The Ditch part deux

There's a YouTube channel I regularly watch for Red Wings highlights called awood40. He posts extended highlights -- generally 25-30 minutes long. If you haven't seen his channel yet you should check it out.

Recently he's been posting the CBC feed because the NBC Sports broadcast sucks. I haven't listened to Bob Cole call an entire game in a while but he's nowhere near as good as he used to be. He's so far behind every play and can't seem to find the right words to say most of the time. I think he's having trouble seeing the puck and numbers on the backs of sweaters. He routinely says the wrong player's name during a play and calls saves by the goaltenders when the puck clearly hits a defenseman or gets fired way over the net. I only saw about an hour's worth of highlights (Games 3 and 4) but I think that's a large enough sample size to make a judgment -- Bob Cole should probably retire sooner rather than later. I didn't realize how far he's fallen.

 

Bob Cole may have slowed down a notch, he is still one of my favorites for the past 35+ years. Him and HNIC are a tradition with me on Saturday nights. Grew up with that stuff Here's a little tribute to Bob from some of his best stuff in his heyday.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=npkQlbPOJbM

imo, the last game between the Red Wings and Blackhawks was his best work so far. He almost sounded disinterested in the first game of the series. I think he's just warming up now...the old fart

 

how long until someone turns Crosby into Toews

 

how many times do you have to answer 9 x 3?

 

.....and 9 x 0

 

Congrats to the Pens and their fans. They have their offense rolling for sure.

 

Cutter, are you getting read for the Battle of Fighting in the Game part XIII?

Fehr addressed the issue of fighting at a meeting with players and agents on the 25th last month. It seems like he smells b.s. on some of the issues with fighting, particularly the staged and "strategic" type fighting. Right now, I think he's just trying to get his head around the culture of fighting in the sport. Not sure where this is going from the players' side.

From what I've read it appears that the PA may take issue with coaches that push for fighting. Seems an obvious place to start. If they don't address that issue, it's going to bite the league in the rear end eventually.

 

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=31154

10 times a team has comeback from a 3-1 deficit in a series. None have been the 1 seed.
8.7% of the time a team has comeback from a 3-1 deficit. Doesn't look good.

The 2012 Penguins may be the first team to win a playoff series after losing 4 games in the series. Gary is looking into it.

 

The Coyotes are sold...again.

TIme to watch the circus with Glendale again. 10s of millions on the table between the group and the city.

Vegas doesn't have a line on whether or not the sale will go through because of the city.

 

They're out there.

 

Awesome movie, Begbie, ... um I mean Robert Carlyle was great.

 

threw one in my wheelhouse Bob. well where do I start. I think a vast majority of players feel fighting should not be taken out of the game. think it was a couple years that heard aboutt 90% of players felt its part of the game and should not be removed. problem is that Fehr is much like BEttman in that they are very self serving and all about doing whats in THEIR best interest and not the league or more importantly the fans. Fehr is a guy that will go to great lengths to get the players what they want in a CBA but outside of that hes thinking about himself and no one else. there were many issues he did nothing to curtail in MLB like steroids and having players tested. Selig wasnt much better. Im really tired of hearing about the 'staged fight', how in any way does it take away from the game. two enforcers want to go and in this day and age when each team doesnt have more than 1(or if your the WIngs you never have any) let them go, thats what their paid to do. remember Domi and Probie - that couldnt have been more staged. it was talked about for weeks leading up to that game in the papers etc. did that detract from the game? NO. in fact the fans couldnt wait to see it. the thing I have a problem with is when a guy thats a known enforcer say Krys Barch goes after someone who doesnt fight - thats a problem. of course if fighting was a part of the game the league promoted at all not only would the fans like it but each team would have their own deterrant for that type of behavior. this is a topic that will continue to go the way of a PC league in that it atleast acts like it doesnt want fighting and it helps keep the media and 'hockey purists' at bay. its kind of amazing to me that in a day of violence and UFC that this league doesnt somehow embrace something that IMO would turn even more fans onto the game. putting teams in sun belt cities, shootouts, trying to eliminate fighting and Winter Classic games has done nothing of the sort

 

speaking of Barch, who is he fighting Andrew Cogliano? really! real tough Krys

 

perfect example, how many people are going to get a hot dog or going to the bathroom - none. everyone(including players) stands and watches with great anticipation

 

boy look at all those empty seats. not a single person sitting, yep better get that part of the game removed

 

your more likely to see this than a fight at an NHL game

 

I just thought this was funny

 

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=-7&id=249520&cmpid=embed-share-video


you guys gotta check this out, good stuff

 

If anything, there isn't enough fighting in the nhl, unlike the old days, in most cases only those designated to fight are the ones doing it. The fans that actually buy the tickets to the game love the fighting, I don't see why they have an issue with it. It hasn't been a problem in the playoffs, if anything, in playoff time, its practically non-existant.

The nhl should tackle the real problems, like trying to place teams in real hockey markets, and stop being in denial about areas where its not working.

Another issue, they really need to have a summit regarding the rules, what is called and not called. They should have all the leagues show up, AHL, KHL, WHL, and they should spend a good week reviewing all the rules closely. Have classroom sessions where they review videos of instances. They should take a good look at the head shots, and see areas they can improve. Maybe its time to eliminate open ice hits, allow hits only on the half boards, the size and speed of the player nowadays doesn't allow for violent collisions, and of course as grapes has been preaching for years, the no-touch icing.

 

that gets a +1