Canada beat the states 2-1 the first period Canada was totally in control and the states where riding there goaile. The second period America was in control but not by much and then during the 3rd period Canada was in total control of the puck.

Canadian Press

8/31/2004

MONTREAL (CP) - The Canada-U.S. rivalry is definitely still on.

Martin St. Louis had a goal and an assist as Canada opened the World Cup of Hockey with a fast-paced 2-1 victory over the United States on Tuesday night in which emotion ran high and goaltenders shone.

``I think the crowd pumped everybody up,'' said Canada coach Pat Quinn of the roaring, chanting, capacity crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre, which included Prime Minister Paul Martin.

The game saw Canada's 38-year-old captain Mario Lemieux go after American Steve Konowalchuk for running goaltender Martin Brodeur and U.S. goaltender Robert Esche hold his team in the game while being outshot 19-6 in the first period.

St. Louis, the NHL scoring champion and MVP last season, scored the only goal of the opening period on a power play and got an assist as Joe Sakic scored early in the second.

But the momentum turned on Bill Guerin's goal for the United States midway through the middle period and Canada had to hold on for the win.

``It was like it was two games _we controlled the play in the first half and they took over in the second,'' said Sakic. ``When we went up 2-0, we changed our game a bit.

``We tried to make too-cute plays. Then they got a goal and got a lot of life from that. We came back in the third, but we have to do a better job of that - to keep pressing when we have the momentum.''

The win greatly increased Canada's chances of avoiding having to play in St. Paul, Minn., if they end up facing the Americans again in the quarter-finals.

The teams are bitter rivals, with the Americans having beaten Canada 5-2 in the final of the inaugural World Cup in 1996 at the Bell Centre and Canada returning the favour in the 2002 Olympic final in Salt Lake City.

``It's an emotional tournament,'' said U.S. forward Bill Guerin. ``It's Canada-U.S., it's for lots of pride. It always tends to be physical.''

Each team lost a player to injury - defenceman Ed Jovanovski for Canada and American veteran Mike Modano. Both were described only as injuries to the ``lower body.''

Quinn said Jovanovski would have an MRI exam on Wednesday to see how serious it was.

Canada plays its second game of the round robin portion of the eight-team tournament Wednesday night against Slovakia, also at the Bell Centre. The Americans play Russia on Thursday night in St. Paul.

``You have to give Canada credit, they came out hungrier and than we were and were a lot more intense,'' said U.S. coach Ron Wilson.

``They got physically involved. They pushed us and we didn't push back. Fortunately, Robert Esche was on top of things. In the second period, we started to turn things around.''

Quinn said Canada had ``a simple plan to get the puck behind them. We put them on their heels. For 20 minutes, we were a very good team.''

According to Quinn, the American response was to take runs at Brodeur, who was bumped several times in his crease.

Canada led 2-1 at 16:03 of the second frame but the Americans were pouring on the pressure when Konowalchuk came in hard on Brodeur.

Lemieux, never known for fighting and with a fragile back, charged in and grappled with Konowalchuk until linemate Jarome Iginla took over. Defenceman Scott Niedermayer ended up dropping the gloves with American centre Jeff Halpern in the same melee.

``They tried to run Brodeur four or five times,'' said Quinn. ``Mario had to try to do something to restore common sense out there.''

Brodeur just shrugged.

``Every time I play in a big game it's like that,'' said the New Jersey Devils star. ``I control rebounds, so guys go in there.

``They went in hard a few times, but that's part of the game.''<

Lemieux looked fine the rest of the game, but the question now is whether he'll be fit to play against Slovakia.

``If he wants the game, I'll play him,'' said Quinn. ``At the Olympics, we didn't play him in back-to-back games, but I think he'll want to play.''

Canada came out with a new look - replica jerseys, gold coloured with a red maple leaf, of those worn by the 1920 Winnipeg Falcons, the first Olympic hockey gold medallists.

And by early in the second period, Canada had a 2-0 lead and was outshooting the Americans 24-6, although total shots ended up at 32-24.

For most of the first period, it looked like goaltender Esche would emulate Mike Richter's 1996 heroics against Canada, but St. Louis finally beat him at 16:01.

Quick passes down low by Joe Thornton and Niedermayer fed St. Louis in the slot for a high shot just inside the post.

Canada was on another power play when Sakic's point shot hit Chris Drury's leg and bounced past the screened Esche 3:05 into the second frame.

Looking comfortably in the lead, Canada let up and the Americans got back into the game on Guerin's goal at 10:40, when he had time to gain control of a pass from Scott Gomez and whip a quick high shot past Brodeur's glove side.

Canada may have built a bigger lead but for Esche, who stoned Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier early on and then made a smart pad save on a tip by Iginla.

Brodeur was also sharp, robbing Keith Tkachuk alone at the side of the net early in the second period.

Good Job Canada we can take the cup this year

Edit: Today Canada beat slavakia 5-1 when we played them the first time we tied them 2-2 so I think I smell another salt lake city

**Cody** · 11-16-2004

lol this is really old news but Canada won the world cup. Also what does every one on the forums think about the NHL lock out? alot of NHL players are moving over to the European leagues were alot of people who couldn’t make the NHL go and play, so alot of European hockey players are loosing there jobs to NHL players which is bad for them but mean while in Canada the Major junior A teams are getting much higher attendance therefore much more money for the Junior A, so what does everyone else think of the NHL being locked out?

The reason for lock out

There's this perception, probably well-earned, that all of Canada will come to a dead stop on Wednesday, from malls to street corners to schools to places of business, and worried citizens will turn to one another and fearfully ask one another the same question.

Canadian Fan
Canadians' passion for the game is found in their culture not a league.
"Well, what do we do now?"

OK, sorry, left out the best part.

"Well, what do we do now, eh?"

Part caricature, part stereotype, part truth, Canada's obsession with hockey has made it both a world leader in the sport, if not always a world champion, and a place where the NHL has traditionally been well-received and usually financially viable, even in the face of lost franchises.

And yes, with the lockout under way, many will wonder what their Saturday nights will be like this fall and winter without "Hockey Night in Canada."

So while the NHL lockout will be officially ushered in by commissioner Gary Bettman in New York on Wednesday, it's reasonable to suggest it unofficially began the moment the final whistle blew at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Tuesday night to conclude World Cup 2004.

Only six of the 30 NHL clubs are located in the Great White North, a smaller proportion even than in the Original Six days, when one-third of the clubs were Canada-based. But it is here in the heartland where the reverberations of a work stoppage will be felt the most, not in Los Angeles or Tampa Bay or Long Island.

No, Canadians don't all own a set of goalie pads, and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, while a real place, is not Wayne Gretzky's hometown.

To say the lockout will be noticed here more than the United States or Europe, however, is a reasonable assertion. But what does that mean, and how will the process of shutting down the NHL affect the way Canadians view the sport?

For starters, let's understand a few things about Canada, hockey and the place of the game in the national culture.

Like Minnesota, Michigan or Massachusetts, the game will go on whether the NHL chooses to lock it doors for days, weeks or months. The game is loved in Canada and those three U.S. states mostly because it is played there by thousands of men, women and children, not because there are teams in Calgary, Detroit, St. Paul and Boston.

Dads and moms wipe their bleary eyes on frosty January mornings, get out of bed and start frozen minivans in order to allow their children to chase a puck on a frozen sheet of water not because they might have seen an NHL game once, but because they've been doing it for decades as part of a sporting culture.

That culture has been extended in small ways to new places over the past 20 years. There are now more rinks in Dallas than there were before the Stars moved there, and young boys can find decent hockey competition in Florida where little once existed.

But mostly the game is strong where it was 40 years ago, and that hasn't changed as the league has grown, changed and altered itself into something old-timers barely recognize.

So yes, the lockout will be noticed in Canada. But the game itself will go on. Moreover, teams and leagues that have had difficulties attracting interest may now be able to do so, and that's not a bad thing.

What will Canadians do when Bettman closes the doors?

Probably go out and play hockey, or watch their kids do the same.

This is only important, really, because the NHL, as an industry, now cares far more about the Canadian market than it did 10 years ago. In some ways, that doesn't make sense. How could a country of 30 million people carry any sway against the market interests of a neighboring country 10 times that size?

Very simply, last season provided enormous evidence that the league needs Canada far more today than ever before because this is where there is oxygen for the sport. That's not to downgrade the undeniable excitement that exists for NHL teams in Philadelphia and Detroit.

To be sure, because of its size, Canada doesn't represent a gold mine. But the enthusiasm and love of the sport simply has not been replicated in very many places in the U.S.
But after a period of malaise that followed the exodus of Winnipeg and Quebec City from the NHL in the early 1990s, interest has rocketed in all six Canadian cities to spectacular levels.

Indeed, you could probably say that none of the six Canadian teams has ever been more popular than they are right now. Given that some of the teams in the smaller cities were going hat in hand to the federal government four or five years ago claiming to be endangered, that's quite a change.

The emotion in Calgary last spring, as the Flames charged to the Stanley Cup final, was both palpable and appealing, precisely the kind of passion that simply does not exist for the game right now in places like Chicago, Anaheim and Pittsburgh.

A decade ago, as the NHL was preparing for its first lockout, New Jersey Devils owner John McMullen said "to hell with the small market teams," which many took as a code phrase for "the Canadian teams."

During the time before and after that lockout, not only were the Jets and Nordiques shifted south, the NHL added nine teams, only one of which was based in Canada. The Stanley Cup victory of the New York Rangers, and all the excitement that greeted it, convinced the league that real growth was possible throughout the United States, while Canada was viewed as a saturated market with no real possibility of supplying the league with new sources of revenue.

Moreover, and this remained the case even last year, the NHL seemed to go along with the inclination of U.S. network television to pretend as though Canadian teams didn't even really exist.

To be sure, because of its size, Canada doesn't represent a gold mine. But the enthusiasm and love of the sport simply has not been replicated in very many places in the United States, and over the past decade the league has come to understand the importance of the Canadian franchises.

This is where the oxygen is.

The league will deny, of course, that it ever took Canada for granted. But what matters now is that there is a growing sense that being a smaller, more compact league in which Calgary and Ottawa can thrive not only serves the interests of teams in those cities but also of the NHL in general.

This is a league that seems to want to be less about the Rangers and Kings and more about the Wild, Blue Jackets, Canucks and Oilers.

The NFL isn't designed specifically for the Green Bay Packers to thrive, but it serves the interests of everyone associated with that industry that the Packers do thrive.

So, too, with the NHL and Canada, a country with 30 million people and six franchises that matters mostly because of how tightly those teams are embraced and how deeply rooted the love for the sport is at a time when many other sports, from tennis to track to soccer, are fighting for their slice of the North American market.

Twenty Canadian players and 20 Finns fought it out Tuesday night for the World Cup in a game held in Toronto because it's a place where the NHL and players' union could be certain the game would be a big deal.

It would behoove both the owners and players not to forget that in the coming months as they try to negotiate, or don't try to negotiate, a new business framework for the industry.

Damien Cox, a columnist for the Toronto Star, is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com

By Scott Burnside
Special to ESPN.com

And so it begins.

Against a background chorus of inflammatory rhetoric and name-calling, the National Hockey League closed its doors to its players Wednesday -- setting in motion a labor stoppage that almost certainly will precipitate landmark changes to the game.

If fans were expecting that possibly saving at least half a season would put pressure on players and owners to hunker down and negotiate a settlement by the end of January, if not sooner, think again.

"We are not focused on a timetable," Commisioner Gary Bettman said after the NHL's board of governors voted unanimously to lock out players, stopping play for the first time in almost a decade. "There isn't a time pressure on getting a deal done. The deal gets done; that's the pressure," he said.

Bettman told owners they could release their buildings for other events for the next 30 days but that is just the beginning. Talks aren't scheduled, but there is no reason to talk until one side moves off what amounts to separate philosophical mountaintops.

The owners, citing more than $1.8 billion in losses over the life of the collective bargaining agreement, say they must have a system that ties player salaries to revenues. Player costs currently eat up 75 percent of revenues; the league would like to see that figure lowered to about 50 percent, which would still leave the players with an average salary of $1.3 million, down from the current $1.8 million average, Bettman said.

"I don't blame the players one bit. The players got paid a lot of money. And that was the deal we made," Bettman said. "We do not begrudge the players it one bit. But that doesn't mean we have to continue to do it. We've had enough of this agreement."

Although insisting on cost certainty, Bettman said the league would entertain a range of scenarios -- which would allow players to tap into league revenues like profits from the future sales of franchises -- when and if the league's economics improved.

The players insist they are the ones who have shown willingness to compromise, moving off their preference to maintain the status quo by offering a series of give-backs including a 5 percent rollback on salaries, alterations to entry-level salaries, revenue sharing and a luxury tax proposal that would have meant $100 million in savings for owners.

"We made a proposal well over a year ago that was a huge step in terms of reaching out to them," NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow said.

Bettman called the proposal meaningless because there were no guarantees that it would provide the drag on salaries the league claims to need.

Goodenow called Bettman "disingenuous" and suggested he's a fibber.

"Gary says a lot of things that frankly I take with a grain salt," Goodenow said.

Bettman asserted it was the players who really wanted the lockout.

"To use a hockey term, they're instigating a fight," Bettman said.

"That is absolutely stupid and ridiculous to characterize it that way," Goodenow said.

And on it went.

As theater goes, it wasn't bad. More Theatre of the Absurd than Broadway, but that's because the storylines are now so numbingly predictable. Think Waiting For Godot with the fans as the principals waiting for an agreement that is well beyond the horizon.

What is different today is the rhetoric is accompanied by real and undeniable pressure.

It's started off slight, impossible to measure tomorrow or the next day, but it exists and will grow. This isn't merely the threat of a lockout anymore; the doors are now locked. Players whose average salary almost tripled during the last agreement will not be paid. Owners will not make money.

Bettman said 20 of the 30 teams are losing money and those teams will be further ahead with their buildings darkened than if the season had gone forward under the old agreement.

Maybe. Maybe not.

But the pressure exerts itself both ways in this fight. The longer the game is silent, the longer owners have no chance to make money -- regardless of what system is in place.

The greater conceit from both sides is that the fans will still be around when the two sides finally emerge from their fallout shelters.

Bettman insisted that the game will be stronger for this, that all 30 teams will not only survive but also thrive under a new agreement.

"We will have a future and a bright future, and we will grow this game," Bettman said.

But these are things Bettman cannot know.

He cannot guarantee whether fans in Raleigh or Nashville or Atlanta will care enough to support a team in two years whether there's a salary cap or not.

No one can.

"What this game may look like in four months it's tough to judge, it's tough to say. Certainly it's a bit of an unknown," admitted NHLPA president Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks.

In theory, training camps would have started for many teams Thursday. Instead, NHL teams scrambled to reassign eligible players to their American Hockey League franchises. Players with junior eligibility, many of whom were skating at NHL-sanctioned prospect camps across North America a few days ago, will return to those clubs.

More than 100 league staffers have been or will be laid off and dozens more workers with the league's 30 franchises face similar uncertainty. Some teams have laid off staff already; others are waiting to see how long the lockout lasts before cutting staff.

The NHLPA's members, used to charter flights and expensive hotels, will ride buses playing in four-on-four leagues or in charity exhibitions.

Some will ply their trade in Europe.

Others will take classes or walk their children to school.

The hockey canvas is now blank.

What image will appear there and when, no one knows.

**DINAMO788** · 12-15-2004

i was born in the former(but dont worry, its gonna come back

) USSR which basically tells u my opinion on hockey, its law to like it there, lol. but now living in michigan, its nice have the BEST team in the league(in my opinion). btw, its offical that there will be no season at all this year. but hey, who watched the igor larionov farewell game between team russiana nd team world. the players there were almost entirely formt he red wings and the devils. but its nice that they have game slike this. he was a great played. but i can't wait until next year when the leagu's comming back. the wings signed these two amazing russian(as if you would expect anything less formt he MOTHERLAND!!!!!!!)

but yea, totally cant wait.

ps.s wouldn't it be cool if they could find a way to mae an NHL street.

also fifa street is gonn abe soo sweet, i saw a trailer teaser and it is GOOD