Official NHL 2005-2006 Season Thread

[sandman]

i disagree.

yes, there have been way too many penalties and that ruins the flow of the game. opening night, rangers-flyers, was awful. it was unwatchable. but i think as the players adjust, the penalties will decline, and the game will be much better.

i watched the third period and OT of the sens-leafs game last night and it was AWESOME. it felt like playoff hockey. physical, end to end and lots of scoring. i think these rule changes will turn out to be great for hockey. we may even have a couple 50 goal scorers again.

but the key is getting the penalties down to about 11 or 12 per game.

[Kujo]

I was going to stay away from the arena this year as my own self righteous protest, but after watching the opener on TV against Atlanta, I went and renewed my season seats for the Panthers. I'm weak, I know.

So far the new rules have taken some adjustments, both Graham and Luongo got called for playing the puck in the restricted zone friday night, but the action has been at a better pace. If the Panthers can keep this defense up in front of Luongo they could be a team to watch. Alot of good young talent besides Jokinen and Luongo. Watch Weiss, Horton, and Huselius.

[D]

Last Night the Yankees vs Angels was on, Monday Night Football with an amazing pittsburgh vs San Diego game was on and WWE Raw was on

Somehow though I found myself compelled by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres game

i couldnt turn it off.

Hockey is back and is exciting and awesome as ever. I just wish I wouldve got to see a shootout.

Sidney Crosby is great and I love watching him play.

[Malcolm]

Leafs finally won there first game this season last night against the Flyers..How ironic is it that there last win was 526 days ago againt the Flyers..anyways it wa a good game and good to see Lindros is ona  roll and playing well

[sandman]

that was a nice win for the leafs. they played well. i'll always be a fan of lindros - it was nice to see him get one.

flyers are off to a bad start. our special teams are killing us. and with the number of penalties being called, if you're not producing on the power play, you're in trouble.

next game is friday vs. the pens. looking forward to that one!

[Skeba]

I'm hoping the flyers won't change their course just yet.. The Pens are also looking forward to their first victory, and have been very close the last 3 games.. Maybe on friday... With the material they've got.. It's only a matter of time.. but rather sooner than later.

[Malcolm]

Well Leafs beat Atlanta 9-1..What a crazy game that was..I thaught Atlanta was very unprofessional there..Sending guys on the ice to take out other players when your down by that much..I thaught the Leafs handled it very well although they said Belak was on his way back out onto the ice from the dressing room during the 2nd big brawl..Anyways it was nice to see the Leafs come out on top

[Malcolm]

ATLANTA (AP) - Jeff O'Neill scored a goal in each period for his second hat trick against Atlanta in two seasons and the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Thrashers and rookie goalie Michael Garnett 9-1 on Friday night.

O'Neill scored his 200th career goal to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead in the first period. His second goal was the first of three for Toronto in the middle period, and he added a third when the Maple Leafs blew the game open with four goals in the final period.

O'Neill picked up where he left off against the Thrashers before the lockout. He had a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Atlanta on Jan. 16, 2004, while playing with Carolina.

The Maple Leafs scored seven goals in 14 power-play opportunities.

Play was halted midway through the final period when a fight broke out between Tornoto's Eric Lindros and Atlanta's Niclas Havelid among others. When play resumed, another brawl was touched off after Maple Leafs forward Darcy Tucker, who had a goal and three assists, was knocked to the ice behind the Thrashers' net.

Atlanta's Andy Sutton was ejected after being charged with an attempt-to-injure penalty.

Tucker and Jason Allison also scored in the second period as Toronto pulled away for its first road win.

The game matched Toronto's 40-year-old goalie Ed Belfour against the 22-year-old Garnett, making his first NHL start. Garnett made his first appearance Wednesday night in a 2-0 loss to Montreal after Mike Dunham injured his groin.

The Thrashers were also without No. 1 goalie Kari Lehtonen, who is on the injured list with a more serious groin injury. Lehtonen has missed four games.

Belfour had allowed five goals in each of his previous two games, but he stopped 20 Atlanta shots.

The Thrashers were 0-for-7 on power plays, leaving them 0-for-16 in their last two games.

O'Neill took a pass from Allison and scored a power-play goal 8:49 into the first period. Tucker also was credited with an assist on O'Neill's second of the season.

[Skeba]

Ok.. Another OT loss for the Pens but I gotta say it looked a lot worse at one point so I'm satisfied with a point. Crosby got on the board again with a goal and an assist, so he seems to be doing well. Like I said. It's only a matter of time.. Hopefully tonight against Tampa.

[sandman]

that flyers- pens game was crazy. alot of great action. the flyers were up 5-1, but the pens fought back to tie it up. (flyers haven't been shutting teams down when they have the lead). the tying goal was scored from center ice. nitty just wasn't even looking - he was watching a replay on the jumbotron.

the highlight of the game though was with a minute left, richards shoots and hits the post. savage gets the rebound and quickly shoots towards a wide open net. somehow caron reaches back and robs him. incredible save which preserved a point in the standings for the pens.

[Skeba]

Okay.. How about now..?? I mean it's been 6 games. They've gotta start winning some time. Though the first away win for the devils has to come some day and the Pens could be the ones to give it to them. Hopefully though their training has had an impact on the team and that they'll get some points tonight.

[Kujo]

Just got in from the Panthers-Capitols game. Probably the most one sided 3-2 game in history. Panthers outshot the Caps 28-6 in the second period. Only an amazing effort by Ollie the Goalie kept this game within reach. Panthers made up for their pathetic special teams performance against the Rangers and Devils by scoring 2 powerplay goals and a nice shorthanded goal by Juraj Kolnik.

I forget his name but this rookie on the Caps looks pretty damn good. He scored 2 more goals tonight although the first one was questionable, Luongo appeared to have the puck covered but the refs never blew the whistle.

[sandman]

penquins look awful. still haven't won a game. every other team in the league has won at least 2.

flyers got a great win last night against the leafs. tied at 2 in the third, richards comes down the left side on a 2 on 1 and puts a wrister in the top corner near side. and the flyers were down 2 men at the time. huge goal.

i think he'll be in the running for rookie of the year. may finish second to crosby.

[Mal Brossard]

As a sports autograph collector, I just have to say that after my experiences with certain Penguins this past week, I hope they goddamn lose every game this season.

And I'm a Penguins fan too!

[sandman]

As a sports autograph collector, I just have to say that after my experiences with certain Penguins this past week, I hope they goddamn lose every game this season.

And I'm a Penguins fan too!

no way!?! give some details (and names) please.

that's unbelievable. after cancelling an entire season!! they should be kissing fans asses this entire season. sure, they're in a losing streak right now, but every fan that comes in contact with any player should walk away feeling good about the encounter. 

[Mal Brossard]

Every game in Boston, I go to the opposing team's hotel and wait outside it for autographs.  There's a good size group that does this for several sports-- about 30 collectors, but we rarely have more than 10 going for a particular team unless there's some big reason to get autographs.  I've only done baseball and hockey, and I'm going to occasionally do basketball.

Anyways, I went to the Penguins' hotel Friday at 4:15, just after the bus arrived (usually I get there earlier, but I was involved in a poker tournament and winning for the first time in a while, so I decided to play it out).  This particular day, there were 22 of us there-- the largest crowd I've seen in a LONG time for any team at a hotel.  Just as I arrived, Richard Jackman, Sebastien Caron, and Ryan Vandenbussche were walking out.  All three signed the cards I had and were willing to talk to us fans.  Nice guys!  Jocelyn Thibault, Mark Recchi, Rico Fata, Brook Orpik, Craig Patrick, Matt Murley, Maxime Talbot, Ryan Malone, announcer Mike Lange-- same thing, nice guys, signing, talking, stopping for pictures.

Next up, arriving in a cab was Bruin Patrice Bergeron-- he was here to go out with Sidney Crosby.  They all met downstairs-- Bergeron, Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Ziggy Palffy, Thibault, Vandenbussche, Mike Eruzione, and John LeClair.  The first 7 all jumped into two cabs, not signing for anyone, not even looking at us.  John LeClair was his usual self though, walking out and signing and talking with Mark Recchi.

Fast-forward to Saturday morning-- Pens have their morning skate at 11 am, so they left at 10:30.  I arrived at 9:30, and again, most of the guys were nice.  Bob Errey, Phil Bourque, Ed Olczyk, Randy Hillier, Joe Mullen (a hall-of-famer and 500 goal scorer), Rob Scuderi, Andre Roy, Lasse Pirjeta-- all signed and were generally nice guys.  Crosby and Lemieux went out to a cab and ignored everyone on their way-- for all they cared, we didn't even exist.  Whatever.

But it gets even better yet-- I come back to the hotel at 12:30.  There were only SIX of us there.  Crosby did the same thing.  "Sidney, sign please?"  He keeps staring forward and blows by us.  Hell, even Lemieux at least stopped for a picture with a few people!

Finally, 4 pm, on his way to the game-- walks by everyone on his way to a cab.  A few people chased the cab and one got him to sign.  The whole weekend, I heard about Crosby signing for 4 people-- two chased his cab, and two were little kids wearing his jersey.

What's the difference between Alexandre Daigle and Sidney Crosby?  Alexandre Daigle was nicer to the fans.

Bill Romanowski signed a shitload of autographs for a collector here in Boston at a paid signing-- buy his book, get anything you want signed.  So the guy bought 3 books, and got 5 mini-helmets signed.  Romanowski didn't care-- he said it's the least he could do.  Fans spend tons of money on cable packages, memorabilia, clothing, tickets, and various other items, and the players give nothing back.  He said an autograph is the least he could do to thank fans for all they do for the game.  I just wish certain other athletes felt the same way as Romanowski.

All I want is a photo signed by Crosby and a card signed by Mario Lemieux.  It's not like I'm asking him to give me 12 game-used jerseys or his first-born child.  And while there are exceptions, a lot of these guys have taken on an attitude that nothing is good enough for them, while forgetting that if we, the fans, weren't paying out money we made working a REAL job, that they would be nothing.  Is it really that hard and that time consuming to stop and sign for some fans?  It certainly wasn't hard for these guys to do it on their NHL contracts.

This is certainly not what I'd expect from the new ambassador of the NHL.  But I guess I shouldn't be surprised-- Lemieux has a HUGE influence on him when it comes to his off-ice attitude.

Hell, even Mark Messier is signing some things now.

And despite all my criticisms of the Flyers and Senators on the ice, they past few seasons they were the nicest, most down to earth group of athletes you could ever meet.  Hell, as proof that Crosby's attitude is NOT the norm, check this out.  It's my website dedicated to collecting: http://pages.emerson.edu/students/a/andrew_pelto

And although he probably won't give a flying flippity fuck, Gary Bettman will be receiving a letter about this.

[Skeba]

I believe that the losing streak is the reason to their behaviour.

They're both players that are used to winning, and at the moment the pressure is huge. From everyone. And like you said. Mario has a huge influence on Sidney, so it'll prolly be like that for a while. If Lemieux's having a bad day, so is Crosby. That'll prolly change within a year. Could change as soon as they start winning games.

I'm not saying that what they did to you was nice, but I really don't feel that any athlete owes me anything, and I do understand that at a time like this (with no wins, and after 8 games) you just want to focus on getting that first win.

I hope they'll be nicer to you next time, but that whole "I hope they loose all their games 'cause I didn't get an autograph..."-thing... come on.

[Mal Brossard]

Crosby also hasn't been signing in Pittsburgh since he was drafted.  He hasn't signed in any other cities the Pens have played in this year.  In addition, every other player on the team, other than Crosby, Lemieux, and the always-moody Lyle Odelein and Dick Tarnstrom, had no problem signing despite losing.

And for Mario having a big influence on Sidney, I don't mean it in terms of having a bad day.  You find me a day Lemieux signs anything other than a photo of yourself with him, without getting paid for it, and I'll find you the day hell freezes over.

As for not liking losing, tell Sidney he's better get used to it.  When your best defensive defensemen are Lyle Odelein and Brooks Orpik, you're going to have problems.  And in goal, Thibault is alright, but has no one there to help him out.  And SC-- Sebastien Caron?  Or Swiss Cheese?

The Pens come in again in two weeks.  If I get nothing then, I'll have a longer rant on it.

Joey Mullen, 502 goals, signs for everyone.  Mark Recchi, 458 goals, signs for everyone.  Sidney Crosby, 2 goals, pretends we don't exist.  Oh the irony.

[sandman]

if anything, mario should be telling crosby to embrace the fans. cause if he's in a slump, the fans and media will be much more forgiving if he's considered a "nice guy". and especially with the current state of hockey. they need everyone to promote the game any way possible.

my guess is that it's a financial decision.

duffman - you probably know this better than anyone (based on your hobby and the number of autographs you have), but it seems like the top stars in each sport can make ALOT of money on their autograph, as long as they make it scarce.

i think that's a sick reason, but it's my guess. also, even if he doesn't want to sign, how about a quick hello and a high five.

glad to hear the flyers players have been nice. they routinely have a couple hundred fans at their practices and they always take time to sign and acknowledge them.

[Mal Brossard]

That can be part of it, sandman.  That's why Mark Messier rarely signed after joining the Rangers, but was good about signing as an Oiler.  After joining the Rangers and even in his years in Vancouver, Steiner Sports signed him to an exclusive contract that he could only sign photos, jerseys, sticks, pucks, and some other items for them and for no one else.  He's loosened up now and will sign cards for fans if asked.

We'll see how long this lasts, but for the next few years, I kinda doubt I'll be getting the Crosby signed photo to put on the wall of my future "Ultimate Sports Basement."