NHL 2013 - 2014 Season Thread

Grimmlokk_sl said:

edit: Florida's arena at the start of their game with the Senators the other day.

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In all fairness to Florida, the Senators have one of the smallest fan bases in the league, even for a Canadian team. Being a government/bureaucrat town, the majority of people who live there weren't born there, and they bring their hockey allegiances with them from wherever they were born. They've been having a hard time filling their rink the past few years despite being a fairly competitive team, while every other Canadian team has sold out hundreds of games in a row (and several of them have been absolutely atrocious for years, ahem Flames/Oilers). The Senators just don't draw fans to any rink really.

But yeah, I just can't see how Florida will ever be a successful market, although Tampa seems to be doing okay.

Game of the week is tonight, hockeybros!

Game of the Week: San Jose Sharks at Pittsburgh Penguins - ESPN



God...please good Penguins show up. Make the Eastern Conference at least look like it has a chance...

Malkin is out apparently, so the 2nd line just went from a HUGE strength to just another line=/

Definitely game night tonight, Sens vs Lightning!!! There will be barely any people in the crowds as per usual with the Florida teams being low on attendance. Luckily for Ottawa home games it's always packed because of the 100% attendance avg and theres the biggest fans and community support too. Hope they win another one

blackac3_sl said:

Definitely game night tonight, Sens vs Lightning!!! There will be barely any people in the crowds as per usual with the Florida teams being low on attendance. Luckily for Ottawa home games it's always packed because of the 100% attendance avg and theres the biggest fans and community support too. Hope they win another one

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Wrong, Lightning attendance is actually very good for being a fair weather city.

2013-2014 NHL Attendance - National Hockey League - ESPN

13 home games so far and ahead of many teams who have played more games. Add the avg of 18,335 to their current totals (to bring it up to 14 games, which seems to be the league average) and you get 256,701. Only 4,000 behind Pittsburgh and good enough for #12 in the league.

Datsyuk stickhandling with a TSN reporter.

As for Tampa's attendance vs. Florida's, there's the difference between a team that tries hard to put a good product on the ice and the Panthers.

Jersey's shit attendance is more surprising to me, they're supposed to be diehard there. It's not like the team is bottom of the barrel, they're in the playoff hunt.

The Eastern Conference is alive! MAF is the best goalie in the world!

So why in the fuck can't the Oilers play like they did last night more often? Taylor Hall was a fucking beast.

So Shawn Thornton tried to kill Brooks Orpik on the ice, that's pretty cool.

He should be gone for the season, and Jame Neal should get a nice break himself for that knee bullshit.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

So Shawn Thornton tried to kill Brooks Orpik on the ice, that's pretty cool.

He should be gone for the season, and Jame Neal should get a nice break himself for that knee bullshit.

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Haven't seen either yet, but heard about them. Not that I have much sympathy for Orpik, but it sounded ridiculous.

Still love me some Grabbovski, penalty shot on Lundy and he's just like, fuck it, slapper under the bar.

Orpik was a loose cannon and got what he had coming. Took a run at Eriksson, and then kneed Marchand in the head while he was on the ice. Thornton went after Orpik, and he got the worst of it. Thornton hit him twice from what I saw with a glove on and Orpik had a helmet on. Must have got him right on the button to knock him out. Got what he had coming IMO.

Uh that was Neal that kneed Marchand.

Orpik's hit on Eriksson was definitely borderline but regardless of that it's never okay to grab someone from behind, drag them to the ice without being able to break their fall and then start punching them while they aren't responding. Saying he got what he had coming is just trying to excuse an incredibly scummy play by Thornton.

This is what I hate so much about the NHL's shitty methodology when it comes to punishing players, not only do star players get favorable treatment but they base it way too much off results rather then the actions or intentions. Orpik lands a questionable hit on Eriksson and Thornton follows him around trying to get a fight for retribution and when Orpik refuses to engage eventually Thornton resorts to executing a cheap attack on Orpik when he's not expecting it. How much different is it then the Bertuzzi incident apart from Orpik ending up relatively unscathed.

At the same time Neal's hit on Marchand was equally shitty and could have also caused serious injury but because he's a star forward he's getting a max five game suspension while Thornton is going to get 5+.

Empire just went full retard. Nothing in his entire post has a single thing to do with reality.

Thought it was Orpik who hit Marchand also.

Anyway, thats how its always been in the NHL. You fuck with one of our star players, you get fucked up or your star players have targets on them. Sure its shitty to hit someone when theyre on the ground, but I bet theres guys youd like to see get pummeled into the ice also.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

Thought it was Orpik who hit Marchand also.

Anyway, thats how its always been in the NHL. You fuck with one of our star players, you get fucked up or your star players have targets on them. Sure its shitty to hit someone when theyre on the ground, but I bet theres guys youd like to see get pummeled into the ice also.

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Yup, just ask Steve Moore. Totally part of the game.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

Thought it was Orpik who hit Marchand also.

Anyway, thats how its always been in the NHL. You fuck with one of our star players, you get fucked up or your star players have targets on them. Sure its shitty to hit someone when theyre on the ground, but I bet theres guys youd like to see get pummeled into the ice also.

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He came up behind him, slew footed him while pulling him down from behind, and then punched him twice while he was unconscious.

You are a fucking dipshit.

Sweet Prince Empire_sl said:

Orpik was a loose cannon and got what he had coming. Took a run at Eriksson, and then kneed Marchand in the head while he was on the ice. Thornton went after Orpik, and he got the worst of it. Thornton hit him twice from what I saw with a glove on and Orpik had a helmet on. Must have got him right on the button to knock him out. Got what he had coming IMO.

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You're an idiot. That wasn't a fair fight, honorable or anything that belongs in hockey. That was a fucking mugging.

Renault_sl said:

At the same time Neal's hit on Marchand was equally shitty and could have also caused serious injury but because he's a star forward he's getting a max five game suspension while Thornton is going to get 5+.

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I agree, I think Neal's shin pad shiver was at least as bad as Thornton's mugging, if not in results/injury. He can and will claim it was an accident but anyone who's played hockey knows damn well that he fully intended to boot Marchand in the head with his shin pad. He should definitely get 5+ games as well, but probably won't. Shanahan should just come right out and say "Neal claims that he was unaware of Marchand and did not intend to hit him in the head; unless Neal has zero peripheral vision despite being a phenomenal pro athlete in a sport where such vision is hugely important, I find his excuses to be embarrassingl poor. I have decided to suspend him 5 games for the head shot, and another 5 games for trying to bullshit me."

Don't get me wrong, Orpik is a shitbag, but no one deserves what happened to him. That shit needs to be out of the game. Still haven't seen the Neal replay.

Why is Orpik a shitbag?

Unrelated to that, I love when a guy on on a penalty shot/shootout just unloads a slapper.