Game on!!!!
 

Wooohooo!!

Hockey is back tonight...for real!

Every NHL team is in action.

What game are you going to watch?

I just can't imagine the honor that must come with being the first person to shit on a hockey or soccer thread, but considering how many people come out of the woodwork to do so, it must rival knighthood.

Thanks for that. Really.

I'll be watching Penguins and Devils.

Is the NHL even televised any more? I'd watch the Thrashers if they were on TV, but I have no idea if they are or not.

I'll flip back and forth between both the Kings and the Ducks.

Blues - Redwings!!!

I'll be watching Lost, and maybe flip back and forth at some point during the night to see how the crapitals are doing.

I think channels like the Outdoor Living Network & locals are carrying it.

Rangers-Flyers, Devils-Pens, and Islanders-Sabres.

It's the Outdoor Life Network!

Get it right!

"the" ninny

The Atlanta PAX station will be carrying Thrasher games.

Moose and Rocko will be by shortly for some attitude adjustment.

No local games so it's Flyers/Rangers for me

I'll PIP it with the Sox/Sox game but the sound and big screen will be the hockey game since Sox/Sox really is a lesser of two evils game.

SI

What are the rule changes I need to be looking out for? I may try to get into the Blue Jackets, since this is almost like a whole new league starting up in some ways.

I could research this, but I am lazy.

I've got Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary waiting for them, right here!

Here's the quick and dirty lowdown, straight from Canada:
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=138786

NHL rule changes for 2005-06 season

Canadian Press



10/5/2005 9:33:44 AM

NEW YORK (AP-CP) - A look at NHL rules changes, effective with the start of the 2005-06 season:

Shootout: Following a scoreless five-minute overtime, three players from each team participate in a shootout. Each team takes three shots. The team with the most goals after those six shots wins. If still tied, the shootout will advance to a sudden-death format, which ends when one team scores and the fails to do so. If a game is decided by a shootout, the final score will give the winning team one more goal than its opponent, based on the score at the end of overtime.

Lines: Two-line passes are now legal as the centre red line will be ignored for offsides purposes.

- The blue lines will be moved closer together to create an additional four feet in each of the offensive zones. That reduces the size of the neutral zone to 50 feet from 54 feet.

- Goal lines will be moved two feet, to 11 feet from the end boards.


- The width of the blue lines and red line was unchanged.

- The tag-up offsides rule returns, allowing play to continue if offensive players who preceded the puck into the zone return to the blue line and tag it.

Goalies: The dimensions of goaltender equipment will be reduced by approximately 11 percent. In addition to a one-inch reduction (to 11 inches) in the width of leg pads, the blocking glove, upper-body protector, pants and jersey also will be reduced in size.

- Goalies using oversized equipment will be given a two-game suspension. Their teams will be fined $25,000 fine and the trainer will be docked $1,000.

- Goalies may play the puck behind the goal line only in a trapezoid-shaped area defined by lines that begin six feet from either goal post and extend diagonally to points 28 feet apart at the end boards.

Icing: A team that ices the puck cannot is not allowed to make a line change prior to the ensuing faceoff.

- Touch icing remains in effect but linesmen will be given more discretion to wave off infractions if they are deemed the result of a long, attempted pass.

Instigation Penalties: A player who instigates a fight in the final five minutes of a game will receive a game misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. The length of suspension would double for each additional incident. The player's coach will be fined $10,000 US, a penalty that would double for each recurrence.

Officiating: Zero tolerance on interference, hooking and holding-obstruction.

- Goalies who play the puck behind the goal line but outside the designated puck-handling area will be called for delay of game. Goaltenders will be penalized for delay of game if they freeze the puck unnecessarily.

- Any player who shoots the puck directly over the glass in his defending zone will be penalized for delay of game. Previously only goalies were penalized for the infraction.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct: The league will review and assess fines to players who dive, embellish a fall or a reaction, or who fake injury in an attempt to draw penalties. The first such incident will bring on a warning letter; the second will result in a $1,000 US fine; the third will result in a $2,000 US fine; and the fourth will result in a one-game suspension.

- Public complaints or derogatory comments toward the game also will result in fines.

Competition Committee: Comprised of four NHL players, four general managers and one owner and is supervised by Colin Campbell, NHL director of hockey operations.

- The players are: Rob Blake (Colorado), Jarome Iginla (Calgary), Trevor Linden (Vancouver), and Brendan Shanahan (Detroit).

- The general managers are: Bob Gainey (Montreal), Kevin Lowe (Edmonton), David Poile (Nashville) and Don Waddell (Atlanta).

- The owner is Ed Snider (Philadelphia).

- Mike Gartner, the players' association's director of business operations, will provide input to the committee.


SI

Lookin forward to some Bruins Hockey vs those hated Canadians.

So what are the hockey fans' feelings toward these new rules?

The shootout is going to suck, if you ask me... and it also sounds like the referees will be allowed to make a lot more judgment calls, which is also probably not a good thing.

Tag-up offsides sounds like it could be interesting.... I didn't know it had been a rule previously.

I may watch Sharks vs. whoever if I'm not working

C'mon like you've ever actually watched something on that channel. :p

I don't even know if I have that channel.

Sabres - Islanders!

Yer in for a long season if you like Bruins hockey, they can't just go out and beat the shit out of everyone and play the puck after they're all down anymore. They will have to actually PLAY hockey.

;)


I'll be watching the Sabres/Islanders game. First time in my life I've actually lived in the region that my favorite team is from. GO SABRES!

Actually I love all the new rules, especially the shootout. No more playing for a tie, there will always be a winner. The whole "play tough defense and get points for not trying to score" bullshit is gone. Every team will need shooters and quality goal scorers just in case it gets to the shootout.

Offense is what makes hockey exciting. The red-line trap was the worst invention the sport ever saw. Thank god for the changes!

Red Wings - Blues.

Technically, you're still wrong. It's just "OLN" now. So there. :p

May your Red Wings trip on an octopus!

My guess is that I'll be watching the first 10 or 12 minutes of the Leafs/Sens game, then throwing my remote through my big screen TV and storming off to drink alone in my basement storage area.

I don't get OLN, so I doubt if I can watch my beloved Panthers. :(

Fraser is doing the Leafs/Sens game??

:D

Sunshine Network?

The only game on OLN tonight is Flyers-Rangers. The only way to watch the Panthers tonight is with Center Ice, which is a free preview this week; at least on DirecTV and Comcast.

I'll be in the stands for the Oilers/Avalanche game tonight.

As far as the rule changes, I'm curious to see how well they'll be called all year (obstruction) and how teams devise ways around some of them (trying to get off the ice on a change before the other team touches the puck for the icing call).

I personally don't like the lines governing where a goalie can play the puck, I'd much prefer for them to be fair game. It'd be the goalie's responsibility to be aware of the situation they'd be going into to play the puck and it would be relatively easy for the refs/the league to keep players from running the goalies through penalties/fines/suspensions. At least it *should* reduce the instances where goalies like Roy or Turco would play the puck, curl with it as a player approaches because they knew they couldn't be touched, then play the puck or the times they'd try to pick players going behind the net.

Touch up offside should be wonderful to have back and should eliminate a lot of whistles. Kind of surprised they didn't go to no touch icing and even introduced the referee's being able to wave off icing on a judgement call of an attempted pass. It'll be interesting to see that in effect especially with all the hail mary passes now that the red line is out.

I just hope the ref's call the game the way it's written now, and continue to call it that way all season and in the playoffs. I'd guess the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the season will be a tough pill to swallow with the extra penalties and slower pace, but after that, everybody should be into the flow of it and it should result in some excellent on ice product. I just pray they keep calling everything once they get to that point so we don't regress and sit through the early season crap for nothing.

Here's hoping the Oilers start it off right tonight and Hemsky notches a couple in the win ;)

Please say hello to Pronger for me. :(

Heh, funny story on that one. Buddy of mine (Blade on these forums) has been a huge Pronger fan for years despite being a huge homer (re: Oilers) fan. The game in Edmonton 3 or 4 years ago when Ethan Moreau laid out Pronger nearly made the boy cry. Anyway, I heard on the radio at around 11:15 pm when they started announcing that Pronger had been traded here so I called him up (now normally, I wouldn't call after 10 to avoid ticking off his wife, but well, it was big news) and for the life of me, I could not convince him that I wasn't trying to trick him by telling him that the Oilers had brought in his favorite player. I think it took until nearly midnight for some online sources to get the news up and for him to believe me, and well, he still hasn't climbed down from the cloud he ended up on.

That all said, I wish we had sent you Jason Smith instead of Brewer. That kid may never be a true #1 defenseman on any team, but as a #2 he has proven to be incredible.

Since the Flyers game is the local game for me, that's one I'll be watching. I'll take it. :)

OLN Baby. Only avaiLable Nowhere!

We get it in the bustling burg of Lawrence, KS. You people have no room to complain.

SI

go stars!

Go Oilers!

Even if I wanted to watch Hockey tonight, I could not. No games are being televised in my area.

Hm.. I will miss the ESPN NHL music, tho :(

SI

Leafs/Sens on TSN... during breaks Habs/Bruins on RDS... then Yotes/Nucks later in the night also on TSN.

Lost & Invasion get the ol' Bittorrent after the games, I'll watch them Thursday.

That's why I love have two tuners for my TiVO. I can hapily watch many an exciting hockey game, while assured that Lost is being duly recorded.

Rangers/Flyers first. I was going to watch it on OLN but I just noticed it is also playing on inHD. I'll probably switch between the two channels to see if there's a difference in how the game is shot (kept reading about how OLN will zoom in more to eliminate the crowd).

After that the games that are on are Coyotes/Canucks (HDNet), Kings/Stars (FSNW), Ducks/Blackhawks (FSNW2). I'll focus more on Kings/Stars because Modano is my favorite player and hopefully the rule changes have given him some more space to work with. I'll switch over to Coyotes/Canucks every now and then because it is in HD. Mmmmm high def hockey...

Yeah, apparently TiVo is in Canada now... you just need to get the box from the States. But I'm not interested in the monthly fee... after Christmas I'll probably throw together a simple Entertainment PC, or buy a Hard Drive recorder.

Oh... I almost forgot.

GO LEAFS!!!!

PS - Even though I'll admit I'd rather the Sens roster... :(

Your school is bigger than the U of Wyoming, :)