WillyGrips13

We were able to win the title again. This one was as surprising as any. The rest of the league has been improving every season. We had troubles during the season including a rotating roster due to injuries and other availability issues. We had a locker room blowup after an OT loss, but it turned into a turning point. We had a lot of OT games during the season which was key because in both the semifinals and finals, we went to OT In both. In fact at no time in either the semifinals or finals did we lead the game. In the semifinals game, we were down 3-1 and tied it with less than a minute. Then we played five minute OTs 3 on 3 except during penalties. We scored toward the end of the third OT. In the finals game, we would go down one, tie it and repeat that pattern including tying the game with a little more than a minute left. For some reason they decided to do one five minute OT 3 on 3, then go to a five round shootout. We scored one and they scored none. So our season and playoffs were pretty damn epic . The trophy was pulled out of storage as it was used in a previous incarnation of the league at a different now defunct building. It has teams and players from league winners engraved on it. Perhaps, it will be engraved with current league champions moving forward.

Weird phenomenon about goaltending. Everyone who has never done it seems to think they are experts. Also, those that used to do it a very long time ago develop the bad habit of thinking they know about today’s goaltending and mistakenly think the modern goalies aren’t good, athletic, etc. The Dryden article comes to mind.

I’m so tired of Ed Olczyk. He loves blaming goalies for every goal ever scored. He says some of the dumbest things ever. He’s linked with the Blackhawks president job. Hopefully he gets it so I don’t have to listen to him anymore.

I too stay on the goal line in the center of the net and tap the posts with my stick and glove before moving to address the puck. I can’t say I think about the crease or rink landmarks much at least not consciously.

Is scoring low? Most games I see are full of goals.

Thank you for illustrating this. THIS is what I’m talking about with modern defending. Nothing to do with speed here, everyone is relatively still. Just lack of positional awareness. But it’s not exclusive to this play or the Sabres. I see it all the time in most games. “Head on a swivel” was a mantra for hockey players once. Now it could read, “Eyes on the puck”. It’s down to coaching. For whatever reason it’s not being coached anymore.

I’m not talking about plays that involve speed. Rushes into the zone actually are the one area modern defenders are good at because all players can skate well. I’m referring to when a team has already gained the zone and they are passing the puck between players. Modern play has defenders focusing in the puck and not the man. For some reason at all levels, teaching players how to stay close to their marks has gone out the window.

On social media I saw this play juxtaposed next to a play from years ago that Datsyuk tried something similar. The difference was in the Datsyuk play it was still in the era where players actually played defense and both Datsyuk and his teammates had defenders on them. The defenders were marking their attackers and they prevented a shot from occurring. In the play from the other night, all defenders are staring at the puck and swiping at the puck while not physically marking attackers, which is how everyone “defends” today. No rule change needs to occur. Players need to return to marking players not space and this type of play never succeeds. Seeing plays from even ten years ago compared with today just highlights how bad defending has gotten in the modern game.

Everyone seems to have different opinions on the state of the game. I find that talent is so good throughout all positions. All players regardless of position can skate and handle the puck extremely well. Everyone has a great shot. Wrist and snap-shots are as hard as most slap-shots from previous eras. Some of this is due to stick technology. Fitter athletes and better technique are the other contributing factors. Offense is more dynamic than in previous eras. Goaltenders are better than ever across the board. The position is taught as a science now and done so at a younger age. The athletes playing the position are on average taller than ever with longer limbs. People keep saying that goalie gear is too big, yet since 2005 they’ve been making it smaller again and again. A 6’4” man is going to look bigger than a 5’10” man every day of the week. Especially when everyone has excellent stance discipline (no double-coverage, no bad glove positioning and no bad stick positioning.) Lateral movement and recovery ability is unprecedented. The main negative is modern defending is chaotic and inconsistent. The main methods of defending are chasing the puck around, swiping at the puck on an attacker’s stick and shot blocking. This leads to attackers dangling through defenders, attackers without the puck being left wide open in scoring areas and tips and screens by defending players that lead to goals against. Next time you see a highlight reel goal, look at what the defending players are doing. More often than not they are covering space, watching the puck move around and flailing in vain at it all while flopping around in front of their goalie. I can’t believe no coach has tried to install more of a man-marking system of defending. Then again most hockey coaches are dumb as a bag of rocks. They just get hired because they yell loud, chew gum, wear a suit and put gel in their hair.

I’m guessing the idea of taking away aerial angle by getting the glove forward is at play here. So many players can go bar down so easily and quickly the glove has to be proactive by being positioned this way.

Pretty sure TV ratings for all sports are down. Nowadays people have way more viewing options and viewing platforms. This is likely an “Old man yelling at clouds” thread.

What are you doing with the old cowlings? Are they unused?

I also am using the carabiner clip. I attached a suspender loop to the back suspender buttons to attach to.

Somewhat tight to prevent too much movement of the C/A during play. I recently tightened all the straps around the elbow. My elbow wasn't landing in the elbow cup anymore. The elastics are stretched out because the unit is old (c.2006 JB2100). The wrist strap tends to come undone from time to time. I have to make sure the stray straps from the elbow don't interfere when I strap the wrist strap together.

NHL Network is picking up live local broadcasts on NHL Tonight. Right now it’s San Jose at Colorado. I think it’s the Colorado broadcast. I believe the second man in the booth is Peter McNabb. To my earlier point I made in this thread, he talks too much. This is a common flaw in many former players who are in broadcasting as in-game analysts. They blab endlessly while action is going on that the trained commentator is supposed to be calling. McNabb should know better, he’s been doing this for a long time.

You’re not kidding. I think they’re getting desperate.

Chrysler plant here you come.

Those look badass

Always a bummer when another goalie changes gear from a company not heavily represented in the NHL to one of the companies everyone uses. I’m not saying CCM, True or Bauer are bad. It’s just boring when everyone wears the same thing.

Communication tends to be a weakness of the human species.

The only thing I can think of is the website is updated so rarely that perhaps it meant the previous spec. But either way, stinks you can’t get what you want.

So is it the new NHL-spec unit you wanted or did you want it even more streamlined than that? If it’s just the former, I don’t see why he wouldn’t do it unless he’s afraid of liability with selling it to the general public due to reduced safety. Perhaps if you told him your name was Ilya or Vlad he’d do it.

Their social media, Facebook and Instagram, are way more current than his website. I found this post from July 15th: Alexei new NHL Spec Chest and Arm for playing for the with the Sharks. Alexei Melnichuk must be who they’re referring to. He’s a prospect.

Hey, at least he didn’t blind us with naked, nasty, hobbit-like man-feet in the gear pictures like so many do.

I have that as a t-shirt