Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Scenes We'll Never See Again

Since goal judges are in the process being removed from their traditional locations at the ends of hockey rinks (see story below) here's a video of a player interacting with a judge that we'll probably never see again....





Friday, August 24, 2007

Goal Judges

...being evicted.
When the NHL instituted video replay in the 1991-92 season, the idea was to help the referees determine whether a goal had been scored.

Few probably considered that it might make goal judges all but obsolete. Yet improvements in technology have achieved just that.

This season, all goal judges - who used to sit directly behind the goals - will be moved to the press box or similar locations depending on arena configurations.

The Flyers, like many clubs, are about to capitalize financially on the relocation by converting the goal judges' boxes into luxury seating.
Another tradition bites the dust.

Cleaning up the red-light district
Some clubs may want to keep the goal judges positioned where they've always been, but there won't be many, not with money to be made. This brings up the question of why even bother to have goal judges when it's obvious they've become as outdated as elevator operators.

Purists argue goal judges are a part of hockey history. They're a link to a time when the players wore tube skates and carried wooden sticks, and the ice and boards were clear without a hint of advertising.

But the advent of video replay devalued the goal judge, rendered him next to meaningless. He used to have a telephone in his little glass box, a hotline so his bosses could call and ask, "Are you sure that was in?" One NHL goal judge admitted last season he never gets calls any more.

"Not even a wrong number?" he was asked.

"It's like I'm not even there," he said.

It's to the point now where the referees don't even bother with the goal judge. They don't talk to him. He's simply another face in the crowd, only this season he'll be up in the press box or dispatched to some other forlorn spot far from the action he once took in with all the seriousness of an air-traffic controller.

Will it matter if he can't see the puck or makes a bad call? Not any more. His place in the game is fading away. The bigger question is the one you'll hear more and more outside NHL arenas this coming winter: "Who's got goal-judge seats for sale? Anybody got goal-judge seats?"

Like cabooses at the ends of trains, goal judge boxes at the ends of rinks will soon be but a memory of a distant time.



Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Best of the Worst

...NHL jersies.

Meanwhile, these guys have their own opinions on the issue...



Personally, I think their own uni's are among the worst I've seen.



Saturday, August 18, 2007

Check Please...



Give me fuel.
Give me fire.
Give me that which I desire
.



Monday, August 13, 2007

Homeless Hockey Players

Please, won't someone open their doors (and wallets) and give these poor souls a place to stay.



Saturday, August 11, 2007

Hockey Gone Wild #15

...in a continuing series.

This minor league brouhaha (I just love that word) involves a couple of future NHLer's and Cup winners. This one was cooling down until the coaches decided to mouth off to each other. They should've just let those two go at it.

But nooooo...


More >>> Hockey Gone Wild.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum...



No, I can't believe it Grapes.

Now THAT'S what I call a shocking piece (or is it peace?) of hockey video.



Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Cyber Pucks

Video game development just keeps getting better and better...


Another few years at this rate of evolution and I guess it could become difficult to tell the difference between the virtual and the real.



Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Stop Duck Abuse

Ducks' captain Scott Niedermayer stands up for ducks.
Niedermayer sent a letter to the 50 members of the Chicago City Council, urging them to fight against efforts to repeal the city's ban on foie gras -- the delicacy from enlarged livers of force-fed ducks and geese.

"As an Anaheim Duck, I hate to see real ducks tortured so that a handful of wealthy chefs can serve their diseased organs," wrote Niedermayer, the playoffs MVP last season. "Please uphold this compassionate law."
Nice to see a player that not only stands up for his teammates as a captain, but also for those whose his team is named after.

Personally, I got nothing against duck abuse. As long as it's confined to the on-ice NHL variety.



Sunday, August 05, 2007

Fog Horns of the NHL



I don't know. I think I'd have to pick St. Looies as my fave, then Buffalo's and San Jose's. Montreal's my least favorite. It sounds pretty wimpy, if you ask me.

Obviously, all fog horns are not created equal.



Scotty Bowman to Join the Leafs?

Hell, why not? They've tried everything else in attempting to win the Cup again. Might as well give Scotty a shot at helping make it happen.
The search for a senior advisor to the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs has been ongoing for months, but according to one Toronto newspaper, the search could possibly end as early as this week with hockey legend Scotty Bowman leaning towards accepting the post.

Bowman still remains as an advisor to the Detroit Red Wings and has reportedly been approached in the past by the Maple Leafs only to turn down their offer on two occasions.

Reports also indicate that if Bowman accepts the post, the front office makeup of the Maple Leafs would change drastically. The housecleaning would include general manager John Ferguson Jr. and head coach Paul Maurice.
Who knows? Maybe having a guy on board whose won nine Cups over the years will finally break the looooong string of futility those of the Leafs Nation have been enduring.

I kind of doubt it though.



Friday, August 03, 2007

Best American NHL City?



Buffalo
Here's how good the hockey fans are in Buffalo: While TV ratings in the rest of the U.S. pushed to reach numbers posted by drunken drivers, the citizens of this mid-market media area were watching the Stanley Cup finals at five times the national rating.

And the Sabres weren't even in the finals.
It simply amazes me that the league doesn't think that another franchise in the hockey hotbed area between Toronto and Buffalo would be a good idea.